Over the years, rock and roll has manifested itself in many ways. With Elvis Presley, it was heavily influenced by gospel and blues, and of course, a healthy amount of hip- and leg-shaking.

The Beatles became the pioneers of today’s boy bands, boasting perfectly-harmonised singing and catchy melodies that captured many a young girl’s hearts. Led Zeppelin preferred a more rebellious route – their version was loud, raw and powerfully electric.

But during that time, nobody else epitomised rock and roll as colourfully as David Bowie.

AN ODDITY AS PECULIAR AS DAVID BOWIE

As a teen, Bowie was already playing guitar-based rock and roll at youth gatherings and weddings.

Even then, he had announced to his mother, despite her dismay, that he intended to become a pop star. After watching Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bowie was inspired to write “Space Oddity”, which was released five days before the Apollo 11 launch.

The song was even used in a BBC news report related to the space mission, but due to the bleak nature of the lyrics, “Space Oddity” was banned in the US lest it put a damper on Apollo 11’s mission to the moon.

It was only after the Apollo team returned that the ban on “Space Oddity” was lifted, and the song returned to the airwaves, becoming a top five UK hit. Since his debut four years back, Bowie finally got his first big break.

At that time, folk and rock music was all the rage, and Bowie’s peculiar music style failed to garner favour. 

His self-titled second studio album fell flat, and he continued to face the same difficulties for his third (The Man Who Sold the World, 1970) and fourth (Hunky Dory, 1971) albums.

Save for a few singles that made the charts, album sales were going nowhere.  It seemed to the world that Bowie was merely capable of making hit songs once in a blue moon.

‘SAVING’ LOU REED AND IGGY POP

When the film Velvet Goldmine came out in 1998, speculation was rife that it was based on a true story.

Judging by the unmistakable 1970s androgynous glam rock reference and the fact that “Velvet Goldmine” was an actual song by Bowie, we’re pretty sure this movie was about the man himself.

One of the characters, Curt Wild (played by Ewan McGregor), is believed to be a mishmash of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, two wildly talented but troubled rockstars whom Bowie became close to. 

Sometime in the late 1960s, when fringe music was competing heavily with mainstream American hippie rock, Bowie was searching for a breakthrough opportunity.

American rock band The Velvet Underground, which was managed by Andy Warhol and played as the resident band in Warhol’s art collective, the Factory, had just disbanded.

In a depressed funk, its frontman Reed was contemplating retirement when Bowie got in touch, inviting him to the UK and eventually getting him signed to a record company with a brand new deal. 

Bowie would go on to co-produce Reed’s second studio album, Transformer, even  contributing backing vocals. Transformer reignited Reed’s solo career, and gained him a new fanbase through Bowie’s admirers. 

Similarly, when The Stooges lead singer checked into a mental facility following the band’s breakup, Bowie, who had earlier produced The Stooges’ 1973 Raw Power album, visited Pop and invited him to go on tour.

“He resurrected me. This guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation – simple as that,” said Pop during an interview with The New York Times after Bowie’s death.

Together, they left Los Angeles and headed to West Berlin to rid themselves of their respective drug habits. Later on, both men worked together on Pop’s first two albums as a solo artist: The Idiot (1977) and Lust For Life (1977).

THE BIRTH OF A CHAMELEON

David Bowie by Gil Zetbase. Credit: Gil Zetbase/Wikimedia Commons

It is said that Pop became the main inspiration behind Bowie’s alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust. By melding Pop’s persona with Lou Reed’s music, this “human manifestation of an alien lifeform from Mars” was born.

Taking a page from glam rock musician Mark Bolan, Bowie worked hard on bringing Ziggy Stardust to life, appearing in character with flamboyant clothing, high platform heels, fiery red hair and theatrical lashings of makeup.

Regarded as one of Bowie’s most memorable eras, Ziggy Stardust’s look and message caused a sensation among youths of that particular generation.

The corresponding album, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars became an immediate hit, and to this day, remains one of the best rock albums of all time.

The third track, “Moonage Daydream”, is where Ziggy Stardust is officially introduced to the listener.

Propelled to superstar status and glam rock icon, Bowie built up a solid following and went on tour for more than a year. With both his professional and personal lives under heavy scrutiny, he was starting to feel despondent.

While Ziggy Stardust had catapulted his status in the industry, Bowie felt like he was losing himself to the on-stage persona that he had created.

Not wanting to be defined by Ziggy Stardust, Bowie disbanded the Spiders from Mars band and embarked on a new direction for his next album, Diamond Dogs. In it, he sings about chaos, the apocalypse, brainwashing and nihilism, taking on a darker, more ominous tone compared to his previous releases.

This would also mark his farewell from glam rock and Ziggy Stardust.

In order to avoid falling into the same cycle, Bowie went on to create other personas, including a vapid, R&B inspired character for his ninth studio album Young Americans, where he termed the music genre as “plastic soul”.

This was later replaced by The Thin White Duke, a man with far-right, pro-fascist tendencies, introduced in the 1976 album Station To Station.

Unlike Ziggy Stardust, who was well-loved by his fans, The Thin White Duke was by far Bowie’s most-disliked persona, no thanks to his erratic behaviour and controversial remarks (which Bowie later on attributed to his drug addiction).

REGAINING A FOOTHOLD AND MOVING ON

Taking the opportunity to step back from the limelight, Bowie focused his attention on acting, where he gradually won over the crowd with his innate talent. 

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Labyrinth and Absolute Beginners received positive reviews, and his 15th studio album Let’s Dance was a massive success, although Bowie himself felt that his creativity was being stifled to appeal to a wider audience.

In 1989, Bowie set aside his solo career and formed a band, Tin Machine, but fans and critics alike found themselves unimpressed – the politicised lyrics and repetitive tunes did nothing to help, and despite making two albums, Tin Machine’s success (of lack thereof) was short-lived.

After his departure from Tin Machine, Bowie went back to being a solo artiste; welcoming the 1990s with Outside.

Joining forces once again with musician Brian Eno, Bowie found himself in his element once again, no longer pressured to crank out radio-friendly tunes that could be accepted by everyone.

Presented in a non-linear narrative, Outside revolves around a detective, Nathan Adler, as he investigates the murder of a 14-year-old girl. The individual tracks are written from perspectives of different characters, and the album’s booklet includes additional stories and diary entries.

Once again, Bowie received recognition for his work. His old albums, once quietly shelved in record shops, never expecting to see the light of day, regained popularity. 

His hit songs were remastered and reintroduced to a new audience. Through the power of the internet, the world fell in love with Bowie, his many personas, and his illustrious legacy.

Despite being diagnosed with liver cancer, Bowie remained musically active until his death just two days after his 69th birthday.

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE MAGIC OF DAVID BOWIE

David Bowie (1977). Credit: Ron Frazier/Wikimedia Commons

Released mid-September 2022, Moonage Daydream is the first-ever film sanctioned by the Bowie Estate, featuring never-before-seen footage and performances of Bowie.

Unlike the run-of-the-mill biography film format where friends and family get together to talk about the subject talking-head style, director Brett Morgen takes an altogether different approach.

Through clever editing, the film seems to be narrated by Bowie himself as we take a look into his life on stage.

Highly experienced and adept in the art of documentary filmmaking, Morgen has made a name for himself through films like Crossfire Hurricane (about the Rolling Stones), Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, and Jane (about primatologist Jane Goodall).

Even before making Moonage Daydream, Morgen had already expressed interest in creating what he called “the IMAX music experience”, which offers viewers a truly immersive, yet sublime and intimate feeling.

In Moonage Daydream, the audience is treated to 40 exclusively remastered songs, painstakingly constructed over the course of 18 months.

To make this work, Morgen roped in sound engineer Paul Massey, who had previously worked on The Martian, Ford V Ferrari, and Bohemian Rhapsody (which won an Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing in 2019).

“In mixing for cinema, all orientation is at the front of the room where the screen is, but I wanted to wrap the sound around the room, so it became this very interesting kind of tug-of-war between the two of us,” said Morgen during a press interview with The GATE.

Talking to IndieWire, Massey explained: “Brett (Morgen) wanted the movie to essentially be one huge dissolve. There’s never anywhere where there isn’t music, and there are music and sound effects that weren’t meant to go together working together alongside mash-ups of the songs. 

“There was a lot of pressure to stay true to the original mixes, but also to redo them to elevate it all into a theatrical experience.”

By moving individual instruments and sounds across the 100-plus channels in Dolby Atmos’ surround sound technology, Massey was able to redefine what “immersive” meant.

“I have never done so much panning in my life, or allowed myself to depend on the surrounds as much as we did on this film!” he said.

One thing’s for sure – throughout his life, Bowie never paid attention to what others thought of him. Whether as Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, or any other iconic character from the movies he’s acted in, he always lived as if he had nothing to lose. 

“You can’t please everyone all the time, so you don’t try,” he once famously said.

And because of this, he won in life, every single time.

SOL shines a spotlight on individuals who love what they do, and do what they love. Find out how these legends shaped their respective industries:

• Raymond Cooke, the father of high-fidelity sound
• The life and times of Beyoncé: a musical journey
• Jean-Michel Basquiat’s love affair with music and art
• How Georgia O’Keeffe pioneered modernism

Cover Credit: Roger Woolman/Wikimedia Commons

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Writer | Michelle Tan

Having spent the past decade turning her passion into profession, Michelle is a freelance writer/translator based in Malaysia. Her lifelong dream is to become an urban hermit.