Bowie Style

Bowie’s continuing interest in Buddhism reveals itself in
songs like ‘Seven Years In Tibet’.
In rejecting the Eastern-inspired and brightly
coloured rock fashions of flower power, Bowie fell
out of sync with the prevailing trends. Unlike Marc
Bolan, who revelled in the exotic splendour of hippie
elegance, Bowie found it difficult to reject his
ingrained, upwardly mobile Mod sensibility for a look
that ultimately amounted to a perversely anti-fashion,
anti-materialist statement. Anyway, he thought, it
won’t last.
‘Little Wonder’, Bowie’s self-deprecating 1997 single, made
a great play on his flirtations with Buddhism thirty years before.
Even in 1967, hippie culture and David Bowie
weren’t complete enemies. His modest interest in
Buddhism went into overdrive after The Beatles’
venture to India, and though both Ken Pitt and Angie
Bowie have since downplayed his commitment,
contemporary records (‘Silly Boy Blue’, ‘Karma
Man’) and interviews are peppered with references.