‘David Bowie is my idea of a rockstar’

Bono pays tribute to late performer says no musician comes even close to his musical landscape

In Rolling Stones, latest memorial issue, lead vocalist of U2, Bono, pays tribute to late singer, songwriter and pop innovator — David Bowie. Reflecting on the way Bowie helped him find doors into other worlds, Bono shared the late artist was his idea of a rock star.

“I’ve played at being a rock & roll star, but I’m really not one. David Bowie is my idea of a rock star. Right now, I’m a little cut off from the reaction to David’s passing, but I can assure you the sky is a lot darker here without the Starman,” shared Bono. “I’d like to consider myself David’s friend, but I’m more of a fan.” Bono shared his daughter, Jordan, has also been Bowie’s lifelong fan and often listens to his song Blackstar.



Remembering the first time in 1972, when he saw Bowie performing Starman on the TV show, Top of the Pops, Bono compared Bowie’s talent to that of Elvis Presley’s. “He was so vivid, so luminous, so florescent. We had one of the first coloured TVs on our street, and David Bowie was the reason to have a colour TV. He was our Elvis Presley.”

Bono maintained that not only did Bowie’s presence radiate positivity but the doors he opened for him led to him finding about other artists. “Some of the doors Bowie opened led to other artists. He opened doors for me into Bertolt Brecht, and William Burroughs — And for me, the most important door he opened was the one with Brian Eno behind it,” he shared.



Stating that Bowie’s musical landscape affected one in a way that was completely different from all other music around it, Bono added, “You have to close your eyes and feel his songs and say, ‘What part of me is being played by those notes?’ And in his case, the answer is nobody. That part of me is only played by David Bowie. So that part of me is now a void — I have to find other ways to wake it up. But it woke me up when I was 14.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th,  2016.

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