David Bowie

1
  • Year:
    1996
  • Inducted by:
    David Byrne (Talking Heads)
  • Category:
    Performers
David Bowie Signature

Introduction

Glamorous. Futuristic. Alien. Mortal. You can never fully encapsulate the many faces of David Bowie.

Bowie’s fifty-year career is one of constant evolution, brilliant innovation, and enduring artistry. His legacy endures as one of a talent that defied form and a man who defied definition.

Hall of Fame Essay

1996

Robert Hillburn

David Bowie’s revolu­tionary career is that he has bent rock & roll con­vention in so many imag­inative and contradicto­ry ways during the last quarter century that he has left many pop ob­servers asking them­selves if he was  ever real­ly a rock & roller at all.

It’s one thing for an artist to move between musical genres - in Bowie’s case, from the radical art-rock edges of Ziggy Stardust to the anxious soul strains of Young Americans to the icy techno rock of Low. But this English singer/songwriter didn’t simply explore musical genres. 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Program Cover 1996
1 of 2
bowie.png
When David Bowie came along, rock and roll needed a shot in the arm
David Byrne

2

Gallery

Photography: Janet Macoska