The Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, the Space Oddity, the guy in the tight pants from Labyrinth, David Bowie has had a lot of identities over his career, morphing from rock to soul to electronica to movie star to music superstar to androgynous chameleon. He was even the first artist to be covered in a music video shot entirely in space! Only one person can check off so many boxes at once, throughout one career, and that long career has come to an end. David Bowie has died at age 69 after an 18-month bout with cancer.
The rock star passed Sunday, having just released a brand new album called Blackstar to wide acclaim. Indeed, the album’s theme–death, for the most part–was deliberate on the part of Bowie, who planned the album to function as a last hurrah for the Thin White Duke, the man who had more identities and lives than any single rock star ever has (even more than Madonna!). Like someone of his ilk, he’s had a wide variety of influences and has influenced hundreds of artists, musicians, and even insect scientists.
It’s not every day that a legend dies, and the tributes are just pouring in left right and center for Bowie, who seemed to have a period for every taste, from pop to punk rock.
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