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Bowie studied miming under Lindsay Kemp in the sixties. One of the things I've always loved about Bowie is the way he drew from so many diverse influences well outside the relatively narrow world of rock music. For example, the way the Ziggy-era stage show contained elements of miming and Kabuki theater or the way he incorporated Orwell's "1984" and William Burroughs' cut up technique into the lyrics of "Diamond Dogs". He's drawn from such a diverse well of influences throughout his career and as he himself has pointed out, his greatest talent probably lies in his ability to create these unique synthesises, these unholy marriages, in his work. That's what he's all about, really. I think Sonic Youth has done something similar in the sense that their aesthetic is just as influenced by say, abstract painting and beat poetry as it is by other musicians. And I think people like Bowie's and SY's knowledge of not only music, but art, film and literature, and their ability to gain inspiration from these other mediums and incorporate that into their work, is by and large what makes them so special.
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