Happy Birthday, David Bowie: An Ode to a Pop Culture Icon

Happy birthday, David Bowie. You share a birthday with Elvis, R. Kelly and DJ Clue. While Elvis may have been The King of Rock, David Robert Jones has left a more lasting impact on pop culture. This is no disrespect to Mr. Presley, as the King helped make rock and roll part of mainstream culture. It was Bowie, though, who made rock and roll an art.

Born on Jan. 8, 1947, success did not come easy or early to "Davie" Jones. His first singles (Liza Janes, I Pity the Fool) and rock outfits (The King Bees, Manish Boys) were not hits, which left the musically savvy Brit still looking to break out. He was left with a confusing name (having to share the moniker with The Monkees singer), and found himself taking a gig at pitching ice cream.



In 1969, Davie Jones ditched his given name and, inspired by Jim Bowie, became David Bowie and recorded David Bowie around the time the Apollo 11 mission sent a man to the moon. As a backdrop, Bowie released Space Oddity, creating one of his first characters: Major Tom. With this, Bowie had his first mainstream success.



Following the success of The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory, Bowie created a brilliant piece of conceptual art: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie, as the alien Ziggy, visits Earth during the planet's final years. As he tries to use rock music to communicate with the masses, Bowie pays homage to many genres and bands. Suffragette City paid homage to the American rock sound, mainly Beach Boys tracks.



After Ziggy (who Bowie "killed off", he created a new character: The Think White Duke. During this time, Bowie started using cocaine, which led to a bleak release of Station to Station. Despite the album's musical and artistic strength, Bowie's paranoia was leading him down a dangerous path, and the musician often came off as deranged.



Bowie then spent the late 70s in Germany with Brian Eno and Iggy Pop to get clean and refocus his career on the music. Heroes and Low demonstrated Bowie's range in songwriting. To help secure his normalcy, Bowie did a duet with Bing Crosby for his Christmas special. This opened up commercial opportunities in the 1980s, including the title song for the film Cat People and a role and five songs in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.



When the 90s rolled around, his musical and artistic legacy cemented Bowie in the realms of pop culture. Whether he was starring in David Lynch films, performing songs with Mick Jagger or making a cameo appearance in Zoolander, the multitalented Brit had become an icon. In the end, Bowie, no matter what he does now, will always be held in regard for challenging and developing rock music. Even as I write this, I feel like I can barely address the depth of Bowie's expansion of rock and art. Either way, I want to wish Bowie a happy birthday and a job well done.