David Bowie dies at 69

January 10 2016 - davidbowie.com. Link posted by GurgleJerk.
David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.

Also:
Legendary Artist David Bowie Dies at 69 - The Hollywood Reporter

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UPDATE Jan. 11:

From @TorrHL / Twitter:

I complied a list of all the times that Morrissey mentions Bowie in "Autobiography." I also embedded five relevant videos.

Lots of interesting quotes in here. Enjoy.

Every time Morrissey mentions David Bowie in “Autobiography” - Torr / Tumblr

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From the January 2014 article "Morrissey calls for end to David Bowie rivalry that was just 'high ribbing'" on Gigwise:

Ex-Smiths frontman Morrissey has said that he wants an end to his rivalry with fellow music icon David Bowie.

In a question and answer session on fansite truetoyou.net, Morrissey addressed the truth behind the rivalry calling it simply "ribbing".

"When I made the (2006) record Ringleader of the Tormentors," writes Morrissey, "the producer (Tony Visconti), who is a very close friend of David Bowie, tried to get both Bowie and I together to do our version of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', with David doing the deep Bill Medley parts, and me doing the Bobby Hatfield shrieks."

"I loved this idea, but David wouldn't budge. I know I've criticised David in the past, but it's all been snotnosed junior high ribbing on my part. I think he knows that."

 

[Uncleskinny]

Yes, I know. But he doesn't go in great detail about how he felt as he did when he describes the slow death of his aunt Rita or even the death of Jerry Finn. He just says "I am close to breakdown at life's inevitable disgusting final summons, as Tim is flushed away."

Will you ever f***ing shut your idiot mouth? Ever?

- - - Updated - - -

Yes. You have your opinion and I have my opinion. No issue with that at all. Two opinions on a web forum. I just don't see why my opinion is "f***ing thick" and yours isn't. I would ask this sad excuse of a "moderator" again but I fear his nerves may combust like the last time he tried to voice his opinion on another thread.

Why should I give a flying f***? I don't. I am having great sport with your idiocy. Great fun indeed. Long may it continue.

 

[Harsh Truth]

More specifically, they were on bad terms. Similarly, don't expect him to lament the passing of Sandie Shaw, Siouxie, Visconti, or most of the people he's worked with in his career.

And sadly, I'm sure almost all of these rifts are caused by Morrissey's own ego, elevated self-importance, and an uncompromising inability to act as though he lives on planet earth most the time.

Still love him though.

 

[evennow]

Yes. You have your opinion and I have my opinion. No issue with that at all. Two opinions on a web forum. I just don't see why my opinion is "f***ing thick" and yours isn't. I would ask this sad excuse of a "moderator" again but I fear his nerves may combust like the last time he tried to voice his opinion on another thread.

Because my opinion is brilliant and yours is bereft of intelligence! Kidding....I didn't think Anonymous posters could be identified, but as a moderator Peter may be able to identify them by their web address or some other technological identifier that I know absolutely nothing about. My guess is that his problem with you goes back beyond what you wrote here. Something about the way you communicate tweaks him the wrong way.

I agree with you though and I am not a fan of the use of profanity directed towards anyone on these boards. It comes across as threatening and unpleasant. Also, his use of "assbutt" is quite redundant, I might suggest "assclown" for future correspondences as this is one of my favorites. But seriously, hopefully comments can be directed and landed "above the waist" to use a boxing expression, and Moz is a fan of boxing...back (somewhat) on topic.

 

[Anonymous]

And sadly, I'm sure almost all of these rifts are caused by Morrissey's own ego, elevated self-importance, and an uncompromising inability to act as though he lives on planet earth most the time.

Still love him though.

Pretty sure with Visconti but Sandie Shaw and Siouxie are apparently not the easiest people either (by their own and other people's accounts). So there could have been a problem with several egos, not just Morrissey's.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Will you ever f***ing shut your idiot mouth? Ever?

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Why should I give a flying f***? I don't. I am having great sport with your idiocy. Great fun indeed. Long may it continue.

Wow! Such an uncalled for attack! What the hell did this person do to you? Completely unreasonable. Wow... You really are back, aren't you? Did the sanatorium not help? You vicious, angry, unstable loon.

 

[Anonymous]

Let's remember that in the years after the outside tour and post his comments on "The Importance of Being..." Morrissey held out the olive branch to Bowie. The attempt to engage with him through Viscount, the proposed cover for the Playboys re-release and his conciliatory comments via the TTY question session. Bowie took those olive branches, snapped them in two and tossed them into the river like pooh-sticks.

If I were Moz in this situation, I wouldn't feel in a position to make a public tribute lest I be accused of belated Bowie sycophancy. And Lord knows, there's been enough of that on this thread over the last ten days or so.

SSOB

 

[Anonymous]

Well...it kind of is our business, or at least the business of those who post on this site to discuss all things Morrissey. To restrict postings to those that are completely KNOWN to be factual would leave you staring at a blank screen. I think Moz is being petty...you think he may have some other reason not to comment. Neither of us KNOW anything, but this is the place to come and express our thoughts on the subject.

No matter what you may think, I bet if everyone were asked after DB's passing whether a week would go by without a comment from Moz given his plentiful posthumous TTY postings many would have said no way, and a sure reason why this thread is up to almost 500 comments.

Yest, and this thread will approach to 1000 posts if all of you keep behaving like toddlers in the sandbox fighting back and forth about Morrissey's statement regarding Bowie's death.
Just shut up already everyone, this is exhausting. Don't you have a life to live?

 

[Anonymous]

Let's remember that in the years after the outside tour and post his comments on "The Importance of Being..." Morrissey held out the olive branch to Bowie. The attempt to engage with him through Viscount, the proposed cover for the Playboys re-release and his conciliatory comments via the TTY question session. Bowie took those olive branches, snapped them in two and tossed them into the river like pooh-sticks.

If I were Moz in this situation, I wouldn't feel in a position to make a public tribute lest I be accused of belated Bowie sycophancy. And Lord knows, there's been enough of that on this thread over the last ten days or so.

SSOB

None of this is wrong exactly, but Morrissey's behaviour on the Outside tour was also pretty bad. He just disappeared without telling anyone half an hour before he was due on stage. No-one seems to have known why or where he had gone. And he went in the tour bus, so all the band and crew had to pay their own fares home. Talk about maximising the drama. It might have been nice if Morrissey had got the reconciliation he would clearly have liked, but it's hardly surprising that Bowie wasn't interested.

 

[evennow]

Yest, and this thread will approach to 1000 posts if all of you keep behaving like toddlers in the sandbox fighting back and forth about Morrissey's statement regarding Bowie's death.
Just shut up already everyone, this is exhausting. Don't you have a life to live?

Didn't someone once say "I will ruin my life my own way" or something to that effect? Trying to guess the motivations of others is time better spent in other endeavors. TS Elliott or me. Not sure really.

 

[Anonymous]

None of this is wrong exactly, but Morrissey's behaviour on the Outside tour was also pretty bad. He just disappeared without telling anyone half an hour before he was due on stage. No-one seems to have known why or where he had gone. And he went in the tour bus, so all the band and crew had to pay their own fares home. Talk about maximising the drama. It might have been nice if Morrissey had got the reconciliation he would clearly have liked, but it's hardly surprising that Bowie wasn't interested.

I believe M suffered not only with bouts of depression but also anxiety. Anxiety manifests itself by avoidance, therefore these unexplainable disappearances. When anxiety is so overwhelming to cope with, the only solution is solitude. It is unfortunate that he is/was not surrounded by people who are compassionate in this regard. He is a gentle soul and I am his biggest fan.

 

[Anonymous]

I believe M suffered not only with bouts of depression but also anxiety. Anxiety manifests itself by avoidance, therefore these unexplainable disappearances. When anxiety is so overwhelming to cope with, the only solution is solitude. It is unfortunate that he is/was not surrounded by people who are compassionate in this regard. He is a gentle soul and I am his biggest fan.

He could have told someone. He could have gone in a taxi. He could have had someone on the payroll to be in charge in the case of his sudden disappearance.

 

[Anonymous]

An "Uncut" article from 1998 had quotes from Jo Slee saying that Moz left the "Outside" tour due to his depression. See here: http://www.morrissey-solo.com/articles/uncut0898b.htm

From the article:

Few were surprised when Morrissey soon pulled out of the tour (citing "illness"), but accusations that Morrissey found the experience of supporting Bowie too humiliating were cruelly wide of the mark.

"He was very ill with depression," says Jo Slee. "He wasn't really fit to go on the road, although I didn't know how ill he was until he really began to come apart at the seams."

Jo won't say what Mozzer was depressed about.

"I really couldn't say," she insists. "Morrissey's suffered from depression all his life, more than anyone else I know. It's about repressed feelings, repressed emotions, repressed pain. It needs treatment. He was taking anti-depressants at the time because he was desperate to get out on the road, he really wanted to do the dates. But it was just too much for him."

It doesn't seem like Slee would have any reason to lie about this. Moz's 1999 comments to the "Times Magazine" cast things in a different light but don't exactly contradict her thoughts:

"I have never spoken about this up until now because, in spite of everything, I do respect David," he says. "I simply have to play Star Man or Drive-in Saturday and I will forgive him for anything. But I left that tour because he put me under a lot of pressure, and I found it too exhausting.

Full article here: http://www.morrissey-solo.com/content/interview/times/

Many of us who grew up with Bowie's music have been surprised by how much his death affected us. Think what a hero and lifeline Bowie was to a teenage Morrissey. Then think of how painful it must have been for him to be unable to fulfill a professional commitment to Bowie all those years later -- particularly if his ongoing battle against depression had anything to do with that inability. Moz's feelings about Bowie - and Bowie's passing - must be tremendously complicated, too complicated, I suspect, for a TTY post right now.

Like everyone else, I've been mourning Bowie, but I don't think Morrissey owes me or anyone else a statement. This is something personal and painful for him, I have no doubt. It seems he's decided that it doesn't have to be something public right now, and that's fine.

 

[SomeTotallyRandomMozFan]

“I rate Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey) as one of the best lyricists in Britain. For me, he`s up there with Bryan Ferry.”
― David Bowie

 

[Anonymous]

He already spoke about the Outsider Tour in December 1995 with a Japanese journalist. Again, it hints at depression but he didn't talk about Bowie. I don't know why Moz tries so hard to rewrite the past, especially when it makes him look worse in the process. Here is the relevant part of the interview:

The interviewer then wants to know about the reason behind the Bowie cancellation. When Morrissey replied that it had been because of fatigue and tiredness, she wondered about the cause. He replied that the year 1995 had been business, business, busines and sudddendly he didn't feel well. The interviewer then asked about what his business is and Morrissey joked that he manages a pet shop. After assuring her that he was kidding he told her that he is involved in businesses which are very important to him and he calls them*life. Life*is his business.

 

[Anonymous]

He could have told someone. He could have gone in a taxi. He could have had someone on the payroll to be in charge in the case of his sudden disappearance.

What did you just blabber out makes no sense. Oh I get it, you meant to say to use his clone in the times of sudden disappearance. Briliant!

 

[Detritus]

Trent Reznor wrote a heartfelt and sweet reflection on Bowie for the latest issue of Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...how-david-bowie-helped-him-get-sober-20160126

 

[prisoner77]

You were not expecting what? That guy was a chain-smoker since.... forever. Not to mention the white diet of milk and cocaine in the 70's. Yes, he was talented and innovative, but he was also self-destructive most of his life. I feel sorry he had left us too soon, but I am hardly shocked.

Of course he was self destructive but still..Some who don't clean up survive. Bowie seemed like he was on the comeback trail.

 

[Anonymous]

Glimmers of insight here and there and occasional links notwithstanding, (almost) everything above is too much like letters to a tabloid by persons bereft of a hobby -- except that even tabloids have editors. This is more like verbal diarrhea.

 

[Anonymous]

“I rate Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey) as one of the best lyricists in Britain. For me, he`s up there with Bryan Ferry.”
― David Bowie

The quote must really have rankled Moz, who turned on Ferry when he thought he was stealing Marr away from him. Possibly the only more offensive thing Bowie could have said was 'For me, he's up there with Bernard Sumner'.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.cemetrygates.com/vault/index.html

These are summaries of postings by Howie Klein at Reprise:

December 2, 1995

I got the "Sunny" video today and we're hoping to release the song and video early next year in the U.S.*
Morrissey has been talking about touring the U.S. in early spring. That's the first step-- him wanting to do it. However, as you probably know by now, he is unable-- for medical reasons-- to do the remainder of the Bowie dates in the U.K. No one knows yet if this makes plans for Europe, Japan and the U.S. moot.