David Bowie had to change his name twice, does anyone recall why? It sounds like more of a joke and there’s actually a third time in there to hear Conan tell it since he changed his name to Davey Jones first. That didn’t work when the Monkees came out so he switched to Tom Jones. That of course had to go away when Tom Jones came out with It’s Not Unusual, and then he switched on over to David Cassidy. In reality David Bowie was already Davy Jones since his born name was David Robert Jones. He switched to Tom Jones to avoid any confusion with the other popular English singer, but then as it was mentioned above he changed it again in order to avoid further confusion with the real Tom Jones. But obviously, if you know at all, Conan is having a bit of a laugh since he didn’t change his name to David Cassidy.
Instead he changed his name to Bowie since he had a deep love for American culture and was a fan of the movie The Alamo. Kind of makes you a bit proud to be American eh? Anyway, the iconic singer was an avid lover of many things American and his name change was how he would be known throughout the rest of his career. In fact aside from his other personas it was something that likely helped him to take hold in American culture and remain there with such a force that people would actually defend everything he’d done and was still doing with a fervor that was borderline manic at times. I can still remember Bowie fans in high school absolutely refusing to hear anything bad said about his music simply because they believed that he was that great and was an absolute genius when it came to what he wrote and performed.
Personally his music wasn’t always my favorite but I can fully admit that he was a charismatic and very powerful individual that knew how to get peoples’ attention and hold it for a long time. He was one of the many individual that learned how people think and what they want to hear so that he could reach them on a much deeper and more meaningful level that would allow him to cater to their desires in many ways. In other words he did what he wanted and made them believe that they wanted the same thing whether they did or not. He was in some ways as much of a master manipulator as any musician/performer has ever been, but in a way that inspires rather than draws people in to be fleeced for everything they have before taking off like a thief in the night.
Bowie’s work was truly inspired and had something to it that isn’t seen but a handful of times in a lifetime. He created songs and albums that lit people up in ways that they could just barely explain and left them wanting more and more, almost like an addiction. At least it was one that didn’t come with any ill side effects.
From the fans and the admirers Mr. Bowie, you are sorely missed.
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