• Listening Exercise: David Bowie, We’ll Miss You

    David Bowie is perhaps one of the most influential pop/rock stars of our time. He had a very interesting life full of devastation, talent, and addiction. He pushed music, pop, and performance to a new level. In remembrance of him, we’ve created an extensive listening exercise. We hope you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we did!

    Watch the videos below,then answer the listening questions in comments and we’ll reply.

    1. What was unusual about his parents?
    2. What kind of child was Bowie?
    3. Who was the most important person in his life?
    4. What happened to his eye?
    5. How did he say his eye help him?

    1. How many bands did David Bowie have?
    2. Why did he change his name?
    3. What devastated David in his personal life?
    4. His father wasn’t very supportive of David’s music career. True/False?
    5. David didn’t like acting. True/False?

    1. How did he start his life as a rockstar?
    2. What did musicians and fans have in common?
    3. David felt like he was a natural performer. True/False?
    4. Audiences loved ‘The Hype.’ True/False?
    5. What very conventional decision did he make?

    There are several more videos in this series about Bowie’s life. Also, the Canadian astronaut below, Chris Hadfield spent five months in space — a time in which he gained international fame for his extensive use of social media while floating above Earth. But one of his most impressive accomplishments was his cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” — not only the first musical recording in space, but a cover Bowie called “possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.”

    1. Lock your Soyuz hatch and ____ your helmet __.
    2. This is ground control to Major Tom, you’ve really _____ the ____.
    3. What does the above phrasal verb mean?

    I hope you enjoyed our lesson about David Bowie. He will be missed! LOI has several lessons about important musicians. If you want to study English while learning about great musicians, try taking some of our classes.

     

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