Over the last few weeks, the music world has lost some of its brightest stars. Lemmy and Glenn Frey were enormous talents, and their loss broke the hearts of so many music fans. Personally, the loss of David Bowie shook me more than any other. Although he may have been at his peak long before I was born, he had such a profound influence on me, especially as a teenager. Bowie got me through two Leaving Certs and countless angst filled evenings locked in my room. My favourite thing about David Bowie wasn’t his music, it was his absolute fearlessness in being different. It’s so rare to see someone be unapologetic in being themselves. Bowie never apologised for being weird. He revelled in his own strangeness. It’s been said countless times in countless obituaries, but he made it cool to be different. Bowie was a shining example of how being unique is never a bad thing. He encouraged us all, through his constant re-invention, through the idea that you don’t have to be like everyone else, or even yourself. I personally find great comfort in that. He has always inspired me to be that bit different and to be fearless. Bowie was the enemy of stagnation, the master of re-invention and creativity. He was cool, he was clever, he was never boring, and always a little bit weird. We could all do with being a little bit more like David Bowie.
My Top Ten Bowie Tracks:
- Space Oddity
- Heroes
- Moonage Daydream
- Under Pressure (with Queen)
- Starman
- Rebel Rebel
- Ashes to Ashes
- The Man Who Sold the World
- Golden Years
- Kooks
- Aoileann Kennedy, Music Writer
