IN MEMORIAM
MEDIA &
ENTERTAINMENT
170
ROCK
GODS
Long live David Bowie and Prince.
Our love for their music will never wane.
words
W
JASON INOCENCIO
hat is it with 2016
and all these celebrity
deaths? That’s what
a lot of us have been
wondering since the new year
rolled around and we were almost
immediately faced with the loss of
a music icon. On January 10, many
Filipinos woke up to learn that David
Bowie had passed away after a long
battle with liver cancer at age 69.
For many, Bowie’s lasting
image was as the strange, sexually
ambiguous Ziggy Stardust, a
character he created that epitomized
“glam rock” in the early 1970s.
This was followed by the soul/funk
phase of “The Thin White Duke”
and his years recording in Berlin.
I only became aware of Bowie in
his 1980s New Romantic phase,
seamlessly immersing himself with
the new decade. He would continue
to be an icon for what was once
perceived as strange or sexually
deviant, but always personified
coolness. Bowie was so cool that
his turn as Jareth the Goblin King
in 1986’s Labyrinth remains a cult
favorite while his cameo in 2001’s
Zoolander was pure perfection.
adobo magazine | July - August 2016
Yet at his core, Bowie was always
about the music that he created.
Ranging from the otherworldy
“Changes,” “Starman,” and
“Diamond Dogs,” to the rocking
beats of “Suffragette City,”
“Heroes,” and his immortal
collaboration with Queen that was
“Under Pressure,” my personal
Bowie favorites are “Let’s Dance,”
“Modern Love,” “China Girl,”
and “Blue Jean.” So prolific was
the man that he released his final
album, “Blackstar,” on his birthday,
just two days before his passing.
On April 21, with the world
still recovering from Bowie, yet
another music legend would
suddenly depart. Prince, that onenamed wonder who skyrocketed
to fame behind hits such as
“1999,” “Little Red Corvette,”
“When Doves Cry,” and “Let’s Go
Crazy,” died from an accidental
fentanyl overdose. Only 57 when
he passed, Prince also pushed
the boundaries of sexuality in his
music and the provocative images
he evoked in his music videos.
Like Bowie before him,
Prince dabbled in movies, and his