David Bowie: Earthling

Growing up in the 70s and 80s the music of David Bowie was ubiquitous. Ch-ch-ch-changes.. Rebel rebel you’ve torn your dress.. Don’t lean on me man, ‘cause you can’t afford the ticket.. ‘Cause we’re lovers and that is a fact, we’re lovers and that is that.. All these words, all these songs, I knew before I was conscious of the man responsible for them. Let’s Dance and MTV soon branded him into my adolescent mind forever. Back-tracking to Scary Monsters and receiving Ziggy Stardust on vinyl as a birthday gift from a family friend cemented the fact that I would be a lifelong fan.

I was in my 20s working in LA for Disney, my first staff job. OUTSIDE came out, and was widely seen as Bowie’s “return to form” (I argued that though stylistically different, his previous album BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE was his return to form). But it was Outside’s follow-up EARTHLING that blew away any lingering doubts, yet another brilliant masterful album (and the one that set him firmly back on course the rest of his life). I played that album on repeat almost non-stop, to the chagrin of my quad mates at Disney (Hi Nancy!).

Though not my absolute favorite Bowie album (I think I have settled on ALADDIN SANE for that) this was a hugely important album to me - and to Bowie himself. It’s for these reasons that I chose to illustrate him in that era.