RIP to the man who fell to earth

Probably doesn't come as any surprise to anyone that I am, and have been for as long as I can remember, a David Bowie fan. I heard the news early on because I was up late on Sunday night. We all regarded the first tweets skeptically, because people "die" on Twitter all the time and there was a big death hoax with the release of The Next Day. But it was verified sadly by his son, the director Duncan Jones. Suddenly his new album took on a new significance. The lyrics aren't cryptic anymore, just like that. And in roll the thinkpieces and tributes.

It's only in hindsight that I realize what songs like "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and "Life on Mars?" did for me as a nerdy, weird, depressed kid. Bowie probably changed my path — for the better.

Somehow the ultimate outsider hero also cut across so many types of people that the response was near-universal. I suppose everyone feels like an outsider, and he managed to tell them "oh no love, you're not alone."