I’ll preface this by saying that somehow, I don’t consider myself a huge David Bowie fan even though I still have nearly all of his albums on vinyl and find myself coming back to his catalog regularly.
I don’t consider myself a huge David Bowie fan but I vividly remember practicing my trombone, probably between 5th and 6th grade, with my boombox quietly tuned to KQKY 105.9FM, hoping against hope that “Modern Love” would come on the station and I could hit record. I can’t remember if it ever did but I got Let’s Dance on cassette from my brother that summer. “Cat People” weirded me out then and still does today.
I don’t consider myself a huge Bowie fan but when he played in Prague back in 2004, I happily bought a ticket to my first concert in the city that has been my home for the last nearly 12 years. He got hit in the eye with a projectile lollipop and suffered heart problems during that show and it was cut short. My seats were in the nosebleed section and I didn’t know several of the songs because, well, I didn’t consider myself a huge Bowie fan at the time. I didn’t have all of his albums back then.
It’s also strange that I usually end late night music sessions with friends with the 1972 performance of Bowie on the BBC doing “Oh, You Pretty Things.” It’s Bowie in full Ziggy mode and it defines glam for me.
So, for not being much of a fan, it’s odd that I cranked Station to Station in my headphones at the office on Friday in order to write a report I had procrastinated writing all week. It was done in record time.
It’s also peculiar that his brand new album, Blackstar, was the soundtrack to my morning commute this morning. As I look down at my phone, I see that I’ve only made it through to the song “Girl Loves Me.” I got the news after I got to the office.
Granted, I’m not a huge fan but I’m pretty sure I’ll finish the album on the way home.
Just like a huge fan.
R.I.P., Ziggy.
NotHemingway 