In Experiencing David Bowie: A Listener's Companion, musicologist, writer, and musician Ian Chapman unravels the extraordinary marriage of sound and visual effect that lies at the heart of the work of one of the most complex and enduring performers in popular music. Still active in a career now well into its fifth decade, Bowie's influence on music and popular culture is vast. At the height of the "glam rock" era, Bowie stood head and shoulders above his peers. His influence, however, would extend far beyond glam through successive changes of musical style and stage work that impacted upon wider popular culture through fashion, film, gender studies, theatre, and performing arts. As Chapman suggests, Bowie recognized early on that in a post-war consumer culture that continued the cross-pollination of media platforms, the line between musician and actor was an ever-thinning one. Opposing romantic notions of authenticity in rock, Bowie wore many faces, challenging listeners who consider his large body of work with a bewildering array of musical styles, covering everything from classic vaudeville to heavy metal, glam rock to soul and funk, electronic music to popular disco. In Experiencing David Bowie, Chapman serves as tour guide through this vast musical landscape, tracing his development as a musical artist through twenty-seven studio albums he generated. Pivotal songs anchor Chapman's no-nonsense look at Bowie's work, alerting listeners to his innovations as composer and performer. Moreover, through a close look at Bowie's "visuals"-in particular his album covers, Chapman draws the lines of connection between Bowie the musician and Bowie the visual stage artist, illuminating the broad nature of his art. This work will appeal to not only fans of David Bowie, but anyone interested in the history of modern popular music, fashion, stage and cinema, and modern art.
Series Editor Foreword Acknowledgments Timeline Introduction Chapter 1: Rock and Role: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972 Chapter 2: The Actor Emerges: Hunky Dory, 1971 Chapter 3: Musical beginnings: David Bowie, 1967 Chapter 4: Messages from Ground Control: David Bowie (aka Space Oddity) and The Man Who Sold the World, 1969-1971 Chapter 5: Irresistible Decadence: Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, and Diamond Dogs, 1973-1974 Chapter 6: Plastic Soul and the birth of The European Canon: Young Americans, and Station to Station, 1975-1976 Chapter 7: The Sounds of Europe: Low, "Heroes," and Lodger, 1977-1979 Chapter 8: The Rise and Fall of David Bowie: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down, Tin Machine, and Tin Machine II, 1980-1991 Chapter 9: Rediscovering the Alien: Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia, Outside, Earthling, and 'hours...', 1993-1999 Chapter 10: Twenty-first Century Man: Heathen, Reality, and The Next Day, 2003-2013 Postscript Selected Listening Selected Readings Index About the Author
