Happy 66th birthday, David Bowie

I will admit to camping out for GW Bush's inauguration weekend nonsense on the National Mall because Ricky was performing. My roommate and I had a "We love you, Ricky" sign. With hearts and shit. And sparkles.

He came out wearing all black, a turtleneck, I think, and he looked absolutely beautiful. Afterward, we went to Watergate Liquor to fill up on supplies and the owner regaled us with stories about how his sister's friend's cousin's whatever knew Ricky and he wasn't gay. I went with that story for years.

Crushing. Also, Arlen Specter came into the store while we were there and he was blitzed out of his mind. Memorable night.

 

Ain't no party like a Bush inauguration party!

Please turn your SJ POY trophy in to Fuck Box posthaste.

 

Dylan's awesome, but how much of his solo output would be considered rock? A lot, but not all, certainly not his early stuff that gained him fame to begin with.

This is where we get into hair-splitting over rock 'n roll era or actual rock artist.

 

If we say Bruce Springsteen wasn't solo, I'm fine with that statement. Bob Dylan and Prince have strong cases, but Bowie is more rock 'n' roll than either of them.

Of course, there's Ricky Martin to consider.

 

The Bowie-Dylan nexus ... Spider From Mars Mick Ronson was part of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the mid 70s.

 

It's not debatable.

 

'Bringing It All Back Home' was released in 1965 and includes tracks featuring electric guitar and Hammond organ that should certainly be qualified as rock and roll.
At the very least, 'Highway 61 Revisited,' released later in 1965, is entirely a rock and roll record.

 

Let's see:

Bowie the folky. Check.
Bowie the inventor of glam. Check.
Bowie the inventor of white soul. Check.
Bowie the inventor of trance music. Check
Bowie the New Wave superstar. Check
Bowie the thrash-rock bandmember. Check
And now, at 66, Bowie the surprising comeback just because he can. Check.

 

The Thin White Duke in his comeback after his heart attack. (When he performed with Arcade Fire later that night, the bandage, black eye and poorly fitting pants were gone.)

 

Was saying this to a coworker earlier.

I can think of few artists who so easily shift between genres and styles and do it so convincingly.

Maybe Bowie is now entering his Scott Walker pseudo-operatic era.

 

Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield would beg to differ.

 

And Bowie had a song called "Song for Bob Dylan" on 1971's "Hunky Dory."

Bowie is a great talent, but he also had the ability to bring in very skilled people (Fripp, Eno, Alomar, Belew, Ronson, the great late 70s rhythm section of Davis and Murray) to the point that they did a lot of the heavy lifting, whether because Bowie was confident in their work, or as with Tony Visconti handling all the arranging on "The Man Who Sold the World," because he just didn't give a shit.