In Anticipation Of The Historic ‘David Bowie is’ Exhibit At The Brooklyn Museum, Let’s Review Bowie’s 10 Greatest Moments in Music And Fashion
Get to know the man, the myth, the legend, David Bowie!
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by When I think of David Bowie I envision an eccentric, music mogul, full of life and artistic individuality. His music exploded in the ’70s with songs like “All the Madmen,” “The Man Who Sold the World” and “Young Americans” where he collaborated with John Lennon.
Bowie, real name David Robert Jones, was born January 8, 1947, in Brixton, London. In his short life, Bowie earned two-time Grammy and three Brit awards. On January 17th, 1996, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared in countless films and television shows including the 1986 “Labyrinth” and the famous 2001 “Zoolander” starring Ben Stiller. To add to these accomplishments Bowie was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1983 for “Cat People”. He was married to world-renowned supermodel Iman for twenty-four years. They were parents to daughter Alexandria Zahra Jones and Bowie had a son from a previous marriage, Duncan Jones. Sadly, Bowie was diagnosed with liver cancer and 18 months later he succumbed to his illness. On January 10, 2016, he took his last breath in his New York City Apartment just two days after his 69th birthday.
From March 2 to July 15, 2018, the Brooklyn Museum will honor the late legend with planned programming and the acclaimed David Bowie Is exhibition. The exhibition — making its final stop in Brooklyn after an extensive world tour — features more than 60 custom-made performance costumes the musician wore throughout his lifetime. In addition, there will be 85 handwritten lyrics, television clips, and oil paintings to mention a few.
“We could not be more delighted that the final leg of the tour brings the show back to New York, where Bowie made his home,” Victoria Broackes, co-curator of the exhibition for the Victoria and Albert Museum, said in a statement.
In anticipation of this iconic exhibit, let’s take a look back on some of Bowie’s greatest moments in history:
1999 VHI Storytellers
A guest on VHI Storytellers, Bowie talks about the first song that he ever wrote and recorded as a solo artist. The song is called “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”. Although he was proud of his first recording he utterly admitted to writing the lyrics “My girl calls my name, Hi Dave drop in, see you around, come back if you’re this way again,” were the two worst lines he ever wrote. Nevertheless, this would be the start of his long-standing career.
1969 Space Oddity
“Space Oddity” from the album David Bowie was released on July 11, 1969. The song was about an astronaut “Major Tom” who has clear ignition to make it to the stars. Bowie later stated that he was inspired by the 1968 science-fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“In England, it was always presumed that it was written about the space landing because it kind of came to prominence around the same time. But it actually wasn’t. It was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing. I was out of my gourd anyway, I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. It got the song flowing,” said Bowie in a 2003 interview. This won him an Ivor Novello (an award handed out in London for songwriting and composing) for originality.
1973 Aladdin Sane Cover
Aladdin Sane was Bowie’s sixth studio album released by RCA on April 13, 1973. This album includes songs like “Lady Grinning Soul”, “The Jean Genie” and “Panic In Detriot.” The album cover alone was ranked one of his most iconic images. The album reached No. 17 in the U.S yet soared at the top of the charts in the U.K. It sold approximately 4.6 million copies making it his highest selling album.
1975 Soul Train
David Bowie was the second white artist to ever step foot on a Soul Train stage. Elton John claimed the first appearance earlier that year. He performed his then hit songs “Golden Years” and “Fame.” Soul Train was a successful show at the time and did not need to enhance their audience, however, because of the smooth and colorless sound of both entertainers, the show was proud to have them on and by the look of the audience, they were too.
1976 Arrested Development
On March 25, 1976, Bowie along with three other men including Iggy Pop were arrested in Rochester, N.Y, for Marijuana possession. The charges were later dropped. Three decades later this photo was accidentally found by an auction employee, Gary Hess. Hess was cleaning out a retired police officers affairs when he came across this photo. He noticed the famous mug (literally) and decided to sell it on eBay for $2,700.00. The picture made it around the world and this infamous shot is referred to one of the best-looking celebrity mug shots to date. You have to admit, he does look pretty damn good, considering he spent a few hours in the slammer.
1977 Christmas with Bing
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Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas featured Bowie singing the 1941 “The Little Drummer Boy.” They incorporated “Peace On Earth” along and made it a dynamic duo. David Bowie admitted to going on the show because he knew his mother liked him, according to Wikipedia. This song is most popular around the holiday season.
1983 Interview with MTV
Wow! I had to throw this one in. The more research I do on this man, the more I admire him. In 1983 an interview with then VJ Mark Goodman, Bowie questioned why there were a lack of black musicians’s videos featured on MTV. “I noticed within a few weeks that it has changed yet it’s a slow process” said Bowie. Goodman replied that MTV was going in a different direction and aiming for a more diverse audience.
1982 Under Pressure with Queen
Bowie and then popular Rock and Roll group, Queen collaborated and wrote a song that can be heard to date. The song “Under Pressure” took Queen to their second number one hit in the U.K. The song has made its way to films such as 2002’s 40 Days and 40 Nights with Josh Harnett and The Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller (safe to say Stiller is a Bowie fan).
1990 Were’s my credit
In 1990 some classic rock fans were quite mad when new recording rapper Vanilla Ice came out with a song “Ice Ice Baby” that sounded eerily close to the beat of “Under Pressure.” Robert Van Winkle known as “Vanilla Ice” was convinced that the alterations of the beat of his song were insignificant. Vanilla Ice kidded himself so he could avoid not having to pay royalties, permission or give credit. The media and lawyers for both Queen and David Bowie begged to differ. Ice later admitted to using the beat and scored an undisclosed settlement out of court.
1985 Benefit Concert
David Bowie was a contributor London’s 1985 “Live-Aid” benefit concert. The benefit helped millions of starving to death Ethiopians which ultimately raised $125,000,000, according to an article on History.com. David Bowie’s intention was to perform “Dancing In The Street” with Mick Jagger —who was doing a concert in Philadelphia — via satellite. Plans quickly changed when both artists found out they would have major delays due to the transport of the live video. Bowie ended up blowing the stadium away with his performances of “Heroes”, “Modern Love”, “Rebel Rebel” and “TVC15.” This was the first time he ever worked with the band and back up singers. This turned out to be an amazing show. “Everyone on that stage was at the top of their A game. It was a mix of excitement, energy, and sheer terror that combined for a bright, crisp performance that invigorated the crowd at this point in a very long day,” said concert go-er Caryn Rose on Salon.
2016 The Last Goodbye
This was the last video Bowie ever made. This was shot in an undisclosed studio in Brooklyn. It was uploaded to his YouTube page on January 7th, 2016. “Lazarus” — from his last album Blackstar — shows him on this deathbed and a story to end with closing himself in the closet door.
“Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now”
Thank you so much! Please let us know what you thought of the exhibit.
Fantastic article I learned alot about David Bowie cant wait to see the exhibit
Thank you for this article! I learned more about David Bowie in this article than I knew my whole life. I can only imagine how wonderful the exhibit will be. Anticipating this event!