5 Great Songwriters Who Defined A Generation

2. David Bowie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMCLz5PQVw From glam rock to electronic music, David Bowie has pretty much covered every genre available to him since his rise to fame in the early seventies, serving to be the defining influence on many artists that followed him. He has been out of action for some time now, limited to only a few film appearances, none of which are particularly noteworthy, but Bowie€™s status as one of the most iconic musicians of all time has not diminished one bit. Since his first album, eponymously titled David Bowie (1967), Bowie has always followed his own inclinations, setting many trends along the way, his Ziggy Stardust period the most effective guise in his lengthy, decorated career. As an aesthetic, he is recognized the world over, but as a lyricist he is not held in such high esteem except by those who hold him most dearly. Bowie has written songs for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Mott the Hoople, performing a service out of the limelight that balanced out the hysteria surrounding him in his peak years, and his own catalogue of songs are uniquely impressive. Bowie is able to traverse different forms of song writing, ranging from the abstract, narrative story-telling, or stripped down pop tunes. Each new method or form was, for around a period of ten years, consistently new and fascinating to listen to, and typically cutting-edge. The mid eighties and the following decades were less fruitful for Bowie as his ideas faded to predictability, even to sheer embarrassment at times, so it is almost a relief that he has decided to whittle his public appearances to a few film premieres and fashion shows, as his legend will now always be preserved in glory, not to mention the matter of Bowie deserving some peace and quiet after years of touring the world. For those who are merely at the beginning of their Bowie idolatry, do not be solely be captured by the magnificence of his image or the transformation of his sounds, but instead devote some time to reading the bountiful pages of extraordinary lyricism that came from a truly brilliant mind. Signature track: Space Oddity (1969) Tune into...: Be My Wife (1977)