David Bowie: Finding Fame

MUCH more enjoyable than "Moonage Daydream", as this is a more conventional biography, with commentary by those who knew and worked with him.

Overly artsy documentary mostly focuses on young Bowie's numerous attempts to hit the big time in various pop bands. Interesting subject for fans of 60s London music scene. It's funny that he's now considered such a trendsetter after nearly a decade of desperate failures - like the pop scene willfully ignores this part of his life in order to maintain the myth of sudden genius. I like him more for his perseverance.

When one thinks of Bowie, one starts at Space Oddity and watches the rise to Ziggy's pinnacle of perfection. This documentary throws open the curtain on the early years of Bowie's search for stardom. And it doesn't paint a picture of a rosy future for the rock icon. It chronicles the "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" approach to anything he thought would make him famous. And all of it falls to a floor of failure. This was eye-opening for me.