David Bowie’s gift was changing the world by being himself

Everyone always remembers where they were when they heard the news that a beloved icon has passed. The feeling one gets when the dreaded news is delivered is an uneasy, surreal moment – a reflection of one’s immortality. The emotions following the discovery that the death of a stranger whom you’d never spoken to, nor seen with your own eyes in open public, is all too uncomfortable to bear, because you know the news affects you in a perplexing manner that rationality cannot ascertain.

I remember hearing the news that Margaret Thatcher (by no means a personal icon) had died. This was not a women to whom I wished harm, but her death was of no relevance to my life. Yet I can recall upon hearing of her passing because I, at the age of 18, was the only person on a bus full of elderly people to have a smartphone which displayed that all-so-memorable breaking news.

What I did next was unsurprising; I called my dad. It was perhaps insensitive to bark: “Dad, Margaret Thatcher has died!” down the phone. Several of the people sat next to me on the bus were visibly stunned – though I am certain to this day that the men in front of me made had the biggest grins on their faces.

As stated earlier; my candour on the phone was not the act of an insensitive person. Merely, I just knew dad would be similarly affected/unaffected by the news. So when I heard about the passing of David Bowie, what did I do? Yes, I called my Dad. And the events were almost identical to those I mentioned earlier.

Not only were my eyes alerted by a BREAKING NEWS notification on my phone, my eyes were locked to my Twitter feed. Most tellingly, however, I simply did not know how to react until I made that telephone call. This time, however, there was no scream down the phone. I simply asked: “Have you heard?” If it’s strange to be so stunned by the death of a celebrity, what does it say about my emotional stability that I needed to lie down when I hear that a stranger, almost 50 years my senior, had died?

There is an irrefutable poignancy to the timing of the man’s death. His newly released album, Blackstar, was released on 8 January 2016, the date of Bowie’s 69th birthday and two days before his death. The lyrics to the track “Lazarus”, read as though he was ready for his fate: “Look up here, I’m in heaven. I’ve got scars that can’t be seen. I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen. Everybody knows me now.”

Make no mistake, this was his goodbye.

Mourners took to social media to say goodbye to Ziggy Stardust. “One of a kind”, “a genius”, “the greatest of his time.” Of course, its impossible to be cynical over even the most blatant cliches when they are so true. However, Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis summed it up best when he tweeted: “I think we all thought he would be here forever.”

And that’s why I describe him as the man who changed the world by being himself; because his legacy will be taken for granted by people who were lucky simply to live in a time when David Bowie also lived. Give me a couple of gin & tonics and put on “Let’s Dance”, and you will see the nerdiest and most embarrassing moments a human body should not be physically allowed to make. But in essence, there is the embodiment of the spirit Bowie would want to leave behind. Of course, the man’s exploits could land him the prettiest girl in the room, whereas my dancing would lead to social rejection. But his mission was to make sure that whether you’re a midnight-raver or a bank manager in Telford, the minute you heard his music on the radio, you felt human.

On top of genre-defying music, personifying art at its most abstract yet direct and appealing; here was a man who spoke against societal norms because he didn’t want to be persecuted for having long hair. A man said to be bisexual despite spending his childhood growing up in a time when being gay was illegal. David Bowie had no agendas, no leaflets to push, and no political party to endorse. But when he started, we lived in a time of social conservatism. Now, however, the Tory leader rushes to celebrate the life of this true genius. Talent like his is never forgotten.