--- description: His standing remains undiminished 10 years after he died, writes biographer Alexander Larman. title: What Is David Bowie’s Real Legacy? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbebd955f4ad50a7/6998ccb193610c525ec30487/GettyImages-1910894329.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEASTime ideas * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Culture](/tag/culture/) ## Culture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Is David Bowie’s Real Legacy? by [Alexander Larman](/author/alexander-larman/) ## Alexander Larman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Contributor Larman is books editor at The Spectator, and author of the new 'Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie.' Jan 10, 2026 10:00 AM CUT  David Bowie performs on the set of his music video "Jump They Say" in Los Angeles, California, March 1993. David Bowie performs on the set of his music video "Jump They Say" in Los Angeles, California, March 1993.Lester Cohen—Getty Images by [Alexander Larman](/author/alexander-larman/) ## Alexander Larman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Contributor Larman is books editor at The Spectator, and author of the new 'Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie.' Jan 10, 2026 10:00 AM CUT This week marks 10 years [since the death](https://time.com/4174815/david-bowie-death-cancer/ "undefined") of the musician, actor, [unlikely internet pioneer](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35279234 "undefined"), and occasional artist David Bowie. That the decade’s anniversary is considered worth marking indicates that Bowie’s standing remains undiminished, with an end that came only two days after the release of his final album, the [masterly _Blackstar_](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/07/david-bowie-blackstar-review-a-spellbinding-break-with-his-past "undefined")_._ There have been countless reissues, new biographies ([including my own](https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Lazarus-The-Second-Coming-of-David-Bowie/Alexander-Larman/9781917923446 "undefined")), and documentaries about him. Bowie may be dead, but his spirit lives on, triumphantly. Even the most committed of Bowie admirers—and I would unhesitatingly put myself in such a category—might wonder whether there is an element of overkill in the continued [adulation](https://time.com/4180269/david-bowie-1947-2016/ "undefined"). He released 26 studio albums, not all of them distinguished, and appeared in films that ranged from classics (_The Prestige, The Last Temptation of Christ_) [to the dreadful](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-worst-movie-role-roger-ebert/ "undefined"). If you’ve been fortunate enough never to see the dire 1970s flick _Just a Gigolo,_ which Bowie once ruefully [called](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-film-festival-flashback-david-bowie-just-a-gigolo-1235147362/ "undefined") “my 32 Elvis Presley movies contained in one,” then your life will be happier for it. Yet compared to his peers, Bowie was in a class of his own. I would struggle to name a song that Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, or Sting had released in the past 30 years. The greatness and genius of Bowie was that, despite his well-publicized and mocked missteps, he never lost an ability honed in the very earliest days of his career, and that was to write indelible music. If you listen again to what passed for his greatest hit, they remain as crepuscular and enigmatic now as they did when they were first released. Compare Bowie’s first big single,[ “Space Oddity,”](https://entertainment.time.com/2012/01/10/top-10-david-bowie-songs/slide/space-oddity/ "undefined") with Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” which is similarly both lyrically and musically. “Rocket Man” is hugely accomplished, endlessly memorable, and reveals its treasures on first listen. The Bowie song, meanwhile, is laden with sadness, poignancy and mystery, as the young Bowie sang of the adventures of Major Tom, “drifting in a tin can” through outer space, and wanting to say to his wife ‘I love her very much … she knows.’” From the outset, Bowie presented himself less as that degraded breed—a rock star—and more as a [cultural all-rounder](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35283114 "undefined"). He may not have been a poet like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen, a guitar virtuoso like Jimmy Page, or an extraordinary vocalist like Mick Jagger. What he was instead was inimitable. Plenty have tried to imitate him, and none have succeeded. Bowie’s world-conquering phase came in the 1970s, when he released brilliant album after brilliant with the assurance of a man who knew that he had been touched with genius. From _The Man Who Sold the World_ in 1970 to _Scary Monsters_ in 1980, you would struggle to find a poor release—even his 1973 “stop gap” covers album _Pin Ups_ has its charms—and on several of his records, most notably 1972’s [_The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust_](https://entertainment.time.com/2006/11/02/the-all-time-100-albums/slide/the-rise-and-fall-of-ziggy-stardust/ "undefined")_,_ 1976’s _Station to Station_ and 1977’s _Low,_ Bowie reached unparalleled heights of greatness in popular music. Where it went wrong, surprisingly in retrospect, was with the vast success of [_Let’s Dance_](https://time.com/4174857/david-bowie-time-1983-lets-dance/ "undefined")in 1983\. It transformed Bowie from a chameleonic, gender-bending rock star into a mainstream pop entertainer, and this was a persona too far. His assurance slipped, he produced poor albums for the first time in his career—nobody needs listen to 1987’s _Never Let Me Down,_ the nadir—and his desperate attempt to form a hard-rock band, Tin Machine, was rightly castigated as a wealthy middle-aged man’s vanity project. Yet he continued, and even his detractors could only applaud his determination to regain his earlier brilliance. There were superb, underrated albums, including 1995’s Brian Eno reunion _Outside,_ amid those that did not entirely work (not least 1997’s drum ‘n’ bass experiment _Earthling_), and by the time that he [headlined Glastonbury in 2000](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/25/david-bowie-lost-glastonbury-headline-set-bbc "undefined"), Bowie was once again a much-loved cultural icon, helped by the friendly yet detached persona that he adopted during press interviews throughout his career. The next 16 years encompassed both triumph and disaster. He retired from music for the best part of a decade after an on-stage [heart attack in 2004](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3878889.stm "undefined"), only to return in glory with 2013’s _The Next Day_: an album recorded in complete secrecy and only revealed to the world on his birthday, Jan. 8\. He co-wrote a musical, _Lazarus,_ recorded his crowning glory _Blackstar,_ and [faced terminal liver cancer](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/06/david-bowie-didnt-know-he-was-dying-until-last-few-months-documentary-reveals "undefined") with the calm assurance with which he conducted his entire career. When he died, the world ceased its business [to mourn](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/dont-deride-those-mourning-david-bowie-this-grief-serious-and-rational "undefined"). Some of us have never stopped mourning. It is easy to be sentimental about the dead, and to imagine what they would have done if they had lived. In the case of Bowie, he leaves one of the greatest oeuvres that any artist ever produced, and that should be enough. Even as his Reddit-haunting admirers still parse his lyrics for hidden meanings, his spirit surely looks down on them with wry amusement at his fans’ unending search for profundity. I prefer to remember him through the words of his friend and collaborator Iggy Pop, who [said](https://x.com/IggyPop/status/686487748149121024 "undefined") in 2016 “David’s friendship was the light of my life. I never met such a brilliant person. He was the best there is.” Ten years on, we can only agree. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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