David Bowie 5 years on

David Bowie. You hear the name and immediately people’s minds will flash to a skinny, androgynous guy with a bushy red/coppery mane of hair, heavy make-up and a lightning bolt flashed down the middle of his face. This is David Bowie, or rather Ziggy Stardust – a persona he adopted for a few years in the early 70’s before changing or growing into the Aladdin Sane character (the lightning bolt image you have is from this album cover), described by himself as ‘Ziggy goes to America’. Again, he would morph later into the Thin White Duke persona for subsequent albums. Change was a constant motif of Bowie’s (as well as an excellent record by him), something he would make a career out of. Create a character, explore a musical soundscape, release an album, then when he was tired, bin it and start again. In his breakthrough record ‘Space Oddity’ in 1969 he sang of Major Tom, an astronaut lost in space (this being the first of his persona’s, and a comment on himself felling quite adrift and different from other music of that time). Even before the breakthrough, he was known by a completely different name – Davy Jones, or David Jones. Ironically, this isn’t even a persona, it’s the name he was born and christened with in 1947 by his parents. So, you see this whole time, Bowie has almost always been toying with us, and since we’ve ever ‘known’ him he has been the ever-changing morphing persona, evolved to play the part and fit the music needed for the time.

Life on Mars? a classic song, and iconic music video from David Bowie

Bowie’s (or should that be Jones ??) constant changing was never just a knee jerk reaction to keep up pace with trends and attract new fans. Instead, he was a trend setter. Musically, artistically, visually he was the complete package, culturally he was a tour-de-force. When Bowie changed, the music world changed. He was one of the first artists to properly see the advantages, and the success of music videos, with ‘Life on Mars?’ (in which Bowie is singing in a Blue suit against a stark white backdrop), being the first of many by him. He realised that to have the music sung along with an interesting visual component aside it, would make it stick in people’s minds all the easier. It also showed off his new look, or style, which again shows his true leanings as an artist and not just a musician. He gave us music as a complete bundle, something for the eyes as well as the ears. He also dabbled in acting over the years, appearing in several movies. Mostly notably Labyrinth, playing Goblin King Jareth, The Man who fell to Earth as the alien Thomas Jerome Newton (which he won an acting award for). He played Major Jack Celliers a POW in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. He also has several cameo’s playing the likes of Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, Pontius Pilate in Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as himself in Zoolander. His best cameo arguably is that in Extra’s with Ricky Gervais, in which he sings an impromptu about the ‘little fat man with the pug-nosed face’. Throughout his life he also painted and had several shows exhibiting his artwork, he purchased several paintings over course of his life, with his private collection selling for around $30million in 2016. He was a pioneer of the internet, and believed it was to be the next big thing in people’s lives, so much so he started his own internet provider in 1998 called BowieNet. Which allowed users access to previously unreleased tracks of his, as well as his back catalogue. He also released some his new singles as downloads for users, becoming the first artist to realise the potential of downloadable music. So, it’s quite easy to argue that Bowie himself was quite the renaissance man, able to turn his hand to anything with ease.

Bowie speaks his mind on the power of the internet over 20 years ago!

Giving MTV a chinning for their, lack of, representation of black artists

His death on January 10th, 2015, came to many as a shock. He’d just released his latest album, Blackstar 2 day’s prior on his 69th birthday. It was a moment that seemed to cause the world to pause and reflect. You couldn’t turn on the tv, check the internet, put on the radio, or chat to someone in the workplace, without the news of his death being spoken about. So far reaching was his impact, and now legacy that for a day he eclipsed everything else going on in the world that day. Perhaps there is irony to be found in the album being called Blackstar – an illuminating moment, but of a sad note, the passing of a great. The album itself, is so more poignant when considering that everyone working on it the year prior to its release, knew Bowie had cancer. Even more so, is the lyrical content, with some of it coming out as noticeably clear and direct foreshadowing of what was to happen, and the knowledge that Bowie perhaps knew this would be his swansong record. Perhaps that’s what also encapsulates his status as a true legend, to give his fan’s one final parting gift, and to still find the energy and drive while battling cancer, something similarly seen in recent times with Chadwick Boseman, of Black Panther fame. Tony Visconti his long-term album producer, commented how hard he took the news of his cancer, but that Bowie still had the same energy, enthusiasm and creativity working on Blackstar as previous albums they’d worked on. There was a small window of time, where he went into remission, but the cancer returned. There had been talks of starting a new experimental treatment as well just prior to his death, whatever could or may have been we will never know. What is important though, is that he left us 27 studio albums, spanning all musical genres across some 6 decades, with a career almost 50 years long. For a solo artist, to create a body of work that size is incredible. For comparison, the Beatles only managed 23 studio albums, and they had 4 heads working on those. This feat will never be repeated, and the likes of Bowie will never be seen again, but then that’s what makes him utterly unique, timeless, musical will never be the same for his loss. So, let’s remember him, and his music, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Below I’ve included a playlist of songs I’ve curated of his, that I feel show what he was all about. It’s almost 4 hours long, and that was me being harsh and cutting tracks out, the body of work is that great. I implore you all to go out and try and find that Bowie album for you, because there is really is one for everyone! My article also only skims the surface of how interesting a life, and person David Bowie was. A life definitely well lived, and I could go on about him, and there is many books about him which do, what I’ve written only is a small snapshot in the life of a music legend.

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