About David Bowie

Seen here auditioning for Axl Rose's part in the Welcome To The Jungle video

David Bowie turns 66 today, and the Great White Duke has graced us with his first single in 10 years while he was at it.

Many of my friends gush over Bowie as if he were the greatest musician who ever lived when, really, I just don't get it.

When his first record went unnoticed, he looked to cop Marc Bolan and T-Rex's style, following the glam-rock path Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Gary Glitter (then known as Paul Monday) had laid out, and emerged with his Space Oddity/Ziggy Stardust period, which he is still mostly known for. That was from 1969 to 1972.

In comparison, Iggy Pop had spearheaded/inspired the punk movement a few years prior with The Stooges (1966) and his most-known solo hit has become Lust For Life (1977); Lou Reed had re-written the books on pop, rock, jazz, and psychedelic music with The Velvet Underground, and while his biggest solo hit is Walk On The Wild Side (1972), two of his masterpieces came later, Berlin in 1973, and Metal Machine Music in 1975; Bolan had the decency to die a year before I was born.

In 1969 alone (the year Space Oddity - an awesome song, by the way, but not all songs on the record match it by any stretch of the imagination - was released, a literal ton of amazing music that was at least as good as Bowie's was released. And by ''literal ton'', I mean stick all these records on a scale and weigh them, because that's a lot vinyl: the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, Led Zeppelin's first two, Dusty Springfield's In Memphis, The Beatles' soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, Miles Davis' Filles De Kilimanjaro (and to a lesser extent In A Silent Way), CCR's Bayou Country and Green River (as well as Willy And The Poor Boys), Moby Grape's 69 and Truly Fine Citizen, The Temptations' classic Cloud Nine (featuring I Heard It Through The Grapevine) (and to a lesser extent Puzzle People and their duets record with The Supremes), Jefferson Airplane's Bless Its Pointed Little Head (with Somebody To Love) and Volunteers.

MC5's Kick Out The Jams, Genesis' From Genesis To Revelation, Cream's last hurrah Goodbye, The Velvet Underground's eponymous record, Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline, Al Green's Green Is Blues, Frank Sinatra's My Way and A Man Alone, Leonard Cohen's Songs From A Room, Sly & The Family Stone's Stand!, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, The Who's rock opera Tommy (which undoubtedly inspired the Ziggy thing).

Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, Deep Purple's eponymous album, The Doors' underrated The Soft Parade, Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour, Blind Faith's self-titled record.

Santana's first, King Crimson's In the Court Of The Crimson King, the debut from The Jackson 5, the first record from Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as decent records by Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention (two!), Marvin Gaye, Joe Cocker (two: With A Little Help From My Friends and Joe Cocker!), George Harrison, John Lennon (two!), T-Rex, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross & The Supremes (two, plus the Temptations collaboration), Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Elton John.

Otis Redding, The Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, Jeff Beck, Yes, Pink Floyd (two), The Byrds (three!), Jethro Tull, The Stooges, Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, The Hollies, The Dubliners, Merle Haggard, Jimmy Cliff, and others by the likes of Fleetwood Mac (two), Three Dog Night (two), The Beach Boys, The Monkeys (two), The Isley Brothers, The Moody Blues (two), Alice Cooper, Tom Jones, Cher, Procol Harum, Canned Heat, Tim Buckley (two), Steve Miller Band (two), The Guess Who, Spirit, Free, Rod Stewart, Humble Pie, Mott The Hoople, Steppenwolf (two).

John Mayall, Chuck Berry, Ornette Coleman, Roy Harper, Howlin' Wolf and Grand Funk Railroad, and historical stand-alone singles such as James Brown's Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud!). 

Oh, and a record called Abbey Road by The Beatles that forever changed how people take pictures of one another when crossing a street.

That's 20, maybe 25 more iconic acts than Bowie, in one year's release. Should I do the same for each year he released anything? Each decade?

I mean, shit, Patti Smith, R.E.M., U2, The Cure, Guns N' Roses, Public Enemy, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Eric Clapton and many more have changed music and influenced it a lot more than Bowie has.

Metallica, Snoop Dogg, Garth Brooks and the like have all had far greater crossover success.

Oh, so Bowie has adapted his style to the changing times, borrowing here and there to remain ''current''? Great. That puts him in the same category as Madonna and Britney Spears, as a pop princess who hires talent rather than inspire it. But Madonna at least ran a label at some point. And Britney ran... well, she ran amok and shaved her fucking head off. I'm not even sure Bowie ever ran an intersection, unless it was to dance with Mick Jagger in it.

Bottom line: how can someone who has never released any of the year's 10 best records or songs always come up as an icon when people talk about pop/rock music?

Full disclosure: There are two records of his I can listen to start-to-finish, perhaps even back-to-back, and they are Outside and Earthling.