January 8 would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday. Bowie died in 2016, just two days after his 69th birthday.
Dave Grohl and Ricky Gervais were not only fans but friends of David Bowie and this week discussed his legacy.
Grohl said, “I love David Bowie and his music so much because he was in his own universe. Not just music but his ascetic, his personality. A lot of the rock and roll I listened to when I was young was made by people who seems human. Crosby, Still & Nash! I was a huge Crosby, Stills & Nash fan when I was a kid. The Beatles, The Beatles seemed like four huma being to me. David Bowie did not. David Bowie seemed like an alien. I enjoyed that. There was something about Bowie where I was not sure if he was from this planet”.
Ricky Gervais recalls, “I remember thinking back then, 16 as a working class kid, I was thinking ‘of course, I can do anything’. My life felt in colour from then. I remember when I went to college you had to ask people who was your second favourite artist. It was 1980 and I thought, I’m not special, everyone loves him”.
Grohl’s favourite Bowie album is ‘Let’s Dance’. Released in 1983 it was Bowie’s 15th album and included the hits ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘China Girl’ and ‘Modern Love’. Grohl says he admired how Bowie could change. “The way that he could shapeshift and go from one thing to the next. Most Bowie purists will lean on the early days but my favourite Bowie album is ‘Lets Dance’. It is just such as masterpiece. As a drummer, that was one of the things that inspired me to play the drums. He was special because he could move back and forth from genre to sound and image. His ascetic would change. I don’t think anybody could do that as seamlessly as him”.
Gervais, who had his own Bowie inspired duo Seona Dancing in the early 80s, focuses on ‘Heroes’ as his fav. “‘Heroes’ I still think is one of the most amazing records ever made. There was like a weird duality in my head. When I was with him he was this nice man who talked about stuff and I had to keep remembering “that is David Bowie”. It was his birthday, 8th of January, I think he was 57. I sent him an email that just said ’57, isn’t it about time you got a proper job… Signed Ricky Gervais, comedian, 44′. And he sent back ‘I have a proper job, ‘David Bowie, Rock God’. He was funny and smart and he seemed to know everything and he was plugged in. Sometimes I imaged him back home with a bank of computers like in Man Who Feel To Earth, just knowing stuff, just knowing what was going on”.
Be the first to see NOISE.com’s newest interviews and special features on YOUTUBE and updated regularly. See things first SUBSCRIBE here: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE
Follow Noise11 on Social Media
You’ll discover music news first following Noise11 on Twitter
Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook
