“Bowie is…”




That's my beautiful wife wearing her Bowie T-shirt,
and sporting her Bowie tattoo.

 

…my wife’s all-time favorite recording artist. It’s also the name of a travelling exhibit whose only North American stop is in Chicago right now. We went on Saturday, and it really opened my eyes (and ears) to an artist with whom I was familiar, but knew very little about.

If you know about David Bowie, his story, and his highly influential legacy in music, you’ll see everything you love about him, and maybe even learn a few new things. It’s a walk-through tour, and you wear a special little device with headphones that is connected to sensors placed over specific parts of the exhibit. As you enter a new area, the track changes to tell you about what you are looking at. All the while, there is relevant Bowie music playing like a soundtrack.

I was peripherally familiar with David Bowie. I knew he had been around the mainstream music scene since at least the 60’s. I knew he had been famous for flamboyant costumes and was a great performer. As child of the 80’s I knew about his popular hits from that decade. And finally, I knew he acted in movies like Labyrinth and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. But I had no idea that what I knew only scratched the surface.

Suffice it to say, I have a new appreciation for his music. Michele owns a lot of his CD’s, but they are out in storage right now, so I’m streaming YouTube compilations for now. He has a compilation CD set coming out next month, and I plan to buy that.

For now, here are my top five Bowie songs, in no particular order:

Space Oddity

Life on Mars

China Girl

Golden Years

Heroes

And there are tons more.