book review: David Bowie: Starman by Paul Trynka

“He was unique. The only singer I ever worked with where virtually every take was a master.” -Ken Scott, record producer

David Bowie’s real name was David Jones, he took the name Bowie at an early age after becoming obsessed with Jim Bowie from the film The Alamo. From then on, it seemed evident that David would transform into a million different things, each more interesting than the last.

Former editor of Mojo magazine Paul Trynka has compiled a definitive biography of Ziggy Stardust entitled David Bowie: Starman. In it, he follows the rise of one of the most interesting figures of rock n roll history. In the prologue, Trynka describes a Bowie performance as a “spectacle of not-belonging”. And thus the mood is set for the entire book, which is devoted to unearthing the secrets behind the man who hid behind so many guises.

David Bowie: Starman begins with a brief familial biography, tracing Bowie’s self-identification with alienation and schizophrenia to his mother’s family, many of whom suffered from mental illness. The book then chronicles Bowie’s first exposures to music. In 1955, when he was eight years old, the young David heard Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” for the first time. He says that “my heart nearly burst with excitement. I’d never heard anything even resembling this. It filled the room with energy and colour and outrageous defiance…I always wanted to be Little Richard—he was my idol.” And so our journey begins.

This biography is very interesting and extremely well written. It explains little details about Bowie’s life, like the incident that resulted in him having two differently coloured eyes (it has to do with a love triangle, and a fist fight with a friend.)

From the beginning, Bowie was determined to be a star. He wanted to be an entertainer, a singer, famous. “He boasted a bright eyed teenage confidence and reacted to every break as if it were his by right.”

When he first became a fad in the local scene at age seventeen, he was influenced by the Beat novels of the time and thus adopted a nomadic lifestyle. Many of his early performances had to do with showmanship, and often lacked any singing at all. David Bowie, therefore, has always been determined to be a performer and entertainer above all else. Therefore, his artistic expression was never limited to music, but rather embodied a vast spectrum of experimentation, from his pansexual nature to his glamourized multi-media dance performances.

Bowie would charm woman after woman and in true hippie fashion, explore the world without being anchored by a job or having to worry about paying rent. He was a delightful addition to all social circles, and his peers would seek his presence without expecting anything in return but the pleasure of his company.

This book is thorough and detailed with respects to the intricate relationships which drove Bowie’s career, from Calvin Lee to Iggy Pop to Mick Ronson to Lou Reed. Trynka delves into these relationships through extensive narratives from the people closest to Bowie during all periods of his life, exploring not only his musical career but the accompanying drug addictions, sexual experimentation and his unparalleled influence on his fans and the entire music industry.

Bowie himself attributes his multi-faceted musical career to the fact that he was not naturally talented. He says “I forced myself to become a good songwriter. I had no natural talents whatsoever. I made a job of work at getting good.” Trynka cleverly analyzes this by stating “having built up a technique from scratch once, he could do it again”.

Even in his early years, image was everything. When he was a little boy, mothers admired how clean and well-kept he always was; as a teenager, his peers both adored and envied his unique sense of style and glamour. According to Scott Richardson, for Bowie, being a performer was “I’ll do anything, play anything, say anything, wear anything to become a star, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And there was a tremendous hunger on the part of the audience for it too.”

For any devoted fan of David Bowie’s music, this book is a must read. It brings much needed perspective to the man who has fascinated generation after generation of young kids and adults alike, and influenced bands in every genre.

David Bowie: Starman was released today. Buy it on AMAZON