In 2019, Will Brooker‘s book Why Bowie Matters was published. Obsessed with David Bowie as a fan and an academic, Will Brooker wrote about Bowie’s personalities, identities, queerness, talents, personality, and art. He started with Bowie’s first steps and finished the book describing the Lazarus project and Blackstar album, ending with Bowie’s death. He also wrote about how much Bowie means to him. The book is written analytically, with great knowledge and dedication.

David Bowie (1947-2016) is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Born and raised in Brixton, David Robert Jones changed his name to Bowie in the 1960s to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees. Bowie had at least five main characters: Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Halloween Jack, the Thin White Duke, and The Blind Prophet. Aladdin Sane (1973) marked his transition into fame.

When David Bowie died on 10th January 2016, it seemed the whole world was united in mourning. His greatest hits were sung tearfully in pubs up and down Britain, garlands of flowers were left at the Aladdin Sane mural in his old stomping ground of Brixton and tributes poured in from a galaxy of stars. To many of us, Bowie was so much more than a pop idol. But why?

In Why Bowie Matters, Professor Will Brooker answers that question persuasively, as both a fan and an academic. A Bowie obsessive since childhood, he hit the headlines over the course of a year-long immersive research project that took him from London to Berlin and New York, following in Bowie’s footsteps, only listening to music and reading books he loved, and even at times adopting his fashion.

(Will Brooker, Why Bowie Matters, foreword)

Dr. Will Brooker is a writer and academic, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies at Kingston University, England, and an author of several books of cultural studies dealing with elements of modern pop culture.