We can be heroes, for ever and ever…
NME Heroes
The 50 stars who changed Rock N Roll forever -as voted for by you! But who’s number one? Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain? Liam Gallagher? Richey Manic? Or David Bowie? And did Pete Doherty even make it onto the list?
Obviously the results of this were always bound to spark much debate, as these lists always do, but it’s great to see that the results aren’t quite what one would have expected.
For example, main Arctic Monkey, Alex Turner, didn’t make the top 20 and while it’s clear Bowie is well-respected at NME (he was voted most influential musician of all time back in December 2000…see above left) none of his contemporaries made the Top 10, Bob Dylan being the closest, eight places below Bowie.
As you can see from the scan above, David was voted number 8 in the poll, and here’s a few excerpts from the article in praise of our man…
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DAVID BOWIE ? Man of multiple personas – One of the cleverest pop stars ever, in his shape-shifting 40-year career David Robert Jones has been a mod, hippy starchild, new romantic and an alien sex lizard. This is a man whose motto is, “I don?t know where I?m going from here, but I promise it won?t be boring.”
NME was there: “The first time I met Bowie was at the Dorchester in 1977, around the time of “Heroes”. I was in a waiting room with all the other journalists, very nervous and very stressed out, because Bowie had been one of my ultimate heroes. My jaw dropped when I saw him. He was a rock god, honest, very bright, and lived up to his reputation immaculately. He was charming, he wore his charm like a crown.” Allan Jones, ex-NME editor
What you said: “He changed everything; not just music, but fashion and sexual politics. Bowie was the artist of the 20th century and his influence is felt in all the so-called musical heroes of today.” Lee Trewhela, Cornwall
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There’s more to the Bowie piece, including a tribute from Paul Smith of Maximo Park, but it wouldn’t be fair to reproduce the whole lot while the magazine is still on sale. This is the reason I haven’t given away the rest of the top 10 yet, as NME haven’t even done so on their own website.
Anyway, congratulations are due to DB for being the only artist of his generation to achieve such a high position, and to the NME readers for having a bit more suss than they’re possibly credited with. It’s also nice to see that the NME doesn’t have an ageist editorial policy, unlike the BBC’s Radio 1.