David Bowie: Life Changer

It was 1972 and I was 14 years old at school and living amongst endless cattle filled fields in Somerset. I wasn’t particularly unhappy or wanting for much, my school days were as for most teenagers a drag that we just had to get through until we were old enough to leave. My interest had always been cricket and from a very young age I had always wanted to make my career as a cricketer. I liked music but wasn’t fanatical about it,  I liked art but only because I wasn’t much good at other subjects. I wasn’t into fashion particularly although I did like to look fairly smart. My hair had always been fairly traditional, not too long and just the right side of being ok for school.

In November of that year I happened to listen to the radio and heard a song that was to change my life and what I wanted to be. The song was ‘The Jean Genie’ sung by David Bowie. I recorded the song from the radio onto a tape cassette and played it endlessly. I couldn’t believe the amazing sound I was listening to and immediately tried to find out more about this musician.

Unlike today the only way to find out more was to go to the local record shop as well as surfing the shelves in the Newsagents for anything to do with David Bowie. Melody Maker and New Musical Express became my regular reads as I became more and more obsessed with the enigma of Bowie, dying my hair red and sporting a Bowie haircut as best I could.

A few months after the release of ‘The Jean Genie’ the album ‘Aladdin Sane’ was released and I knew I just had to get it. Just holding the record sleeve in my hand was amazing with its out of this world artwork. I realised having bought the album I had nothing to play it on. I thought my mother had a record player, but didn’t. I was desperate to hear the songs. A pub down the road from where we lived (that on a good day may get three or four customers) had a record player that I could use. My mother drove me to the pub to play my record ‘Aladdin Sane’ on a very old and dusty record player that had been setup in the middle of the bar. I put the record on and immediately ‘Watch That Man’ came buzzing through the mono speaker. The three old farmers drinking their pints of scrumpy at the bar were not amused. Undeterred I concentrated on listening to the entire record. At one point one of the farmers said  in his Somerset drawl “that’s alright” to one of the songs but can’t remember which one.

Will Wilkinson: “I went dressed like so many others as a Bowie clone”

By the end of listening to ‘Aladdin Sane’  I felt different as if someone had given me a key that unlocked something inside of me that changed my young outlook on life and I knew it was not just a momentary thing.

My first Bowie gig was at the Taunton Odeon in Somerset in 1973. It was also my first gig ever and I went dressed like so many others as a Bowie clone. From the moment he came on stage with The Spiders From Mars (his band) I was shaking with excitement that I had never felt before and witnessed something that at the time seemed completely out of this world.

Since that first Bowie gig I have accumulated all his albums and been to most of his tours in the UK including The Isle of Wight festival, the last UK gig he did in June 2004 not long before his heart problems and his withdrawal from the public eye. Little did I realise that this would be the last time I would see him live. I had only recently been thinking that he must be preparing for a new tour and would announce it when we are least expecting it. Sadly that is not to be.

It’s fair to say that David Bowie like for many people helped me to see a way through life from an early age and although my path has been a different one to his, he showed me there was always another way to approach life and it didn’t have to be drab or boring. If he was listening to a certain new band I would listen to it. If he was into a certain type of art, I also would be into it. If he was reading Kahlil Gibran I too would read his book. As Soft Cell’s Marc Almond said:

“David Bowie made me a better person. More than my teachers at school, he was my teenage education. I hung on to his every word about music, books, theatre and film. He shone a light into a northern boy’s life and showed me there was a world out there full of exciting possibilities. He illuminated a dreary 1970s….”

It was the same for me and I am sure for thousands of others. Bowie was an all round performer. Usually when that phrase is mentioned it means you are good but not great but in David Bowie’s case he was and will remain the greatest musician and all round performer that we are likely to ever see again.

David Bowie, thank you for all the music, gigs, films and art. Thank you for changing how we perceive this world and thank you for being you.

With love.

Check out video from our David Bowie inspired fashion shoot. Made by Mr. Deansgate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS68IQEq_lg&feature=youtu.be