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David Bowie Has Died

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Re: David Bowie Has Died

#91

Post by dmoo »

gbog wrote: post #85

Do we all have to share this culture of mourning and condoleances? I have listened to some music made by David Bowie, but I kind of feel not that much about his death. Am I heartless? Or just honest? I mean, listening to some guy's music do not make it a close relative, is it? (If so, then well we all have too many "close relatives" for this mean anything anymore). Or should I just shut up and let the people weep unt…

There are many stories on HN that I don't care about. In those cases I usually find it best to say nothing...

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#92

Post by eropple »

spoondan wrote: post #58
__david__ wrote: post #38

Ah, man. This probably shouldn't make me sad (I never knew the guy), but it does. I've listened to his music for years and years, seen his songs permeate pop culture and leave his mark upon the world. The guy was a consummate artist and I regret never seeing him live. :-(

Your sadness is completely justified. As John Donne observed nearly 400 years ago, "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind."

I never expected to see a John Donne reference on Hacker News. We could use more of it. Thanks.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#93

Post by eropple »

gbog wrote: post #85

Do we all have to share this culture of mourning and condoleances? I have listened to some music made by David Bowie, but I kind of feel not that much about his death. Am I heartless? Or just honest? I mean, listening to some guy's music do not make it a close relative, is it? (If so, then well we all have too many "close relatives" for this mean anything anymore). Or should I just shut up and let the people weep unt…

> Do we all have to share this culture of mourning and condoleances?

Don't, if you don't want to. Nobody's making you care, nobody's going to judge you if it didn't matter to you. But you could do a lot worse than to take that urge to tell everyone how much you don't care and shove it down somewhere deep and dark. And, as it happens, you did.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#94

Post by onion2k »

gbog wrote: post #85

Do we all have to share this culture of mourning and condoleances? I have listened to some music made by David Bowie, but I kind of feel not that much about his death. Am I heartless? Or just honest? I mean, listening to some guy's music do not make it a close relative, is it? (If so, then well we all have too many "close relatives" for this mean anything anymore). Or should I just shut up and let the people weep unt…

I think people find it a little too easy to forget that people in startups, and consequently on HN, are human beings with actual feelings. If a slightly off topic thread can remind us of that occasionally then that's not such a bad thing. HN can be about more than just startups without losing what makes it useful and interesting.

Plus...

I fail to see what this is doing on HN

Bowie was a serial entrepreneur in the music industry (and others). He was masterful at looking forward at what was coming next and innovating and iterating his musical art to stay relevant. I'm absolutely certain there's a great deal that startups could learn from how Bowie lived and worked.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#95

Post by brazzledazzle »

agumonkey wrote: post #82
eropple wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's fortunate that Kanye West isn't a "hip-hop" musician, he is a musician , and pulls in influences by the wheelbarrowful. Even were that an adequate definition--congratulations: you know your biases. Now overcome them, because if you can't draw a barely kinked line between David Bowie and 808s and Heartbreak , that is on you. But I don't think that's the problem here, is it? :) He's "arrogant"--and my, but y…

> > I'm biased against Hip Hop nowadays Congratulations: you know your > biases. Overcome them. Because if you can't draw a straight line > between David Bowie and 808s and Heartbreak, that is on you. But he's > "arrogant" (my, but the coded language, isn't that interesting!), so > that doesn't matter I guess. Bowie was just a shrinking violet, right? I don't get what you mean about drawing a straight line ? you mean…

>I never heard anything from West that was worth being arrogant that what I meant

I think you're getting caught up in marketing. While you're not the target it still effects you and how you enjoy music. I've started to ignore what artists say or do and it's really allowed me to appreciate a lot more music because I can just enjoy it for what it is instead of thinking about the image they're trying to sell.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#97

Post by will_pseudonym »

cageface wrote: post #56
bootload wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If anything labels are more important than ever and music sales are driven by the kind of marketing campaigns that only big records labels can afford." That's what record companies would like you to think. Counter-example, Milk Records, Melbourne. It's might be a record company but it looks so much like a startup. - http://messandnoise.com/features/4666617 - http://diymag.com/2015/03/23/courtney-barnett-its-like-tur…

I've been traveling all over the world and all I hear everywhere I go is crap American top 40 pop music. Like I said there's a ton of interesting stuff going on outside their purview but they control the conversation right now.

Do you think this is only happening in music? ;)

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#98

Post by pmontra »

brandnewlow wrote: post #87
cageface wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been traveling all over the world and all I hear everywhere I go is crap American top 40 pop music. Like I said there's a ton of interesting stuff going on outside their purview but they control the conversation right now.

That's unfortunately what most people want to hear.

Most people want to hear what most people hear, to be able to talk about it and don't be cut off from their group of friends. Same thing about TV, movies, cloths, phones, books, games etc.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#99

Post by k-mcgrady »

apatters wrote: post #83
eropple wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "50s to the 90s"--which is so laughably general, that's four generations of music, if not more--had The Beatles and David Bowie and it also had The Monkees and Men Without Hats. We have the artists who it's funny to make fun of, like Bieber, and we have Jack White, we have Kanye West, we have Radiohead--and we had David Bowie, he's a modern artist today , have you listened to Blackstar, which openly tips its cap…

For every one of those decades I could name several rock bands who were commercially successful and whose music also represented a major, youth-oriented cultural movement which challenged the status quo. I am hard pressed to name a single band like that which started recording in the 21st century. Interpret it as you will but I think he has a point that the stuff that gets into the top 40, certainly within the rock g…

>> "For every one of those decades I could name several rock bands who were commercially successful and whose music also represented a major, youth-oriented cultural movement which challenged the status quo."

Take a look at some of the big EDM acts. It may not be your thing (and it's not really mine) but it's undeniable that acts like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii changed youth culture. If you take a listen to popular music from the 2000's it was all indie rock and then there was this dramatic shift late in the decade.

Re: David Bowie Has Died

#100

Post by agumonkey »

brazzledazzle wrote: post #95
agumonkey wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> > I'm biased against Hip Hop nowadays Congratulations: you know your > biases. Overcome them. Because if you can't draw a straight line > between David Bowie and 808s and Heartbreak, that is on you. But he's > "arrogant" (my, but the coded language, isn't that interesting!), so > that doesn't matter I guess. Bowie was just a shrinking violet, right? I don't get what you mean about drawing a straight line ? you mean…

>I never heard anything from West that was worth being arrogant that what I meant I think you're getting caught up in marketing. While you're not the target it still effects you and how you enjoy music. I've started to ignore what artists say or do and it's really allowed me to appreciate a lot more music because I can just enjoy it for what it is instead of thinking about the image they're trying to sell.

Fair point. But in West's case, it's not even marketing, his running into Swift to rage about Knowles award loss was him entirely. Unless it was his PR team that gave him the idea. I'll keep your idea in mind though.
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