I'm sorry for the audience that is a fan of the Mexican rock band Café Tacvba and has this text in their hands, but I must say no. Rubén Albarrán (lead vocalist of that group and who took various personalities and names such as Juan, Re, Anónimo, Massiossare, Nrü, Amparo Tonto Medardo In Lak'ech, Rita Cantalagua, Gallo Gasss, Elfego Buendía and Cone Cahuitl y Zipolite) is not the inventor of alter-egos in the musical world. He was the majesty of him, the Englishman David Bowie, who passed away on a day like today, 6 years ago, just two days after turning 69.
Bowie was much more than a musician-composer-performer of rock in the last third of the XNUMXth century. He was also more than an artist.
His heterochromia (the anatomical characteristic of having eyes of different colors from each other) is a great allegory of his diversity and creative flexibility. David Robert Jones, better known as David Bowie, was a true concentric point of all styles and all influences, who projected all sensibilities and all tastes. So he could never be pigeonholed in a single name, in a single character, in a single existence. Here, the various David Bowies that existed, in chronological order, so you can choose your favorite:
Ziggy Stardust
It was the first of his other selves, born with the album The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars, from 1972. Half a century ago, no less.
Ziggy was an intergalactic rock star, sent to this planet to save the world from Doom's Day.
Throughout the 11 songs on the LP, Stardust evolves to become a famous cult figure on Earth, who –victim of his own fame, arrogance and banality (in a clear criticism of the consumerism of plastic characters)– takes off life, as the last piece of the album titles: Rock and Roll suicide.
Ziggy Stardust also inspired the designers of the most iconic doll of all time: Barbie he has a version of the character, complete with the provocative hand-to-hip pose, open compass, and bent knees.
Bowie "killed" Ziggy Stardust at a concert in London, to give life to his next self: Aladdin Sane.
“There was a moment, in 1973, when I knew it was over. I didn't want to get stuck in the Ziggy character my whole life," Bowie told Rolling Stone magazine.
Barbie imitated, in a tribute, the pose and outfit of the intergalactic rock star Ziggy Stardust. Source: The Country
Aladdin sane
This character appeared before the death of Ziggy Stardust and coexisted with him, in a clear reference to the double personalities in the lives of people who suffer from it. schizophrenia. Hence the hypothesis that Aladdin Sane was an inspiration from David's half brother: Terry, who had that medical condition. Bowie accepted that Aladdin Sane was Ziggy's alter-ego, rather than his own: a character more chiaroscuro and sinister than the intergalactic star.
Aladdin Sane is perhaps the most well-known image of the Bowies: the electrifying bolt, in carmine red with a blue edge on the edge, splitting his face, with red-haired punk hairdo. An eclectic image, like the Bowies themselves. He inspired several artists, such as Annie Lennox, lead singer of the pop duo Eurythmics, who has been said countless times that she bears a strong resemblance to the original Bowie. Three years after his schizophrenic outbreak, Sane lowered the curtain to give life to a new character.
Who is who? Annie Lennox was inspired by the English genius. Source: Rolling Stone
Aladdin brought an androgynous image to the musical genre. Source: The Guardian
The Thin White Duke
The Thin White Duke is related to two pop products of the time: the album Station-to-Station, Bowie, and the film The man who fell to Earthby director Nicolas Roeg. Both, released in 1976.
In the film, one of many that have explored an alien incursion on Earth, Bowie played Thomas Jerome Newton, the humanoid alien. A slim, young looking organism, wearing a vest, white shirt, and neatly combed back hair.
The Delgado Duque Blanco raised controversy due to his supremacist appearance and his controversial statements. Source: Timeline
The Blind Prophet
As in a Greek tragedy, where self-fulfilling prophecies abound, Bowie's album Blackstar presents a man covered in bandages, like Oedipus Rex, who predicts his own death. This was the last material released by the English artist. It appeared a few days before his death, on January 10, 2016.
Experts believe that this character's death prophecies were a metaphor for talking about the cancer that struck Bowie down. Source: Catawiki
Tribute
A final figure, inspired by Bowie, was created as a postmortem tribute to the artist. On February 6, 2018, almost five years ago, Elon Musk –the pioneer in the exploration of space tourism travel– put a red Tesla Roadster into orbit, which will be exploring space, and on board of which the song is heard life on mars, from Bowie.
The vehicle is manned by a dummy dressed as an astronaut, whom they named Ziggy Stardust. The last alter-ego of English. If a Martian is going to know the earthlings of the planet by a single representative, I am completely pleased that he is one of the many Bowies who will lead us.
