David Bowie (Genre Poll)

 

Personally, I don't think he fits, even as prog related.

 

I don't remember any final decision to reject him ever being made though. Even if there was, such discussions seem to come around again, never say never...

 

 

Well you may be right in the art rock bit.. since GG has nothing to do with KC... but they are mainly progressive.... I'm not going to make rushed judgement on Bowie and say he's not progressive, but I haven't yet heard a single tune from him that resembles "prog"... perhaps some other songs will clear my mind.. but I might agree about him being maybe prog-related (at least in the meantime, based on opinions here mostly)

 

1.  His frequent collaboration with prog artists, such as Rick Wakeman, Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, particularly Eno where his involvement in those albums really merits an equal billing, in my opinion.

 

2.  Prog elements/songs in early albums, such as Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory.

 

3.  Full-blown concept albums in the form of Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs, Outside... you COULD argue that non-prog artists have sometimes indulged in concept albums, but at least FOUR?  I highly doubt it...

 

4.  Pretty much every single website out there refers to him as Art-Rock and Prog-Related except for this one...

 

5.  Scary Monsters, the album, is definately Art Rock, with experiments, genre-shifting, and a summary of all of his styles in the 70s.  You could argue that everything he did afterwards is not really progressive (although certain albums have elements of prog, such as Outside), but then again how many artists here have cut-off points.  You could make a case for every single one of his 70s albums being art-rock with the possible exception of Pinups (a cover album, doesn't really count) and Young Americans (R&B one-off which, when thought about in the right context, supports the idea of Bowie as progressing artist).

 

Simply put, the cliche of David Bowie as a musical cameleon is adequate, and the very fact that he was recording albums (prolifically) during the 70s, a decade where progressive music was at the forefront of pop culture, it is only fitting that his music soaks up a lot of this type of music.

But say you want to make the argument of Bowie as a soulless replicant of music, and therefore he's not TRULY prog because he's only copying what's popular... Fair enough, except that punk music hit the scene in the late 70s... that was when Bowie as recording his most PROGRESSIVE albums!  That, to me, is a testament to his contribution to progressive rock... that when everyone else was attempting to go "back to the basics," Bowie was into his Berlin-trilogy and, even after he finished with Eno, went on to record another prog album in Scary Monsters.

 

His absence to the archives is a big mistake, prog traditionalists and snobs be damned.