Heroes

For over forty years David Bowie has taught us many things, about fashion,  the birth of Ziggy Stardust and about being innovative, he told us to dance and he told us he was afraid of Americans. He told us to turn and face the change but most of all he told us we could be heroes, if just for one day. And David Bowie knows because David Bowie had heroes too, he had people that inspired him when he was growing up. Maybe he didn’t want to be them but he certainly wanted some of what they had, he wanted to be recognized and appreciated for what he did. He wanted us to pay attention and he made us sit up. Who at some stage in their life wasn’t affected growing up with people like that around you? We were all kindred spirits, we had heroes and our heroes had heroes too. And if we had some for a day we had others for eternity. But most of all we had them.  When I wrote my book it occurred to me, what would it be like if you had never had them to miss them? I honestly can’t imagine that, I don’t know where my path would have lead me because so much of my life was shaped around the people and the music and the people who shared the same liking of music.

And what about the rest of you? Did you have heroes when you were young, did you have people who made a difference to your life? Did they inspire you, did they make you want to be better at what you did? I’m inspired by the words some of the people I admire have said over the years. I remember  Bruce Springsteen saying that when he was young he loved Elvis Presley and it inspired him to want to be a musician. But he also said that wasn’t enough, if he was going to do this he wanted to be GREAT at it, he wanted to be every bit as good as Elvis. Even better.

It’s time to explore the artist and time for me to look back at what I deemed to be great, what I saw in artists and how I saw them develop in to what they became. For the most part I was impressed, mighty impressed and there is no better time to inspire others in to what the meaning of great is. Greatness is everlasting, it’s about creating a legacy.

Today everyone wants to teach everyone how to be a Rock Star. I’m waiting for a Rock Star School to open, better still I’ll grab a few who know and we can open it. Real Rock Stars deserve recognition and not by people who think they know. How could you teach someone to drive if you never sat in a car?

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Heroes, Rock Stars