The Day David Bowie Died - 10 years gone. Can you believe it?

I was in my office in Hong Kong on the day Bowie died, surrounded by people mostly much younger than me, who didn't seem at all interested when I blurted out 'Oh, David Bowie died!'

The first tweets were coming through (news guy wept and told us…) with the shocking truth. Faced with a room full of 150 people who couldn’t give a toss, I had to take a walk outside.

It can’t be wrong to feel so deeply the loss of someone you didn’t know personally, when that someone has been such a powerful figure in your life. It’s a story well-told, that for anyone who grew up in the 1970s and 80s, Bowie played a pivotal, crucial role in our youthful fantasies.

It’s hard to imagine now but on the 6th of July 1972, when Bowie appeared on Top Of The Pops and sang, “I had to phone someone, so I picked on you…” and pointed straight at the camera, he sparked a cultural change for a whole generation. 

Such was the power of television at that time. Everyone who saw it, remembers Bowie putting his arm around Mick Ronson as they sang the Starman chorus in harmony. Men didn't do that kind of thing, but these guys were clearly different. I mean, look at them! 

His carefully cultivated image of otherness - from Major Tom to Ziggy to the Thin White Duke and on and on, to the many and various characters he embodied - gave young people the licence to think outside of the norms of society, with no excuses.

His intellect and imagination was fed by a diet of the most diverse writing he could find, some of which, like The Divided Self by R. D. Laing or The Stranger by Albert Camus and The Outsider by Colin Wilson, inspired his music directly.

At Live Aid in 1985, it was Bowie’s performance at Wembley, rather than Queen’s, that had people grabbing their phones to donate. His bold decision to set aside time in his set to show the awful images of the Ethiopian famine, were a true measure of the man and his humanity.

He was well ahead of the game in seeing the potential of the internet and his early bowienet platform allowed him to see at close quarters how online communities might develop.  

We were all richer for having David Bowie in our lives.

That evening in Hong Kong, I went back to my flat, opened the windows wide and played 'Life On Mars' at full volume. It never sounded better.

Also On This Blog:

David Bowie interview with the NME, 1974

February 1970 - with Bowie in obscurity, Mick Ronson joinsMichael Chapman

My old David Bowie RCA CDs - the only ones of value

1971 - At home with Marc Bolan

A Tribute to David Sanborn, the sax player on Young Americans