The prophet of pop music: David Bowie

David Bowie has made his name in history so many times with his actions: the man who discovered Glam Rock, the man who introduced the concept of alter ego to pop culture, the man who wrote Ziggy Stardust, the man who sang Life on Mars, the man who inspired the punk movement, the man who played electronic music the first mainstream man to be interested, the man who was reborn with almost every album, the man with the man. Well, even the big Nick Cave probably doesn't say for nothing: “He changed the concept of pop music with him every time. For me he is the Jesus of pop, and thus pop music is divided into two: before/after David Bowie”.

Then let's take a look at this glorious history (even if we can't fit it all here):

The one-eyed boy who heard God

David Bowie was born as David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947. As a child, he attracted the attention of both his family and teachers with his musical talent. He was also a staunch rock'n'roll listener from that age. Young Bowie was collecting everything in his head about this new trend coming out of the USA. His favorite name was Little Richard. For his song Tutti Frutti he says: When I first heard the song, I heard God.

The saddest thing from this period is that David, who had a fight with a friend over a girl issue in elementary school, loses his sight as a result of a blow to his left eye. Therefore, he will now look at the world with only one healthy eye. For David, this is no reason to be offended by the world. We can even say that after this incident, there are two different eye colors with the change in the color of the damaged eye, and this image exactly coincides with the alter ego identities that he will create in the future. They become close friends with their belligerent friend, George Underwood, who has already gifted him a blind eye. Underwood even designs the visuals for early Bowie albums.

An astronaut alone in space

David is now grown and has decided what he will do for the rest of his life: He will become a singer. Like the rock stars who have guided his whole life, he will write and sing his own songs. Of course, not everything is that easy. He establishes many groups, releases his own solo albums, sends his songs to the radio, but cannot achieve the success he desires. By the way, he used many different stage names, but in the end, inspired by the surname of Mick Jagger, which he loved very much, he made a very fashionable knife brand in England for a while, and now it is David Bowie. His first success came very soon: a story about an astronaut who got lost in space (our astronaut's name is Major Tom – who years later he finds a touch of this astronaut again in the song Ashes to Ashes: ashes to ashes / funk to funkie, we know Major Tom is a junkie) ) song Space Oddity both draws attention to him and achieves good success in the charts. The rest comes like a sock rip.

The man who sold the world

In 1970, the first in a series of good albums was released: The Man Who Sold The World. The songs of the album with the themes of schizophrenia, paranoia, madness, loneliness and alienation give the listeners goosebumps. The first musical change came with this album. Bowie, who generally uses classic rock'n'roll and country themes in the two albums he has released so far, bursts into the market with a hitherto unheard of hard rock elixir. In fact, this is the birthplace of a new trend, both in terms of the content of the music and the image of Bowie: Glam Rock! The songs of the album are like a slap in the face of the society, which had just come out of the 60s and dreamed of love, flowers, happiness and peace. In fact, Bowie thus marks the line for a new decade: The flower revolution is over. One of the most memorable aspects of the album is Bowie's pose while wearing women's clothes on the album cover, and the second is the song The Man Who Sold The World, which was recomposed by another legend Kurt Cobain and popularized until today. Two separate comments; both are awesome.

Is there life on Mars?

You've discovered Glam Rock, hang around a bit, get your money's worth, enjoy, right? Imperishable. Bowie has already changed with his next album: Hunk Dory. Album Pretty Things and Life on Mars? He is remembered for his songs. Bowie pays homage to two important names on this album: Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan. Two songs of the album were written for these two masters.

And Ziggy plays the guitar…

But David Bowie gets his big bang with Ziggy Stardust. He makes it onto the stage not as David Bowie, but with Ziggy Stardust, the first alter ego he created. The band's name is Spiders From Mars. Ziggy Stardust is a so-called extraterrestrial being, descending to earth in human form, and with his songs, he is deified by earthlings and destroyed by his own admirers, while delivering messages of peace and love to earthlings who have only five years left. There is only one option left for him: Rock'n'Roll Suicide. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album has created such an impact with its content, music, being a real concept album where all songs tell a single story, and Bowie's stage outfits and alter ego. has been a source of inspiration.

Station to station, character to character

After Ziggy, Bowie made successful albums and continued his music career with different alter egos such as Aladdin Sane and Thin White Duke, and albums such as Diamond Dogs and Station to Station. He is always at the top of the charts with his songs from this period, such as The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Diamond Dogs, and Golden Years. In the meantime, sensing that change is coming, Bowie almost puts his guitar aside and starts hanging out with a little more soul and a little more funk. Even John Lennon, who doesn't like anyone, would happily work with David Bowie and their Fame song was a great success. The Young Americans album, which was released during this period, was also a great success.

A hero is reborn in Berlin

Fearing to repeat himself, David Bowie, after all the successes he could go on a tour and earn millions of dollars, moves to Germany, where no one even knocked on his door at the time, and becomes interested in German electronic music, which was not of interest to anyone at that time. The change this time around is quite radical. To give an example for the current generation, it's like Radiohead making an album like Kid A after OK Computer, David Bowie's Low album released in 76. David Bowie, who left all his fans and critics alone with an album they don't know what to think, gets the highest praise from the famous classical music composer Philip Glass. According to Low, it is a masterpiece in itself, and he dedicates his 4th Symphony, which he wrote years later, to this album and Bowie. Bowie returns from the Berlin era with three albums: Low, Heroes and Lodger. Well, what is the main thing to pay attention to here: Bowie, who opened the door of punk with The Man Who Sold The World and Ziggy Stardust, is opening the door to a new genre decorated with ambient and minimalist trends, while England is being destroyed by punk. Because after these three albums, punk will be put aside in the eighties, and electronic music will be on the rise. As you can see, Bowie captains a whole pop culture.

Come let's dance Chinese girl

The rock stars of the 60s and 70s could not adapt to the music of the eighties. Many have vanished, and some have fallen into a long hibernation and reawakened in the nineties. David Bowie was prepared, of course. Let alone sleep, he even managed to break his own sales records with the songs China Girl and Let's Dance.

An endless encyclopedia

Bowie's productivity continued in the nineties and 2000s. There was never a long break. Maybe a little Bowie like the Woody Allen of the music world. Not every album was outstanding, but none of his albums were bad either. He hasn't had a single job that has been relentlessly criticized by neither fans nor critics. In these years, he was constantly chasing different sounds. Not long ago, 3 days ago, on his birthday, he released one last album, Bowie: Blackstar! The sad part is that we see a dying spaceman in the clip he shot for the song that gives the album its name: Maybe he wanted to give us one last message this time.

What makes David Bowie such an important man today is the great musical legacy he left behind. This is such a legacy that there is such a wide range of people who say they were influenced by it and had an influence on their music: their contemporaries such as Lou Reed and Iggy Pop (Bowie had many collaborations with these two names. Especially Iggy Pop'. He's the one who keeps him alive), punks like the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, glam masters like Marc Bolan and T-Rex, newcomers like The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, New Order, Nirvana , grunge artists like Pearl Jam, pop icons like Madonna, Prince, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Britpopers like Blur, Suede, Pulp, contemporary masters like Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, White Stripe, Coldplay, and Placebo and Nick Cave and Radiohead and Queen…Read More this list goes too long. More is written. An encyclopedia is written. It will be written, but now let's listen to it a little bit. With the last song he left us:

And a final farewell from us to him, again with his verses:

It was cold and it rained so i felt like an actor

And i thought of mom and i wanted to get back there

Your face, your race, the way that you talked

I kiss you, you're so beautiful and i want you to walk

(from the song Five Years)