One of the greatest musicians in rock history released his swan song in the form of a farewell album earlier this month. The music is woven with themes of death, immortality, pain and sacrifice throughout its seven-song, 41-minute runtime.

And hardly anyone cared.

David Bowie’s last project, “Blackstar,” only received pre-release attention from the indie music press, especially after news broke that the album was inspired by trendy modern artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Death Grips and LCD Soundsystem. The jazz instrumentals and dark hefty lyrics of the album’s initial single, also called “Blackstar,” placed it on more than a few Best of 2015 rankings.

But outside the echo chamber of the indie music press, “Blackstar” hardly made a peep.

The album came out on Jan. 8 to generally high praise among the smaller music press. That morning I told my dad, a long-time fan of Bowie’s, that a new Bowie album was out. He reacted with, “He’s still making music, huh?”

Two days later, on Jan. 10, news first broke that Bowie had died, following an 18-month battle with cancer that few but his closest family and friends even knew about. Once people put two and two together, the album’s function became clear: it was Bowie’s farewell gift to the world. Lyrics like “Look up here, I’m in heaven/I’ve got scars that can’t be seen/I’ve got drama can’t be stolen/Everybody knows me now” were now obvious signs of an artful farewell album on Bowie’s part.

That was when people cared.

On Tuesday, “Blackstar” hit the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 Albums chart, making it his first top album in the United States.

It’s hard to guess how the album would have done without the circumstances of his death coinciding with its release; “Blackstar” almost certainly wouldn’t have had the same attention behind it without Bowie’s death increasing its pop cultural relevance. Adele’s “25” was an unstoppable force on the Billboard chart before this point — its seven straight weeks at the top surely would’ve become eight without the Bowie factor.

This kind of phenomenon isn’t exclusive to Bowie. Recent major deaths in the music industry like Amy Winehouse in 2011 and Michael Jackson in 2009 resulted in record album sales for artists.

Many music fans, including myself, grieve for passed artists by listening to their music. It’s how we best remember them, after all. If you were like me, you spent much of your day last Monday listening to Bowie, remembering the artist and reminiscing on his remarkable influence over music today.

But back to “Blackstar.” Why did the album, despite the supposedly prestigious artist credited with it, not garner attention before its release? Critical reception was not an issue; its average Metacritic.com review score of 86 puts it as the best album of the young year so far. Google Trends search figures show us that interest in the new album increased six-fold from the album’s Jan. 8 release date to the announcement of Bowie’s death on Jan. 10.

As much as music dorks like me might try to tell you otherwise, here’s the harsh truth: not too many people rush out to listen to the latest from a 69-year-old aging rock star, talented or not. While musical insiders might have been excited by the creativity and fresh direction of “Blackstar,” few people outside of that realm really cared.

Take Elton John, another Brit musician in his late 60s with far-reaching influences, as an example. On Feb. 5, he’s releasing “Wonderful Crazy Night,” his first new album since 2013. Not much is to be said yet for how well this album will do for Sir Elton, but considering that the singer-songwriter hasn’t had a top-charting album in the United States since 1975, it’s pretty unlikely.

Once an artist passes what people call his or her “prime,” it’s no secret that the public will move on from them quickly. Even though Bowie made groundbreaking music up to his death, a larger portion of the mainstream public didn’t pay much attention to his later work after his “prime” years.

But since Bowie died so soon after his last album, its importance in the public eye shifted from an ignored release by an aging rock star with waning relevance, to a musical letter addressed to fans as he approached a death few but him even knew about. “Blackstar” will be regarded as an important album for quite some time, but only because Bowie didn’t live on to tell about it.

Brett Weiser-Schlesinger is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. He can be reached by email at bweisers@syr.edu or by Twitter at @brettws.

Published on January 19, 2016 at 10:25 pm