“For me, the world that I inhabit in reality is probably a very different world than the one people expect that I would be in”.
–David Bowie
Somewhere around 1956, a 9-year-old boy is happily seated at the pictures, watching Girl Can’t Help It, a musical comedy starring Jayne Mansfield and Tom Ewell. There’s something about the music that touches this young boy’s soul. The scene where Little Richie appears singing with a set of background musicians playing the saxophone gets stamped on his ambitious personality. From that moment on, he would desperately do the impossible to reach his goals, which included looking for the best sax player and ask him to become his teacher. This headstrong kid would be one of the most important icons of music’s history, a legend that seemed to fall from the skies: David Robert Jones, better known as David Bowie.
This musician was one of the most innovative and ambiguous characters of modern history. When he began his music career, he called himself David Jones, but wanting to avoid any connection with the mythical pirate, he decided to change it to the one we all know: “I liked… the idea that the Bowie knife was sharpened on both sides so it cuts both ways –I felt there was something terribly ambiguous about the name.” Bowie’s ambiguity has left a stamp on contemporary’s music and culture. His ever-changing personality, or better said, his multifaceted essence, goes beyond wearing mere costumes. It was a symbol of freedom and living fully without hiding who he was. As he has said:
“I always tie [costumes] to characters. I don’t think of them as just outfits. If I see an outfit from the past in some photograph, for me it reminds me of the entire character that I was working with at the time. For me, an outfit is an entire life experience [laughs]. An outfit is about much more than just something to wear, it’s about who you are – it’s a badge, and it becomes a symbol.”
His personas or characters deal with his inner concerns and visions about life. Sometimes belonging to a story or fiction, and sometimes telling directly his own experiences, Bowie’s creativity and unlimited imagination have pushed him to create iconic characters that have been embedded in our collective memory since their creation.
Here are 6 of his most emblematic characters that prove he was a real-life chameleon and may inspire you to try on new identities. We are so confined by conventions that few dare to toe the line and see what’s out there. The saying “I was born this way,” is a fallacy that ties you up and determines the road you’ll take in life. What happens if you decide to step out of the box and embrace a new you? David Bowie can be that guiding hand that will give you the strength and inspiration to look for new possibilities. What’s the point in having your feet firmly on the ground if you can fly with music?
“Space Oddity” (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o
Inspired by the legendary Sci-Fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), this song presents his very first persona, Major Tom, an astronaut who is left stranded in space. Although the only personal thing the song mentions about the character is that he has a wife on Earth, this character is emblematic for Pop Culture. There are many songs that mention him and even one song by Kia called “Mrs. Major Tom,” which tells the story from his wife’s perspective.
“Starman” (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI66hcu9fIs
Presented as an androgynous space rock star, Ziggy was the intermediary messenger between alien beings and humanity. The presentation of this extravagant character coincided with his public coming out, making of this persona a symbol of homosexual and pansexual liberation. Similar to Dr. Frankenstein’s creation process, Bowie took pieces of his obsessions to create his spatial alter ego, whose mission is to find the Spaceman that can save the Earth from doom.
“Aladdin Sane” (1973)
Probably his most iconic and recognized facet, the red-haired character with a lightning bolt over his face, Aladdin was a darker and more sinister version of the famous Ziggy. Playing with words, it also contains the phrase “A lad insane,” which represents his persona on the album. Created during a tour in America, the character allegedly refers to Bowie’s brother, who suffered from schizophrenia.
“Rebel Rebel” (1974)
With a similar aesthetic, Halloween Jack became an inspiration for many punk rock musicians. In his song “Rebel, Rebel” from the album Diamond Dogs, Bowie reaffirms the ambiguity, in terms of sexuality, that always permeated in his life. Some time after his coming out in an interview where he stated that he was gay, he assured that actually he was bisexual. The song says: “you’ve got your mother in a whirl/ she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl/ […] Rebel Rebel, how could they know? Hot tramp, I love you so!”
“Station to Station” – (1976)
As probably his most obscure alter-ego, Thin White Duke is an Aryan fascist who’s also a drug addict. Parallel to Bowie’s darkest period and his extreme consumption of cocaine, the Duke controlled the musician’s life, almost provoking the end of his career. In some interviews, Bowie (or the Duke, as he later assured) stated that Hitler was “quite as good as Jagger,” implying an admiration for the dictator.
“Lazarus” (2016)
Finally, and jumping way ahead of his time, Lazarus, his last persona, refers to the biblical character Jesus revives after being dead for four days. Many assure that Bowie, knowing about his imminent future, wrote the song as a goodbye message for the world. In a way, through his music he’ll never really die, and as Lazarus, he’ll come back to us in every song.
David Bowie’s songs show us that living behind doors isn’t worth it. Sometimes extravagance is the way to live fully, and it’s fine to change ourselves to grow. If you want to know more of this chameleonic character, take a look at these Pictures Of David Bowie Behind The Glam, Makeup, And Glory. If you’re a fan of his work, you also might be interested in knowing about The Day Jagger and Bowie Had Sex and Inspired “Angie.”
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Sources:
BBC
Independent UK
Performing Songwriter