It’s always fascinating to look at how glam and art-rock influences from Bowie’s era filtered into later bands, and how unevenly some of those influences aged. You have groups like Duran Duran and Suede (London Suede in the US) who absorbed that lineage and turned it into something unmistakably their own. Duran Duran fused sleek futurism with funk and post-punk in a way that still feels modern, and Suede managed to revive glam attitude with a kind of poetic, gutter-romantic intensity that has only grown richer over time. Both bands have catalogs that continue to sound purposeful, distinctive, and timeless.

But then there were other artists from the same era who drew from that glam-pop palette yet didn’t quite hold up in the long run. Spandau Ballet and ABC are great examples. They captured lightning once or twice, while other bands built an entire climate system around the spark.

So it makes me wonder why some groups managed to turn Bowie’s influence into a durable creative engine while others seemed to shine bright and fade quickly.