David Bowie: Musician Man or Myth?

[Helikron]

I have had a love/hate relationship with this bro's music since I was yay big.

I had an argument wtih my dad once about if he was a performer (meaning artist) or a singer (meaning someone serious).  Those two things being set seperately aside back-to-back in those days*.

How does your DJ Radar fair for him on this first spelunk into the topic of his (very repeatable) game?






* He is dead now.  RIP, Alladin Sane.

[OldSojer]

Protean, experimented a lot, hit bottom and picked himself up. A lot of variety in music and performance persona, Ziggy, The Thin White Duke.
Ended up grounded and went out with class.

[Helikron]

Look at those cavemen go...

[questing1970]

The takeaway in relation to this forum is that underneath it all he was a nerd. Look at the original Space Oddity short. He was as awkward and nerdy and, well, UNCOOL as you can possibly be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o

Much later he played with this concept in the long-form Jazzin for Blue Jean video as well which was a variation on the Prince and the Pauper.

People think of him as being the epitome of cool but he had to conjure that up out of himself. It didn't come naturally at first.

The other takeaway is the hedonism. Much like Prince he wound up doing it all and burning out and winding up in a more restrained lifestyle. Bowie settled down with Iman, had a kid, and spent those final years when he was labelled a recluse being a doting father.

He came to understand how fame worked, how to master the art of the curated façade long before Instagram. He knew that, for better or worse, people far prefer fantasy to reality.

[Helikron]

Without comment.

[questing1970]

Be My Wife was him at his most simpiest, trying to avoid the inevitable divorce. Not his best moment. Then again, he got full custody of his son.

[blackfriar]

He was a good actor.

[Helikron]

I was going to post the original Life on Mars but opted for this (right now) instead.  Actually one of my favorites from when I was growing up (in the MTV era):

Look Back in Anger

---

He was a good actor.

The Man Who Fell to Earth is still great and highly recommended, in my book, to anyone who wants a strange on-screen trip that will leave you scratching your head, and both chuckling and snearing in turn, for days.

[Helikron]

This is the song that really turned the man, his myth, and his music up to 11 in my young mind way back when.

Enjoy.