David Bowie's 1972 appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops was a breakout performance that won him a mass UK audience.
Captivated by the garish theatrical flourishes and sexual ambiguity of Bowie's character Ziggy Stardust --- a glamorous, messianic space alien --- the public subsequently remembered him primarily in that role and judged his later work in reference to Ziggy.
This fallacy --- the inability to perceive Bowie's subsequent work as a series of entirely different artistic personas --- could be called a Starman argument.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYej6RTmICo&feature=player_embedded
"Top of the Pops" had no equal in break out bands and singers,
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie's 1972 appearance on Ghé thăm nhà mình nhéLev Osherovich
ReplyDelete... but TOTP was all about the singles chart. At artist wouldn't get on there unless their single was or might be in the top 20 or had had previous single success. An appearance on TOTP virtually guaranteed a single's success.
ReplyDeleteI like Bowie as the next guy but john lennon famously said "Everybody loves you when your six feet under" even though he was cremated think about that quote and make a reasonable answer
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right. New album straight to the top of the charts, back catalogue reissued, compilations/greatest hits being put together by the hour - the vultures in the industry must be rubbing their hands in glee!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't his biggest fan but I had a couple of his albums and recognised his contribution to music and art in general.
This universal 'grief' sickens me. But I have seen it all before.
Thank God I'm not famous!
Great words, Bowie was really ahead of his time
ReplyDeleteWell thank you Mary.
ReplyDeleteI had a well known second cousin in 'the business', Joe Cocker, who sadly
passed away in December 2014. Thankfully, he wasn't treated in the same way
but there is still an element of 'dead, so buy now' about his back
catalogue.
Let the dead rest in peace!
Best wishes.
John Taunton