David Bowie at 69, the Most Influential Living Musician

So says the Takeaway's Todd Zwillich:

David Bowie, the Diamond Dog, is 69 today. And to celebrate, he released a new album, "Blackstar."

We all know that Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent, is a politics junkie. He practically sleeps on Capital grounds every night.

But did you also know that he's a gigantic David Bowie fan?

Todd argues that Bowie's musical diversity and longevity, his fusion of art and music, and his development of the modern music style, make Bowie the most important and influential rock musician alive today, even over Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney.

Zwillich: 'Bowie is the Most Influential Living Musician'

I'm a pretty big Bowie fan, and he should be in the discussion. Not sure I'd name him the most influential living musician though.

Couple of minutes of audio at the link.

 

I'd say it's Bowie and I can't even think of who would be in the discussion with him. Between the music and the shifting persona I think it has to be Bowie by a mile.

"Blackstar" is pretty great, by the way.

 

Dylan and McCartney might as well be Lawrence Welk.

 

You could certainly try to make a case for either of them if you like. There's probably a good one to be made for Dylan. Not so much for McCartney.

The difference, for me, is that Dylan and McCartney both emerged from existing musical traditions -- they just happened to be really damn good at what they did. A lot of people tried to copy Dylan, but Dylan was already copying Woody Guthrie.

Bowie, on the other hand, was completely unlike anything that came before him and totally reinvented himself with every few albums. There are entire genres of music that grew out of phases of his career.

 

Hard to beat Bowie's voice, either. One of the best.

 

Capitol.

 

Jerk!

 

I know. I generally don't correct spelling, but for some reason, Capital vs Capitol always irks me. I guess I think the writer is an idiot who is probably another uninformed voter.

 

Influential, sure. Not even close to Dylan, though, aand I don't think he's close to Neil Young, either.

 

Influence is a shifty thing...did McCartney/The Beatles influence more people to play "rock and roll? than anyone else in history? Yes. But Bowie's influence is different and more diverse when you look whose careers he helped launch/relaunch. He helped get the big breaks for the likes of Marc Bolan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mott the Hoople and David Sanborn. There are others who are escaping my mind. He put Lou Reed and Iggy Pop back in the spotlight. That is a direct influence that is pretty amazing.

McCartney...well...he wrote some song for Bad Finger and he does duets with established stars. McCartney is not a musical risk taker unless you call putting Linda on stage for two decades.

 

I'm not going to take the time to try and point out which band member was the creative force that drove each band, but...

The Pixies began the Seattle sound.
Joy Division kicked of the synth/house band sound.
The Police's first couple albums spawned a shit ton of copycats.
Grandmaster Flash/Sugarhill Gang and the Furious Five started rap.
The Smiths sound was duplicated for decades.
Oh, I almost forgot the Sex Pistols

But Bowie is in the group, but I don't think he stands so far above it.

 

Pretty sure Neil Young would laugh at this. He purposely spent large chunks of his career being about as non-influential as you can be. Young and Bowie are both true artists, but in very different ways.