2016: The Year of Suck

David Bowie

2016 was the year of suck.  We all know it - many icons in music and acting seemed to drop like proverbial flies.  I already wrote about Caroline Crawley and Leonard Cohen.  I meant to write about David Bowie and Prince, but never got around to it until now.

When David Bowie died a little over a year ago, I cried.  Usually, celebrity deaths don't affect me, but this one did.  Bowie was almost old enough to be my father, and yet he felt more like a spokesman for my generation.   I was a little too young to really remember all of his incarnations in the '70s like Ziggy Stardust, although I do remember hearing songs like "Suffragette City" and "Rebel Rebel" as a kid.  It wasn't until I was a teen that I became aware of his music and the seminal influence that it had on the music I listened to.  So, it was like, "Hey, you know that Bauhaus song?  'Ziggy Stardust'?  Did you know that was a Bowie song?"  I knew him better as The Thin White Duke.  The guy in "Labyrinth".  The cool af guy in the gothic thriller, "The Hunger".  The guy with the perfect coif and cream-colored suit from "Modern Love", "Let's Dance", and who wrote "China Girl" with Iggy Pop.  This was the incarnation of Bowie from my days.

Of course, this led to exploring his older music - like "Space Oddity", "Changes", "Heroes", and "Young Americans".  There has never been a time since I have been alive that Bowie has not been cool and influenced many of the bands that I liked.  In later years, I even listened to Tin Machine, his experiment with more aggressive music.  Over the years, I have owned many Bowie albums. But at his death, I realized that I owned none.  What is it about artists dying that make us want to own their music?  I straightaway bought a greatest hits album - not the first I have owned.  As the days and months have passed, I find that I still miss Bowie.

Prince

Whereas I listened to Bowie a lot in my younger years, I did not listen much to Prince.  Of course, I was completely aware of him.  It was the '80s, and he was one of the best known artists of the decade.  I think that I felt that it wasn't really my type of music.  I didn't like soul or R&B at that age.  I was into metal and punk.  It hasn't been until I have reached adulthood that I have come to understand and appreciate the artistry of his music.  Prince was a performer in every sense of the word.

I had always intended on downloading his music, but, upon learning of his death, I downloaded a collection called "The Very Best of Prince".  This was a mistake.  This collection seems to be radio hits, all of the songs chopped shorter than the album versions.  If you are going to download any songs, go with the album originals.  Beyond that, the record very aptly spans his career, from his '70s hit, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" to his MTV breakthrough, "1999", his songs from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack, songs when he was an unpronounceable symbol, to my favorite - and my kids' favorite - "Kiss",  This song is so offbeat that it could have been Modest Mouse.  An enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Hopefully, 2017 will be kinder to our aging artists.  Listen to their music now while they are still kicking, before they shuffle off this mortal coil.

Note:  Here is a Bowie video below, but it looks like all Prince videos were taken off YouTube.  That's too bad.