It's been a decade since his death but David Bowie remains as great a presence in London as ever: the V&A's David Bowie Centre opened to the public last year, it's recently been announced that his childhood home in Bromley will be turned into a museum, and a lavish posthumous archive release campaign came to its head just a few months ago with final set I Can't Give Everything Away.
It also misses the point: rather than being one of the last avatars of a liberal order that has crumbled around our ears, Bowie prophesied the mayhem that has replaced it. In his later years, he thought that we had entered a zone of chaos and fragmentation. This is what allowed him to be so prescient about the internet not its promise, but its menace. There is no plan and no order. There is just disaster and social collapse.
"It was in this small house, particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom," Marsh explained. "As he said, 'I spent so much time in my bedroom. It really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player. Going from my world upstairs out onto the street, I had to pass through this no-man's-land of the living room.'"
There's a theory that the world spun off its axis with the passing of David Bowie, 10 days into January 2016. It was also two days after his final, death-infused album Blackstar appeared from nowhere. As an artistic statement it was prophetic and impeccably theatrical. A feature-length documentary now shines a black light on that album's recording, which some call Bowie's creative resurrection.
A few months later, I got a call from Rolling Stone. David had requested me to shoot him for an article they were doing. This started our 15 years of collaborations: I would get a phone call from David's office, and they would ask if I was I available to talk to David. A few minutes later, the phone would ring, and David would tell me about the project.
I Can't Give Everything Away (2002-2016), released September 12, is the sixth and final mega-box set in Rhino's series that collects most, if not all, of Bowie's recorded output. Available in 13-CD, digital and 18-LP iterations, the set collects the four studio albums, two EPs, and two live albums Bowie recorded in his final decades, along with Re:Call 6 which features 41 non-album tracks. The set also includes a book featuring archival photos and essays, including some by Bowie's frequent co-producer Tony Visconti.
Oldman opened up about his connection with Bowie during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he emphasized the depths of their friendship: "We laughed a lot - a lot. He was very, very, very funny, David," the Oscar-winning actor revealed. "And we sort of had similar kinds of backgrounds, grew up in similar neighborhoods" (Bowie and Oldman both grew up in South London).
David Bowie reflected on his creative burst in 1970s West Berlin, stating that the studio's proximity to the Wall gave him a sense of being on the edge, both mentally and emotionally. He expressed a need for a dangerous level of creativity to thrive, which resonated with the vibrant, divisive culture of Berlin at that time.
