David Bowie – A Reflection by Killian Laher

The very idea of attempting to sum up the life and death of David Bowie, and his overall impact is a daunting one. Trying to decide where he belongs in the pantheon of modern culture is kind of futile, as it’s an impossible task. Bowie never seemed to be one of us. From the time I became aware of him he seemed like this incredibly exotic, otherworldly creature.

It’s fair to say David Bowie’s music made an impact on pretty much anybody who heard it. For me, the first Bowie song I heard was Ashes to Ashes.

Quite a complex tune, complete with key changes and the unforgettable advice that “you’d better not mess with Major Tom”, it sounded very different from anything else on the radio in 1980. My own discovery of David Bowie is not one of teenage inspiration. In the mid-eighties he seemed like an older, established figure, and in a time when the idea of retro culture had yet to really take off, kind of old hat. Music that belonged to a different generation. While songs like Let’s Dance and Modern Love captured him at a commercial peak, I remained unmoved, preferring the sounds of contemporary artists which I now know bore his influence (Depeche Mode, The Smiths and many others).

But even in the glossy 1980s, Bowie had the ability to produce some excellent, slightly leftfield pop tunes. The sweeping Loving the Alien didn’t trouble the pop charts in any major way, but it, and others such as the brooding This Is Not America and the stomping Time Will Crawl stood apart as quality songs.

Eventually Bowie’s back catalogue became known to me (gradually), initially by way of a compilation covering his most well known songs from 1969-1984 but this merely scratched the surface. At the same time, the man himself never stood still, pushing himself into choppy waters with the Never Let Me Down album and the ropey Tin Machine metal project.

(Under the Gods)

Yet I couldn’t ignore him, hearing Life on Mars and Andy Warhol led the way to the monumental Hunky Dory album and hearing that, I was finally convinced beyond doubt about Bowie.

Although his ability to write great, catchy pop songs was without question, he had another side to him which really grabbed me. Moonage Daydream and Cracked Actor pointed the way to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane.

His 1977 album Low introduced me to his arty, experimental side with instrumental tracks like Warzsawa. At the same time Bowie was getting into the music of the time, 1995’s industrial influenced Outside album is arguably his best album of the last 30 years. Towards the turn of that decade his music became more autumnal, 1999’s Hours album contained melodies of the highest quality.

I can’t begin to sum up his return from his break from music. The albums The Next Day and the brand new Blackstar do that better. The lyrics of the latter will be poured over at length for clues to David Bowie’s life and death. Unfortunately I never saw him live, always missed out. It’s impossible to measure David Bowie’s impact, and I can’t begin to sum up how he impacted on Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and many, many others. Best to focus on our own relationship with his music, which I have attempted to do.