Ok, let’s get one thing straight. David Bowie wasn’t God (or an alien), he was
a human being just like you and me. Yes,
like most famous folk people looked up to him and maybe had him as a hero.
Like other celebrities he will possibly have unknowingly
helped people through rough times, but he was essentially just another man.
I myself still can’t believe he has gone. The timing was all wrong, he shouldn’t have
gone yet. Releasing some of the most critically
acclaimed music of his career and seemingly back to being the musical genius
that he was.
He’s gone now and we all have memories to hold on to. He seemed a genuinely nice bloke. He seemed to shy away from the publicity that
many pop-stars crave. He just seemed
like an artist wanting to make music for a career.
There have been a flurry of artists releasing their version
of this Bowie song and their version of that Bowie song and it strikes me that
many of them are piss poor. It would
appear that he had a knack of transforming a song into something very unique. After his death, his family said that they would
not be endorsing any musical ‘tribute’, and to be fair, having heard some of
the stuff people have cobbled together since I’m not surprised.
So, February 15th 2016 and it’s the 58th
Grammy Awards. Lady GaGa will be performing
a tribute to David Bowie. Sounds interesting
and she was probably a big fan. She’s
open to controversy so you never know what will happen.
It starts in fascinating fashion (sorry). A huge screen shows GaGa’s face with some
clever CGI over her features. An orange
splurge turns into the Aladdin Sane zig-zag and a horrible looking spider
crawls over her eyes and bridge of her nose, but then, it descends.
What follows was nothing more or less than
cringeworthy. It’s no wonder that the
Bowie estate wouldn’t endorse any tributes.
The GaGa set is awful. I found
myself watching it in total disbelief. Classic
after classic was performed like a second-rate pub singer. The choreography was awful. It was all wrong.
The audience, probably in embarrassment, lapped it up but
for the more discerning music lover it was shocking.
Now I’m not saying that Bowie’s songs are untouchable and that
no-one can cover them but, please for the love of all that is holy, at least do
them justice. If you can’t then just leave
them alone.
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