Nerd Props to . . .

David Bowie

David Bowie has done much to bring SF & F to the masses.  I mean, who hasn’t heard Major Tom’s plight in Space Oddity at least once in their lifetime?   A lot of rockers dabble in SF&F, though, right?  But then Bowie went and did that album about an alien stranded on earth who becomes a rock star.  Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars landed upon unsuspecting masses, and what appeared to be just another glam rock album turned out to be a wonder-filled SF parable songs like Moonage Daydream and Suffragette City.  The album pretty much kickstarted Bowie into superstar status, and while he could have pretty much done anything he wanted to at that point, he did it again.  Sort of.  The follow up to Ziggy was Diamond Dogs, a kind of surreal, Orwellian nightmare that sported a mutated, half-man, half-dog,  Ziggy-like Bowie on the cover, and the songs range from the apocalyptic visions Diamond Dogs to the discoish sounds of 1984.  Even though he metamorphosed into the Thin White Duke shortly thereafter, we are forever grateful to him for these rock and SF masterpieces.

                                       So Nerd Props to you, David Bowie!