David Bowie's View Outside the Box

Heather has a Bachelor's Degree in English from Moravian College and has been freelance writing for more than 13 years.

The epitome of the cool music chameleon who loved to create

Stunning visuals with lyrics that told us about Major Tom

His trials and travails that led ultimately to his demise

He was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947

A conventional name for a performer who was anything but

Changed his professional name to stand out more

Always seemed to radiate a certain type of presence

Even when he wasn't trying to be anything but himself

Had a few auspicious starts in his musical career

Went through multiple different groups and styles that went nowhere

Became a monster success with the Ziggy Stardust persona

Lived and breathed life as the Stardust character

Until it became too much and retired it in spectacular onstage fashion

Moved onto the plastic soul phase and the Thin White Duke

Commercial success in the 1980s and MTV heavy rotation

Gave him mountains of money, but left him without any passion

For the profession that made him famous

Took a step back and joined the band Tin Machine with mixed results

Returned to solo work after a few years with renewed vigor

Realized that it was best to be passionate about your work

Not catering to the Top 40 masses who liked everything a certain way

A touch of average with the right backbeat to it

After multiple attempts in the 1990s to shake up his image

Bowie became an elder statesmen in the music business

Health setbacks led him to become more of a mystery

Led to a musical comeback of sorts that provided an enigma

Since Bowie stopped giving interviews of any kind

Decided to let his music and videos speak for themselves

He was done trying to sell himself in order to sell records

The approach worked and his last two albums were a success

His death in 2016 to cancer was shocking and sad

Though his songs will live on whenever you turn on the radio

Taking you back to a place where times were happier

Moments in your youth where innocence reigned supreme

Allowed you to be an individual who could live and create

Outside the normal parameters of professionalism

It didn't have to follow any sort of pattern as long as it worked

Risk and comfort were concepts that never went hand in hand

Bowie knew that and always chose to take risks instead of the safe route

Time to follow suit as a tribute of sorts.