Fans who have followed David Bowie through his career in the past 40 years will appreciate the newest biography of the iconic musician. Still, Marc Spitz notes in his book Bowie (Crown, 2009) that “most people don’t know his music past 1983.”
The Music is the Thing
“Part of the book’s intent was to reassess and show the value of his catalog, especially the formally maligned albums,” Spitz said in a recent interview. The book does a very competent job of doing just that. Part personal biography, part music analysis, Bowie is compelling for the way that it delivers a lively, fact-filled tour through the development of Bowie’s musical persona, friendships, failed bands, and varied inspirations.
The book will probably compel many people to go out and buy a Bowie CD. Spitz said, “Well, that’s the indication of a good book—if it makes you want to go out and get the music.” Spitz said he learned this from his years of working for Spin magazine, probably second only to Rolling Stone, in rock-n-roll journalism status.
On Being Unauthorized
Spitz’s whole-hearted enthusiasm for his subject works well in this book, as it is an unauthorized biography. Apparently, Bowie does not grant interviews to biographers, and he has never authorized a book written about him. Readers might be disappointed that Spitz’s biography never includes a sit-down conversation with the subject.
But of this fact, Spitz said, “I treated him like a dead president. I decided if I wouldn’t let a person’s being dead keep me from writing a book about him, then I wouldn’t let a person’s being alive stop me either. If I wanted to write about a dead president, I would do it.”
Bowie’s Complexity
Spitz writes lovingly about most areas of Bowie’s life. He touches on all the controversy of his reputed bi-sexuality and/or homosexuality without going into much detail. The detail is reserved for the descriptions of Bowie’s albums and the changes in his music and persona over the years.
One of the interesting things about the book is the way Spitz is able to bring out the paradoxical nature of Bowie’s personality—as he seemed to alternate between being self-effacing and a show-off. Spitz said he had been reading research about shyness and how it could be viewed as a form of “hyper-intelligence,” which was another trait he ascribed to Bowie.
But in the end, Bowie’s “Obligation is only to his imagination.” And there’s no denying that the Bowie imagination was one of the most powerful attractions of rock music in the 70’s and 80’s. In 1983, Bowie said, “’It’s hard to make people believe you don’t have to be a tooth-gnashing, vampiric drug creature of the night to say something important.’”
For those who feel that Bowie continues to “say” important things, Spitz’s biography reaffirms the belief and inspires more people to listen.
References
Spitz, Marc. Personal Interview. 25 Nov. 2009.
Shaun Perkins - Shaun Perkins, teacher, poet, storyteller, porch-sitter, beekeeper, gardener, writer, has been a high school and university teacher for ...
