Why Bowie Still Matters - Part 2

Ongoing History of New Music

Curiouscast

Music History, History, Music, Music Interviews, Music Commentary

4.8 • 604 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

David Bowie wasn’t just a rock star...he was a cultural architect who reinvented music, fashion, and identity. In part 2 of "Why Bowie Still Matters", we explore Bowie’s groundbreaking mid-70s to early-80s era: from the cocaine-fueled chaos of Station to Station and the birth of the Thin White Duke, his "Berlin Trilogy" with Brian Eno that shaped post-punk and electronic music. And we’ll explore how albums like Low, Heroes, and Lodger influenced everyone from Joy Division to Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Radiohead and others. Meanwhile, Bowie’s constant creativity sparked movements like New Wave and the New Romantics. And then we reach Bowie’s bold reinvention...again... in the 90s with Tin Machine and Trent Reznor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing
0:04.3	history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.
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0:39.0	If you had to name the most influential artists in the history of rock, who would they be?
0:45.1	Now, I'm talking about people who change things, move things, and otherwise propelled things forward for everyone else.
0:50.5	So what's your list?
0:52.1	Well, Elvis, for sure, he's the guy that brought rock and roll to the
0:55.1	masses in the 1950s, and he basically ushered in a whole new era in music. The Elvis epic waned,
1:02.2	but he's still a towering figure in the history of popular music. Number two, got to be the Beatles.
1:07.9	It seemed silly to have to say that, because, you know, how many stories have you heard about people deciding to form a band after seeing the Beatles. It seemed silly to have to say that because, you know, how many stories
1:11.3	have you heard about people deciding to form a band after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in
1:16.0	February 1964? The Beatles changed everything across all genres, and they did it in just seven
1:23.1	years. Even though they broke up in 1970, they are still the greatest and most influential
1:29.0	rock group of all time and will probably be forever. And number three, I will fight you if you
1:35.7	don't see anyone other than David Bowie, a guy who, coincidentally, shares a birthday with
1:41.3	Elvis. The more you study the history of rock,
1:44.8	the more you realize just how many roads lead back to Bowie in some way or another.
	...

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