“I’ve got things inside my head
That even I can’t face”
-David Bowie, Janine

Certain celebrities exist everywhere, all at once, like oxygen. You can’t remember when you first heard of them, because they have always been there. For people like me who were born in the 1970s (and later), David Bowie is one of those.

Bowie always existed and always would. Which made his 2016 death especially shocking to all of us. (Remember when people thought the worst thing about 2016 would be the odd rush of beloved celebrity deaths? Oh, what sweet summer children we were then.)

Summing up Bowie’s legacy as a musician, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur would be insanity, I’m not even going to attempt it here. All I can really do is provide my own perspective.

I have to say that I admire Bowie’s music more than I love it. The eras of his work I enjoy the most are the beginning and the end: Space Oddity and Blackstar are my two favorite Bowie albums (neither of which came out in the 70s). He isn’t someone who’s career I followed obsessively, but he was (almost) always doing something interesting, and I would check in with him every few years to see what he was up to. As I said before: he was always there.

There may never be another artist that defines popular culture for decades the way David Bowie did. Although he wouldn’t have been my personal choice to win this tournament, I am fully satisfied with this result. But the real question is … was he my predicted choice to win?

When I first created the nominations thread, I posted this photograph of an envelope that contained the name of the band or musical artist I thought was going to win:

Let’s crack this baby open and see if I was right!

(/sad trombone)