Been gobsmacked by this for several hours now. Starting to find words to express the depth and breadth of this loss for me. It's personal, but sadly not in a "I knew him" kind of way. Personal as the losses of Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry, and Carl Sagan were for me. They understood things many people don't, in ways almost no one did. When they spoke, it felt like they were imparting secret universal truths.
DMTDeadpool, your post being right before mine is appropriate, as I consider David to be one of the Enlightened Ones.
Even when it was something that didn't resonate with me, I also appreciated how he constantly went forward, constantly reinvented himself, constantly tried on new things. By the time everyone else caught on and started emulating him, he'd already moved on.
I'd been reluctant to pick up Blackstar, due to how much like a final album it was looking to be from the songs and song titles. Now I know it was intentionally so, a goodbye to his fans and listeners. So now I gotta pick it up posthaste.
As popular as Labyrinth is, and as much as I love it, I gotta put The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, and especially The Prestige before it on my list. And I'll add my voice to those praising his songs for Cat People, but again, above that for me is "Real Cool World". I can (and have) listened to that on repeat for over an hour while working on stuff.
I'm pissed to this day that I missed his Outside tour. I also love Nine Inch Nails, and not only having them as his opening act, but that I will never hear, live, David and Trent singing the duet that was written
just for the tour -- and specifically for them to sing downstage while the stage was being reset behind them -- is just one of those gaping holes in my life. In the video game of my life, there will always be that "Quest Failed" tag that I can never be rid of.
And, worse even than that, there is now not even the slight, faint hope that he might one day get re-inspired, ring up Brian Eno, and finish out the other two acts of the Outside Triptych. I do hope one day to at least see his notes for them. I want to know more of Nathan Adler's story.
Saying "this hurts" and "I miss him" are hollow and egregious understatements. Like saying the ocean is wet. Accurate, but woefully inadequate. I am tremendously grateful to have been alive and sapient on this planet at the same time he was.
--Jonah