Bowie's Trick

David Bowie's trick was to remain somewhat relevant almost into the 90s, essentially one of two 60s-era musicians to do so; Lou Reed was the other.  When punk shattered into a zillion shards of independent music, with the glory days of 1980's college radio blossoming in the following years, classic rock solidified into a crumbling mass of worn-out music, with none of those classic rock acts making the leap into the new independent, pre-Nevermind glory days.  Except for Bowie.  David Bowie had always been a relentless careerist, and his best days were in the 70s, but still, he got his props, even after that execrable Queen thing and the equally wretched Mick Jagger thing.  David Bowie remarkably kept his rep the same way Lou Reed did, somehow managing to play in the same college rock sandbox with Husker Du and the Smiths.  That was his greatest trick.