# David Bowie - what am I missing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 23, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944 "2026-01-23T01:03:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/41 "2026-01-23T18:02:36Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > I just googled ‘David Bowie Heroes song makes me cry’ and by golly, we are not alone. Never made me cry. But in college our band played **Heroes**. IMO - awesome song. Even our execrable band couldn’t ruin it! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/42 "2026-01-23T18:08:42Z")
“Ain’t there one damn song that can make me _Break down and cry?!”_ (Young Americans) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/43 "2026-01-23T18:10:41Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > He certainly seems to have been a kind person Other than the rapes, of course… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/44 "2026-01-23T18:13:50Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I am ignorant - was Elton a prolific producer? I don’t believe so. It looks like he may have co-produced some of his own albums, but he generally worked with other producers (particularly Gus Dudgeon and Chris Thomas), rather than self-producing. It does not look to me like he often (if ever) served as primary producer for other artists. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/45 "2026-01-23T18:17:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I think this statement is really the gist of not only Bowie’s influence and appeal, but also maybe why folks like the OP don’t really see his enduring impact. > … > maybe even more than his music, she is a fan of his style, his personality, and his cultural influence. > [@](#): > > [XTC versus Adam Ant > Content versus form > Fighting for their place in rock and roll > There is no right or wrong](https://tmbw.net/wiki/Lyrics:XTC_Vs._Adam_Ant) This might be a key point: on “content vs form” (or “substance vs style,” or whatever words best define the two sides), Bowie is on the “style” side, and his appeal and influence is greatest for those who are at least as interested in the style and persona of the person making the music as in the music itself. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/46 "2026-01-23T18:24:27Z")
I’ll also point out that “Golden Years” was a prominent song in the 2001 film _A Knight’s Tale_. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yygNdTxoHus/maxresdefault.jpg "A Knight's Tale (2001) - A Dance From Gelderland Scene (4/10) | Movieclips") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygNdTxoHus) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/47 "2026-01-23T18:27:54Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Johnny Marr “There are musicians who are influenced by him who don’t even realise it.” That resonated with me. I’m not a huge Bowie fan, but if I think about it, I can see how he helped steer the direction of modern pop/rock by the musicians he helped/guided/influenced. Johnny Marr has a good point (and he’s another example… I’d bet the Smiths had much more effect on music than I know about). I’d add “There are _listeners_ who are influenced by him who don’t even realise it.” Me included. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/48 "2026-01-23T18:46:25Z")
The thing I’ve always appreciated about Bowie is his ability to re-invent himself over time. He lost me with _China Girl_, however, which I took as fetishizing Asian women. I could never listen to Bowie after that. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/49 "2026-01-23T18:55:38Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > “David Bowie is easily the most influential and important artist to come out of the UK,” noted Johnny Marr. "There are musicians who are influenced by him who don’t even realise it. “Velvet Underground’s first album only sold 30,000 copies over five years, but everyone who bought one went out and started a band.” -Brian Eno ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/50 "2026-01-23T18:57:32Z")
I don’t think anyone has posted this one. There is way too much to say about this song, so I’ll just post it. “**Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)**” the title track of his 1980 album _Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)_. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NHywdqH3F6Y/hqdefault.jpg "David Bowie- Scary Monsters (And super creeps)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHywdqH3F6Y) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/51 "2026-01-23T19:09:11Z")
Aaaaallllll right. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/52 "2026-01-23T19:10:04Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > The thing I’ve always appreciated about Bowie is his ability to re-invent himself over time. He lost me with _China Girl_, however, which I took as fetishizing Asian women. I know the song, of course. I hadn’t realized the actual background of it until now, when [I looked it up on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Girl_(song)). It was co-written by Bowie and Iggy Pop, and the subject of the song was a Vietnamese woman with whom Iggy had a brief affair (and for whom he may have had unrequited love), and about his concerns that his Western influence was changing and corrupting her. Iggy originally recorded it in '77, and Bowie then covered it in '83. Bowie has said that the song was intended to be against exploitation, and that his video for it was meant to be a statement against racism. I can see that it can come across as fetishizing, though I now find the background behind it to cast it in a different light. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/53 "2026-01-23T19:14:44Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > May I ask - how old are you? I turn 71 in March. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/54 "2026-01-23T19:27:17Z")
Hearing a David Bowie record completely altered my appreciation for music. My tastes shifted from standard rock to the experimental “weird” music I have now loved for 46 years. It my first year in college and the first time I experimented with a certain substance and a college dorm mate said “listen to this” and put on Low. Side B. My tastes in music were forever changed from that exact point. No exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/55 "2026-01-23T19:29:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It was co-written by Bowie and Iggy Pop, and the subject of the song was a Vietnamese woman with whom Iggy had a brief affair (and for whom he may have had unrequited love), and about his concerns that his Western influence was changing and corrupting her. TIL the lyric is “But I’ll give you a man who wants to rule the world” and not “I’ll give you man’o’wars to rule the world.” So, probably not actually a song about British Colonialism like I’d thought. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/56 "2026-01-23T19:31:04Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > (I admit that I don’t know anything about the other two artists in that article.) My brother described Mott the Hoople as “The greatest band that no one has ever heard of.” Much bigger in England than in the US. Ian Hunter had some modest success as a solo artist - the critics and “serious” fans loved him, but no chart success. You should have read the part in the article about Rick Wakeman. First sentence starts “Before joining prog-rock group Yes,…” I’m hoping you’ve heard of Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/57 "2026-01-23T19:32:08Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > I’m hoping you’ve heard of Yes. Well, Yes. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/58 "2026-01-23T19:35:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I can see that it can come across as fetishizing, though I now find the background behind it to cast it in a different light. I never knew the backstory, thank you. All I can say is that over 40 years, I carried a grudge so big I put a handle on it. I may have to remove it, but it’ll probably take time. Four decades of knee jerks are a tough thing to shed. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/59 "2026-01-23T19:42:11Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I turn 71 in March. Cool. Thanks. I wonder if Bowie was a tad bigger for me than you, as he was already a pretty big deal when I was just getting into music in the mid-late 70s, whereas you might have already been more interested in other music as his career was developing. What music were you most interested in, how interested were you, and at what point in your life? I was most into music as an undergrad from 78-82-ish. With my roommate we had 1000s of albums, and many 100s of watts, and were in a band together. Several nights a week I was seeing live music. We arranged our albums - not alphabetically, but by our own interpretation of relationships: if they shared a common producer, had previously been in bands together, etc. No one else could find any albums in our group. But with our organization, Bowie as a significant factor. For me, I was never a big fan of either the Beatles or the Stones. Beatles split up when I was a kid, and I thought the Stones’ best was behind them by **Some Girls**. But I acknowledge both as hugely influential and worthy of significant appreciation. Now my tastes are almost entirely bluegrass and oldtime with a little rockabilly, so I’m pretty out of touch with pop/rock music old or new. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944/60 "2026-01-23T19:56:52Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > I’m hoping you’ve heard of Yes Who? > [@Dinsdale](#): > > and known to be gay Not by the average fan in the 70s. Cite: everyone I knew. He was married! Those were just mean rumors by haters. He wasn’t gay, he was British! Though _everyone_ knew all four members of Queen were gay, that Adam Ant was gay, Bowie was gay, and Rob Halford was not. So what people “know” doesn’t mean a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-what-am-i-missing/1026944.md?page=4)