We’ve lost David Bowie, and the world will never be as cool again.
Fans continue to reel from the news, and it’s safe to expect numerous memorials and tribute concerts in the coming days and weeks.
Everyone had “their Bowie” — the version of the chameleon artist that spoke most clearly and directly to them. Was it Let’s Dance Bowie? Glammed-out Ziggy? The rock star? The folk legend? The punk?
Whichever expression you think of first when you hear the name Bowie, one thing is clear — when it comes to the spirit of reinvention, exploration and vision that is so often lacking in music, the Thin White Duke was the people’s prince.
For many fans (and especially his countless queer fans), Bowie’s refusal to play by anyone’s rules — be it pop music, gender or sexuality — made him a totem of weirdness in the best way possible.
Below, fellow artists pay tribute to the loss of a giant.
The stars look very different today:
He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was…
Posted by Tony Visconti on Monday, January 11, 2016
MESSAGE FROM IGGY: “David’s friendship was the light of my life. I never met such a brilliant person. He was the best there is. – Iggy Pop”
— Iggy Pop (@IggyPop) January 11, 2016
Paul on @DavidBowieReal https://t.co/KVxmjBdYT1 pic.twitter.com/aNJi3BjAuv
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) January 11, 2016
David was always an inspiration to me and a true original. He was wonderfully shameless in his work. 1/2 — Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) January 11, 2016
We had so many good times together. He was my friend, I will never forget him. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/9xfPj88x8b — Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) January 11, 2016
So lucky to have met you!!!! Hot Tramp I love you So! ?? #rebelheart pic.twitter.com/INKPRCeofK — Madonna (@Madonna) January 11, 2016
I’m devastated.David Bowie changed the course of my life forever. I never felt like I fit in growing up in Michigan…. Posted by Madonna on Monday, January 11, 2016
The death of David Bowie feels somehow apocalyptic. I’m sure this is true for many queers for whom Bowie was the first… Posted by Justin Vivian Bond on Monday, January 11, 2016
DAVID BOWIEJohn and David respected each other. They were well matched in intellect and talent. As John and I had very… Posted by Yoko Ono on Monday, January 11, 2016
DAVID BOWIE ????? — ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) January 11, 2016
Like a gazillion other people, I feel stunned by the news that David Bowie has departed this earth. At the loss of…
Posted by Annie Lennox on Monday, January 11, 2016
It feels like we lost something elemental, as if an entire color is gone. #DavidBowie — Carrie Brownstein (@Carrie_Rachel) January 11, 2016
Bowie existed so all of us misfits learned that an oddity was a precious thing. he changed the world forever. — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) January 11, 2016
??? Spent a substantial amount of time studying and learning this great mans music at school. Mr. Bowie.. Us and planet Earth will miss you. A photo posted by Disclosure (@disclosure) on
Farewell Major Tom ?… There are no words. RIP David, another hero remembered #legend #davidbowie A photo posted by Courtney Love Cobain (@courtneylove) on
RIP David Bowie – someone who was connected to the source — M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) January 11, 2016
Planet Earth is blue – Bono A photo posted by U2 Official (@u2) on
He inspired us to go beyond the norm & reach out & dispel the void of life in 70’s England wth r own art forms…. https://t.co/saFNM9CJI7 — Billy Idol (@BillyIdol) January 11, 2016
R.I.P to a true inspiration and original ? pic.twitter.com/7KXtD6pzhJ — little dragon (@LittleDragon) January 11, 2016
Peter Jonsson
Today’s news is all the more shocking because David Bowie had recently emerged from suspended animation – revitalised and reinvigorated. His two latest albums, The Next Day and Blackstar, ranked with his best, the former celebrating his past, the latter casting forward to the future. The fact he won’t be there is heartbreaking. But then Bowie’s entire career has been a vanishing act. The son of a waitress and a nightclub owner, David Jones became David Bowie, who became Ziggy Stardust, who became Aladdin Sane, who became the Thin White Duke. All of them were fictitious. All of them became iconic. In the 1970s, he was restless, flitting between musical styles and personas, producing Lou Reed and The Stooges, and taking up painting in Berlin. His every move sparked impersonators and inspired musical sub-genres. He was the first post-modern pop star. He struggled to remain relevant in the 1980s and 90s, but continued to push boundaries with the industrial rock of Outside and the drum and bass influenced Earthling. An enforced hiatus, prompted by emergency angioplasty, took him out of the spotlight for most of the 2000s before that celebrated, unexpected comeback on his 66th birthday. That late period of creativity may now be reassessed as the work of a musician who knew his time was running out. But it remains a fitting legacy for a man who subverted and reinvented pop time and time again. His hits include Let’s Dance, Space Oddity, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel, Rebel, Life on Mars and Suffragette City. He was also well known for creating his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust. Space Oddity He also carved out an acting career including his role as an alien seeking help for his dying planet in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. He did a three-month stint as The Elephant Man on Broadway in the 1980s. Bowie also starred in Marlene Dietrich’s last film, Just a Gigolo (1978), and played Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Bowie was born David Jones in London on 8 January in 1947 but Bowie changed his name in 1966 after The Monkees’ Davy Jones achieved stardom. He was in several bands before he signed with Mercury Records, which released his album Man of Words, Man of Music in 1969, which included Space Oddity, his first UK number one. …shared from the BBC
Gothrykke
@Peter Jonsson: Thank you.
Lazycrockett
I really don’t care what other celebrities have to say someone’s death. It mostly comes off as a PR move to piggy back attention off someone’s despair.
trell
I’m devastated! This is very sad news. One of the last bastions of creative musicianship around today has left us.
Fuck 2016!
Bowie has not only pioneered and inspired musically over decades, his unforgettable appearance on Top of the Pops performing “Starman” in his androgynous Ziggy Stardust persona with his arm around Mick Ronson was the sexual awakening of many a homosexual in the 70’s.
RIP David. You were the Prettiest Star!
Brian
In the 70’s and 80’s, we had David Bowie. Today, we have Justin Bieber. God help us.
Chris
What sad news to wake up to. What I find so amazing is how universally and uniformly he was loved and admired. RIP to a real pioneering spirit.
Nate Topaha
Desiree Cardenas
brent6696
He was my hero since I first heard him, as a 12 year old kid, in 1973. I first heard his music playing at friends house, the album was Aladdin Sane. I was hooked. I consider myself lucky because I saw him live 5 times. Some of my long-time friends sent me condolences today. Like millions of others, I am saddened today. Thank you, Mr. Bowie for your existence, it change mine.
Kangol
He was a great singer and personality, and a queer pioneer, so I’m surprised that there aren’t more posts about him.
Maybe younger generations aren’t as familiar with his work. Or maybe it’s the news about the 13-year-old girl he had sex with back in the 1970s, which is just horrible. Who knows?
He was an amazing musician and artist, though, and he helped clear a space for glam rock, gender queer performance, and all kinds of things we don’t think twice about today.
Yiannis
Like @brent6696 I discovered him through Aladdin Sane and after that my life wasn’t the same. Like @PeterJonsson I went on to study everything about his life and work, but somehow he always eluded me. In his own words: I struggle hard to take these pictures in, but all my friends can see is just the pinkness of his skin. Like all of you I grieve.
Daggerman
..what a magniciant pop star! Truly one of the greats, hope you’re at peace. You really had an incredible touch given out to all the non-conformists in this world..
1EqualityUSA
It gave me chills, the comment above, “It feels like we lost something elemental, as if an entire color is gone.” beautiful.
1EqualityUSA
When I was young, my mom and I were washing lettuce side by side. I was drying it on a towel (this was before lettuce spinners were invented). I was listening very intently to to Bowie’s theatrical yowling, “Don’t let me stay, don’t let me stay. My logic says burn, so send me away. Your minds are too green. I despise all I’ve seen. You can’t stake your lives on the Savior Machine.” As the grinding guitar and driving drums dragged this song to its swirling end, my mother looked at me and said, “He sounds so tortured.” I looked at her with dismay and articulated, as any young person might, “I’m never going to meet him.” A pause, the sound of running water, and then she responded with, “I’ve felt like that before.” I asked who it was, because I really had a desperate love for David that was starting to consume me… “Frank Sinatra.” eeeeew! oh, god! oh… I pictured Bowie crooning up at the lake with a neat bourbon in his hand, hips pushed too far forward, as blue-haired oldsters bobbed and swayed to the music. Instant cure. My idolatry vanished. My mother cured me.
Years later, I was driving her Jeep Wagoneer, having given her a ride to an upholstery shop down in the Mission. On our way back, Frankie was belting out one of his bellicose tunes, “Come fly, come fly with me” when this young snip flew out of her driveway, bashing into my ma’s fake, wood siding. To go exchange license info, I turned off the engine, to which she said, “Hey! Don’t turn off Frankie!” Perhaps the cure only went one way.