In 2016, the final days of one of music’s brightest stars and cigar-smoking mafia mob boss Tony Soprano began therapy on TV.
advertisementJanuary 10, 2016: British singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie passed away on this day.
2016 was remembered by many as a year of tragic change. The UK voted to leave the EU. America voted Donald Trump president, marking a notable trend of beloved celebrities leaving this coil of mortality.
But before that happened, the first star to pass might have been the brightest.
Born David Robert Jones in 1947, Bowie went on to become one of the most iconic figures in the British music industry. It all started with his 1969 single “Space Oddity,” released days before the Apollo 11 moon landing. This was the first example of Bowie capturing the zeitgeist and driving the culture forward.
His varied career is extremely rare, as he was a chameleon-like artist who achieved critical and commercial success across genres. He bravely took to the stage in gender-nonconforming costumes and brought characters like Martian rock star Ziggy Stardust to life.
A true original, he continued to release music until the very end, releasing his last album, the dying Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, just two days before his death.
No one will ever come close to his amazing combination of enigmatic dignity and musical talent. This year’s documentary Moonage Daydream does a great job of capturing just some of his brilliance.
Julius Caesar invented a go-to phrase
This is older than we usually think.
In 49 BC, he made a momentous decision to lead his army across the Rubicon River into Italy. This marked the beginning of a civil war, and Caesar became the dictator of Rome for life.
These events made “Caesar” synonymous with emperor or tsar. But this decision was also the one that gave rise to the English idiom “crossing the Rubicon.” Since then, almost every political book has used this phrase at some point.
The Mob comes to HBO
One of the most admired TV shows celebrates its 50th anniversary today. On this day in 1999, “The Sopranos” launched a truly epic television show.
Widely considered one of the best and most influential TV series, “The Sopranos,” along with the HBO show “The Wire,” is considered a major catalyst in turning television into an upscale format. There is also.
Tony Soprano’s story of a New Jersey Italian-American gangster played by James Gandolfini trying to overcome his problems with a therapist was an instant success, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in every eligible year over six series. was awarded. . Recently, he has gained a whole new audience thanks to social media, namely his bit-sized clips on TikTok, so his notoriety will definitely continue for years to come.
