How to be an Authentic Artist (Be Like Bowie)

On displacement (Part Three) How to Write With a Full-Time Job

How to be an Authentic Artist (Be Like Bowie)

David Bowie: Rock God

Ok. So. Funny story.

I haven’t updated this blog in two weeks. Originally, my plan was to update last week with an amazing post focused on writing and move away from posts about My Chemical Romance and how they’re the greatest band in the world and how much much I love Gerard Way, blah, blah, blah.

But on September 20th, I saw My Chemical Romance again, but this time, it was in Newark, New Jersey. It was a homecoming show and the setlist was insane. They played “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” and “Demolition Lovers,” which they haven’t played in over 20 years! I was obsessed as ever, and then two days later, I saw “David Bowie: Moonage Daydream” in IMAX in Eatontown.

Trailer for “David Bowie: Moonage Daydream”

And it hit me.

There would be no Gerard Way or Brandon Flowers or Lady Gaga or Madonna without Bowie. His androgyny and creativity and showmanship and artistry created the foundations for performers as we know them today. Bowie was a wonder and a marvel and an enigma, but he was also undoubtedly gifted. A. O. Scott from the New York Times writes that “Appearing onstage in dresses, flowing suits and shiny space gear, he undid gender conventions with insouciant ease. He changed his look and his sound from one album to the next, leading critics to question his authenticity and interviewers to wonder about his true self.” So how could any biopic really do Bowie justice? Currently, the film holds 91% among critics and 82% among audience members on Rotten Tomatoes.

In his review of “David Bowie: Moonage Daydream,” Carl Wilson writes, “There was…more creativity in an average hour of early 1980s music videos, especially from the new wave, punk, and synth bands. Most of those acts were heavily influenced by the previous decade of work by David Bowie, who retroactively became a watchword for me as for so many other misfits and ravagingly curious art nerds in the past half-century, including a whole new younger cohort since his death in 2016” (read it here). I’ve often asserted that the 1980s were the best decade for music, and Wilson touches on several reasons why I think so, but most importantly, Wilson acknowledges that it has everything to do with David Bowie.

Bowie as Ziggy Stardust

Wilson didn’t particularly care for “David Bowie: Moonage Daydream” because he felt it didn’t delve enough into Bowie’s writing life. He paraphrased from Macbeth and said it was full of “…sound and color, but signifying nothing.” He wanted a more direct and obvious approach to Bowie as a creator. It seems he would have preferred more footage of Bowie composing, of Bowie in the studio, of Bowie working. But I feel like Bowie’s process was covered in two other outstanding documentaries about David Bowie:

Trailer for the documentary “Five Years” on Amazon PrimeTrailer for the documentary “The Last Five Years” on HBO Max.

Those documentaries delve more explicitly into how Bowie created his art, but the little snippets we do get of Bowie discussing his process in “Moonage Daydream” are invaluable. Jem Aswad writes, “Filled with reflective statements like ‘When you feel comfortable with yourself, you can no longer write’ and pensive footage of Bowie walking, painting and posing artfully as well as performing, ‘Moonage Daydream’ is the first graduate school-level music documentary — it omits the basics and glories in the details, which actually gives the film a greater authority” (read it here) As A. O. Scott for the New York Times observes, “His explanations of changes in style and genre are illuminating, and illustrated by shrewd musical selections. You don’t hear all the obvious hits — where was ‘Young Americans’? — but you do get a sense of his range and inventiveness, and a taste of some less-well-remembered songs. I was glad to be reminded of the anthemic ‘Rock ’n’ Roll With Me.'” Some of the standouts from the film, for me, are Bowie talking about writing lyrics and then cutting them up into individual lines and rearranging them for something new, something better (possibly). He also talked about not playing the same note for 50 seconds and changing rhythms to melodies and vice versa because, according to Scott, “…his creative life was a series of experiments in an impressive variety of media.”

So maybe the film doesn’t get into the “how” of Bowie’s work because to do so would be a Herculean task. Bowie wrote and recorded music, made films, created sculptures and paintings, performed in plays, and danced. Instead of showcasing the process, the film delves into the product of Bowie’s art, which absolutely contained multitudes. He was immensely talented across all different mediums. Scott writes, “Instead of plodding through the chronology of Bowie’s life and career, Morgen conjures the singer’s presence through an artful collage of concert footage and other archival material, including feature films and music videos” (read it here).

The biopic is not traditional in its structure, but it feels like something Bowie himself would have made and enjoyed. According to Scott, “Though Morgen bends and twists the timeline when it suits him, he traces an arc from the early ’70s into the ’90s, beginning in the Ziggy Stardust years and immersing the audience in Bowie’s otherworldly charisma at that moment. His bright orange hair, his brilliantly inventive fashion sense, his frank bisexuality and his almost casual mastery of divergent musical idioms made him an irresistible puzzle for the media and an idol to the restless and curious young.”

Bowie was, and remains, a musical icon and genius: plain and simple. His talent is obvious in his lasting impression and influence, but in his performances as well. I listened to isolated vocal tracks and discovered that his most intimate instrument was put to flawless, innovative use time and time again.

So what are Bowie’s rules for writing? It boils down to one, all-encompassing guideline:

NEVER GET COMFORTABLE.