I followed his music pretty heavily through the mid to late 80s and more sporadically when the distribution networks became more decentralized and away from brick and mortar stores. The word "visionary" is often used about Bowie's music. It was not just hype. It seemed many of his songs predated music trends that came 3 -5 years later. He was into performance and character themes when most acts were just get up and play or a few props (I'll defer to Mitlen on this). "Heroes," which is somehow better in German, is a wonderful recording for its techniques. The Berlin trilogy (Low, Lodger, and Heroes) blended rock and late 70s dance; danceable, but with strange guitar (Carlos Alomar, I think). Before the Berlin trilogy, he had the Philly period with soul influence (Young Americans). Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, Aladdin Sane (esp Panic in Detroit) were on constantly in college and after.