Too bad David Bowie isn't alive today

[Dirty Socialist]

He would have a FIELD DAY on DeSantis.

[blm]

1. Waiting for DeSantis to block 'Woke' Willie Nelson from performing

at public venues in Florida.

https://americansongwriter.com/michael-mcdonald-willie-nelson-amp-david-hidalgo-team-up-to-benefit-farmworkers/

[TxGuitar]

2. How so?

I don't recall him being super political (at least publicly). Now, Lennon or Zappa would go to town on the guy for sure.

[blm]

3. Bowie was VERY political.

Last edited Mon May 8, 2023, 04:49 PM - Edit history (1)

And his performance moves were often counter-culture in concept.

Bowie often performed in drag for his personal fun and art more than anything else, AND as a political statement when he felt like it.

He didn’t fit into boxes even when they were self-constructed.

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. Extremely. This video is a must-watch:

[Tommy Carcetti]

4. Any particular reason for Bowie? On DeSantis in particular?

I mean, I guess he would? He did sing "I'm Afraid of Americans," which could certainly be construed politically, and by that virtue, I guess towards an asshole like DeSantis.

But tons of deceased celebrities would probably have a field day on a whole host of today's politicians.

[FM123]

5. I heard "Changes" the other day

and these words still stab me in the heart when I think about what that evil man is doing to our kids down here in FL

And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

[maxsolomon]

6. Bowie stayed above the fray.

He provoked with his art; he didn't respond directly to politics. Sure, he may have said something at this point.

I don't know where you came up with this.

[NullTuples]

7. I dunno, he backpedaled about being gay or bi & then played coy for decades

From Rolling Stone, May 12, 1983:
“The biggest mistake I ever made,” he said one night after a couple of cans of Foster’s Lager, “was telling that Melody Maker writer that I was bisexual. Christ, I was so young then. I was experimenting….”
So: he is not gay, whatever he may have blurted out in 1972. Nor was he ever a transvestite, thank you. Still, American TV –– for want of any more-recent product, it’s true –– has kept running his 1979 “Boys Keep Swinging” video, and so total strangers still breathily inquire whether he’s doing drag onstage again. (“I’ve never done drag onstage,” he huffs.)

That's...not the sort of thing solid allies say, you know? Background:

In a 1972 interview with the now defunct Melody Maker, Bowie declared, “I'm gay, and I always have been”. It’s worth noting that this was the same year which Melody Maker called “the year of the transvestite” and 700 people walked from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park in the first Gay Pride march. Homosexuality had been legalised a few years prior and things were fast changing. Four years later, Bowie pushed the boundaries even further and told Playboy magazine that he was bisexual. “It’s true—I am a bisexual,” he announced. “But I can’t deny that I’ve used that fact very well. I suppose it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Independent UK, Jan 11 2016

He was a queer ICON...but was he an ally? That's the question I've asked repeatedly over the years since his death and I still don't have a definitive answer.