Devereux Eoin - David Bowie: Critical Perspectives

David Bowie

David Bowie: Critical Perspectives examines in detail the many layers of one of the most intriguing and influential icons in popular culture. This interdisciplinary book brings together established and emerging scholars from a wide variety of backgrounds, including musicology, sociology, art history, literary theory, philosophy, politics, film studies and media studies. Bowies complexity as a singer, songwriter, producer, performer, actor and artist demands that any critical engagement with his overall work must be interdisciplinary and wide-ranging in its scope. The chapters are organised around the key themes of textualities, psychologies, orientalisms, art and agency and performing and influencing in Bowies work. This comprehensive book contributes to the study of popular music, performance, gender, religion, popular media and celebrity.

Eoin Devereux is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick, Ireland and Adjunct Professor (Docent) in Contemporary Culture at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. He is the author of Understanding the Media (2nd edition, 2007) and editor of Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates (2007).

Aileen Dillane is an ethnomusicologist based in the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, Ireland. She co-edited Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities (2011) with Eoin Devereux and Martin Power. Her areas of research interest include ethnomusicological theory and practice, popular music and culture studies, performance studies and urban soundscape studies.

Martin J. Power is Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Recent publications include Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities (2011, co-edited with Eoin Devereux and Aileen Dillane) and Marxist Perspectives on Irish Society (2011, co-edited with Micheal OFlynn, Odette Clarke and Paul M. Hayes).

1 Popular Music Fandom
Identities, Roles and Practices
Edited by Mark Duffett

2 Britshness, Popular Music, and National Identity
The Making of Modern Britain
Irene Morra

3 Lady Gaga and Popular Music
Performing Gender, Fashion, and Culture
Edited by Martin Iddon and Melanie L. Marshall

4 Sites of Popular Music Heritage
Memories, Histories, Places
Edited by Sara Cohen, Robert Knifton, Marion Leonard, and Les Roberts

5 Queerness in Heavy Metal Music
Metal Bent
Amber R. Clifford-Napoleone

6 David Bowie
Critical Perspectives
Edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane, and Martin J. Power

Critical Perspectives

Edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane, Martin J. Power

First published 2015
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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2015 Taylor & Francis

The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

David Bowie : critical perspectives / edited by Eoin Devereux, Aileen Dillane, and Martin J. Power. 1st edition.
pages cm. (Routledge studies in popular music ; 6)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Bowie, DavidCriticism and interpretation. 2. Rock musicHistory and criticism. I. Devereux, Eoin, editor. II. Dillane, Aileen, editor. III. Power, Martin J., editor.
ML420.B754D44 2015
782.42166092dc23 2014042220

ISBN: 978-0-415-74572-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-79775-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra

Eoin Devereux: For my sons Joe and Gavin Devereux and to my wife Liz Devereux for meeting me in The Stella and lending me her David Bowie albums all those years ago.

Aileen Dillane: The Gilbert boys, Lochlann, Senan and Rossa, and especially Hayden, for his unwavering support, and Maureen, Seamus, Deirdre, Fionnuala and Noreen for their advice and inspirational example.

Martin J. Power: For Marian, Fiona and Stephen who keep me sane. To my niece Searlait for fighting the good fight and helping me see what is really important. Thanks to everyone who has had an input into making me who I am. Finally, thanks to John Boland and Stephen Ryan for making me get off the couch all of those years ago to go and see Bowie in Dublin. An evening well spent!

GAVIN FRIDAY

KATHRYN JOHNSON

RICHARD FITCH

AILEEN DILLANE, EOIN DEVEREUX AND MARTIN J. POWER

BETHANY USHER AND STEPHANIE FREMAUX

TANJA STARK

ANA LEORNE

HELENE MARIE THIAN

SHELTON WALDREP

MEHDI DERFOUFI

TIFFANY NAIMAN

IAN CHAPMAN

DAVID BUCKLEY

JULIE LOBALZO WRIGHT

DENE OCTOBER

BARISH ALI AND HEIDI WALLACE

NICK STEVENSON

VANESSA GARCIA

Gavin Friday

That werent no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive

The epiphany, for me, was in July 1972 when Bowie appeared on BBCs Top of the Pops, an orange-haired androgyne in smoky-grey eyeshadow, a space oddity fallen to earth in a quilted two-piece suit and green-laced boots, strumming on a blue guitar and singing Starman, an arm draped sweetly over Mick Ronsons shoulder. And there was me, alone, in a nondescript sitting-room in Dublin II, beguiled by it all. Here was a vision both instant and weirdly complete: the look, the sound, the stance, the sheer strangeness of it all, the teasing sexuality, the wild exotica. It was a future shock, and the future was now. My mind was blown. I hadnt a clue what was going on but I knew and instinctively understood everything as Bowie beckoned to me (a finger pointing camera-ward at me as he sang I had to phone someone, so I picked on you), bidding me jump ship and join him and the Spiders from Mars. From that July night onwards, nothing would ever be the same again.

I was a shy twelve-year-old from Dublins tough and tender northside, a kid who hated football but loved T Rex and Oscar Wilde, a lost boy full of pubescent angst and teenage rage. But then Bowie appearedhe appeareda beautiful stranger from the strangest of lands, and everything changed. This was more than a new religion; he was the Saviour Machine, a transfiguration, and the disciple in me began seeking out everything and anything Bowie-related.

I ransacked the record racks and tore through the back catalogue, pored over posters and cover art. I devoured every word, be it written, sung or mimed. This was so much more than your average teenage fan club, and me a casual member. I had enrolled at the University of Bowie, its most dedicated pupil.