“Someone to follow”
Congratulations are due to David Bowie with the news that NME has positioned him at #2 in their list of the 100 Most Influential Artists.
The magazine (August 9 issue) set out to “determine the most influential acts in music right now. Who are the bands and artists that the current raft of new musicians listen to before penning their own 21st-century classics?”
With quotations from James Murphy, St Vincent, Trent Reznor, Black Francis, Lorde and Lady Gaga on the importance of Bowie to their careers, the piece summed up his influence thus:
“Of all the old guard, David Bowie is the guy who young musicians still namedrop with devoted regularity today. The sheer breadth and scope of his career – from the music-hall roots to his glam explosion, plastic soul period and krautrock experiments – has provided countless modern acts with their impetus to plug in and play.”
Congratulations also to Radiohead (just one of the thirty odd artists listed as having been influenced by Bowie), who topped the list.
Back in 2000, the band came second to Bowie when he was placed first in NME’s Most Influential Artists of All-time list.
So today’s news is a pretty impressive result for DB considering he released no new material for ten of the fourteen years since 2000.
We’ll leave you with a still relevant Bowie quote from an exclusive interview he gave NME back then:
“I’ve always cited who my influences are. I felt it was important for people to be able to see how things are put together at any given stage. I let people know what’s going through my head. I’ve been quite vocal about that through the years.
“It often amuses me to see bands who lie about who they’re listening to, because they don’t want people to know who their real influences are. They leave a trail of red herrings. It’s disingenuous, to say the least. I’ve always loved the process – to see how things are put together.”