Artist bio

See also: Flaming Lips, Lou Reed

David Bowie is one of rock 'n' roll's preeminent showmen and a master of musical reinvention. In a career that has spanned 35 years and countless personae, Bowie has ushered in musical trends with astounding foresight. He was born David Robert Jones in London on Jan. 8, 1947, and began performing as a teenager. By the late '60s he had released singles with several bands, all to little acclaim. In 1969, Bowie signed to Mercury Records, which released his debut single "Space Oddity." The track peaked at No. 5 on the U.K. pop singles chart and would eventually reach No. 15 in the U.S. upon its 1972 release there. In 1972, Bowie introduced his first major "character," Ziggy Stardust. A gender-unspecified, alien rock star with orange hair, Stardust and his backing band, the Spiders from Mars, released "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" album to critical acclaim that year. The blend of flashy rock and intensely theatrical live shows became a smash in the U.K. and U.S., but Bowie pressed on.

By the end of 1973, Stardust was permanently retired while Bowie tackled his own brand of American soul for the 1975 "Young Americans" album (the single "Fame" hit No. 1 in the U.S.). In 1976, Bowie furthered his theatrical ambitions by starring in the film "The Man Who Fell To Earth." He also introduced his stately "Thin White Duke" persona on the "Station To Station." Bowie then relocated to Berlin and began a period of fruitful collaboration with producer Brian Eno that yielded some of his most musically adventurous albums.

At the end of the '70s, Bowie was at the top of his game. The 1979 album "Lodger," the last of his collaborations with Eno, reached No. 20, while the following year's "Scary Monsters" hit No. 12. Videos for songs from these records were some of the first of their kind, and received mass airplay on the then-fledgling MTV network. For the next few years, Bowie devoted himself to acting. In the meantime, he recorded the track "Under Pressure" with Queen, which hit No. 1 in the U.K. In 1983 he released "Let's Dance," his first album under a new contract with EMI. Produced by Nile Rodgers and featuring the then unheard-of Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, the album was an instant success. The title track, a slick, post-disco number, hit No. 1 in May 1983, while "China Girl" and "Modern Love" hit the top-15.

The late '80s and early '90s saw Bowie again shaking things up, as he supervised the reissue of his back catalog for the Rykodisc label. He also formed the hard-rock quartet Tin Machine, which released two successful albums but was generally panned by critics. On the 1995 album "Outside," another collaboration with Eno, Bowie drew on the edgy and popular industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails. Always shrewd in non-musical matters, he took an unprecedented step in 1997 when he issued bonds backed by royalties from his song catalog. It wasn't long before Bowie was valued as one of the world's wealthiest living rock stars.

Albums by this artist

Outside (1995)

Features

Funeral At The Movies: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Published December 20, 2002

David Bowie

Outside

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» PATRICK KASTNER | STAFF WRITER

David Bowie Outside Virgin, 1995 RiYL: Nine Inch Nails, Suede, Brian Eno, T.Rex

David Bowie has been everything from a bisexual glam rocker to a punk prototype to an 1980s rock dinosaur. Here in the States, the androgynous one was introduced to mainstream audiences with the 1972 release The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. Bowie played Ziggy Stardust, an alien-turned-rock star who came to Earth to warn humans of their impending destruction by their own hands. The album was both high art and low culture.

Which brings us to Outside, a full 23 years later, where Bowie returns to his days of character acting. This time, he's Nathan Adler, an "art crime'' detective, hot on the trail of a grizzly murderer. The concept, as with Ziggy, is more than a little out there.

But it's the music that makes Bowie great, not the drama. Forget the concept framing the album, concentrate on the business at hand.

In many ways, these songs present Bowie's most fully realized work in years. Tunes such as "Strangers When We Meet'' and "I Have Not Been To Oxford Town'' blend the aural adventurism of Bowie's Berlin-era trilogy, the songcraft of his earliest work and the pop sense of his '80s hits.

In fact, Bowie's reunion with Brian Eno, who produced his Berlin-era work, is reinvigorating for the artist. Eno mixes contemporary rock elements with his usual washed-out aural landscape to perfection on songs such as "The Voyeur of Utter Destruction.''

And yes, Trent Reznor, with whom Bowie toured in support of this record, has been an influence as well. "Hallo Spaceboy'' and "The Heart's Filthy Lesson'' sound very Nine Inch Nails-ish with their industrial-style noise barrage, but they still retain the Bowie stamp.

Like some of Bowie's most adventurous work, this album is so dense and complicated (it clocks in at more than 75 minutes), it takes a few listens to get a good grasp on it. The segues between songs, which attempt to further the album's story, also make the album a tough listen. They sound like the "Twin Peaks" soundtrack outtakes at best. At worst they bog the album down in pretensions.

Outside begins a series by Bowie that will supposedly feature Nathan Adler. Even though the story is fragmented, it is intriguing. The album also marks the return of Bowie as an artist. It's a welcome return for one of the true progenitors of today's alternative rock.

PATRICK KASTNER | Affectionately known as Cousin Patty (yes, it's a "Throw Momma From The Train" reference), Patrick Kastner is a designer for the Columbus Post-Dispatch.