Today (8 January) is David Bowie's birthday - and it's a special one, Ziggy Bus Pass has finally reached the UK retirement age, 65!
However if there's one artist who for whom OAP status should mean nothing, then it's David Bowie, who despite his advancing years remains as relevant as ever.
Yes Lady Gaga as tried to pick up his mantle as pop's changeling, but forced to filter herself through the worlds of fashion and the slick, film-referencing music videos of our era, though heading in the right direction, she still feels miles away from the raw, cutting edge that saw Bowie living out his personas virtually for real in the 70s, as pop experiment, art installation and borderline insanity all blurred into something a 'viral' would struggle to contain.
Bowie too provides us with a very relevant lesson on how we nurture and develop our new artists. Ironically as one of the early champions of the internet, it's questionable whether he would have survived it as a newcomer today.
In an age new bands and singers are often hyped to high heaven by some blogs on the back of an initial MP3, only to be ignored or dismissed as old hat several month's later by the same blogs once they've written and recorded an album, it's worth remembering that Bowie's career did not begin with his albums, but a series of singles on Pye that did not lead to a bigger deal. And even after that, it was not just a matter of time before the world recognised Bowie's true powers; he had to drop and revamp much of his early material and then released several albums, before his true breakthrough occurred.
Of course online exposure would have speeded up awareness, acceptance and probably sales of early albums likes Space Oddity, but if a Bowie of today had first greeted the world not as a pop genius, but as the formative Bowie of the Pye years, would he even have been given the chance to go on and be anything more than a bedroom crank?
The real reason though Bowie remains as relevant as ever is his music.
No one, it seems, can get close to that glowing golden pop sound he created in the 70s (see Queen Bitch above) and since then, no established act can rival him for the risks he has taken artistically.
They haven't all paid off, but from trying to writing a record about a whole town, trying on drum'n'bass for size, to even his financial arrangements (Bowie Bonds), the Thin White Duke has put his neck on the line again and again - which is what true artists do. And besides, I thought Little Wonder was actually alright.
So happy birthday David Bowie - you've given us so much (you can keep Tin Machine though, sorry) and you still have more to teach us. So as you reach what is usually retirement age for everyone else, surely the David Bowie thing to do is to make a come back?
Paul Stokes @stokesie
Bus pass pun courtesy of Matt Mason @MattMason_
8:30 AM | 08/01/2012
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happy birthday,to The Laughing Gnome. Have been a fan since the very early days( nearly as old as you myself) have seenhim live many, many times (the first time was at Lewisham Odeon as Ziggy Stardust - a good place for many famous groups, singers etc, now sadly gone). This was the man that really got me and many others inspired into really good music and I'm looking forward to many more years of his original music
Posted by clivek at 10:53 AM | 14/01/2012 | Report Abuse
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to The Laughing Gnome. Have seen him many, many times over the years the first time was at Lewisham Odeon circa 1973 (thiswas a really good place for many live groups, singers etc) and I'm looking forward to many more years of his music, this is the man who inspired many more of the bands in the 1980s and 90s
Posted by clivek at 11:01 AM | 14/01/2012 | Report Abuse
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