“I didn’t give a fuck”: the pop stars David Bowie didn’t care enough to compete with
For most of his career, David Bowie was one step ahead of the competition.
The perennial shapeshifter made a habit of moving away from trends, in pursuit of the next one and garnering a troop of copycats in his wake. That was the story for large parts of his career, with just the very beginning telling something of a different tale.
Because when Bowie was but a mere whippersnapper, roaming the streets of London’s Carnaby Street, looking for the next great piece of vintage clothing to perfect his persona, it was Marc Bolan who gave him the guided tour – plunging him into otherwise unexplored depths of creativity.
But once Bowie found his own set of sparkly heels, there was no stopping him from striding into a place of rock immortality, leaving his creative guardian Bolan in the dust. From there, Bowie explored all regions of the rock stratosphere, from glam to art and even industrial in the mid 1990s.
Rarely did Bowie misfire in any of these endeavours either, firmly cementing himself in the musical legacy and reminding those around him that his lead will forever be the one to follow. Within that, you can’t help but believe Bowie got something of a kick out of thrashing the competition.
While the open-minded musical chameleon would likely be the first to celebrate arts subjectivity, devoid of leaderboard nonsense, there was undoubtedly a small part of him that wanted to be better than everyone else by perfecting whatever musical discipline he put his hand to. “I need friction,” he once explained, addressing the matter, before descending into a monologue I so desperately wanted, from the brutally competitive artist.
He continued, “Also, I adore a sense of competition. I really like to see or hear somebody’s work and say, I can top that. It makes me work in a far grittier, more muscular way.” Within that sense of competition was something of an unspoken leaderboard that Bowie had crafted as a means of understanding who he was trying to beat. Sure, he was a pop star by right, but that didn’t necessarily mean he categorised himself alongside the glittering action figures of commercial pop.
Bowie added, “In the ’80s, I couldn’t look at Paula Abdul or Kylie Minogue and say, I can do better than that, I didn’t give a fuck… I can’t write if I’m not with people or in a place that really gives me grist for the mill, I need people to throw things back and question my opinions and premise of life.”
Concluding, “It makes me really respond. There’ve been moments living in Berlin and in New York when I’ve felt all that. Bells go off, and you’re alive, and everything’s tingling. And I’m feeling that now about London.”
The usual suspects can be found in the crosshairs of Bowie’s competition. His good mates Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger certainly come to mind, both with whom he shared a loving, almost sibling-like relationship, which drove him to be one up from them at all times.
