David Bowie
The step up from superstar is to achieve the
status icon and David Bowie achieved iconic status very early
in his career. Who among you remember the release of Ziggy
Stardust And The Spiders From Mars? I do. It was weird and
strange and I wasn't sure whether I could publicly state I
was a Bowie fan as David Bowie's sexuality was being feverishly
debated in the national press. Was Ziggy Stardust male or
female? Was Ziggy human? It was all too weird for this young
boy anyway. I remember going to one of my first teenage parties
and Honky Dory was being played and the atmosphere was dark
and smokey and my head was spinning with the newly tested
taste of beer and the strange-smelling smoke. I'm sure sex
and drugs were happening somewhere in the gloom, but I was
far too naive to notice. I was deeply attracted to David Bowie,
not because I was homosexual - the mere thought shocked me
- but because the image he created was so dangerously anarchic
that I was like the proverbial moth to the flame. The image
itself was genius, but it is David Bowie's songwriting where
the true genius lies. The total package that is David Bowie
is an accomplishment of creative genius still, in my opinion,
unsurpassed. Not simply for the sublime creativity, but also
the outrageous bravery. David Bowie is a true creative inspiration
because he himself is the art. Even the characters in his
songs have achieved legendary status! Major Tom for instance...
And I still find myself singing Starman loudly to myself in
my car on those occasions I'm caught in a traffic jam. I remember
the pride I felt when David sang with Bing Crosby on some
Christmas show: now, I thought, Mum and Dad will have to accept
David Bowie is a bonafida artist? Maybe that's why, unlike
David, I will never be an icon; I cared what my parents thought,
whilst David Bowie obviously didn't... Is that the definitive
between wanna be and is?
Tim Rees
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