Future Nostalgia

Although David Bowie has famously characterized himself as a "leper messiah," a more appropriate moniker might be "rock god": someone whose influence has crossed numerous sub-genres of popular and classical music and can at times seem ubiquitous. By looking at key moments in his career (1972, 1977-79, 1980-83, and 1995-97) through several lenses-theories of sub-culture, gender/sexuality studies, theories of sound, post-colonial theory, and performance studies Waldrep examines Bowie's work in terms not only of his auditory output but his many reinterpretations of it via music videos, concert tours, television appearances, and occasional movie roles. Future Nostalgia looks at all aspects of Bowie's career in an attempt to trace Bowie's contribution to the performative paradigms that constitute contemporary rock music.

Shelton Waldrep is Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine, USA, and currently the Trustee Professor of the University of Maine System.

Acknowledgements List of Figures Chapter One Introduction:The Pastiche of Gender Chapter Two The Persistence of the Dandy:Subcultures and Resistance Chapter Three Avatars of the Future:Structuring Music Chapter Four The Grain of the Voice:Autobiography and Multiplicity Chapter Five The Lost Decade:Reconsidering the 1980s Chapter Six Music for Cyborgs:Fictions of Disability General Bibliography Index