Gallery: David Bowie, Earth's Perpetual Persona Machine
01davidbowie1967
For more than four decades, David Bowie has adopted personas the way most of us adopt internet handles. No one — from Marilyn Monroe clones like Madonna to Madonna clones like Lady Gaga — has been able to replicate the complicated process with as much artistic integrity. [Bowie](http://www.davidbowie.com)'s plastic soul transition to the Thin White Duke is back in the news with Tuesday's deluxe reissue of [Station to Station](http://www.davidbowiestationtostation.com). The 1976 record marked a multidisciplinary phase of the musician's career that was partially inspired by his movie role as alien humanoid Thomas Jerome Newton in Nicholas Roeg's cult sci-fi classic [The Man Who Fell to Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_%28film%29). But there's really never a bad time to cycle through Bowie's multitudinous pop-cultural ch-ch-changes. This gallery charts Bowie's postmodern manifestations. Whether operating as a pop weirdo, glam hedonist, lost cosmonaut, electronic experimentalist, alien, vampire, goblin king or spy-fi spook — or capably rebooting controversial figures like Pontius Pilate, Andy Warhol, Nikolai Tesla or himself — the artist formerly known as [David Robert Jones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie) has executed epic wins like few others. __Above:__ Edwardian Pop Bohemian ---------------------- Self-referentially speaking, [Bowie's self-titled 1967 debut](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie_%28album%29) is mostly known for ... being Bowie's self-titled 1967 debut. Inspired equally by theater and The Beatles, The Kinks and Pink Floyd, it's a kitchen-sink mash of sonic styles and signatures, none of which really stick. Ripped from its temporal context, it's a more schizophrenic listen now than when it was released during the [Summer of Love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love). But it's still a revealing experiment, especially for Bowie fans eager to experience their idol trying on different pop masks in search of one or two he'd like to keep for a while.
02bowie-oddity
Major Tom Enters Pop Orbit -------------------------- Two years after Bowie's patchwork 1967 debut, he created his first instantly memorable character. In [Space Oddity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Oddity_%28album%29)'s immortal title track, the lost cosmonaut [Major Tom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Tom) is introduced and bid adieu in a heart-rending space-age sonic fable. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's cerebral sci-fi classic [2001: A Space Odyssey](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/07/gallery-cerebral-sci-fi-films/15), "Space Oddity" boasts a truly lunar back story: The song was used by the BBC to soundtrack Apollo's moon mission. More lunar-cy: Bowie eventually had a son — [director Duncan Jones](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/duncan-jones-moon) — whose [debut film Moon](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/review-masterful-moon-takes-shot-at-sci-fi-greatness/) became an award-winning cerebral sci-fi triumph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh\_o
03dvdg6t1-001-pdf
The Birth of Ziggy Stardust --------------------------- After Space Oddity, Bowie jammed with a prototype of the Spiders from Mars on his excellently rocking 1970 follow-up, [The Man Who Sold the World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_World_%28album%29), while searching for a new skin to swim within. And after mashing heads with pioneering peers like The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed and The Stooges' Iggy Pop, Bowie's epochal figure Ziggy Stardust began to morph into shape. The result was 1972's [The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Ziggy_Stardust_and_the_Spiders_from_Mars). That meeting of the minds is analyzed in MVD Entertainment Group's upcoming DVD [Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973](http://www.seeofsound.com/p.php?s=SIDVD560) (above), out Nov. 23. On the same day, MVD digs deeper into the ultimate pop-cultural chameleon with [David Bowie: Rare and Unseen](http://www.seeofsound.com/p.php?s=MVD5086D) (below), which compiles hard-to-find performances and interview footage for Bowie fans and collectors. Talk about [making love with your ego](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggy_Stardust_%28song%29). 
04bowie-aladdinsane
Insane in the Aladdin Sane -------------------------- By the time Ziggy Stardust became a glam-hot blockbuster, Bowie had decided to mutate his watershed character for standout 1973 sequel [Aladdin Sane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_Sane). Derived from the phrase "A Lad Insane," Bowie's Americanized Ziggy marked another benchmark moment for the artist's remarkably appealing metafictions, as well as, with Ziggy Stardust, his first extended mainstream success. Aladdin Sane may have been a rougher and tougher iteration of Ziggy Stardust. But together with The Man Who Sold the World, the three timeless releases laid the foundation not just for glam but also for arresting deviations like [goth, darkwave](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkwave) and other sci-fi sonics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmFDRvNliNM
05bowie-diamonddogs
Halloween Jack, Orwellian Punk ------------------------------ Bowie didn't finish mutating Ziggy Stardust until after dystopian concept album [Diamond Dogs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Dogs) exploded in 1974. Based on George Orwell's 1984, Diamond Dogs featured a Stardust-and-Sane–like anti-hero named Halloween Jack, who's lost in a deteriorating sociopolitical nightmare resembling sci-fi and speculative freakouts like John Carpenter's [Escape From New York](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York) and Walter Hill's [The Warriors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warriors_%28film%29). Original copies of *Diamond Dogs*' controversial album cover, painted by Belgian artist [Guy Peellaert](http://www.guypeellaert.com/) and depicting Bowie as a human-dog hybrid with visible genitalia, became a collector's item after the label neutered it with an airbrush soon after the record's release. But Diamond Dogs had balls anyway, from its Orwellian concept rock to its anticipation of punk's meteoric rise mere years later.
06bowie-station
The Thin White Duke Takes a Bow ------------------------------- After pushing the limits of rock and planting the seeds of punk with Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Halloween Jack, Bowie recombined the plastic soul of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones into a new identity called [The Thin White Duke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_White_Duke). Although Bowie adopted the neo-cabaret character study for the tour supporting 1975's [Young Americans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Americans_%28album%29) — a record with a rubber-soul single titled "Fame" that was written with [The Beatles' John Lennon](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/08/geek-the-beatles-john-lennon) — it wasn't until the release of Bowie's 1976 effort, [Station to Station](http://www.davidbowiestationtostation.com), that the Thin White Duke was properly announced in the album-opening title track. The Thin White Duke was influenced by Bowie's first major film role, as alien Thomas Jerome Newton in Nicolas Roeg's cult sci-fi film [The Man Who Fell to Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_%28film%29), also released in 1976. The character's mix of Euro-soul and technocultural exploration — exhibited below in Bowie's performance of Station to Station's hit single "Golden Years" on Soul Train — eventually reached a creative apotheosis on [Bowie's acclaimed Berlin Trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Trilogy). The evolved electronic experiments on Low, Heroes and Lodger teleported Bowie into the digitally ascendant '80s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8gPA1UiOdo
07man-fell-f
Loving the Alien ---------------- Given his musical flirtations with extraterrestrial personas like Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, it was a no-brainer that Bowie's first breakout film role would be Thomas Jerome Newton (above) in Nicholas Roeg's [The Man Who Fell to Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_%28film%29). Based on the sci-fi novel of the same name from author Walter Tevis — who also wrote billiards dramas The Hustler and The Color of Money — Roeg's 1976 cinematic adaptation has survived the years intact thanks to its surreal imagery and superstar actor. The movie's tale of a humanoid alien trying to ferry water back to his home planet has been the subject of renewed interest recently in the shadow of climate change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKF5lHcJY9k
08bowie-bing
Peace On Earth, Weird On TV --------------------------- Bowie's alien cabaret reached new heights of hyper-reality in 1977, when he appeared on Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas to perform a duet of "Peace on Earth–Little Drummer Boy." Watching Crosby and Bowie grope across generational gaps and in-jokes in the segment (below) still makes for surreal viewing. It almost never happened, because [Bowie hated "Little Drummer Boy"](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901260.html) and only agreed to proceed after he was allowed to extemporaneously stretch out with solo flourishes. The odd coupling survives as a warm and fuzzy holiday regular, though it screened at the time like an alien landing in Father Christmas' lap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKTHvW2JcAA
09bowie-ashes
Major Tom Crash-Lands --------------------- In the '80s Bowie rebooted his trusty avatars in popular but nevertheless perverse ways. The process began with psychedelic astronaut Major Tom, whose burnout was bizarrely documented in the single "[Ashes to Ashes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_to_Ashes_%28David_Bowie_song%29)" on 1980's [Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_Monsters_%28and_Super_Creeps%29). Where the mind-expanding '60s had produced a seeking cosmonaut in Space Oddity, Scary Monsters presented a spent Major Tom exhausted by the wasted '70s. "Strung out on heaven's high/Hitting an all-time low," Bowie sang. The song's groundbreaking music video (below) — the most expensive ever made at the time — helped launch the format's reign, which lasted throughout the '80s and most of the '90s. Bowie's adoption of [stock pantomime character Pierrot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrot) to flesh out his Major Tom permutation, as well as his 1980 theatrical run as [John Merrick in The Elephant Man](http://www.up-to-date.com/bowie/elephantman/), added estranged psychodrama to Scary Monsters' multimedia phantasmagoria. <embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="dist=http://www.mtvmusic.com&configParams=vl%3Den" height="319" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtvmusic.com:143504" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="660"></embed>
10bowie-letsdance
The Thin White Duke Pwns Pop Culture ------------------------------------ Having mutated Major Tom in 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), Bowie executed the opposite objective by lightening up his neo-cabaret crooner the Thin White Duke on 1983's supernova album, [Let's Dance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Dance_%28David_Bowie_album%29). Gone were the gonzo drug addictions and dark visions, which gave their pessimistic places away to the unrepentant bounce of tunes like "Modern Love," "Shake It" and the title track. Sartorially splendid in a suit and tie, Bowie popped the cork on the champagne '80s. It was, in the end, a decade he thoroughly ruled, through an upgraded Thin White Duke, on the television and the music charts. But before the '80s ended, Bowie would host elaborate stadium spectacles on his bloated [Glass Spider tour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Spider_Tour), a career development he has happily left behind.
11the-hunger
Scary Vampires, Hunger Creeps ----------------------------- After playing soldiers in war dramas Just a Gigolo and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Bowie captivated in Tony Scott's 1983 horror film, [The Hunger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_%28film%29). He played a countercultural vampire caught in a bizarre love triangle with bloodsucking companion Catherine Deneuve and human target Susan Sarandon. Like The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger was a metafictional head trip for Bowie fans. The resurgent Thin White Duke had released his supernova crossover Let's Dance a mere two weeks before bowing as a pale vamp in The Hunger. The film's gothic longing was nurtured by Bowie's glam period, most visibly in the onscreen performance of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by darkwave band Bauhaus, which came to power partially on the strength of its cover of Bowie's immortal sci-fi single "Ziggy Stardust" (below). Bauhaus front man [Peter Murphy](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/07/peter-murphy) eventually starred in 2010 vampire soap The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, long after Bowie appeared in the 1999 television spinoff of The Hunger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a\_YQXFs7Ts
12labyrinth
Getting Lost in a Fantasy Labyrinth ----------------------------------- After experimenting with sci-fi and horror, Bowie predictably turned toward fantasy, another genre that seemed built specifically for a man with his theatrical talent. He played goblin king Jareth in 1986's [Labyrinth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29), but from his character's nightmare hair to the film's box-office failure, the movie disappointed. That hasn't stopped Labyrinth from becoming a cult classic. Directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas, it continues in the 21st century as a bizarro fan favorite, inspiring annual costume balls and critical reconsideration from new generations in search of odd fantasy experiments.
13temptation-f
I'm in Ur Film, Killing Ur Christ --------------------------------- By the time Martin Scorsese's cinematic adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel [The Last Temptation of Christ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_%28film%29) was nailed down in 1988, Bowie had become a pop icon with his own massive horde of famous clones and rabid fans. It was weirdly logical that he would soon star mostly as strange simulations of revered and reviled cultural figures, starting with the Roman prefect who signed Jesus Christ's death warrant. Like Willem Dafoe's physically and sexually tortured Christ in *Last Temptation*, Bowie brought complicated humanity to controversial myth as Pontius Pilate. His clear conscience and cold political logic prevailed over what could have been a religious caricature, earning both Bowie and the film deepening respect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zugJVfWfB54
14twinpeaks-f
Spooking the Dream-Noir Spooks ------------------------------ Bowie was probably never more disconcerting than when he showed up only to freak out in David Lynch's harrowing 1991 film [Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks:_Fire_Walk_with_Me). Although he spends only a few minutes of screen time in Lynch's psy-fi as FBI special agent [Phillip Jeffries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Jeffries#Phillip_Jeffries), Bowie's manic monologue, ghost transmission and unexplained teleportation are flat-out creepy, and spin the film off into another narrative strand that only deepens in mystery. Much of his cryptic speech reportedly would have been explained in future Twin Peaks episodes and projects that never materialized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrof3j72EpA
