Life After Ziggy Stardust - Bowie's Legacy One Year Later

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top music outlet, looks at life one-year after Bowie’s passing

It’s hard to believe that it has been an entire year since the world lost the music icon that was David Bowie. Best known for his forward-thinking sound and countless transformations, Bowie passed away from cancer on January 10, 2016, just two days after his 69^th birthday and the release of his 25^th album, ‘Blackstar.’

Bowie rose to fame in the late 1960s, hitting it big in 1969 with his single “Space Oddity.” From there, a star(man) was born. Throughout his career, the singer would reinvent himself many times; the 1970s saw the creation of glam-rock alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, as well as an experimental electronic sound later in the decade, while the 1980s saw a more commercially viable sound and his best chart success ever. Bowie continued to experiment with sound throughout the rest of his career until his death.

Since his passing, David Bowie has arguably become an even bigger star. ‘Blackstar’ became the singer’s only album to peak at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. The album also hit number one in 23 countries, becoming certified gold or platinum in many of them. ‘Blackstar’ was considered one of the top albums of 2016 by a handful of publications. At the end of the year, two of his albums ended up on the Billboard 200 year-end sales chart. The album continues to be a popular topic into 2017, as people are continuing to dig into its packaging, finding countless “easter eggs” hidden away in it, some of which have still not been found.

Heck, Bowie is not even done releasing music on his own. On January 8 (what would have been the singer’s 70^th birthday), he released the ‘No Plan’ EP. The musician’s last known recordings, the four-track record features songs from his 2015/2016 musical ‘Lazarus,’ recorded by Bowie around the same time as ‘Blackstar.’ A video for the song “No Plan” was also released, showing televisions with lyrics to the song scrolling on them. As the song progresses, people start gathering around the screens, paying tribute to the late singer.

Even though it has been a full year since David Bowie’s passing, the world continues to mourn and remember the singer as if it happened yesterday. There have been people doing tributes to him all-year long in various forms. This includes the ‘Celebrating David Bowie’ show tonight at Terminal 5, where many of the singer’s past collaborators and friends will come together to remember man and his music/vision.

David Bowie’s music and career inspires others and will continue to inspire people long after his death. He may have passed away a year ago, but his legacy will live on infinitely. The stars will continue to look different without him for years to come.

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Pick up music from the late David Bowie, as well as music from other artists, at Vinyl Bay 777 and vinylbay777.com. Long Island’s top new record shop has thousands of new and used titles to choose from on vinyl, CD, cassette and DVD. New titles are being added daily, so stop by our Plainview location, or shop online to see what’s new.