David Bowie: Portrait of the artist as a rock god

We've never seen anything quite like David Bowie — and we may never see anything quite like him again

David Bowie, 1973
(Image credit: Illustration by Lauren Hansen | Image courtesy Express/Express/Getty Images)

There was a time in the mid-1970s when the world wouldn't have believed David Bowie died just two days after the release of a new album. It must be part of the concept, we would have presumed — some new persona, character, or artistic gesture he'd devised to go along with the latest metamorphosis in his music.

But it doesn't work like that anymore.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.