by Illaria Dana, Education Major

Always Growing: A Look at David Bowie’s Life

David Bowie died from cancer on January 10, 2016 in Manhattan. He was a prodigious pop icon and released 27 records from 1967 to 2016, along with a slew of live albums. Due to the sheer volume of his work, along with the recognition he received, he became a figure of public consciousness. His unique appearance, which he had no fear of changing and parading, endorsed the message that it is important to be authentic. Authenticity is a process that benefits from experimentation.

His death has affected many people. In a time where pop icons are like demigods, their lives are filled with meaning. Their lives act as parables, informing people of what is possible. As leaders, their responsibility is to articulate the needs of society as society evolves and changes. Humankind cannot remain stagnant. Change is the material of life. As new ideas of equality, justice, and freedom permeate the threads of politics and education, as relationships between people and leaders shift, icons demonstrate new ideologies and new ways of being. They do, or they don’t earn their keep.

Music is an art that transcends all temporal boundaries. New generations have found Bowie’s music from the 60s and 70s relevant to their own struggles to be themselves. He has defied the boundaries of nations, economics, gender and other distinctions that are experienced in daily life. This is a gift. The role of the icon is not to separate the famous from the humble. The icon unifies powerful people and small people in the often tedious, but ever beautiful, struggle to be one’s true self.

In an interview in 1999, Bowie discussed why he became a musician. He said, “I wanted to be a musician, because it seemed rebellious. It seemed subversive. It felt like one could effect change to a form. It was very hard to hear music when I was younger. When I was really young, you had to tune into AFM radio to hear the American records. There was no MTV, and there was no wall-to-wall, sort of blanket of, music. Therefore, it had a kind of call to arms feeling about it. This is the thing that will change things. This is a dead-dodgey occupation to have. It still produced sighs of horror in people to say, ‘I’m in rock’n’roll.’ Now it’s a kind of career opportunity.”

The paradigm of society shifts in great swings. It is hard to imagine rock’n’roll as subversive and secret. Young people today, however, have seen paradigm shifts. Marriage equality is an example of a taboo idea becoming a human right. Many people and institutions resisted the change towards marriage equality. However, an active group of individuals and advocates permeated the conscience of our nation. A threshold of support was reached, and our laws changed.

This threshold needed for changed was reached through communication and the freedom of information. Even those who did not agree were forced to hear the stories of gay people who wanted freedom. The inequality could not be kept silent or ignored. It became a part of society’s consciousness and had to be addressed through the legislature.

David Bowie perceived the role of the Internet as just as transformative to society as rock’n’roll had once been. He said, “The Internet now carries the flag of the subversive and the rebellious. And it’s chaotic and nihilistic. Oh yes it is. The monopolies [of internet providers] do not have a monopoly. Maybe on the programs… From where I stand, by virtue of that I am a pop singer and writer, I embrace the idea that there is a new demystification process going on between the artist and the audience.”

Bowie ties the invention of the Internet to accessibility of information. The accessibility of information is essential for a society to grow. When only a few have knowledge, when the stories of individuals are not told, the power lies with those in charge of the information. This is how injustice occurs: silently, or with false information. A political power imbalance exists when politicians know more than the people they govern.  A social power imbalance exists when icons are idolized for more than their human characteristics and their work.

Bowie continues to say, “Now there are subgroups and genres…It’s a communal kind of thing. It’s becoming more and more about the audience, because the point of having somebody who led the forces has disappeared. The vocabulary of rock is too well known. It’s not devoid of meaning, but it is a conveyor of information. The internet has taken over [this role]. I find that a terribly exciting area.” There is no longer a need for subversive ideas, ideas that are not recognized by the political or social majority, to come from a single individual or group. As we become more educated and more informed as a people, our opinions become more relevant. Americans are less and less willing to be governed through fear of what may happen. Americans are capable of evaluating information and making sound decisions using the vehicle of democracy, the press, and the Internet.

Bowie sees this shift in power between the musician and the audience. “It’s almost as if the artist is accompanying the audience in what they’re doing. This feeling is permeating music and permeating the Internet.” As music was used as a revolutionary tool, the Internet will be used to connect individuals and disengage the differences between nations, economics, and genders.    

Bowie can trace the historical context behind this movement toward equality between icons and individuals. He says, “Up until the mid 70s we felt we were still living under the guise of a single, absolute society, where there were known truths and known lies, and there was no kind of duplicity, or pluralism, about the things that we believed it. That started to break down rapidly in the 70s. There are always two, three, four, five sides to every question. The singularity is gone, and that has produced such a medium as the Internet.”

In order to continue to grow, individuals must be able to be their authentic selves and voice their ideas and opinions. This is reflected in the idea of a liberal education where students are confronted with many ideas from many disciplines. It is important to be reminded that the commodity we now use so frequently and absent-mindedly, the Internet, is a revolutionary tool that connects people from all backgrounds to an infinite body of information.

As we mourn the death of David Bowie, we can continue to embrace his ideas of social change, equality, and outspokenness. As he said, “The President [of the United States], when the telephone was invented, was outrageous and said there will be a day when every town in America will have a telephone!” The idea of a population committed to education and to freedom of ideas may not be as remote as it seems.