As the passing of entertainers becomes more and more high-profile with the growth of digital media, there’s the pushback that we should be honoring military or other brave, noble causes mare than we honor celebrities. However the recent passing of David Bowie shows us an important concept that we should keep in mind.
Art is needed. One could debate whether some of Bowie’s work is art, especially during his younger years when he was sowing his oats and living like a young rock star. Bowie’s contributions to the music and performance art world, along with his ability to help us leave our minds and think about both social justice and escaping into fiction at the same time, and to me, that’s almost as important a role in society as news reporter or bridge architect.
Bowie showed us how to bring many worlds together — punk, pop, savage, civilized, frivolous, solution-oriented — all while looking and sounding incredibly entertaining. There haven’t been many white men hanging out in North America in the past 50 years who have brought funk, soul, guitar rock and techno together like Bowie. He probably could have united country with gangster rap or Latin rhythms with Enya, if he were compelled to do so.
Hopefully, any of us who watched Bowie evolve and weave his way in and out of the limelight also realized the lessons we learn from eclectic, multi-talented people. From Bowie, we learn there are no needs to have bounds on who we are, and being kind not only to ourselves and others is as critical as having clean water or affordable housing.
Bowie had a fair amount of involvement with some amazing charities, such as 21st Century Leaders, which fosters fair-trade practices internationally. His personal artwork has been included with Whatever It Takes, a support organization that sells artwork to support 21st Century Leaders.
Speaking of artwork, Bowie’s original pieces are for sale in a Detroit gallery for as much as $7,000. It seemed there’s nothing he couldn’t do; he might have been able to refute any claim that he had never manufactured an airplane by fashioning one out of an aluminum can on the spot.
While contemplating this week how Bowie had battled his 1970s demons seemingly as successfully as Elton John, and, in many ways, more successfully than Billy Joel, I wondered what value celebrities have in showing us how to live.
I also contemplated the lives of six U.S. servicemen killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 21 and wondered what they showed us. I suppose those men showed us how to be brave and go forth in the face of danger, and it seems disrespectful to talk about the life of someone who didn’t make any of the sacrifices of being in the armed forces.
Why should we wonder about the thoughts or troubles of a rock star, no matter how amazing their work? Because we all knew who he is and some of his life experiences were well-known. Yes, he lived the soft and easy way of American life soldiers die defending. But Bowie also knew all human emotions and lived a public life that allows us to connect with his triumphs and defeats.
He also wrote the anthems of generations. Even folks who don’t particular care for Bowie can recall where they were in life when “Changes” or “Let’s Dance” were released, as those were universally popular songs.
Bowie covered his own fears in a way we should remember, and wrote some of the simplest lines that we can pull out as life lessons on a daily basis. The Wallflowers covered one of Bowie’s best-known choruses: “We could be heroes — just for one day.”
Contact Jason W. Brooks at
641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or
jbrooks@newtondailynews.com