David bowie biography marc spitz march

But highly recommended nonetheless. I put off writing this review for a while for two reasons: both the author and the subject are dead, and that wounds me painfully every time I sit at my keyboard to write this review. I've had some time to put distance between me and Bowie's death, and I've really had most of my lifetime to work out my on-again off-again fandom with Bowie.

But I was in the early stages of my relationship with Spitz and he reminded me so much of a friend of mine from graduate school whom I had recently lost, so learning that Spitz was dead after I started this book was awful. There's so much of himself in this biography and there's so much of it that I identify with. So therein lies the tragedy.

Spitz loved, loved, loved music with a gut-churning passion that I haven't seen since college if truth be told, and at 40 I miss that passion for art and music and creation, and then in Spitz's case, you die. Spitz's biography might not be the best or most complete Bowie biography, but it is deeply passionate, the most fanboy-driven biography, and truly the most American one out there.

It is well-written and he did obtain candid interviews with Angela Bowie which give him a slightly different take on the women in Bowie's life, especially his early career, that we don't get in other sources. I read half of this book before visiting the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and I was rather struck by the erasure of Angela Bowie's influence in Bowie's early career.

Then I read the second half of Spitz's book which does conclude inbut it's clear that Bowie was obsessed with the business of his legacy and controlling how it would be voiced and portrayed and his relationship with Angela was something that he completely erased throughout his life straight through to compiling his archives. Who's to say what the truth is but it really is interesting.

I loved the book and there's so much I want to say about Bowie from it, about his early days, and those crazy but productive 70s. About all his influences and all his business deals, what he learned and how he learned it. I was excited to read past the mids and into the latter 80s and 90s because I hadn't read a Bowie bio since I didn't know how embittered he truly was by the Glass Spider tour, that he actually burned and bashed the three-story spider in a New Zealand field, but then years later wanted the prototype for his archives.

That was a standout story of rock star excess and 80s excess without the numbing comfort of cocaine. Oh, sobriety!

David bowie biography marc spitz march: From noted author and rock

Spitz' chapters on Tin Machine and Bowie's collaborations with Trent Reznor gave me some better appreciation for that time period, though this part of the book did seem rushed. Source material was probably a little thinner, but the interviews here were quite good. And while the book ends with Bowie after his heart surgeries, it would have been a wonderful thing if Spitz had lived long enough to add those additional chapters to cover Bowie's final five years of productive work.

Ah, well. It's August now. And I myself am thinking of Bowie, yes, but of Spitz and one of his famous August rituals as well: playing Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" at just the right moment: Turn on your TV and there are back-to-school commercials for school supplies they are lining the drug store aisles as well. The timing has to be just right.

It happens every year, some time between the horrible dog days of summer and Labor Day. I only play it once. It only requires about five minutes four minutes and forty-seven seconds, to be precise. I really feel it, like almost no other song. I sing along.

David bowie biography marc spitz march: David Bowie by Marc Spitz. David

I cry. I hold my headphones to my ears with cupped hands, as tightly as I can. I obsess. Spitz loved listening to music like no other music writer. Like I miss Bowie, I will miss him, too. Hanna Huovinen. Enjoyed but took ages to read did briefly lose the book tbf. Adam Cormier. Interesting recount of the life of David Bowie. I was never a Bowie fan, but after finishing this book, I think I missed something.

I followed the book with YouTube. As the songs were mentioned, I listened. His strength is his critic's knowledge of Bowie, his material, its creation, its marketing and its position in the development of popular music and the music industry. A good biography, however, is more than a series of reviews, events and career milestones.

There is some attempt to interpret Bowie as a person, but for this, the book is disappointing. For instance the marriage to Angie is reportage when a biography calls for analysis. Bowie's relationship with his half brother is all but dropped. There is mention and dismissal, but no explanation, of the Nazi imagery that that has been associated with Bowie.

There is a heavy reliance on interviews which seem to be cut and pasted in. Some seem to be there to prove a point Spitz wants to make. Some seem to be there because Spitz has them, not because of their significance. Some quotes, such as Angie on David's brother's death, are the sole analysis of what seem to be significant events. The interviews often have statements inserted as truths when they are opinions.

For instance Spitz quotes Camille Pagila on p. Chapter 23 closes with Destri of Blondie saying that "that night, David Bowie opened the door to the eighties" to support the idea that Bowie was THE harbinger of the 80's. Sweeping statements aren't restricted to the interviews. For instance, there is no photo of either Angie or Iman, but one of Elizabeth Taylor who doesn't really feature in Bowie's life or this book.

David bowie biography marc spitz march: One of the best

Why is there a photo of Bowie in Moscow when this trip is hardly mentioned? Other photos seem to be publicity shots; they're interesting, but in a biography, more personal photos are expected. The author is at his best when he strays from the article writing genre. He made a good start with the background on Bowie's family and how the World War II formed not just the generations of the Bowie family, but also the conditions for the emergence of the rock and roll culture.

Spitz lists an impressive number of Bowie biographies in his introduction. Some are rated very highly by Amazon reviewers, but if this is the one available to you, go ahead and read it. The story will hold your attention. I suggest readers read it like I did: with YouTube handy. It will be your own simulation of what is probably the future of the online book If you ask anyone who knows me, I'm a huge David Bowie fan.

I was browsing my local library and saw this book and just had to pick it up. The only Bowie biography I'd read was his ex-wife's book about their history together called Backstage Passes. It was a pretty good read with a lot of Bowie's history, but it was obviously very biased. Marc Spitz's biography is an incredibly detailed story of David Bowie's life all the way from how his parents met up until his quiet life in the late 's.

Of course Bowie just released his first album is a decade just this spring, so he's not quite finished with his career yet, even at 66 years old! Even if you're not a fan, you have do admit the man has had quite the career, almost completely reinventing himself every decade. David Bowie started out as David Jones in London. Even as a child, he knew he wanted to be a famous rock and roll star.

Bowie wasn't one of those "instant stars" who was discovered one day out of the blue. He worked hard for a long time before he finally got recognition with his breakout song in the 's, "Space Oddity". Although most people recognize it today it actually wasn't a huge hit at first. Bowie probably wasn't considered a well-known rock star until he invented Ziggy Stardust in the early 70s at the onset of the glam rock movement.

Of course he famously retired Ziggy after a few years and adopted several other onstage personalities over the rest of the s Halloween Jack, The Thin White Duke and hit his biggest commercial success of his career in the 80s with the Let's Dance album. The 90s brought about a more experimental Bowie and he found some success collaborating with Trent Reznor and touring with Nine Inch Nails.

Please see your browser settings for this feature. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Includes bibliographical references p. Spitz presents a portrait not only of one of the most important rock musicians of the last century but also an examination of a truly fascinating man. Reviewer: zip reeper - favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 23, Subject: Rip david bowie Records from hunky dory to lodger are brilliant but david lost his way when he pursued hip hop.

Synopsis [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Kirkus Reviews. Publishers Weekly. External links [ edit ]. Categories : non-fiction books Works about David Bowie Biographies about musicians. Search the history of over billion web pages on the Internet. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. Better World Books.

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David bowie biography marc spitz march: The author of the book,

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