David Bowie

[Jimbean]

I think this may have been discussed before, but it looks like David Bowie is an ENFj. Does anyone agree or disagree?

David Bowie - Wikiquote
David Bowie Quotes

 

[aestrivex]

ricks site says EIE.

[Creepy-bg]

David Bowie is a pretty mediocre musician... the guy needs to get himself an act or something. I think there's something wrong with people who are into his music, like they've got a screw loose or something. Besides he steals other peoples song names for his own... Major Tom? WTF?

[spoil:99f34c6d1b] [/spoil:99f34c6d1b]

[Animal]

I think he;s ENFj, too.

[Slacker]

I think he's ENFj too.

[Blaze]

enfj. but i disagree with BG to a point. bowie was completely ahead of his time. in the early 70's, he was advancing the 80's. he might not be a great technical musician, but this guy knows the crowd and how to put other musicians together to get an edgy sound. i went through a bowie phase recently...love that album scary monsters....plus earlier stuff like golden years.

[Slacker]

I love David Bowie. He is absolutely my favorite musician. He was ahead of his time as Blaze said. His lyrics aren't great but his melodies are really good and inventive. And he's great at showmanship and evoking a mood through his music.

I can't argue about the screw loose thing though.

[Slacker]

I think the Major Tom name-stealing thing is actually a joke and a reference to this really cool song that was written quite a while after Space Oddity. But it is a really cool song and worthy of reference here for whatever reason. Just because it's a really good song too.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hs2AQwDgA[/youtube]

[Ezra]

I saw him in The Prestige last night. Very interesting character.

He's got an obsession with spacemen and aliens and shit like that. What function does that correspond to?

[Ezra]

oh no, nothing good can come from this

Don't be such a negativist.

It's people like Jimbean that keep this forum alive; that keep it from stagnating.

[Ezra]

Is Bowie in The Prestige? Who does he play?

Nikola Tesla:

[Elro]

No wonder Tesla creeped me out in that movie.

[Not A Communist Shill]

David Bowie is the greatest organism to have ever lived - he'd liked to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.

[Expat]

He's got an obsession with spacemen and aliens and shit like that. What function does that correspond to?

If it's an "obsession", I'd guess , but not necessarily ego (although I do think that he's ENFj).

[Not A Communist Shill]

Well, I agree with ENFj.

[Creepy-bg]

I was joking BTW, Just wanted to see SubT's head turn red with anger and shoot steam out his ears
Bowie kicks ass

[Gilly]

As EIE as they come.

[misutii]

David Bowie is a pretty mediocre musician... the guy needs to get himself an act or something. I think there's something wrong with people who are into his music, like they've got a screw loose or something. Besides he steals other peoples song names for his own... Major Tom? WTF?

[spoil:46b9bc67fe] [/spoil:46b9bc67fe]

listen to "Life on Mars" and then say that again. BBC actually has a show that goes by that name and the song was used in the pilot episode, fucking awesome. He has my respect.

and I also think he's ENFj

[Not A Communist Shill]

David Bowie is a pretty mediocre musician... the guy needs to get himself an act or something. I think there's something wrong with people who are into his music, like they've got a screw loose or something. Besides he steals other peoples song names for his own... Major Tom? WTF?

[spoil:aa1a864364] [/spoil:aa1a864364]

listen to "Life on Mars" and then say that again. BBC actually has a show that goes by that name and the song was used in the pilot episode, fucking awesome. He has my respect.

and I also think he's ENFj

Life On Mars is possibly my favoritest song of all time...I don't understand those who rank Bowie behind John Lennon, Elvis Presley and Jesus in all the polls - what's wrong with people?

That show was very kewl...there's gonna be an American remake, too...also, there's going to be a new TV show set in the '80s called Ashes to Ashes .

[gooey]

EIE? IEI? Seems Beta...

[mfckr]

.

[Gilly]

EIE

[glam]

yeah, definitely EIE.

[717495]

Seems kinda cold/cool and to be Fe dom, like puts on a neutral happy face here and there for Fe valuing. He seems a lot looser and variant than EJs and more in the moment; I think Beta and ESTp is right. Not getting Fe dom, it's kinda what they associate with Marilyn Manson or Michael Jackson, just show stuff.

[Amber]

Beta NF (EIE Ni >IEI), So/sp or Sp/so.

No, I don't like his music for some reason ...I agree he's a mediocre musician. A form of creativity that allowed him to tap into the demands of his time (trends), but not much beyond that in terms of originality and "spark".

[darya]

EIE 3w4

[silke]

updated: SLE-Ti – so/sp 3w4.


Reading his own statements closely, Bowie wasn't anywhere near being confident of his feelings, neither able to express them. This doesn't make any sense for a Fe leading type, especially an EIE:


"I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does. There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means." — David Bowie

"I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on." - (Se-leading?) David Bowie

[epheme]

My guess would be EIE-Ni 3w4 so/sp.

I love Bowie

[Not A Communist Shill]

It is hard for me to see anything about him being -dominant (as opposed to say -dominant and HA).

[strrrng]

probably Ni-EIE

[Not A Communist Shill]

I don't see any evidence of a PoLR, but could easily cherrypick bits about his life to demonstrate a PoLR, e.g. the periods of life where he survived on nothing but milk and cocaine, or his obsession with storing his urine away and preventing people from getting hold of his hair or nail clippings in case such people were to somehow get control over him.

[lynn]

ILE-Ti.

both based on impressions i get from his interviews, as well as his artistic persona in which he constantly re-invents himself. a Fe-Ni type would hightlight how their ever changing persona either expresses different aspects of their personality or talking about it relation to a growth/transformation process. sadly, i don't remember where exactly he mentioned this, but his work is basically a "hodgepodge" of ideas. Ne > Ni.

he's don quixote.


"I'm always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously."

"Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I've seen on some of the songs that I've written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in."

"When I'm stuck for a closing to a lyric, I will drag out my last resort: overwhelming illogic."

[Kill4Me]

SLI 3w4 sx/so

numerous sx/so not NF can pass for NF at first glance...

[Jack Oliver Aaron]

http://worldsocionics.blogspot.co.uk...-analysis.html

David Bowie (EIE) - An Analysis

David Bowie

David Robert Jones, known by his stage name 'David Bowie', was an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, painter, and actor. His career spanned five decades and his work especially known for its innovative design, as well as reoccurring themes of reinvention and visual representation. He had a great impact on popular music, continuously changing and redefining his style and image over the years, thus standing out for his originality. These changes were often so apparent and variant, that he has been called a 'musical chameleon'.

Interviews with David Bowie reveal a highly creative individual, but one that needed and thrived on the presence of conflict and turbulence in order to create. Bowie mentions his past of deliberately creating conflicts in the people around him, often to the negligence of their state of mind. From then, Bowie learned to observe the conflict in others and to draw inspiration from that. This is quite in line with someone from an E & F valuing quadra, which desires intensity of feeling and action in their work. In addition the ability and willingness to manipulate emotion in friends suggests a focus on and ability with E with little concern for R.

Bowie's motivations for going into music have also been expressed, with him being drawn to music as a 'revolution' of sorts. This shows from the beginning how he saw music as a medium to effect change, and that he was not so interested in the melodies in the music to begin with. We see in this, someone very much driven, not by their personal satisfaction or enjoyment of music, but by the effect that creativity can have on others and that great change can be enacted through such creativity. Similar themes exist in his discussion of other topics such as the internet. Bowie excitedly discussed the "feeling permeating music... and the internet", that something amazing would happen in "the construction between artist and audience", how the audience is becoming more important than the artist him/herself. His excitement about this lacked much cohesion, and he seemed much more able to convey how great such changes are, than define its make-up in any concrete terms. This approach shows clear Beta values, specifically towards profound, world-changing emotions (E+T) with an absence of clarity or definition, suggesting weak L.

An impression is also given of a highly addictive, chaotic man, who needed clear rules of abstention to avoid going off the deep end. Having suffered from alcoholism, he cited an absolute rule that he must never have alcohol again or it would have been the death of him. This was a man who had trouble monitoring his appetites and needed the help of his friends and strong boundaries to keep himself in check. In this regard, we see not only a great incontinence with S, but also a dependence on L to provide a stability he has difficulty providing for himself. This is quite in line with S4 and L5.

Additionally, Bowie drew on a wide range of influences in the creation of his music, and was an active instigator of a range of new, avante-garde ideas in the medium, as well as in other media, such as film and art. This is quite in line with someone who could expertly process the many possibilities open to them and utilise interesting and alternative avenues in their work, typical of very strong I. Given the clear Beta motivations, this fits very well for I8.

We thus see someone very typical of Beta revolutionary values with an Ego focus on E+Tand likely S4 and L5. Finally, Bowie first emphasises the connection with the audience, effecting world change largely through how his artwork affects them, and second, emphasises himself being the active initiator of world-change, suggests E & F as Bold motivators. The relative absence of analytical prediction or setting out clearly how things will develop in the long term suggests that T & L are more Cautiously used. The long term revolution for Bowie seemed entirely to do with how he reached out to his audience and it seems completely unclear as to the motivation or ideology behind this change. This would strongly point to E1+T2 and F6+L5 for his valued functions.

One might argue that David Bowie's initial nervousness on stage, leading to his creation of the Ziggy Stardust persona, suggests a more 'Introverted' type. However, this is a misconception, as one's shyness has little to do with one's energy and whether they tend to Energise the environment and cause things to happen or Integrate and make it fit with one's needs and standards. It seems clear in that Bowie is the former. Furthermore, an EIE may often worry over how they might come across in a particular situation, disliking elements outside their control undermining the projects they are working on. Their F6 is Bold enough to get them into high pressure scenarios, but Weak enough to leave them feeling paralysed and needing support in unfamiliar situations. As such, it is not unusual for David to be an Energiser in Socionics and have hidden behind a persona when performing.

As such, the identification of E1, T2, S4, L5, F6 and I8 make EIE the most likely type for Bowie.


Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie - Wikipedia Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg - Interview

[suedehead]

Ti-xLE 3w4 So/Sp

[Pallas]

David Bowie looks like probably EIE, since he was largely what I was thinking of when I saw those pictures of Russians from the 70s and thought the EIEs mostly looked like a bunch of rock stars.

Fe first values: "I suppose for me as an artist it wasn't always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie.html"

More Fe values: "The humanists' replacement for religion: work really hard and somehow you'll either save yourself or you'll be immortal. Of course, that's a total joke, and our progress is nothing. There may be progress in technology but there's no ethical progress whatsoever.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_3.html"

Yet more Fe: "What I like to do is try to make a difference with the work I do.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_5.html"

Ni mysticism, combined with complaints about lack of values: "Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods presence in his life. He is the 21st century man.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie.html"

More Ni: "Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie.html"

More Ni/Fe: "Anxiety and spiritual searching have been consistent themes with me, and that figures into my worldview. But I tend to make my songs sound like relationship songs.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_3.html"

David Bowie calling himself Ni creative directly: "An armchair Jungian would say the whole thing is about my own ongoing spiritual search. My interior life has always been one of trying to find a spiritual link, maybe because I'm from a family of separate religious philosophies: Protestant and Catholic.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_5.html"

Beta quadrant obsession with death: "Confront a corpse at least once. The absolute absence of life is the most disturbing and challenging confrontation you will ever have.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie.html"

EIE striving: "I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_3.html"

Nietzsche fanboyism: "I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_3.html"

Obsession with actual romance, Victim-ish vibes: "When I was 18, I thought that, to be a romantic, you couldn't live past 30.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_3.html"

Dynamic type: "I feel confident imposing change on myself. It's a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That's why I need to throw curve balls.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie.html"

He's a poet, which tends to be Ni/Fe in some order: "I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I'm a writer... I write.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_2.html"

Outsiderness and idealism/mysticism: "There's a schizoid streak within the family anyway so I dare say that I'm affected by that. The majority of the people in my family have been in some kind of mental institution, as for my brother he doesn't want to leave. He likes it very much.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_4.html"

Aristocracy: "Radio in England is nonexistent. It's very bad English use of a media system, typically English use.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_4.html"

More aristocracy: "The Americans at heart are a pure and noble people; things to them are in black and white. It's either 'rawk' or it's not. We Brits putter around in the grey area.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_4.html"

Ne in Id: "There are times when I prefer a cerebral moment with an artist, and I'll just enjoy the wit of a Picabia or a Duchamp. It amuses me that they thought that what they did would be a good way of making art.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_bowie_4.html"

There's even more but I got tired of posting them.

[Hope]

EIE

[para]

Yes, clear EIE-Ni. Note the similarities between him and Kate Bush (who i think is IEI-Fe)

[Tallmo]

C-EIE

[khcs]

David Bowie - ISTP - Gabin

david bowie1.png