David Bowie: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Do you have one really freaky sequin space suit, man? Or do you have several ch-ch-ch-ch-changes? Do you smoke grass out in space, man? Or do they smoke astroturf? Oh yeah, oh, it's such an artificial high!"''|'''[[Flight of the Conchords]]''', "Bowie"}}

 

 

Although his recording career begin in [[The British Invasion|1964]] -- he released an album and numerous singles during the middle years of [[The Sixties]] -- David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when his space-age mini-melodrama "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK singles chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars''. The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona (about eighteen months) epitomised a career often marked by musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.

* ''Labyrinth'' (Songs only, 1986)

* ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' (1994)

 

Parts of David Bowie's physique, known only as "[[Fan Nickname|The Area]]", have [[Cult Actor|its own cult]] known as [[Cargo Cult|"Areaology"]] devoted to it.

{{creatortropes}}

* [[Aborted Arc]]: ''1. Outside'' was intended as the first of a trilogy, but since it became an [[Orphaned Series]], the world shall never know what was to become of its characters.

* [[Isn't It Ironic?]]: Dating back to the BBC using "Space Oddity" (which has a [[Downer Ending]]) as part of its moon landing coverage in 1969, several of his songs have been subject to this trope over the years. "Fame" may be the most frequent victim of this, often being used to celebrate glamour and the celebrity life when it's actually about the hollowness of those things. And Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life", which Bowie wrote the music for, is not the most appropriate choice for advertising Royal Caribbean Cruise Line...

* [[Japandering]]: Twice -- in Japan for Jun Rock sake in 1980 (with an instrumental that became an A-side there and a B-side in the U.K.), and in Italy for Vittel bottled water in 2003. The latter, a cheeky spot in which Bowie shares a house with most of his 1970-80 personas, was re-edited with a different song and turned into the U.S. ad for ''Reality''.

* [[Large Ham]]: Yes, he's capable of subtlety and delicacy as both a singer and an actor, but he has rarely (if ever) passed up an opportunity to be hammy if that's what's called for. Two of his videos from ''Lodger'' are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgPUxjQOk-w&ob=av2el good] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhFyWEMlD4&NR=1 examples], as is the original soundtrack version of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (which is -- more or less -- the lament of a lovelorn [[Reluctant Monster]]).

* [[Last-Note Nightmare]]: "Space Oddity" has a particularly nasty one.

* [[Shout-Out]]: His work is replete with these. There's one right in the ''title'' of [[2001: A Space Odyssey|"Space Oddity"]]. Elsewhere there are references to ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' ("Suffragette City"), [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] ("Young Americans" quotes "A Day in the Life" near the end), [[Aleister Crowley]] ("Quicksand", "Station to Station"), ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer'' ("Magic Dance"'s famous opening is a variant on the film's closing lines), and so on and so forth.

** The chord sequence to "Life on Mars" is identical to that of "My Way". David Bowie was asked to write the original English lyrics, but his version ("Even a Fool Learns to Love") was ignored in favour of Paul Anka's.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: The Bowie-penned short story that makes up the bulk of the liner notes for ''1. Outside'' not only establishes the album's storyline and characters, but also weaves in stories of the grisly "precursors" of the art-crime movement. These are mostly [[Real Life]] 20th century artists of the [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]] school, and often particularly grisly ones at that: Hermann Nitsch, Chris Burden, Damien Hirst, Ron Athey, and Guy Bourdin. (Burden had previously inspired the ''"Heroes"'' song "Joe the Lion".)

* [[Signature Song]]: As his first hit, "Space Oddity" is usually regarded as this, since the range of his career and resultant arguments over his best era make it hard to settle the question otherwise. However, "Life on Mars?" and ""Heroes"" have become competitors for the title in recent years. While relatively early in his canon, "Changes" kinda pokes fun at this, and (ironically) became another one of his signature tunes.