I was introduced to David Bowie by my cousin Britt Jorunn, who had the tape of Let's Dance, which I played over and over again. As a matter of fact, listening to Let's Dance still takes me back to my grandmother's house at Geitastrand, right outside of Trondheim. Then Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) aired the Serious Moonlight Tour show that later was released on DVD (it might have been released on video as well) sometime while I was in 6th grade (once again - a most important year), and I was right there with my mono tape deck plugged into the tv through a DIN cable. The tv was mono as well, so that wasn't a problem. I played that concert tape over and over again for a long, long time, but I didn't have all the titles right at all - and didn't know many songs yet.
Later, I started picking up more of his music. I remember buying Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) on tape because I liked the title. It took a long time for me to fully appreciate that album, but now I can clearly hear the impact Robert Fripp had on it. Jon Inge had a tape called Bowie Rare, which had the German version of Heroes (Helden), an Italian version of Space Oddity, (Ragazzo Solo Ragazzo Sola), and some other rarities. After finding bits and pieces of him, I picked up Changesbowie shortly after its release in 1990, and I finally had a good cross section of his work - even though that still wasn't enough. My friend Are had the box Sound+Vision, and it had a live version of the song Station to Station on it, and that really triggered something in me. I traveled quite a bit through the 90s, and one thing I started doing was trying to time the intro to Station to Station to the take off of airplanes I was on. This wasn't all that easy considering different taxi times and the fact that all electronic equipment was supposed to be turned off, but I managed to time it just right on a couple of occasions, and the feeling was very surreal.
Through my more adult life, I have had David Bowie as a constant. He is always around - even if it takes a while between every time I listen. I spent a little time collecting all his music, and while I don't know that I have everything he has released (actually, probably far from it), I do have all his major albums. And, on January 9, 2004, I got to see him live at the Palace of Auburn Hills. I didn't know it at the time, but it looks like the Reality tour will be his final tour. In the summer of 2004 he was playing at the Norwegian Wood festival in Oslo, Norway, when an idiot in the audience tossed a lollipop stick which hit him in the eye. A week later (and hopefully unrelated), he had chest pain during a concert in Germany, leading to the need for angioplasty, which in turn made him cancel the last of his tour - and the last of his touring life by the looks of it.
I had given up all hope on hearing more music from him as well, as Reality (2003) looked like it would be his final album until he sprung The Next Day on us as a surprise in March 2013. The first single, Where Are We Now, was released 3 years ago today - and now it is time for Blackstar, which promises to be a jazzy and experimental album, based on the tracks we already have had the opportunity to hear. Please enjoy the title track!
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