2. The Evolution of David Bowie almost perfectly matches
the evolution of the music industry as a whole, either as
the forerunner or trend follower he has greatly
impacted the music industry over the last four decades.
Starting his career in 1962 he gained wide spread
popularity for his ‘’Star man’’ character in 1969 bit hit ‘’A
space Oddity’’. From that point his image and fashion
sense became an integral part of his on stage persona,
first as Star man and then as the glam rocker Ziggy
Stardust. Unlike other artist David Bowie was constantly
evolving and changing his craft, both artistically and
genre to be more in line with popular culture. From
Rock in the 70s to Funk and soul in the late 70 to new
wave pop in the 80s etc. Bowie was never the sort of
man to be confined to one type of music.
3. His career started in 1969, which in typical
Bowie fashion started off with a bang with his
´´The man who sold the World´´ although not
realising a music video David Bowie is pictured
on the cover as wearing a style of ´´man
dresses´´. This would be the start to his
boundary pushing career although it remained
undeveloped.
4. Most daring outfits. Resulting in the star image that
became known as Ziggy Stardust.
His break out hit came in the form of 2001 a space
oddity (a pun and intertextual reference on the
Kubrick masterpiece), in the music video, he takes
the stage persona of Ziggy stardust, (or starman).
5. David Bowie re-reinvented his star image in 1976, realising a trilogy of minimalist
albums which became known as the berlin trilogy. This shift shocked fans and
critics alike, as it was unusual for such a drastic artistic makeover. The reason for
this is due to the decline of the glam rock and growing popularity for more artistic
unconventional rock leaving Bowie the option to change or to fade into irrelevancy.
He choose the latter creating the so called berlin trilogy of albums, Low, Heroes
and Lodger. With a new subgenre of music came a new star image, David Bowie
cast away his Ziggy stardust character and presented himself as David Bowie the
voice of generation.
6. However his first music video showed
none of this established design. In the
first rendition of A space Oddity David
bowie is far from the flamboyant star
man. Instead he is portrayed in the
style of mod rocker. With slim white
clothing and a bole cut hairstyle the
star image is the archetype Modder.
The mise on scene element also
support this lack of a star image,
instead its shown as an homage to
the Kubrick masterpiece 2001 a space
odyssey , with little of David bowies
flare or sense of design.
7. The first appearance of starman came in the re-
release of his break out hit. This character
represents the Glam rock movement of the early
70s, were performs would expressed themselves
with elaborate costumes, makeup and hairstyles,
which blurred the gender lines (by that a mean
challenging gender specific fashion) . Ziggy fits this
description down to a t. In 2001 A Space Oddity he
is sporting a bright long red hair, with shaved
eyebrows and white face paint. Toped of with a
sparkling silver top. This all culminates in an
otherworldly effect, fitting as Ziggy was an alien.
This flamboyant persona carries on in such singles
as ‘’life on mars’’ and ‘’star man’’ both of which
follow the sci-fi theme, with Ziggy sporting
elaborately designed costumes and makeup. The
genre just like Ziggy´s personality is hard to pin
down, it has been described as Glam Rock, art Rock
and just plain old Rock. This again is in line with
David Bowie attempt to push and evolve the genre
into unexplored territory.
8. The visual motif that have associated with Starman
are as unusual as the character himself. In his glam
rock days David is always sporting unusually
fashioned garment each individual by still
encapsulating this bizarre personality. Examples can
be found in both in his music video and outside,
participating in a Japanese fashion show where he
hired Kansai Yamamoto who designed some of his
most daring outfits. Resulting in the star image that
became known as Ziggy Stardust.
9. Finally the video primary purpose is to heighten this
unusual persona. In Life on mars official music video
stars out with a pan extreme close up shot of
Starmans face, this is then followed by a mid-shot of
the artist alone with a white backdrop. The framing
of the artist doesn’t evolve beyond these two simple
shots (alternating between extreme close up, close
ups and mid shots) , allowing the viewer to take in
the stage personas fashion and personality.
This all culminates in the overall message of
Starman, as a glam rocker he preaches self-
expression and rebellion. To fight the status quo and
evolve into something bizarre, in other word ´´let
the children bogie´´
This message could not have come out at a better
time. With the rise of the Hippie movement free
love and expression was the rage, the youth were
rebelling against the establishment and their rules
and thus turned to Starman as an outlet.
10. • David Bowie’s most unusual change came later on
in his career, abandoning both Glam rock and
Starman Bowie evolved with the time presenting
himself as his star image.
This mean he is not sporting his iconic fashion
design instead he is not sporting any make up or
unusual garment, just a leather jacket and trouser
zipped down to reveal a undershirt underneath.
This shows that Bowie does not what to be viewed
as a colourful act but as a serious music creator.
11. Therefore are final case study attempts to reflect
this new star image, it is Hero’s. This single on
one of the acclaimed Berlin trilogy is placed in
stark contrast when compared to David bowies
previous work ‘’Space Oddity’’. The video shows
Bowie in a series of full body shots in direct mode
of address with the audience, there is also a
series of close up and mid shots. Besides the
relatively plain clothes, as he is sporting a leather
jacket and wife beater, there is no engaging mise
on scene elements. There are also no cut always
or other special effect to distract the audience
from the main attraction David Bowie. By doing
this Bowie is clamming centre stage concluding
his evolution as an artist.
12. •
He has dropped the visual motif associated with his star man character, there is no
flamboyant costume design or hairstyle. This the central problem to David Bowies
career while other artist start out as generic cookie cutter performers they evolve and
become unique over time finding their own niche in the market. This was not the case
for Bowie who became a slave to the ever evolving trend, going on to play jazz and
even hip hop, and by imitating other performers lost the strong identity he once held.
For the rest of this essay we shall be focusing primarily on the character of Starman as
he is by far the most consistently developed and unique of all of Bowie stage
personas.
13. In conclusion David Bowie’s career was
one on constant change and
experimentation, however his high
point in terms of a star image came in
his outlandish glam rocker
performances, with his innovative
sense of fashion and design people still
praise the character that was starman,
with 2013 the VA honoured this legacy
with a fashion exhibition.
