By Legs McNeil
Legs writes a guest blog this week at VICE.COM
In my ongoing attempt to rebuild my vinyl collection, I was recently perusing a Brooklyn hipster record store and came across the new David Bowie album, The Next Day. I’ve been enjoying quite a few lesser-known Bowie cuts lately, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and really get wild. I bought the record.
This is a real feat for me, as I’ve never bought a record on faith alone. I’d been hearing good things about the record, and I was curious to hear what an artist like Bowie had to say at the end of his career or—if the rumors are true about his having cancer—at the end of his life.
While I was paying for the record, I was reminded of Mick Jagger’s famous quote about Bowie: “Never wear a new pair of shoes in front of him.” Jagger’s implication was either that Bowie was a notorious thief (of ideas, trends, or the latest fashions), or that he’d run right out and get it in order to claim ultra-hipper-than-thou-trendsetting status.” Yeah, be the first one on the block with a new, red-rooster, unisex cut and ten-inch, sparkling, platform shoes!
That’s what Bowie’s career was truly about, but that doesn’t make him any more or less of an artist in my book. He created the future in front of our eyes, even if it resembled a cheesy 50s sci-fi movie. The best people steal from great inspirations—it was just a bit funny that Bowie was so desperate about it.
read the rest at – David Bowie Stole my Suicide Record So I Ripped the Hubcaps off His Limo | VICE United States.