On Bowie

I bought this in July of 2016 and am only just now cracking it open. Like all of Rob Sheffield's books, it's engrossing and moving and truly a wonderful read. I'm loving every word on every page.

(post script - I really liked the introduction of this book, which was when I wrote the above post, but it soon went downhill and I gave up on it completely at page 44. The book started to feel very rushed. I originally received the book in the mail and thought it felt like a cheap textbook and that the cover was super cheesy. The fact of the matter is the book was rushed. It reads like the first draft of a book that no one bothered to re-read to check for errors, spruce up, re-word or re-work anything. This book needed editing and several re-writes. There were so many things that were incorrect. David Bowie DID NOT have two different colour eyes. I know this because the man himself said it in a documentary I saw and it stuck with me. He did suffer an eye injury when he was younger and his one eye was permanently dilated which gives the illusion of two different coloured eyes. The truth is that the dilated one still had a thin blue rim.

I did not like that the author acted as though his own interpretations of Bowie's lyrics were what Bowie actually intended and thought when he wrote them. I detested that Sheffield over-used lyrics as sentences in between his own thoughts, and annoyingly did not italicise them so the book began to read like an article in a magazine with random poetry interspersed. It was sloppy. The absolute worst thing was when he misquoted lyrics. That's just bad. I mean, was he typing this book alone in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere with no access to the internet or music? Google the freakin' lyrics and get it right, dude. Even if you think you know the song inside and out, DOUBLE CHECK.

Lastly, to compare David Bowie's illustrious career, which spanned over fifty years, to effing Kanye West is an absolute insult. I am appalled that I even had to mention that person in the same sentence as an artist with the genius and humility and decency of David Bowie. There is no comparing the two. Ever. This book was an immense disappointment, except for the fact that it led me to locate the interview Bowie gave on The Dinah Shore Show in 1976. On Bowie stunk out loud and kind of, sadly, has put me off of reading any more of Sheffield's work. That Beatles book has been removed from my Amazon cart because I just don't trust his writing anymore.)