Friday, January 29, 2016

Related imageDavid Bowie died recently and it is important to recognize how he was one of the firsts to make it big and change pop culture. He died being different too. He didn’t tell anyone about his battle with pancreatic cancer instead he released a creepy album that is all about death in the videos. Who can turn death into an artistic piece? David did. People from all over the world made tributes to his life.  They grieved like they grieved for Lennon. This guy was no Lennon. He was in a category all by himself especially then.
He was born David Jones but changed his name early in life to Bowie like he knew he would be famous one day and didn’t ever want to be confused with that other guy. Davie Jones of the Monkeys was famous first. Bowie was more of an activist. At age 17 he was a outspoken member of the Society for Long Haired Men. In 1966 he was speaking of tolerance for all people. He always had female features and most of the time dressed in tight wild colors that emphasized his male/female traits, No one did that in the 60set he was able to transition from weird to having hit records that all people sang along to.
His first hit record was in 1969 called Space Oddity that was released just a few months before the famous American moon landing. When TV showed the footage of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon they played Bowie’s record.  What Pop star gets that kind of free advertisement? Meanwhile Bowie became even more of the androgynous man wearing makeup and feather boas singing in his male voice. He was the first non-conformance who quit worrying about fitting in. A Pioneer of sorts. He collaborated with other recording stars and never felt in competition with them. He wrote the popular song called Fame with John Lennon. Wrote the song called Under Pressure with Freddy Mercury from Queen. He even recorded a Christmas song with Bing Crosby.
In England in 1972 he came out and said he was bi-sexual. At the time it was a new thing. He held a rock concert in front of the Berlin Wall and days later Ronald Regan dared that they tear the wall down. He proposed a world of tolerance and understanding over fear and destruction. David was an actor too who stared in 4 vampire movies before vampire movies were so popular. Finally he played himself in the movie called Zoolander. Most of all he will be remembered as the father of glam rock who was married to a black super model for 20 something years. His artistic DNA could be traced down to Madonna and Lady Gaga. It will be hard to forget David Bowie.




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