Research Into an Artist

I have decided to do some research into the evolving style of David Bowie starting with his first ever album release in 1967, and leading up to his most recent release last year in 2013.

although he became famous for his later work in the mid 1970's , David Bowie started off in the late 60's with a very different style that most people know hi for. this style of music was much more tame than his later work and a maintained a more upbeat style. At this time the unique flamboyant style of his music videos was not present. the videos that accompanied his first songs were not much more than a film of him performing the song in an empty room.

Two years later, Bowie released his second album "Space Oddity". here we see some more thought out music video as with the headlining song "Space Oddity. In this we see the launch of an astronaut which follows the lyrics of the song. the style of the music definitely becomes more guitar based and less upbeat here, this is the style that Bowie is est known for.

Another notable release is his 1972 release which was accompanied by a video over an hour long which contained all of the albums songs as well as lots of footage from live performances from the whole of Bowie's career. this was entitled "The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars the motion picture".










In 1973 Bowie released the song "life on Mars?" which was accompanied by another live performance style
music video only this time there are no instruments on screen, only Bowie singing the song. a lot of this video is made up from extreme close up on his face giving the whole video a slightly uncomfortable feel.

7 years later, Bowie released one of his most eccentric videos to date "Ashes to Ashes" as well as being very vivid and colourful, this music video also delivered a story of insanity which fit perfectly with the songs tone which jumped back and forth from cheery and upbeat to serious and subdued.

Recently, in 2013, David Bowie released the album "The Next Day". the most notable thing about this album is the headlining song, which shares the name of the album, is much more sexualised and explicit than much of the music that he has put out before. This is demonstrated by the music video which presents some very explicit and almost uncomfortable images. the music style has also changed drastically here; it takes on a much more modern style opposed to the albums released in previous decades. The second song reminisces back to Bowie's childhood and is a much more subdued style of music than a lot of what he has released before, the music video here is simple and in black and white. this new album is a far cry from the more outlandish music videos of the past such as "Ashes to Ashes"