David Bowie, A Master of Many
I remember the first time I watched “Labyrinth” as a child and I was absolutely terrified by the strange lady who was playing the Goblin King. Many years later I came to respect David Bowie as a musician, but never listened to him.
Then in my angst ridden youth I heard Nirvana play, “The Man Who Sold the World.” It felt much more like Leonard Cohen than it did “Space Oddity.” I was shocked to find out that Bowie had written it; how could he have written it?
That’s who I believe David Bowie was. The person who made you ask, “How could all these songs possibly be written by the same person?” David Bowie was the Jack of all trades and a master of many. Someone who refused to let himself be defined by a genre or by a trend. He was the Ziggy, Goblin King or The Man Who Sold the World. He reinvented himself, he never tied himself down, even up until his death with his latest album, “Blackstar,” an album that feels more like experimental jazz than it does anything else.
People might wonder why David Bowie matters to us now when Justin Bieber has an album that is climbing its way to the top of the charts, Adele has released a powerhouse album and even Guns N’ Roses is returning to the music. And I think I have an answer.
David Bowie is a strange and beautiful person, who sang in whatever style he wanted, who dressed however he wanted, who acted however he wanted. He followed his own path and never let anyone alter his course.
Here in the South, you might not get many people who respect Major Tom, due to lack of banjo or his accent, but David Bowie could write and sing and he could tell a story. That’s what you need to make it in the music industry, the ability to write a good song, to write something that makes people feel, something that matters to them. David Bowie mastered song writing in many genres.
His music has impacted many generations of song writers and his continued experimentation with music in his old age is something seldom seen in musicians. The Offspring just sold their entire catalog for 35 million instead of evolving. That might have been the right move for them, but Bowie never gave up and always found a way to redefine what weird is.
And if you can’t respect Bowie for his incredibly long spanning career, genre bending music, pioneering androgyny or acting ability, you can love him for this one song.