The world is still in shock at the passing of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists: David Bowie, AKA The Thin White Duke, AKA Ziggy Stardust, and a household name for generations. JOSEPH EARP looks back on a man who changed the world irreversibly and for the better.
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1. He blew apart the concept of a heyday
If it were any less of a record, Blackstar would forever live in the shadow of David Bowie’s tragic death, a passing that occurred only two days after its release. But Blackstar is not a whimper: it’s a colossal bang, one that will surely come to redefine what we expect from the late period of a musician’s career. No longer is it acceptable for once-legendary singers to release derivative duds. Bowie changed the game as much with his final record as he did with his first.
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2. He proved musicians can act
There is an entire generation out there for whom David Bowie is The Goblin King first and a musician second. His performance in Labyrinth combined an arch theatricality with a deviant sexual ambiguity, producing endlessly watchable results. It’s that role for which he is best known onscreen, but to be honest every one of his film appearances is worth a viewing, particularly his terrifyingly charming – and charmingly terrifying – turn in The Man Who Fell To Earth.
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3. He introduced a host of geniuses into the mainstream
Ask any American teenager in the ’70s who Jacques Brel was and they would undoubtedly have shrugged their shoulders. But ask such a teenager if they knew Bowie’s cover of Brel’s ‘Port Of Amsterdam’ and there would be a much better chance that the answer was yes. Bowie was generous with genius: not only with his own, but with the genius of others too.
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4. He redefined what it meant to be a man in rock
What with his effeminate features, his proclivity for makeup and his sexual ambiguity, Bowie stood in bold definition to the macho image of the times. He wasn’t buff; he wasn’t aggressive; he wasn’t vaguely sexually threatening. He was subtle. He was sensitive. And he made those things sexy. And, speaking of things he made sexy…
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5. He made intelligence attractive
Bowie’s lyrics combined a whole host of references that might otherwise have been considered overly academic or left of centre, from dystopian literature (on ‘1984’) to Biblical stories (on ‘Lazarus’) to his beloved outer space (on… well, lots of things.) But not only did he included these far-out themes, he made them seem like totally natural rock’n’roll material. He made such references seem sultry and outlandish, rather than bookish and muted.
And, perhaps most importantly of all…
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6. He saved the world’s weirdos
Even when he was one of the most popular men in rock, David Bowie was always an outlier. He was the patron saint for us extraterrestrials. He made us feel safe. He made it seem as though we could achieve anything, despite what we wore, or what we thought about, or who we loved or how.
He stopped the world from seeming straight, and mundane. He brought us colour. He showed us a way. And over the course of 25 albums and almost 50 years, he built a home for the outsiders of the universe; somewhere we could find a little sanctuary.
For that, and so much more: thanks, Starman.
