Bradley Jay Remembers David Bowie
BOSTON (CBS) -- WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bradley Jay, host of WBZ's Jay Talking, recalled legendary musical artist David Bowie, who died Sunday at 69 after a battle with cancer.
Jay, a long-time Bowie fan, said Bowie meant more than music.
"David Bowie meant that no matter what you did, if you owned it, it was cool," said Jay. "If you thought it was cool, if you knew it was cool, it was cool--and that's what he did for so many people."
Bowie, Jay said, was a master of reinvention, noting that there was a time when the singer was not only making a new album every year, but also creating a whole new persona to go with it, from Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane to the Thin White Duke.
"Bowie wore goofy stuff, but he owned it. And it was cool, and you learned that lesson," said Jay. "Guys like me with no confidence as a young person [learned] to simply own whatever they did, no matter how goofy it was. If Bowie could own it, you could own it."
Jay said Bowie owned every part of his life--even the end. The singer released his final album, "Blackstar," three days before his death. Jay notes that the videos and songs from the album now appear very prophetic--for instance, the video for his new song "Lazarus" features Bowie lying frail in bed while singing the song's lyrics.
"When you look at the videos, which seemed kind of strange at the time, before you knew he was sick and dying--now, they seem to make sense," said Jay. "He owned it all the way through, and that's the lesson to everyone else ... He owned his own passing."
"The fact that he released his final album three days ago means he was in the driver's seat the whole time."
Jay said now was the time to look back at Bowie's long career, spanning over five decades, and his large discography.
"Take stock in not only what Bowie meant to you, but also the music community and the world," said Jay. "One way to do that is to check and see how many people covered his music. Check and see how many people have covered 'Heroes'."
"As far as I'm concerned, the David Bowie song is 'Heroes.' It's iconic, it's anthemic, and it's still futuristic."
He also shared another favorite moment on Twitter--this 1976 clip from the Dinah Shore show, when Bowie and his band performed the song "Stay."
Though Jay said he wasn't sure what the singer's legacy in the mainstream would be, he said he was certain about one thing.
"David Bowie was cool in the beginning, he was cool in the middle, and he was cool at the end."
