Good Bye Starman: A Tribute to David Bowie

Screenshot from David Bowie's final video, Lazarus, depicting Bowie on his death bed.

"This Ain't Rock n Roll! This is Genocide!" -David Bowie, Diamond Dogs

I was just coming to grips with the death of Lemmy Kilmister and Scott Weiland...only to be awakened this morning by my girlfriend saying, "I've got some bad news. David Bowie has died." What a sad way to start the day. 

I had no idea he was even sick. Apparently, he was battling cancer and keeping it very private. Just days after his own birthday release of his final album Black Star...and I must say, when you re-watch his last videos, he knew. Lazarus is a haunting image of Bowie on his death bed, and Black Star is remarkably profound tribute to the Starman...If you haven't seen the videos, I've got them below.

My friend Dillon Flyn wrote some of the most profound words on David Bowie I've read so far:

"The western cultural canon is a religion and pop stars are its gods. They are avatars of the glorious heights of human potential and shadowy reflections of our basest animal excesses.

Pry away the image and the persona and I'm sure you'll find that the pop star is also a living and breathing person with a family and weaknesses, but that is totally irrelevant. These men and women belong to us: the strangers who worship at the altar of their legend.

Bowie was a howitzer launched at the establishment on behalf of the sexually confused and the unapologetic and the weirdo and the weakling. We live today in a world that bears his indelible mark."

If there's one thing I've learned from David Bowie, it's this: Don't be Afraid of trying something new.

Get out of your comfortable little bubble. Be a freak. Be weird. Be unique. Be yourself. Never give one flying fuck about whether or not it will ruffle some dullard's feathers. They need to be shaken clean from time to time anyway.

And for you artistic souls out there, push yourself past every limitation you have set upon yourself. They only exist in your mind anyway. Be a magical freakish electric maniac each and every day and know that you are doing the right thing. Damn the naysayers. Always.

Here's a playlist of some of my favorites...and Bowie's final videos.