David Bowie
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Year:
1996
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Inducted by:
David Byrne (Talking Heads)
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Category:
Performers
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.
David Byrne Inducts David Bowie
David Byrne Inducts David Bowie at the 1996 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony-
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David Byrne Inducts David Bowie00:02:10 -
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Madonna Accepts On David Bowie's Behalf00:03:01 -
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"Fame"00:03:26
Hall of Fame Essay
1996
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.
When David Bowie came along, rock and roll needed a shot in the arm
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Gallery
Photography: Janet Macoska
