But even if you are not, you will get a fascinating insight into the creative process and legacy of a legend who has influenced thousands since he burst on the scene with Space Oddity in 1969.
Opening to the public on Saturday (September 13), the David Bowie Centre houses the Bromley-raised performer’s 90,000 item archive inside the V&A East Storehouse in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
I got a sneak preview of some of the 200 items on show for what will be a rotating display that also allows visitors to book 1 to 1 time with their chosen items.
They include a 1968 rejection letter from Apple Records; the key to the Berlin apartment he shared with Iggy Pop in the late 1970s; his annotated script for the film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and the battered 12-string guitar he played during the Ziggy Stardust tour.
There are also gravity-defying costumes from that legendary 18-month tour including a pair of skimpy silk pants that make you wonder about indecent exposure.
Bowie influenced a whole generation with his sexually fluid personas, but he also had an impact on other artists – explored via a fan letter from Lady Gaga on elaborate notepaper, and a tribute from Nile Rodgers who produced his 1983 album Let’s Dance.
It’s hard not to wonder if the late star was a bit of a hoarder. He kept everything from fan artwork, to tour promotion badges, old set lists, and notebooks brimming with ideas for unfinished projects – not to mention his rejection letters.
In his final years after learning he had liver cancer, he organised his own archive with yellow paper notes explaining when and why he kept an item.
One display features ideas for never realised stage musical The Spectator set in 18th century Covent Garden with notes about Hogarth, the criminal Jack Sheppard, the gibbet at Tyburn tree, and one note reading “many sex scenes.”
Intriguingly the archive features items relating to his professional life – right up to the release of his final album Blackstar two days before his death in 2016.
But there’s little of his personal life, his two marriages, and children, apart from his Thierry Mugler designed 1992 wedding suit.
A letter by his dad giving him a reference for a job that would allow him to earn a living while continuing his “career as a song writer,” is revealing.
“David has been in showbusiness since he was about 16 and during that time he has learned to take hard knocks and disappointments,” it reads.
“I don’t think I could have taken all the setbacks he has and come up smiling and still full of confidence and fight.
“Whenever he takes on an idea he never lets up and puts everything he has got into it…having made up his mind to do something, nothing will stop him in his effort to make a good job of it.”
A passport and other ID documents reveal he continued to use his real name David Jones in his private life.
And there’s the odd reference to David Bowie in the third person, a separate but constantly evolving public persona.
Entry to the David Bowie Centre is free, with tickets released every six weeks and bookable appointments to view selected items up close and personal.
The most popular object so far is a frockcoat designed by Alexander McQueen and David Bowie for his 50th Birthday Concert in 1997.
Dr Madeleine Haddon, curator, V&A East, said as a boundary-pushing multi-disciplinary creative and “advocate for self expression and re-invention” Bowie continued to resonate for new generations.
“Visitors can get closer to David Bowie his creative processes, practice and collaborators than ever before, we invite visitors to encounter extraordinary objects, to get up close and engage with the story behind them,” she said.
“He said he wanted to inspire other people to explore characters and aspects of themselves and this is exactly what he would have wanted to happen with his archive, he would have been very happy.”
She added that Bowie was “fascinated” by the modern musical form and the 18th century “as a threshold of modernity”.
Dr Haddon said: “His plans for The Spectator, among other creative projects that can be seen across the displays, reveal his continual drive to experiment with boundary-pushing ideas and creative forms throughout his life and career, as well as his meticulous creative process.”
Dr Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, called Bowie “one of the greatest performers, musicians, artists and innovators of all time”.
He added: “David Bowie’s impact continues to reverberate nearly a decade after his death – while his influence on design and visual culture and his inspiration on creatives today is unmatched.
For more on the David Bowie Centre and to sign-up for updates, visit www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/david-bowie-centre
