Starman of the charts

Late legendary rocker, David Bowie, tops US charts for the first time ever

NEW YORK:

David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, hit number one in the United States on Sunday — a feat he never achieved during his lifetime. The album was released just two days before his death on January 10, debuting at number one on the Billboard Album Chart for a week through Thursday. In fact, Bowie not only scored his first American chart-topper but also became one of the few artists to have two albums in the top five simultaneously, with his 2002 release Best of Bowie hitting number four.

Blackstar wrested the number one spot from Adele’s blockbuster, 25, which had been ruling the chart for the last seven weeks. The album — which came out on Bowie’s 69th birthday — immediately garnered critical acclaim for its experimentalism as the inventive artist developed a hard and dark jazz sound. His death cast a whole new spotlight onto Blackstar, as it emerged that Bowie  had intended the album to be a final statement on completing a half century in the music industry. For instance, the video of the track Lazarus features Bowie levitating from a hospital bed and disappearing into a dark closet. The conclusive compilation opened at number one in Bowie’s native Britain as well, making it his 10th chart-topper in the country.



Although Bowie cast a great influence over American pop culture, he was generally considered an avant-garde artist who failed to achieve the same mainstream success in America that he had in Britain and the rest of Europe. Prior to Blackstar, the closest he had come to reigning over the charts was with his penultimate album The Next Day, which reached number two in 2013. There was also the pop-driven Let’s Dance which hit number four back in 1983.

Nonetheless, the United States remained a frequent theme in Bowie’s lyricism, with songs ranging from New York’s in Love to I’m Afraid of Americans — a critique on the globalisation of US consumer culture. His 2002 release Heathen reflected upon the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, where Bowie had been residing since the 1970s. He won wide praise for opening a New York benefit concert following September 11, with a performance of his anthem Heroes, as well as Simon and Garfunkel’s America.



Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York, mourned the late rocker as a “big presence in a lot of our lives,” and told reporters that Young Americans was his favourite Bowie song. He also shared that, “The Nixon line rang through my ears for many, many years.” Ever since his death last week, the sidewalk outside Bowie’s Soho penthouse has turned into a shrine of flowers and glitter.

Yet, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2002, Bowie said he was unsure of his legacy in his adopted country. “I am very aware of the impact I’ve had in Europe,” he said. “But my impression of the reception I’d had in America was ‘Oh, here comes that eccentric limey again.’ I never felt that I’d contributed much to the fabric of American rock.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.

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