His pop culture legacy is immense.
IMMENSE!
He unloaded a lot of genius on us in his 69 years.
Before news of his death arrived Sunday night, I was on the radio this weekend (wholly unaware he was ailing) talking about how much more important David Bowie was to me than Sinatra or Elvis or any number of other solo recording artists.
Bowie was also, incidentally, the very best thing about David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” playing an FBI man who may have wandered too close to the supernatural and wound up rattling around the space-time continuum
A rock titan, the singer-songwriter-musician David Bowie was a profound influence upon many creators of pop culture.
A fictionalized Bowie (or at least his doppleganger) was a major character in Cartoon Network’s “The Venture Bros.” leading a secret life as The Sovereign, head of the supervillainous Guild of Calamitous Intent. Bowie’s real life cohorts Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop were conscripted as The Sovereign's henchmen.
Jared Harris played a key recurring character in J.J. Abrams’ “Fringe” named David Robert Jones (Bowie’s birth name).
I’ve long been haunted by a scene in Tony Scott’s “The Hunger” in Bowie’s character ages to decrepitude in a matter of minutes thanks to a receptionist keeping him waiting too long.
Listen to what’s on the radio in this scene from “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”:
His performances of “Boys Keep Swinging” and “The Man Who Sold The World” remain among the most memorable in the show’s history:
Here he is performing “Life On Mars” (inspiration for two TV series) and “Ashes To Ashes” for Johnny Carson:
Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was featuring in last year’s final season of “Mad Men.”
He collaborated with Queen on one of the most stirring rock compositions ever recorded.
So stirring even Vanilla Ice co-opted it.
When I interviewed the creators of “The Venture Bros.” at Comic Con, one of them suggested that Bing Crosby may have been the The Sovereign before Bowie.
I can’t find a clip, but I remember “Scary Monsters” was playing as James Caan entered a rough Newcomer bar in “Alien Nation.”
My colleagues at The Daily Texan can attest to the fact that I played the “Let’s Dance” album constantly while I was writing and editing its entertainment section.
Modern love gets me to the church on time.
“This is Not America” made the great “Falcon and the Showman” at least 25% better:
Oh yeah, he did this with John Lennon:
I’ll leave the bulk of his acting career for others to talk about, but I'll also leave with a clip from “Zoolander”:
God is an American.
