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Bowie: A Biography (2009)

by Marc Spitz(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0307393968 (ISBN13: 9780307393968)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Crown Archetype

review 1: A book that tracks not only Bowie, but life, through many decades, touching on artists such as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop & Morrissey to name a few. Rockers you wouldn't know the same way without Bowie's direction and influence. The same can be said of artists everywhere, from literature to dance, fashion and film, visual art and life itself. He's influenced so many bands that several can consider Ziggy Stardust their grandfather as they grew up influenced by bands that never would have existed without Bowie's chameleon like ability to redefine himself as a key influencer from folk to R&B to theatrical Rock & Roll. Stardust has influenced all of us, even those not lucky enough to associate the connections in his spiderweb of influence. An amazing book that follows the labyrinth... more that has been David Bowie's reinvented lives.
review 2: The first vinyl records (Remember those? Big, round, black, shiny disks with tiny grooves that played music when you put in on a turntable and dropped the needle down? I know, I miss them too...) I ever bought were Journey's "Escape", the self-titled album by Madness ("Our house in the middle of our street..."), and "Let's Dance" by David Bowie. I still have them, somewhere. Most likely tucked away on a shelf next to my parents' (surprisingly hip) vinyl collection. (There's a bit of Tom Jones, ABBA, Three Dog Night, The Guess Who, and the Beatles---not a bad soundtrack for my childhood.) While I liked Journey and Madness a lot, throughout the years my fascination for Bowie grew and matured in a way that didn't happen for most of the other bands and singers I had in my record collection. (The Police will always have a place in my heart, Jackson Browne was a memorable fling, and the Pretenders still kick ass, but I'm not sure what I was thinking with Rick Springfield, Menudo or Bruce Willis's one and only foray---thank God!---in music with his "Return of Bruno" blues album. I consider those "novelty" records...) I think my sustained love for Bowie is due to the fact that, like the few rare artists that can completely change themselves, in a good way, to suit the changing times (Madonna, Siouxsie Sioux, Trent Reznor) the Bowie that I loved in 7th grade is not the Bowie I loved as a senior in high school is not the Bowie I loved in my early 20s is not the Bowie I love today, at age 40. The many metamorphoses that Bowie has gone through is incredible.I rarely read autobiographies or biographies of musicians or singer/songwriters. Not that I lack respect for them or their creative process. On the contrary, I have tremendous respect for musicians, and I love music. In point of fact, I just never found any of my favorite bands or singers to be the subject of a biography. I have yet to find a biography of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Not many writers are willing to tackle the brilliance behind They Might Be Giants or Oingo Boingo. I did read a biography of Kurt Cobain once, which I liked, but much of it read like a police report (which is probably sadly appropriate). Other well-known autobiographies of famous rock stars have not interested me that much: Keith Richards's book would probably bore and annoy me with all the rampant drug stories, and while I would someday like to tackle Bob Dylan's autobiography, I don't think I'm ready yet for a commitment that big.Bowie, on the other hand, has always intrigued me. He has, apparently, intrigued many other biographers as well, as he has been the subject of literally dozens of books. It seems odd (I mean, it's one guy, right? And he's not even dead yet...) until one looks at the many variations of self-identity that Bowie has gone through in his life. Some biographers have written solely about his Ziggy Stardust period. Others have looked at Bowie from a literary standpoint (he is quite poetic in his lyrics) and others from a strictly fashion sense. I chose to read "Bowie: A Biography" by author Mark Spitz for no other reason than because it was there, and it is probably the most appropriate place to start for a Bowie-phile. It is not comprehensive the way David Buckley's 700-page biography, "Strange Fascination: David Bowie---The Definitive Story" is. (That's next on my list.) Spitz's book is a fun, fast-paced read written by a fan FOR fans. Bowie, born David Robert Jones in Brixton, U.K. in 1947, grew up in a seemingly normal suburban family. His parents were caring, kind people, although lacking perhaps in the physical affection department (a trait somewhat typical for upper-middle class Brits, one of those stereotypes that has some truth to it). His parents were very supportive of Bowie from an early age, encouraging his early interest in music and art where some parents of the day may have been somewhat leery. His childhood shaped him in ways Bowie never realized until much later, according to Spitz, especially in regards to Bowie's life-long fear that he would someday go insane. Mental illness, apparently, ran in his family. Bowie's older brother, Terry, suffered from schizophrenia, and Bowie, who would look up to his brother as a role model and source of inspiration his entire life until Terry's death, was always waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to succumb to the inevitable madness he knew he was coming. It is, in many ways, why Bowie pushed himself so hard and far in his musical career. Spitz notes that Bowie may have just been trying to beat the Devil.Early attempts at bands (there were many of them) were failures for Bowie, but unlike some artists, Bowie was never discouraged by failure. There was, apparently, something to be learned in everything. His first album, a self-titled (which has joyously recently been re-released after many years of being out of print) was quickly forgotten. It is considered by most critics to be typical of the Brit Pop movement of the time and nothing to write home about. His next album, however, "Space Oddity" would fare much better and would give Bowie his first chart-topper with his famous title track. It would, however, be his third album, "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", that would catapult him into rock stardom. The rest, as they say, is history. And, oh, what a fantastic history. Bowie's oeuvre of songs reads like a compilation of The History of Western Civilization Through David Bowie: "Changes", "Suffragette City", "Jean Genie", "Diamond Dogs", "Heroes", "Fame", "Modern Love", "Let's Dance", "China Girl", and the list goes on... Those are just his radio singles, and they only cover his musical output through the mid-80s. The 90s and the 2000s would see Bowie usher himself into the 21st century quite majestically with albums like 'Earthling", "Heathen", and "Reality". Spitz, unfortunately, ends his book in 2009, on a sad note that Bowie's last album ("Reality", 2003) really would be Bowie's last album. As if. As we speak (or, technically, as I write), Bowie's newest album in ten years, "The Next Day" is currently available in record stores (oops, I mean Amazon), and it is awesome. It is, in my opinion, Bowie's darkest album, full of righteous anger at the injustices in the world and, especially, in the U.S., his adopted country for which he has a love-hate relationship. (Then again, don't most of us?) Bowie still manages to fascinate and enthrall, and I'm sure that he will continue to do so until his dying day, in whatever new and wonderful manifestation he adopts. less

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