Shortly after we lost David Bowie the crew over at Getintothis put together a collection of their fondest memories and thoughts on what Bowie meant to them. My thoughts are here, you can see the full post over on Getintothis and it is well worth a look.
I first discovered Bowie in the 90’s, around the time I was falling in love with a Madchester fan on the 120 bus in a little town called Antrim. This girl had amazing style, incredible taste in music and she completely ignored me from the get go. In attempting to ingratiate myself in this beauties world, or even be notices, I clad myself in Madchester flares, baggy shirts and amazingly I even had long curtained hair. Sadly I had a deeply broken heart. Unrequited love eh, who’d have it?
The first Bowie song that meant anything to me was Rebel Rebel. Written in the year I was born it was a song that I’d first heard in the now departed Auntie Annies bar in Belfast. There was a club night called Skibunny that had an unbeatable playlist and impressive drinks promotions. The lyrics summed up everything I felt I wanted from this as yet untested relationship with Ms Madchester, every time I heard it I thought of her and 20 years down the line the memory persists.
There is an ethereal power to it, an energy and a riff that is so unmistakably Bowie the instant you hear it you know what’s coming. Its autobiographical for thousands of us, it conjures up memories of parties, flings, lost love and lost youth, it is an incredible thing.
I had a very brief and unsuccessful stint as Dj Flackakhan in a club night in Belfast called Palookaville, another one sadly gone to the wind. (The name makes no sense unless you know the club) You could guarantee the moment you faded into the first few chords of Rebel Rebel the floor would fill and the smiles would stretch from one wall to the other.
A remarkable thing to see.
I’ve no idea what happened to the girl.
Image (C) Rankin Media
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