‘The man who fell to Earth returns to the stars…’

I’ve borrowed the quote above from one of the blogs I follow ‘The Nerds of Color’ who have an interesting post on Bowie’s wider influence.

I couldn’t let this moment pass without paying homage to one of Britain’s biggest icons who passed away on Sunday. Although I liked a lot of his music it was his all encompassing artistry, poetry and love of Sci-Fi that drew me in.

He refused to be pigeon-holed into any category, almost as though definitions and categories never applied to him. ‘ I’m not a rock star’ he used to say and that’s right he was much more than that.

He can be credited with influencing many many artists, too many too even list but would we have had punk rock, Boy George, Lady Gaga, Madonna and so on.

Irrespective of age, creed or class his unapologetic approach to living his life exactly as he wanted gave permission to all Brits to be whoever they wanted to be. He never explained his style choices, he didn’t need to, he was androgynous, asexual, multi sexual, android before most people even understood what the words meant.

What I admire most about him though was the way he lived his entire life exactly as God intended, exploring his creativity to the full and blurring the edges between ‘art work’ and life. Even managing to release his last album on his 69th birthday. That is some life story, so David Bowie thank you, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke …… we salute you!