10 Greatest Final Rock Albums Of The 2010s
1. Blackstar - David Bowie
There's been a lot of death on this list, so it only feels right that it end with an album that centred around one man and his own mortality.
On January 8th 2016, David Bowie released his 26th studio album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday. Two days later, he died.
Bowie had been living with liver cancer for 18 months, but had kept his illness a secret from the public. The world was left reeling from this sudden and shocking news, but the more they listened to Blackstar, the more it made sense.
Ziggy's final hurrah was so clearly about his own impending death, from the lyrics to the imagery to the fact that there was a literally a song on there called Lazarus, a biblical figure who dies and is then resurrected by Christ.
Though Bowie's body never returned from the other side, this album helped revive his music career and ensured that the final memory of him was of an artist in full control of his own narrative, able to face the end with dignity and grace.
Rest in peace, Starman, there will never be another like you.