David Bowie’s essential advice to all musicians: ‘Don’t follow the crowd’

David Bowie’s music and persona evolved with every new release and contrary to conventional wisdom, instead of moving on fans embraced him because of it.

Bowie artfully encapsulated that ethos in this 1997 interview:

“Never play to the gallery… Always remember that the reason you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that felt that if you could manifest it in some way you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist in society.”

H/T: Musicx

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.