10 Greatest Vocal Performances In Rock Music History
5. Rock and Roll Suicide - David Bowie
From the first time he stepped out onstage, David Bowie never approached the rock and roll frontman in the usual way. This was all about theater for him, and every single album saw him inhabiting different characters to suit his needs, whether that meant Major Tom voyaging off to new lands in the early days or the more controversial behavior of the Thin White Duke in the era of Station to Station. This was always about giving a show, and Rock and Roll Suicide may be one of the greatest show stoppers that the Starman ever gave us.
Acting as the final curtain close on Ziggy Stardust, Bowie starts off this song fairly quietly, talking about the fleeting nature of life and how you shouldn't let something as mundane as the milkman tax your mind. Once the band pauses though, his vocal suddenly becomes much more impassioned, talking about how none of us are truly loners, even if we feel that way sometimes, building to a gigantic climax where he screams the line "YOU'RE NOT ALONE" into the heavens.
This may have signaled the end for the Ziggy Stardust period of Bowie's career, but this was about something more than just characters playing out on a stage. This was a call out to all of the misfits of the world, and when that curtain did eventually fall down on Ziggy, the entire music world seemed a little brighter than it was before.