Madness was the refrain playing in his family background: three of his mother’s sisters reportedly became psychotic, likewise Terry, his much-loved half-brother.
Their insanity, and Bowie’s fear of it, became a major theme of the lyrics of his greatest albums.
As with us all, you have to go back a generation to understand what made Bowie tick. His maternal grandmother, Margaret Burns, was a cruel woman who took her anger out on everyone around her.
