Fantastic Voyage
I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about going to the Bowie exhibition at the V&A this week. So much has been written and talked about about Bowie, it’s hard to add anything new and interesting, much less see how anyone could collate an exhibition of material that could make sense of his vast body of work and influence. I was worried it could be a bit like a Madame Tussaud’s vision of Bowie – made for music tourists. Within the current media frenzy, we are already dangerously close to Bowie overkill.
An artist who has a career spanning 6 decades is a rare thing. Rarer still is an artist who continues to produce new and exciting work and can still cause such a stir. Few artists get to make a comeback without it simply being a nod to nostalgia, but Bowie snook up behind us all, and dropped a new single with no big PR campaign and just a few hours notice. Where Are We Now is a song that befits both his artistic stature & his age. It feels suitably reflective, poignant and yet still contemporary and connecting. I was truly excited when I heard it, and the accompanying Tony Oursler video reminded us of his ongoing vitality in connecting with other artists work.
The V&A exhibition itself is a decently curated collection of photographs, notebooks, stage and video costumes, models of stage set designs, interspersed with audio snippets including both commentary & music (of course!) It aims to show the body of his work, the wide range of influences and his impact on design, fashion and popular culture. The main drawback for anyone who is a music fan, is that much of the material is already so familiar. The photos, costumes and videos, even much of the story about his influences and impact, is already so well documented. His collaborations and work with other innovative artists from dance choreographer Lindsay Kemp, to Brian Eno, Iggy Pop to fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen and Hedi Slimane, shows how engaged and curious he is an artist. He absorbed a multitude of cultural influences from literature to fashion, and openly used them to sculpt his own output.
What really shines through is the magnitude of his creativity and career as an artist, his capacity for experimentation and innovation. Truly impressive is the sheer volume of his songwriting and recording legacy, and his impact on popular culture. Between 1967 and 2013, Bowie made 27 studio albums, selling over 140 million records. Song after song, album after album, each so individual and imbued with distinct character. I have owned 7 different Bowie albums over the years in various formats – vinyl, cassette, CD and even recently re bought Hunky Dory a second time on itunes. That’s the most number of records I’ve had for one artist, and I still have most.
Lodger , was one of the first few albums I bought when I was 13. I already knew the well played Bowie songs such Space Oddity & Rebel Rebel, and as a new teen in 1979, I was mainly absorbed by new wave and punk. However, I was attracted by the Lodger postcard album cover with Bowie’s mangled flattened body looking like an accident victim, and intrigued by the cross dressing Bowie in Boys Keep Swinging when he appeared on Top of the Pops. It seemed rebellious, curiously fascinating and admirable. It was the start of a love of his work, that made me buy several other albums retrospectively. Each felt like a discovery.
Bowie’s songwriting style is both expansive and intimate. Lyrically, it feels like he’s holding a conversation, like a friend telling you a particularly larger than life story. His songs often contain something both fantastical, supernatural, universal & futuristic and yet are also deeply rooted in the everyday minutae of the most ordinary things. It’s a wonderful combination of soliciting hope and aspiration, and connecting to the everyday with a recognition that holds up a mirror we can see ourselves in. Musically he was a deft arranger with an ability to craft melodies containing deep emotional dynamic.
Bowie was also an artist who was outrageous and challenging with his image, open in his bisexuality, purveying high costume camp, while his songwriting , ideas and concepts were simply extraordinary. Most artists producing his kind of work would be considered left of field… and left there. Yet Bowie captured people’s imaginations and was embraced by the mainstream. I like this a lot. It reinforces my belief in the intelligence of people’s ability to absorb culture and take on challenging ideas and left field art, imagination and ideas. While I’m sure there is music that appeals to lowest common denominator (and there is no doubt a place for), this reminds us of the sophisticated emotional intelligence of audiences. We really want something different that captures and stirs our imaginations, don’t we? Something that stretches us beyond ourselves, rather than being fed meaningless pop. Bowie was a master in theatrical role play and he drew us into this world. We could be Heroes. We have Five Years left of crying. Where Are We Now? Where Are We Now?
An unexpected aside from the exhibition’s tribute to the career of Bowie, is a sideways view of the music industry itself. Across these 45 plus years, the industry has changed in terms of formats, and how it supports artists financially, as well as technical and studio production, how it connects audience and tells the story of artists through PR. Still the beating heart is about artists making music and writing songs. Few artists today will ever get the opportunity to make a body of work that spans 10 years never mind decades. The music industry’s fast turnover pushes artists too quickly from emerging artist to applauded newcomer to celebrated artist to headliner. Not much room there for artistic experimentation and a gathering maturity. The pressures on artists to recoup financial advances spent on them, mean many artists are dropped by labels after one or two albums. Many artists instead will just either operate outside the mainstream, working independently, and get on with doing what they do. Or have a short life.
I think there are few artists who would not recognise and revere Bowie’s huge influence and slightly envy the longevity he’s achieved. I ‘m left wondering if ‘The Man Who Sold the World ‘ is Bowie grappling with himself and his own creations. He captured a unique interpretation of life, its dramas, dreams, potential, disappointments and limitations. Undoubtedly , ‘Bowie’ the icon became bigger than him, but he managed to steer a course that regained control of his career, creativity and body of work. Bowie, his songs and music have become embedded as a rich part of our music and cultural history. Let’s hope other artists have the opportunity to follow…
joel mills 
Another interesting and informative piece . I was a Bowie fan too many years ago .