Dey Street Books

Like so many vital figures in British pop history, from Pete Townshend to Paul Weller, Bowie came from a blurry region of British society that encompasses the educated working class, the socially precarious petite bourgeoisie and what could be called the uncomfortably-off middle class, i.e. professional or office workers whose income didn’t quite match their aspirations.

You can hide from it, but alas, that doesn’t work. It’s been tried—by Bowie, for one, a man who spent much of the seventies and eighties freeze-drying his synapses with any chemical within reach, only to accidentally bump into true romance with (of all people) a model

This was how he chose to spend his last year on earth? Working