Member Since: 8/7/2015
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The Grammys have made a mistake in their choice of performer to pay tribute to the late, great singer.
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She made dresses of raw meat, veiled her face, wore body stockings under ornate, structured costumes. And then she pivoted, marcelled her hair and began appearing everywhere with legendary crooner Tony Bennett in support of their duet albums. She, like Bowie, knew when to pivot. She, like Bowie, represented liberation to fans who needed freedom anthems.
But there are other artists who shared the singer's eccentric rebelliousness and, given the enormity of his impact, at least one more of them should be sharing the tribute stage. This is one instance in which a tribute would be far better served with more than one performer participating, though if the Grammys must go with just one, my vote would have been for someone a bit older, one of Bowie's contemporaries, a fellow old-school convention-bucker: Grace Jones.
Where Gaga is a rather on-the-nose choice, Jones would have been a more inspired one. Fans have made aesthetic connections between Bowie and Jones for years, mashing up their songs and creating art that fuses their faces. Jones once covered the Iggy Pop/David Bowie-penned track, Nightclubbing. And in her 60s, she continues to defy expectation – just as Bowie did until his death two days before the release of his final, haunting, characteristically unusual album.
Bowie didn't campaign for the merits of being different. He didn't live or perform as though he were being emulated. That wasn't a responsibility that marked or guided his style or behaviour – onstage or off. His evolution, as much as it inspired generations, was his own.
His growth was his own. As deliberately crafted as his personas were, he didn't seem to relish being esoteric. He just wasn't much like other people; no effort to be so different from us was ever visible. All the same is true of Jones, and if anyone could pay him fitting tribute, by doing something entirely unexpected yet wholly authentic, it would be her.
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Stacia L. Brown is a columnist with The Washington Post
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/lad...#ixzz3zLAZYmUF
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