“Not very comfortable”: The era David Bowie never wanted to revisit
Every artist can only dream of being an innovator in their respective field whenever they start crafting hits. Even though it would be easy to please the market and make something that is safe and focus-group-tested, everyone wants to be remembered for breaking down barriers, and that means going against the grain to make something no one’s heard before. While David Bowie became a master of subverting people’s expectations, he admitted that he would have rather forgotten about ever breaking ground in this genre of music.
But talking about Bowie’s work tends to be like looking through multiple different artists at once. He may have been introduced to us as ‘Major Tom’ with his insane red hair and acoustic guitar playing, but that’s ignoring his turn as ‘The Thin White Duke’ or him mastering American rock and roll as ‘Aladdin Sane’.
Although most of his greatest creations were sculpted around character portraits, the most fleshed-out projects he ever made didn’t need him to go under a different name, either. Hunky Dory was a case of him toying with what the artist formerly known as Davey Jones was supposed to be, and even fast-forwarding to his later period, hearing him make strange detours into industrial music like Earthling or embrace jazz on Blackstar was another case of him never repeating himself.
If there’s one genre that’s going to be etched on Bowie’s metaphorical tombstone, it would be glam rock. By the time the 1970s got started, Ziggy Stardust was out in full force, and looking at his astonishing run of records through to Diamond Dogs, Bowie wanted to show the world that it was okay to be a bit androgynous while also making the best hard rock on the planet.
When looking back on his old career, Bowie’s early period is something that he would rather forget. Outside of his attempt to be a vaudeville star, most of his albums prior to Hunky Dory featured him having faint wisps of brilliance while the other songs fumble around in the dark, trying to find the right sound.
Although his early era features some great potential starting out, ‘The Starman’ felt that it was never worth revisiting, saying, “There was a real desperate edge to it. This guy really wanted to be heard. I’m not sure if it’s endearing or embarrassing, but you definitely get the impression that this person didn’t want to be left behind. It’s the very early stuff; there’s a naivety there that’s not disenchanting, but I’m not very comfortable with it.”
And it’s not like he isn’t correct in some respects. David Bowie is still one of the most confusing albums released by a future legend, but listening back to his experimental projects like The Man Who Sold the World, you can hear someone trying their best to place themselves in the big leagues with Jagger and John Lennon.
He may have had to wait before songs like ‘Changes’ and ‘Ziggy Stardust’ started rolling in, but listening back to this period is nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, those records are the baby steps of someone destined to become a giant.
