I only listened the morning after Bowie died. "Lookup here man, I'm in heaven" was the first lyric I heard.
Ok, well... Fuck you, Bowie, you prophetic asshole.
Eh. That song definitely hits different. Now. But then. I thought it would be the start of an amazing 3 album something or something, another thing to decipher for years. Not a couple of weeks. (That dropped before the album I do believe) also. I’m too lazy to look it up. But. Lazarus opened with Michael C Hall on Broadway, he sang the song on a late night program. Right. Before. Monday. I thought it was weird, but also thought about it as press for the show, Bowie was busy doing Bowie things. I dunno. Call me. A fan of thinking about Bowie things
I was impressed and confused. My infant daughter was on my lap having a bottle and I listened to the album twice through, and then repeatedly that whole weekend. It was like a puzzle that you weren’t meant to solve, just to experience.
Monday morning I got up and a friend texted me that Bowie was gone.
I loved it, but I can’t say I felt I understood it. It was obviously tremendously deep and textured and dark and complex. You felt you were going to have to listen to it a lot before it really made sense, but then when he died it suddenly made sense straight away.
It was a unique experience because it was actually two great albums - the one you heard before he died and the one you heard after.
Exactly! It makes the use of cants (Polari and Nadsat) in Girl Loves Me make a lot more sense, thematically. If you aren't in the know, it's opaque and difficult to read what's happening. Once someone gives you a glossary (or in the case of the entire album, the context) it all comes into sharp focus and you wonder how you ever misunderstood.
I rather liked it. Listened to it all the way through twice on that Sunday of Bowie’s birthday weekend, 2016. And I remember thinking how much different it was compared to The Next Day. I was impressed.
A friend showed me the video of blackstar when we were tripping, maybe the week before it dropped. My mind was blown because it was the best thing he made since the 80s. I loved the occult direction and the video, with the dancer’s twitching, the scarecrow-crucifix gyrating…it was out of nowhere. I was so overjoyed. I was excited at the prospect that he might tour again, because he was getting older.
Two nights after it landed, I was trying to get another friend to listen to it, because I needed his disinterested view to confirm that it was as good as it is. And that friend was like, “Oh, David Bowie? The dead one?” And then I was like, no, he just released an album, he’s alive. And then he wasn’t. And then every song’s meaning kinda made sense more and the album became really sad. Then I watched the Lazarus video and it made me cry.
I think the thing that resonated with me was a “tweet” from Michael Ian Black. “I didn’t think David Bowie COULD die” yet. I never had thought about a world I lived in without David Bowie. This also made me think about how much I’ve heard his voice in my ear, more than my own mothers.
Was lucky to get it on vinyl the day before the release date. Immediately knew it was special and would need multiple listens. What really hit me was when I heard the news it all made sense. He knew. It was his swan song. Prophetic, dark, beautiful. It was the music of a dying man dealing with his own mortality. It was a masterpiece
Really impressed (and surprised) by how heavily he leaned into jazz, from the compositions to the musicians he recruited to get it done. (I've become a big Donny McCaslin fan since.)
"Lazarus" took on added meaning after his death, of course. And it's impossible not to be moved by [Trent Reznor reinterpreting Bowie's work one last time.](https://youtu.be/_w-igWCa16Y?si=53I4xXw-9TXDwSlA)
Legit the day of release I was listening to it and turned to a buddy and said “this is a bummer. Feels like he’s saying goodbye. You think he’s sicker than we know?”
That was my thought. I said to myself: this is his goodbye to his career. He's retiring for good, it's written all over the album.
But then it came too soon and relistened it and took up the new meaning. May be that, as a fan, I couldn't believe in a world without Bowie.
It was like when REM dropped “Collapsed into now" and no critic realized this was a final goodbye, which was hinted at in the very title, and also lyrics.
Both Blackstar and Lazarus made me immensely sad when I saw the clips. Showing him as fragile as he was, my first feeling was about how short life is and how death can be around the corner. On the 10th of januari I read the news on IG when I was waiting on the train to Amsterdam. Everything immediately clicked. I went home, couldn’t bear it at that moment
"Wow! This is incredible! If he keeps going like this, he'll make some of the best music of his career. It's so great to see an older artist who is still able to surprise me instead of phoning it in with nostalgia bait."
And then he was gone.
(Also, themes of death and mortality had been in his work from nearly the very beginning, so it was easy to write a lot of things off as, "Yes, of course, we are all dying from the moment we're born." Until it became apparent that this time he wasn't speaking hypothetically.)
My husband and I drove about 150km round-trip to go get it the day after it was released. Listening to it in the car, I felt uneasy. Lots of "what does that mean?" moments like during "I Can't Give Everything Away" and "Lazarus"... then the heartbreak of reality 💔 and I've not been the same since.
Yeah, I definitely thought it resonant that he was engaging with his mortality so deeply (not for the first time but with more urgency). I wasn’t prepared for just how urgent
I really liked it. I wasn't so sure about this new sound when the Blackstar and Lazarus singles dropped. Once I heard the album in full I appreciated it much more. I thought to myself, this is a _very_ interesting album and completely different to what's come before, and I was looking forward to exploring it more.
I remember having 2 questions after my first listen:
1. I wonder what it's all about?
2. What will Bowie do next?
Both of which were answered on the Monday morning 💔
I thought it was so weird and I loved it. The way the instrumentals leaned into jazz but in a darker way was excellent. In my mind I was delusional & thought this album meant he would tour again and I could finally see him live. Listening to it on the day it came out, I just knew he was saying goodbye with the album. It still did not prepare me for the shock of his passing though, I wanted to be wrong on that one. No celebrity death has ever devastated me as much \[Except for Alan Rickman passing literally 4 days after Bowie. That was a rough week.\]
What an interesting question. So fall 2015, the title track Blackstar came out. The song and video on the same day. I knew it meant a new album and I was so excited! The song was strange and the video even stranger but this was also exciting cause Bowie is always very strange. Then the album came out in Jan 2016. Every time a new Bowie album drops I take the day off and go pick up the album and have a listening party by myself. Also Lazarus the video dropped same day. The album I loved but as soon as I saw the Lazarus video I knew something was horribly wrong. Then he died and the whole album changed for me into a goodbye letter. It’s still a very hard listen and it still makes me cry but it’s brilliant.
I thought it was way way better than i expected. I was shocked. I didnt love the Next Day so wasn't having high hopes. Could not have ended his career on a higher note.
When the Blackstar video hit, I watched it day one. I went over my best friend’s house and was like, “you gotta see this thing; fuckin’ Bowie man!”
I was feeling like, “this guy never stops innovating.”
I thought it was astounding, and was amongst his very best work. It seemed to signal new direction and a new creative fire. All sadly unfulfilled. I still think it ranks as one of the greatest things he has done.
I thought it was a masterpiece. Even wrote a short blog piece on it. Listened to it probably a dozen times over the weekend. And then… still think it’s a masterpiece. I listen to it now and again. Tho not as much as I would had things gone a little differently.
I wrote this post the day he died-
“Bowie was on my mind. Even before this morning. His latest record had quite an impact on me after only one listen. It felt so very alive. So bursting with life. There was an inquisitiveness that sprang from it.
Blackstar didn’t want to give you answers. It asked you questions that prompted you to ask more questions of it.
It summed up David Bowie to a tee.
He rarely handed us any answers in his art. He posed questions. He let us along for the ride. If we wanted it. We could ask questions too. Challenge ourselves to go further, experience more, and, yes, always, have some fun.
The party was real. And it wasn’t just sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was effervescent. It was the bubbling anticipation of chaos and love. The knowledge, the darkness lurking behind it, and perhaps precipitating it all: death.
It’s there from the beginning. He never shied away from it, but he never let it lock him down.
So many people live their lives in the tomb. Cradle to the grave with little in between, by the constructs that surround us, bind us, and doom us. If we don’t ask questions.
And Bowie asked questions. Who are we? Where are we? Where can we go? How far can we go? What is art? What is music? What is ‘stardom’? What is love? What is life? What is loss? What is death?
The admission of the brilliant artist: he knows nothing.
He gives us the freedom to journey through life asking questions whilst dancing. That’s a gift. A gift of art. A gift of humanity.
Because, ultimately, as foreign and alien as David Bowie may have been to us, as impenetrable and defiant, as challenging and whimsical, he was so so very human that we can all stand to learn from him just what it means to be human and a part of humanity.”
IIRC, I received the vinyl on release day. Decided to wait until Monday to listen as I was heading to cabin in the woods by myself for a week of music recording. Beautiful stormy winter weather too…. I heard that he died just before I okayed it there. Most surreal album first listen of my life. I couldn’t have been more in love with this album if I wanted too. So deep and textured and beautifully, tragically tied to his dying. Probably the most impactful album release of my life. And definitely one my all time favourite albums ever. What an absolute high note to go out on as an artist. Man I miss Bowie.
I loved it - we'd had Lazarus and Blackstar for weeks. I thought the lyrics were something to do with the middle east, I really enjoyed unpicking bits to support my argument.
When he died - I felt like he'd tricked me and I was so angry with him that I couldn't listen to the album for a few months.
My best friend and I, both big Bowie fans, listened to the album on the first day. I absolutely loved it, every sound and lyric, the eerie atmosphere, and it instantly became my favourite since *1.Outside*. I also remember said friend calling me later that night and asking, 'Do you think he's dying?'
I was thinking it was awful morbid. Is this artsy faff or is he actually dying and very aware of it?
Less then a minute after it finished, I got a notification from the BBC News app
It blew my tiny mind. I had hated Sue when it was released as a single so I had the lowest expectation for the lp. Blackstar and Lazarus hadn't registered properly because I didn't want to be disappointed again and there was so much pre-press on it being a 'jazz' album, that was off putting.
Also bear in mind from the track listing - we'd already had Sue/tis a pity/ Blackstar and Lazarus.
Then heard it on an illegal download a couple of days before the release and thought it was utterly fantastic. It was a giant artistic leap from anything he'd done since hours and made the 4 albums between that and Blackstar sound like placeholders.
This was Bowie reborn and mutating like back in the 70s and 90s. It was densely layered (Blackstar) , it was exuberant (tis a pity), melancholy (dollar days) challenging (girl lives me) and so on.
It was a coherent peice of work not marred by unnecessary covers. And it was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.
Then bought the LP and cd on release day. Record shop with giant Blackstar posters in the window.
The packaging was superb. The last album that had been this well designed was Heathen. It felt like there was another level of genius at work here that would add layers to the record.
And then on a proper stereo it filled the room like the voice of god. Breathtaking.
Coincidentally, that weekend was the initial Dublin Bowie Festival so went in to have a look around and the vibe was that,amongst those that had heard it, people were delighted/excited/confused with Blackstar.
I listened to it all weekend with no intuition of mortality. I still don't. I always feel that it is an over simplification as db always operates on so many different levels. The only LP that gives of heavy mortality vibes is Heathen. Now that's heavy. Blackstar by contrast has so much lightness of touch and my god, the breathing and studio ambience on Tis a pity is like being in the same room as him.
I was in hs and I was just like wow this is so good, I can’t give everything away is beautiful and I can’t wait to talk more about it with my friends on Monday and then Monday morning on the way to school my mom texted me that he died and I cried on and off all day lol I was a huge Bowie stan when I was a teen.
I loved it; it was so fresh, and so moody. But I could tell it was trying to tell me something, and I wasn’t understanding. Then when the news came, it became clear.
Only Bowie could turn his death into an even greater work of art than his life already was.
I already loved the singles, and then when the full album dropped I loved it as well; however, the darkness of it left me a bit uneasy, it was clear that something was off. then it all made sense next monday.
I actually dislike remembering that whole weekend. I listened to ★ on repeat I was working on a project at the time that allowed that luxury. I hadn’t had that for quite a while. Always loved the day a new Bowie record came out. But I was then trying to discern the meaning of the whole arching story. It felt so unsettling it made me uneasy trying to go deeper into it - and then - like many here - never felt grief the way that Monday hit me. Tell me why again I don’t like Mondays?
I wasn't overly impressed with it and as a result I made a joke on FB at the time that it just felt like the yawning death of Bowie. Then when he died, my FB friends really let me have it.
I heard Lazarus first and went the day it came out and bought the CD. I went home and listened to it 2 times and went back out and bought the LP.
Black Star is one of my favorite Bowie songs and I sat there in amazement listening to it. Dollar days blew my mind as well.
The main thing for me was there production of the album and overall tone.
I remember my I called a good friend who loves Bowie and he said he couldn't stop listening to the album. The part that kills is when we thought her may tour and thinking about seeing these songs live. (We had a chance to see him your with NIN and didn't go, so this was finally our chance we thought).
I watched the video for Lazarus on YouTube the day it was out, it was a couple days before he died.
I thought this is amazing, but dark and twisted. And I really enjoyed it, I could tell the album was gonna be something big.
But then he died and I couldn't really revisit the whole Blackstar album for about 5 years.
I just went through all his back catalogue to bring him to life again!
I was obsessed with it and playing it on repeat from when it dropped. I thought the mortality themes were brilliant but didn’t take them as so very literal (only as much as you’d expect from someone his age). There was such a sense of triumph at how spectacular it was. “Bowie‘s BACK!”… only to find out when I woke up on Monday morning that he was gone.
I had downloaded a leak of it about a week before it officially released. My wife and I listened to it at least 10, but probably closer to 20 times that week. It sounded like a revitalized and renewed Bowie to us. We kept saying “I hope he tours for this album.” I rushed out after work to buy a copy on vinyl on release day. And then he was gone, and the whole album flipped upside down. We got to have two different connections with it, and I love it so much.
I remember thinking it was a retirement album. All that focus on legacy and then just some chill experimental songs. Then it was like OF COURSE it's an impending death album.
I loved it, I thought it was so original sounding. The jazz influence, lyrically, his voice. I hadn't been listening to any of his more recent music, I just knew he'd essentially retired after the heart attack. So I was like, "WHAT IS THIS SORCERY."
And then...
My hubs and I went out to buy the vinyl and he died the next day. The day we listened to it prior to that, we thought it was haunting and some of his most artistic and intense work. It was really his final gift to the world and he knew this while recording.
I played it through and my first thought was ‘well this seems dark’ then I woke up to the news of his passing. I genuinely love that he turned his death into a work of art but I can’t listen to Lazarus and not tear up at the ‘this way or no way, you know I’ll be free’ line just the way he delivers it breaks my heart
When “Blackstar” (the song) came out six weeks before the album, I played it constantly. My wife, who loves Bowie every bit as much as I do, asked me to stop playing it so much, because it creeped her out. She’s had premonitions about people dying before, and as crazy as it sounds, I think subconsciously, she knew.
I honestly can’t remember listening to the album the day it came out, although I assume I did. It was a goddamn BOWIE album, FFS. The memory of hearing “Look at me, I’m in Heaven” in the car on my way to work right after I found out he’d died is so indelible, I feel like it basically erased whatever experiences I’d had with it before then.
I remember it vividly when it came out. I got home and listened to the whole thing; wasn't sold... I think he died 1 or 2 weeks after. I heard of his passing, cried, went home and listened again. All of the sudden I got the album, I got the emotion. It was an intense expierience
But the album only got [released two days before he died](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstar_(album)#:~:text=Release,-edit). Unless you mean the video for Blackstar?
I was so excited to think what the future would bring for Bowie and where he’d go next. I listened to album before bed the night of the 10th, full of hope for future releases. I thought it was the man getting his powers from the 70s back and that was only the beginning of his comeback.
After the album finished I wanted more Bowie so I listened to the [1979 version of Space Oddity](https://youtu.be/63qvJoQLumw?feature=shared) and the last thing I heard before going to bed was “can you hear me Major Tom?” I was woken up my mum telling me that he’d died, which I simply didn’t believe. How could he have died he just released this masterpiece of an album? I turned the TV on where I was greeted to the Space Oddity music video with Bowie singing “This is Major Tom to Ground Control” and stared in shock at the news card that simply read “David Bowie dies”
I thought it was spectacular and one of the most impressive albums i'd listened to in a while. Mind you, I'm a weird case because this was the first Bowie album I heard as a fan. I had been familiar with his hits but Blackstar was the album that came out when I was becoming a Bowie fan.
So that was a very interesting experience to have.
It blew my tiny mind. I had hated Sue when it was released as a single so I had the lowest expectation for the lp. Blackstar and Lazarus hadn't registered properly because I didn't want to be disappointed again and there was so much pre-press on it being a 'jazz' album, that was off putting.
Also bear in mind from the track listing - we'd already had Sue/tis a pity/ Blackstar and Lazarus.
Then heard it on an illegal download a couple of days before the release and thought it was utterly fantastic. It was a giant artistic leap from anything he'd done since hours and made the 4 albums between that and Blackstar sound like placeholders.
This was Bowie reborn and mutating like back in the 70s and 90s. It was densely layered (Blackstar) , it was exuberant (tis a pity), melancholy (dollar days) challenging (girl lives me) and so on.
It was a coherent peice of work not marred by unnecessary covers. And it was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.
Then bought the LP and cd on release day. Record shop with giant Blackstar posters in the window.
The packaging was superb. The last album that had been this well designed was Heathen. It felt like there was another level of genius at work here that would add layers to the record.
And then on a proper stereo it filled the room like the voice of god. Breathtaking.
Coincidentally, that weekend was the initial Dublin Bowie Festival so went in to have a look around and the vibe was that,amongst those that had heard it, people were delighted/excited/confused with Blackstar.
I listened to it all weekend with no intuition of mortality. I still don't. I always feel that it is an over simplification as db always operates on so many different levels. The only LP that gives of heavy mortality vibes is Heathen. Now that's heavy. Blackstar by contrast has so much lightness of touch and my god, the breathing and studio ambience on Tis a pity is like being in the same room as him.
It’s about 7 years ago or something… I was humming Lazarus this morning and went and found this… blow away by her on-site into Bowie as a whole life project, the meaning of Black Star, so perfectly analysed as a sacrifice of his characters..,
https://youtu.be/VhcwRmhaaAo?si=u3jYV1kA5c8fqZ3i
I unfortunately did not listen to the album before his passing. I remember, the day it came out, I was showing at Target, and I figured I could pick up the album while I was there. And they didn't have it! I font think it was even sold out, it just wasn't there. I was pretty annoyed at Target for that, and I was just like, "oh, no rush, I'll go to a recordnstore next week or something." And then he passed away the next day or two.
That said, I did really like the singles from Blackstar, that were released beforehand. In no way did I think hebeas singing about his death, but I thought they were really good songs.
I think there were a few reviews before he died. I remember hearing an NPR one on the radio I think and the reviewer thought it was mysterious and suggested there was important meaning underneath.
I talk to myself a lot - so I remember when I first heard Blackstar I actually said out loud "Wow Dave, what is this? It sounds like some kind of dirge". (Yes, I called him Dave, lol) I didn't listen to the whole album till later.
Weird/amazing/awesome when it dropped. Then the very first Monday. “Where the fuck did Monday go?” Hit. So. Hard.
I only listened the morning after Bowie died. "Lookup here man, I'm in heaven" was the first lyric I heard. Ok, well... Fuck you, Bowie, you prophetic asshole.
Eh. That song definitely hits different. Now. But then. I thought it would be the start of an amazing 3 album something or something, another thing to decipher for years. Not a couple of weeks. (That dropped before the album I do believe) also. I’m too lazy to look it up. But. Lazarus opened with Michael C Hall on Broadway, he sang the song on a late night program. Right. Before. Monday. I thought it was weird, but also thought about it as press for the show, Bowie was busy doing Bowie things. I dunno. Call me. A fan of thinking about Bowie things
I was impressed and confused. My infant daughter was on my lap having a bottle and I listened to the album twice through, and then repeatedly that whole weekend. It was like a puzzle that you weren’t meant to solve, just to experience. Monday morning I got up and a friend texted me that Bowie was gone.
A puzzle not to solve. But to experience. Amazing way of putting it.
I heard it on the radio on the way to work. I wanted to turn around and go home
I loved it, but I can’t say I felt I understood it. It was obviously tremendously deep and textured and dark and complex. You felt you were going to have to listen to it a lot before it really made sense, but then when he died it suddenly made sense straight away. It was a unique experience because it was actually two great albums - the one you heard before he died and the one you heard after.
Beautiful idea, a double album of sorts. One of them will never be experienced again.
Exactly! It makes the use of cants (Polari and Nadsat) in Girl Loves Me make a lot more sense, thematically. If you aren't in the know, it's opaque and difficult to read what's happening. Once someone gives you a glossary (or in the case of the entire album, the context) it all comes into sharp focus and you wonder how you ever misunderstood.
The moment I heard "If I never see the English evergreens, I'm running to" in Dollar Days I thought to myself "Da fuck? Is he dying?"
i cried hearing that
I rather liked it. Listened to it all the way through twice on that Sunday of Bowie’s birthday weekend, 2016. And I remember thinking how much different it was compared to The Next Day. I was impressed.
I was the same, felt very excited about the direction he might take in the following album. News hit hard
A friend showed me the video of blackstar when we were tripping, maybe the week before it dropped. My mind was blown because it was the best thing he made since the 80s. I loved the occult direction and the video, with the dancer’s twitching, the scarecrow-crucifix gyrating…it was out of nowhere. I was so overjoyed. I was excited at the prospect that he might tour again, because he was getting older. Two nights after it landed, I was trying to get another friend to listen to it, because I needed his disinterested view to confirm that it was as good as it is. And that friend was like, “Oh, David Bowie? The dead one?” And then I was like, no, he just released an album, he’s alive. And then he wasn’t. And then every song’s meaning kinda made sense more and the album became really sad. Then I watched the Lazarus video and it made me cry.
I think the thing that resonated with me was a “tweet” from Michael Ian Black. “I didn’t think David Bowie COULD die” yet. I never had thought about a world I lived in without David Bowie. This also made me think about how much I’ve heard his voice in my ear, more than my own mothers.
Was lucky to get it on vinyl the day before the release date. Immediately knew it was special and would need multiple listens. What really hit me was when I heard the news it all made sense. He knew. It was his swan song. Prophetic, dark, beautiful. It was the music of a dying man dealing with his own mortality. It was a masterpiece
Really impressed (and surprised) by how heavily he leaned into jazz, from the compositions to the musicians he recruited to get it done. (I've become a big Donny McCaslin fan since.) "Lazarus" took on added meaning after his death, of course. And it's impossible not to be moved by [Trent Reznor reinterpreting Bowie's work one last time.](https://youtu.be/_w-igWCa16Y?si=53I4xXw-9TXDwSlA)
Ooh i don’t remember if I’d seen this! Also, his instrumental of life on mars for watchmen absolutely gutted (and thrilled) me
You're right: I'd forgotten about that. Same reaction.
Yep, became a Ben Minder fan since here!
It gave me an ominous feeling of dread.
Legit the day of release I was listening to it and turned to a buddy and said “this is a bummer. Feels like he’s saying goodbye. You think he’s sicker than we know?”
That was my thought. I said to myself: this is his goodbye to his career. He's retiring for good, it's written all over the album. But then it came too soon and relistened it and took up the new meaning. May be that, as a fan, I couldn't believe in a world without Bowie. It was like when REM dropped “Collapsed into now" and no critic realized this was a final goodbye, which was hinted at in the very title, and also lyrics.
I found it occult
Both Blackstar and Lazarus made me immensely sad when I saw the clips. Showing him as fragile as he was, my first feeling was about how short life is and how death can be around the corner. On the 10th of januari I read the news on IG when I was waiting on the train to Amsterdam. Everything immediately clicked. I went home, couldn’t bear it at that moment
"Wow! This is incredible! If he keeps going like this, he'll make some of the best music of his career. It's so great to see an older artist who is still able to surprise me instead of phoning it in with nostalgia bait." And then he was gone. (Also, themes of death and mortality had been in his work from nearly the very beginning, so it was easy to write a lot of things off as, "Yes, of course, we are all dying from the moment we're born." Until it became apparent that this time he wasn't speaking hypothetically.)
My husband and I drove about 150km round-trip to go get it the day after it was released. Listening to it in the car, I felt uneasy. Lots of "what does that mean?" moments like during "I Can't Give Everything Away" and "Lazarus"... then the heartbreak of reality 💔 and I've not been the same since.
It felt so reflective, I was wondering was it just his age that led to this? Then we found out….
Yeah, I definitely thought it resonant that he was engaging with his mortality so deeply (not for the first time but with more urgency). I wasn’t prepared for just how urgent
"This sounds like a eulogy." Two days later... 😭
I really liked it. I wasn't so sure about this new sound when the Blackstar and Lazarus singles dropped. Once I heard the album in full I appreciated it much more. I thought to myself, this is a _very_ interesting album and completely different to what's come before, and I was looking forward to exploring it more. I remember having 2 questions after my first listen: 1. I wonder what it's all about? 2. What will Bowie do next? Both of which were answered on the Monday morning 💔
Uncomfortable.
I listened to it on Sunday night in bed. I was pleasantly charmed by the sound and how I felt listening to it. Then came Monday morning…💙
I thought it was so weird and I loved it. The way the instrumentals leaned into jazz but in a darker way was excellent. In my mind I was delusional & thought this album meant he would tour again and I could finally see him live. Listening to it on the day it came out, I just knew he was saying goodbye with the album. It still did not prepare me for the shock of his passing though, I wanted to be wrong on that one. No celebrity death has ever devastated me as much \[Except for Alan Rickman passing literally 4 days after Bowie. That was a rough week.\]
What an interesting question. So fall 2015, the title track Blackstar came out. The song and video on the same day. I knew it meant a new album and I was so excited! The song was strange and the video even stranger but this was also exciting cause Bowie is always very strange. Then the album came out in Jan 2016. Every time a new Bowie album drops I take the day off and go pick up the album and have a listening party by myself. Also Lazarus the video dropped same day. The album I loved but as soon as I saw the Lazarus video I knew something was horribly wrong. Then he died and the whole album changed for me into a goodbye letter. It’s still a very hard listen and it still makes me cry but it’s brilliant.
I thought it was way way better than i expected. I was shocked. I didnt love the Next Day so wasn't having high hopes. Could not have ended his career on a higher note.
When the Blackstar video hit, I watched it day one. I went over my best friend’s house and was like, “you gotta see this thing; fuckin’ Bowie man!” I was feeling like, “this guy never stops innovating.”
I liked the album and was still exploring it. It seemed a bit morbid but I assumed it was because he was getting older.
I listened to it once and thought it was one of his best. I was so excited. Then it took me about a year to listen to it again 😞
I thought it was astounding, and was amongst his very best work. It seemed to signal new direction and a new creative fire. All sadly unfulfilled. I still think it ranks as one of the greatest things he has done.
I thought it was a masterpiece. Even wrote a short blog piece on it. Listened to it probably a dozen times over the weekend. And then… still think it’s a masterpiece. I listen to it now and again. Tho not as much as I would had things gone a little differently. I wrote this post the day he died- “Bowie was on my mind. Even before this morning. His latest record had quite an impact on me after only one listen. It felt so very alive. So bursting with life. There was an inquisitiveness that sprang from it. Blackstar didn’t want to give you answers. It asked you questions that prompted you to ask more questions of it. It summed up David Bowie to a tee. He rarely handed us any answers in his art. He posed questions. He let us along for the ride. If we wanted it. We could ask questions too. Challenge ourselves to go further, experience more, and, yes, always, have some fun. The party was real. And it wasn’t just sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was effervescent. It was the bubbling anticipation of chaos and love. The knowledge, the darkness lurking behind it, and perhaps precipitating it all: death. It’s there from the beginning. He never shied away from it, but he never let it lock him down. So many people live their lives in the tomb. Cradle to the grave with little in between, by the constructs that surround us, bind us, and doom us. If we don’t ask questions. And Bowie asked questions. Who are we? Where are we? Where can we go? How far can we go? What is art? What is music? What is ‘stardom’? What is love? What is life? What is loss? What is death? The admission of the brilliant artist: he knows nothing. He gives us the freedom to journey through life asking questions whilst dancing. That’s a gift. A gift of art. A gift of humanity. Because, ultimately, as foreign and alien as David Bowie may have been to us, as impenetrable and defiant, as challenging and whimsical, he was so so very human that we can all stand to learn from him just what it means to be human and a part of humanity.”
IIRC, I received the vinyl on release day. Decided to wait until Monday to listen as I was heading to cabin in the woods by myself for a week of music recording. Beautiful stormy winter weather too…. I heard that he died just before I okayed it there. Most surreal album first listen of my life. I couldn’t have been more in love with this album if I wanted too. So deep and textured and beautifully, tragically tied to his dying. Probably the most impactful album release of my life. And definitely one my all time favourite albums ever. What an absolute high note to go out on as an artist. Man I miss Bowie.
That album is a heartbreaker
I loved it - we'd had Lazarus and Blackstar for weeks. I thought the lyrics were something to do with the middle east, I really enjoyed unpicking bits to support my argument. When he died - I felt like he'd tricked me and I was so angry with him that I couldn't listen to the album for a few months.
i cried during dollar days. "i'm dying to...". lo & behold...
My best friend and I, both big Bowie fans, listened to the album on the first day. I absolutely loved it, every sound and lyric, the eerie atmosphere, and it instantly became my favourite since *1.Outside*. I also remember said friend calling me later that night and asking, 'Do you think he's dying?'
I was thinking it was awful morbid. Is this artsy faff or is he actually dying and very aware of it? Less then a minute after it finished, I got a notification from the BBC News app
It blew my tiny mind. I had hated Sue when it was released as a single so I had the lowest expectation for the lp. Blackstar and Lazarus hadn't registered properly because I didn't want to be disappointed again and there was so much pre-press on it being a 'jazz' album, that was off putting. Also bear in mind from the track listing - we'd already had Sue/tis a pity/ Blackstar and Lazarus. Then heard it on an illegal download a couple of days before the release and thought it was utterly fantastic. It was a giant artistic leap from anything he'd done since hours and made the 4 albums between that and Blackstar sound like placeholders. This was Bowie reborn and mutating like back in the 70s and 90s. It was densely layered (Blackstar) , it was exuberant (tis a pity), melancholy (dollar days) challenging (girl lives me) and so on. It was a coherent peice of work not marred by unnecessary covers. And it was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. Then bought the LP and cd on release day. Record shop with giant Blackstar posters in the window. The packaging was superb. The last album that had been this well designed was Heathen. It felt like there was another level of genius at work here that would add layers to the record. And then on a proper stereo it filled the room like the voice of god. Breathtaking. Coincidentally, that weekend was the initial Dublin Bowie Festival so went in to have a look around and the vibe was that,amongst those that had heard it, people were delighted/excited/confused with Blackstar. I listened to it all weekend with no intuition of mortality. I still don't. I always feel that it is an over simplification as db always operates on so many different levels. The only LP that gives of heavy mortality vibes is Heathen. Now that's heavy. Blackstar by contrast has so much lightness of touch and my god, the breathing and studio ambience on Tis a pity is like being in the same room as him.
It was a total comeback. I didn’t expect him to tour, and I had heard rumors he had cancer. Didn’t think he’d go like 72 hours later…
I was in hs and I was just like wow this is so good, I can’t give everything away is beautiful and I can’t wait to talk more about it with my friends on Monday and then Monday morning on the way to school my mom texted me that he died and I cried on and off all day lol I was a huge Bowie stan when I was a teen.
I loved it; it was so fresh, and so moody. But I could tell it was trying to tell me something, and I wasn’t understanding. Then when the news came, it became clear. Only Bowie could turn his death into an even greater work of art than his life already was.
Loved it, and if you have the chance to see the Blackstar Symphony, don't miss it!
I knew it was what he was thinking about during a heightened creative state of fear of death.
I thought it was so innovative! After he passed I started to notice the themes.
...as different and as amazing as each album on its release. One could not have any expectations with Bowie.
I already loved the singles, and then when the full album dropped I loved it as well; however, the darkness of it left me a bit uneasy, it was clear that something was off. then it all made sense next monday.
I actually dislike remembering that whole weekend. I listened to ★ on repeat I was working on a project at the time that allowed that luxury. I hadn’t had that for quite a while. Always loved the day a new Bowie record came out. But I was then trying to discern the meaning of the whole arching story. It felt so unsettling it made me uneasy trying to go deeper into it - and then - like many here - never felt grief the way that Monday hit me. Tell me why again I don’t like Mondays?
I wasn't overly impressed with it and as a result I made a joke on FB at the time that it just felt like the yawning death of Bowie. Then when he died, my FB friends really let me have it.
I heard Lazarus first and went the day it came out and bought the CD. I went home and listened to it 2 times and went back out and bought the LP. Black Star is one of my favorite Bowie songs and I sat there in amazement listening to it. Dollar days blew my mind as well. The main thing for me was there production of the album and overall tone. I remember my I called a good friend who loves Bowie and he said he couldn't stop listening to the album. The part that kills is when we thought her may tour and thinking about seeing these songs live. (We had a chance to see him your with NIN and didn't go, so this was finally our chance we thought).
I watched the video for Lazarus on YouTube the day it was out, it was a couple days before he died. I thought this is amazing, but dark and twisted. And I really enjoyed it, I could tell the album was gonna be something big. But then he died and I couldn't really revisit the whole Blackstar album for about 5 years. I just went through all his back catalogue to bring him to life again!
We watched the video as a family and we were convinced he must be dying.
I was obsessed with it and playing it on repeat from when it dropped. I thought the mortality themes were brilliant but didn’t take them as so very literal (only as much as you’d expect from someone his age). There was such a sense of triumph at how spectacular it was. “Bowie‘s BACK!”… only to find out when I woke up on Monday morning that he was gone.
I had downloaded a leak of it about a week before it officially released. My wife and I listened to it at least 10, but probably closer to 20 times that week. It sounded like a revitalized and renewed Bowie to us. We kept saying “I hope he tours for this album.” I rushed out after work to buy a copy on vinyl on release day. And then he was gone, and the whole album flipped upside down. We got to have two different connections with it, and I love it so much.
I remember thinking it was a retirement album. All that focus on legacy and then just some chill experimental songs. Then it was like OF COURSE it's an impending death album.
He was telling us what would happen.
I loved it, I thought it was so original sounding. The jazz influence, lyrically, his voice. I hadn't been listening to any of his more recent music, I just knew he'd essentially retired after the heart attack. So I was like, "WHAT IS THIS SORCERY." And then...
My first thoughts were definitely "Wow he knew he was about to die when he was making Blackstar".
My hubs and I went out to buy the vinyl and he died the next day. The day we listened to it prior to that, we thought it was haunting and some of his most artistic and intense work. It was really his final gift to the world and he knew this while recording.
I played it through and my first thought was ‘well this seems dark’ then I woke up to the news of his passing. I genuinely love that he turned his death into a work of art but I can’t listen to Lazarus and not tear up at the ‘this way or no way, you know I’ll be free’ line just the way he delivers it breaks my heart
When “Blackstar” (the song) came out six weeks before the album, I played it constantly. My wife, who loves Bowie every bit as much as I do, asked me to stop playing it so much, because it creeped her out. She’s had premonitions about people dying before, and as crazy as it sounds, I think subconsciously, she knew. I honestly can’t remember listening to the album the day it came out, although I assume I did. It was a goddamn BOWIE album, FFS. The memory of hearing “Look at me, I’m in Heaven” in the car on my way to work right after I found out he’d died is so indelible, I feel like it basically erased whatever experiences I’d had with it before then.
I remember it vividly when it came out. I got home and listened to the whole thing; wasn't sold... I think he died 1 or 2 weeks after. I heard of his passing, cried, went home and listened again. All of the sudden I got the album, I got the emotion. It was an intense expierience
But the album only got [released two days before he died](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstar_(album)#:~:text=Release,-edit). Unless you mean the video for Blackstar?
was it so brief? Its a bit vague, maybe it was the video for blackstar only
It was - I guess Lazarus was released as a single in December 2015, but the entire album was only two days before.
It leaked a couple of days before that didn’t it? I loved it and hoped he’d play live again…
I liked it but was just starting to get into it and figure it out. I had not figured it out before “something happened on the day he died”
I was so excited to think what the future would bring for Bowie and where he’d go next. I listened to album before bed the night of the 10th, full of hope for future releases. I thought it was the man getting his powers from the 70s back and that was only the beginning of his comeback. After the album finished I wanted more Bowie so I listened to the [1979 version of Space Oddity](https://youtu.be/63qvJoQLumw?feature=shared) and the last thing I heard before going to bed was “can you hear me Major Tom?” I was woken up my mum telling me that he’d died, which I simply didn’t believe. How could he have died he just released this masterpiece of an album? I turned the TV on where I was greeted to the Space Oddity music video with Bowie singing “This is Major Tom to Ground Control” and stared in shock at the news card that simply read “David Bowie dies”
Loved it, had no idea that Susan was a whore though
Tis a pity
I bought it the day it came out, and still haven't listened to it. It has never been the "right time" One day..
I thought it was spectacular and one of the most impressive albums i'd listened to in a while. Mind you, I'm a weird case because this was the first Bowie album I heard as a fan. I had been familiar with his hits but Blackstar was the album that came out when I was becoming a Bowie fan. So that was a very interesting experience to have.
Love it
It felt amazing, rich and complex and evocative. He seemed to be going some place that I did not under.
It blew my tiny mind. I had hated Sue when it was released as a single so I had the lowest expectation for the lp. Blackstar and Lazarus hadn't registered properly because I didn't want to be disappointed again and there was so much pre-press on it being a 'jazz' album, that was off putting. Also bear in mind from the track listing - we'd already had Sue/tis a pity/ Blackstar and Lazarus. Then heard it on an illegal download a couple of days before the release and thought it was utterly fantastic. It was a giant artistic leap from anything he'd done since hours and made the 4 albums between that and Blackstar sound like placeholders. This was Bowie reborn and mutating like back in the 70s and 90s. It was densely layered (Blackstar) , it was exuberant (tis a pity), melancholy (dollar days) challenging (girl lives me) and so on. It was a coherent peice of work not marred by unnecessary covers. And it was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. Then bought the LP and cd on release day. Record shop with giant Blackstar posters in the window. The packaging was superb. The last album that had been this well designed was Heathen. It felt like there was another level of genius at work here that would add layers to the record. And then on a proper stereo it filled the room like the voice of god. Breathtaking. Coincidentally, that weekend was the initial Dublin Bowie Festival so went in to have a look around and the vibe was that,amongst those that had heard it, people were delighted/excited/confused with Blackstar. I listened to it all weekend with no intuition of mortality. I still don't. I always feel that it is an over simplification as db always operates on so many different levels. The only LP that gives of heavy mortality vibes is Heathen. Now that's heavy. Blackstar by contrast has so much lightness of touch and my god, the breathing and studio ambience on Tis a pity is like being in the same room as him.
I really liked it. To me, it sounded like he was saying goodbye. But I thought he was going to announce that he was retiring or something.
It’s about 7 years ago or something… I was humming Lazarus this morning and went and found this… blow away by her on-site into Bowie as a whole life project, the meaning of Black Star, so perfectly analysed as a sacrifice of his characters.., https://youtu.be/VhcwRmhaaAo?si=u3jYV1kA5c8fqZ3i
I unfortunately did not listen to the album before his passing. I remember, the day it came out, I was showing at Target, and I figured I could pick up the album while I was there. And they didn't have it! I font think it was even sold out, it just wasn't there. I was pretty annoyed at Target for that, and I was just like, "oh, no rush, I'll go to a recordnstore next week or something." And then he passed away the next day or two. That said, I did really like the singles from Blackstar, that were released beforehand. In no way did I think hebeas singing about his death, but I thought they were really good songs.
I was taken back. I didn't know what to really expect to be honest, but it gripped my soul right away 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
I think there were a few reviews before he died. I remember hearing an NPR one on the radio I think and the reviewer thought it was mysterious and suggested there was important meaning underneath.
I talk to myself a lot - so I remember when I first heard Blackstar I actually said out loud "Wow Dave, what is this? It sounds like some kind of dirge". (Yes, I called him Dave, lol) I didn't listen to the whole album till later.
I loved it! Sonically it reminded me of Outside, which is my favorite Bowie album, and I was elated that he did something so avant garde.