Being raised by parents who adopted musical tastes throughout their days has its benefits. I’ve grown to appreciate various forms of Rock-n-Roll, as well as “Old School” hip-hop, pop, and rap. Because of this, I’ve gained an ear for all types of music, though within my own lines of what I find catchy. The only downside is when you have to come to the realization that the artists and musicians you listen to, and the artists you look up to, are much older than you might initially think. I came to this realization when David Bowie passed away.
It wasn’t really until 2015 that I started to listen more and more to Bowie’s music. I had always enjoyed it whenever my parents would play it either in the apartment or in the car if we were to go on a trip. When he passed away from cancer, I didn’t realize that even he was 69 years old. It really shocked me, and it’s not even a matter of him almost being 70. I feel as though people who look up to anyone with some sort of fame don’t really notice what they might be going through, unless they dig deep enough and go far enough to do so. When I heard that David Bowie passed away due to cancer, I was really shocked because I knew he had been recording his last album not too long ago and seemed alright at the time, then out of nowhere he just passed.
Though I wasn’t a die-hard fan of his work, it does still really affect me in the sense that his music was something that I really enjoyed, and some of his songs just really stood out and spoke to me. Nobody should have to suffer the fate of dying from cancer, and it was really upsetting to hear that David Bowie had to go because of it.
The same idea goes to a more recent upset. The famous rock idol Prince passed away just the other day, and it hit many people hard, myself included.
As a child I remember the first time I was introduced to Prince’s music. It was during the 2007 Superbowl half-time show, and the first song I heard him sing was “Purple Rain.” It was the first song I ever heard from him, and it was the one that stuck the hardest from the way Prince actually sang the song to the way he played the guitar, and how the rest of the rest of the instrumentals were very anthem-like. It was a song that makes me feel really relaxed up until he begins to vocalize towards the end, where it pumps me up with the trumpets and fanfare-esque sounds. It’s an overall beautiful song.
Despite the passing of these two legends, I know for a fact all of their fans are going to keep their heads up and continue to let their music sing true.
