With the news that David Bowie’s latest and last album Blackstar has reached Number One on the United States Billboard chart — the late music icon’s first-ever such accomplishment — longtime producer, friend, and collaborator Tony Visconti has a message fit for musicians around the world: Create your own art, by your own rules.
Visconti directed his words to the “top artists” of today, but it really applies to anyone engaged in any sort of creative endeavor.
“I am so proud of my dear friend’s accomplishment,” Visconti wrote Monday morning on Facebook. “One is just a number, but in this case he made an example of how true artistry and real quality can reach number one in the album charts. I’m reaching out to the top artists of today. Don’t pander to the illusion of commercialism — even the biggest hits of today’s sales pale by comparison of the sales of past decades. Do what you f**king want to do, not what you think you have to do. #DavidBowie, #Blackstar.”
As fate would have it, Visconti is in Boston this week, bringing the Holy Holy tour to the Wilbur Theatre on Thursday (January 21). Assembled and announced long before Bowie’s death on January 10, the North American tour features Tony Visconti, Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey, Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, and others, and it celebrates Bowie’s legacy and, in particular, his 1970 album The Man Who Sold The World.
DJ Chris Ewen’s dance night Heroes has a special fan sale going on, so enter the code BLACKSTAR and score passes for $19.84. Watch video of Holy Holy below…
