A Glam Rock Icon or A Lad Insane?
05-01-2012
David Robert Jones was born on 8th January 1947 in Brixton, England. From an early age David was said to be an intelligent and gifted child who often spoke his mind. Quickly taking a shine to music and art, he learned how to play many instruments, including the saxophone, piano, bass and ukulele, progressing to a much higher than average standard of playing compared to his classmates. Whilst also learning dance, teachers began to notice the unique and innovative techniques that Bowie used to express himself – just a small clue as to what was to come later in his life.
Upon finishing school, Bowie joined band after band in hope of getting a recording contract, however after 5 unsuccessful single releases and 1 unsuccessful album release, Bowie took time out from music for two years to re-evaluate his life and take up other hobbies such as contemporary art to broaden his mind and ideas.
His return to the music industry no longer presented him as Davy Jones, but as David Bowie. He had found himself a new band and was touring the country playing small gigs, increasing his likeability and people’s curiosity over him. But his real success story began in 1969, when he released the single ‘Space Oddity’ on 11th July, coinciding with the Apollo 11 mission which was to launch 5 days later. Creating something which interested the public and appealed to the current events amongst society proved an instant success and his career had finally launched.
In the same year, he and his band began to make up characters for themselves on stage, dressing in elaborate costumes. It was also around this time that he met and fell in love with Angela Barnett, a London socialite who fraternised with A-listers at regular events and parties. She impacted hugely on Bowie, constantly motivating him to push himself further in his career, while also keeping him around characters and environments which allowed him to be himself and express his eccentric personality. It was this impact as well as that of his band, which made Bowie create his world-famous personas.
His most iconic character was Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous, glittery and vibrant rock star, whose costumes consisted of lycra bodysuits, dresses and heels. Bowie once stated with regard to Ziggy, ‘I wanted to create a character which looks like he’s landed from Mars’. His make-up was elaborate and innovative, featuring metallic lightning bolts and circles painted over large parts of his face and his hair was spiky and dyed a bright red – a rare sight at this time. His style was feminine, yet androgynous, never showing fear to mix different patterns and often featuring powerful stripes. Bold, daring and revolutionary, he also often wore structured and broad-shouldered jackets in wildly bright colours. Ziggy played numerous tours in the early 1970s, which was arguably one of the most successful times of Bowie’s career. Due to his eccentric clothing and character personality, he was one of the most influential figures of the glam rock era, changing the degree of influence that fashion had on rock music. He, amongst others, changed it into a glittery, sexual and glamorous era, increasing the power that the appearance and stagecraft of an artist or band had on their popularity. However, although a success, his alter-ego Ziggy caused Bowie to question his sanity; it was time for a new persona.
‘Aladdin Sane’, imitative of the phrase, ‘A Lad Insane’, was said to be a rougher and tougher version of Ziggy, which was less watershed and featured more extreme and masculine qualities and appearances. His style and music as this persona not only appealed to the fans of glam rock, but to goth, darkwave and sci-fi cultures too. Furthermore, his next persona named ‘Halloween Jack’, pushed the two previous characters to the limit and created an edgy and sinister personality to coincide with his album ‘Diamond Dogs’. This character caused controversy, due to the album covers which featured Bowie as a glamorous human-dog hybrid, showing its genitalia. But regardless of this controversy, the album cover has since become a collector’s item and at the time influenced the fashion of punk music, promoting an edgy image combined with sexuality.
When Bowie later released the album ‘Station to Station’, his final persona and perhaps most impactful stylistic achievement was created. ‘The Thin White Duke’ combined aspects of style donned by both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. It saw Bowie in a seemingly calmer and more mainstream character with a cabaret-style wardrobe, despite hiding an overwhelming cocaine addiction throughout this period. Flawlessly dressed in tailored all-white suits, or black trousers, white shirts and a waistcoat, his style was conventionally masculine. The clothes that he wore had a sense of graphic purity, which were sophisticated and modern; the trousers were wide, the shirts were crisp, and the waistcoats and hats were elegant. The look was natural and minimalistic and evidence of it can even be seen on catwalks today by designers such as Lanvin, Dries van Noten and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Primarily, Bowie was a musician and pop/rock star, however it was his constant innovative ideas and the frequent reinventing of his image to match his music which contributed to the revolutionary glam rock era. He was not the only star in this movement, yet he stood out for his uniqueness and flamboyance, resulting in a cult following and never-ending success across different industries to this very day; even now ‘Bowie-inspired’ looks parade on the catwalk or appear on the cover of magazines. Said to be a ‘pioneer of glam rock stagecraft’, at the height of his career David Bowie was a revolutionary trendsetter, inspiring the public as well as musical artists, making it a trend to make a performance not just about the music, but about the image and the personality of the character on stage.
Written by Heather Barras
