David Bowie

[dalsh327]

1947-2016

Athread dedicated to the man, his life and his work. To me, he is one of the most important entertainers of the past century and the collaborations are many. Also a sculptor and painter -over time I'm sure we'll see more of it. 

There's a lot that can be said, and since his passing, has been said over a 50 year career. 

Since his passing (or transformation into another form of matter), some new music has come out, and he laid out more to come in years ahead. But enjoy and discuss what he has put out there.  

Not a lot of artists get the opportunity to look mortality in the eye and find themselves in a race against time to put out some of their best work (which is debatable depending on which era you're a fan of). 

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by dalsh327
Change title and changed comments.

[GivenToFly]

I've listened to very little by him. I've always liked the song Heroes.

I got really into the song Life on Mars because I watched the show of the same name a few months ago, so I decided to check out a few albums. I like Ziggy Stardust (specifically Starman and Lady Stardust). I also listened to Hunky Dory (because it had Life on Mars but I didn't like it other than that song) and Low (which I disliked severely).

[Towelie]

The man is a fucking genius. I own every album he's ever done and his music has been a huge part of my life.

[dalsh327]

Edited November 21, 2015 by dalsh327

[izzygirl]

What can we say about him? You gotta love the guy. He is a hero.

One of my favourite songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9pByyFqrFI

[Guest bellastar2355]

I've been a fan of David Bowie since I was a kid, thanks to The Labyrinth. Still one of my favorite movies

[dalsh327]

[Guest Len B'stard]

Bowie is an interesting cultural phenomenon. For a while there i really didn't like him, i thought he was a really pale synthesis of like...Velvet Underground/Lou Reed and Iggy Pop with a theatrical emphasis (not that Ig' and the Velvets didn't have their own theatricality to it) and also, in my ignorance of not understanding what Bowie was attempting to do the music of Bowie felt like it had none of the sharpness, none of the zip of the aforementioned but after listening to a few albums i came to realise that that wasn't by accident.

I dunno, what to make of Bowie, this fuckin' lad from Brixton that decided he was a fuckin' Spaceman, there is something of the chancer to David Bowie, the charlatan, the spiv...but bless him he brings a sort of integrity to it somehow.

Bowies most important thing though, or rather the thing about Bowie that sets him apart from a lot of the people of his era was that he understood that by then rock n roll alone was not enough, it was kind of dead and the only way to give it new life was to attach a new theatricality to it, it needed a twist cuz it was well into being retro by then, i think the man was a genius but not in the way say someone that comes up with something is a genius, he sort of had this instinctive knack for weeding out the valuable aspects of culture and disregarding the unnecessary and creating a different kind of monster.

You'd expect Bowie to be this effete poof from Kensington or something but he's actually a working class London boy with an eye for where music NEEDS to go. He had a ten year run there from 67 to 77 where his output was just second to none. And he seemed to cross the fuckin' boundaries like no other and i don't understand how he managed to do that, it was a sort of a natural thing because he sure as hell wasn't...he didn't change in a sense to kowtow, his whole thing was very severe through the 70s yet he dragged in the art lot, he dragged in like music fans, even like...fuckin' football hooligans of the day loved Bowie, it makes no fuckin' sense but i dunno, he did it, it happened.

His music to me always sounded like rock n roll on manic depressive drugs and i mean that as a compliment. There's something industrial about it, something robotic, in the best sense of like, what was coming out of Germany with bands like Neu! and stuff, just this absolutely fantastic music, i think he and Iggy should've collaborated a lot more than they did during the 70s once the whole Stooges thing was done because they bought out and accentuated the most positive aspects of each other, they looked like two vampire brothers or something, The Idiot by Iggy i think is one of the greatest albums ever made and it has Bowies fingerprint all over it really.

The thing with Bowie is that he committed himself to straddling the line between where art and mainstream meet but it takes a special kind of genius to do that forever, you gotta fall onto one side of the other eventually, in fact you just will, it's a matter of time, the level of your genius will dictate how good a run you get and Bowie had one of the best runs of em all at it.

And the funny thing is you listen to Bowies interviews now and you get a sense of the man and the man is like...common as fuckin' muck, i find that hilarious, i really do. After ALLLLLL that, Mr Spaceman, who is Mr Spaceman, who is this chameleon, which image is he, is he Ziggy, is he thin white duke, is he this, is he that...and he's actually just exactly what his roots suggested, just this total cor blimey and he presents it in this way where it's like 'well, were you expecting something else?'

David Bowie though, to me, one of the biggest things you can take from David Bowie is this, if you ain't got a good idea, steal one. Cuz if you got the talent, if something, an image or whatever turns you on enough and you have the creative wherewithal you'll take it somewhere completely different and make it your own, if your stamp is unique enough you can pull it off and you DESERVE the credit for where you take a particular thing so like...don't be afraid to steal cuz if you can do it well then it's finders keepers. Bowie could be accused all day of stealing but what Bowie could never ever ever ever be accused of is not making exceptionally good use of the wares.

[Guest Len B'stard]

*stands up and applauds*

[dalsh327]

As far as Iggy and David go, Iggy got two albums out of it, David got a smash hit song out of it years later. Why they didn't team up in the 80s or 90s... hard to say, living in different places? I don't think he was at Bowie's 50th concert, either. Prob. should've reconnected when he was working on "The Next Day". Maybe when Iggy's in NYC, they see each other.

Bowie/Iggy movie coming, great You Tube clip of their Dinah Shore appearance in the article. Funny that Rosemary Clooney was there because her and Dinah were hit singers in the 40s...

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/david_bowie_and_iggy_pops_golden_years_are_set_for_the_big_screen/

Short doc. clip about Luther and Bowie.

Edited November 21, 2015 by dalsh327

[Guest Len B'stard]

They did team up again for Blah Blah Blah

[dalsh327]

Edited November 21, 2015 by dalsh327

[luciusfunk]

Love me some Bowie! I didn't care too much for the new album though.

[Rovim]

Many great albums were created by Bowie. Mick Ronson was such a cool guitar player. Him and Bowie had amazing chemistry.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Rovim

[machinegunner]

Rock n' roll history would be far poorer without him. I can even enjoy his mid to late 80's albums (from Fame Let's Dance onwards) without cringing because I have the detachment of not having been a fan then. Am partial to Diamond Dogs as an adjunct to The Faces and Stones cool glam rock type of sounds of then ('74) but the more i discover about the guy and his music the more I respect him.

Sugaraylen, He even had the balls and class to cover a couple of early Springsteen songs, so there's an endorsement and a half for the latter for ya!

Edited May 18, 2013 by machinegunner

[Guest Len B'stard]

Sugaraylen, He even had the balls and class to cover a couple of early Springsteen songs, so there's an endorsement and a half for the latter for ya!

Whatcha wanna go and tell me that for man, i liked him a minute ago

[machinegunner]

Bowie did lots of covers. My favourite being Them's Here Comes My Girl.

i'd love to see Bruce return the gesture... which song, though? Hmmm.... <cue Izzygirl for comment...>

- - - - -

As to my earlier post, I had to make a small correction -

I can even enjoy his mid to late 80's albums (from Fame Let's Dance... must be 'cause i recall him singing it c. Let's Dance in that stupid big blue suit and going ugggghhh!!) without cringing because I have the detachment of not having been a fan then.

Cos i know everybody cares so much...

Edited May 18, 2013 by machinegunner

[izzygirl]

The new video and song is really good. I love Marion Cotillard in the video and Gary Oldman is always a pleasure.

Sugaraylen, He even had the balls and class to cover a couple of early Springsteen songs, so there's an endorsement and a half for the latter for ya!

Whatcha wanna go and tell me that for man, i liked him a minute ago

I had no idea about that! Do you know what songs he covered exactly?

Bowie did lots of covers. My favourite being Them's Here Comes My Girl.

i'd love to see Bruce return the gesture... which song, though? Hmmm.... <cue Izzygirl for comment...>

I'm not an expert in Bowie but Life on Mars would be nice, or Rebel Rebel with Bruce and Steve van Zandt singing together. I think TVC 15 would suit Bruce very well. But Heroes would be perfect. If I had to choose I would say Heroes.

Edited May 18, 2013 by izzygirl

[luciusfunk]

"Heroes" would probably be best for Bruce to sing.

[jman2000]

They showed Bowie on the screens at the Styx concert I went to last night.

[dalsh327]

River era:

[machinegunner]

I had no idea about that! Do you know what songs he covered exactly?

It was It's Hard to be a Saint in The City and Growing Up.

I'm not an expert in Bowie but Life on Mars would be nice, or Rebel Rebel with Bruce and Steve van Zandt singing together. I think TVC 15 would suit Bruce very well. But Heroes would be perfect. If I had to choose I would say Heroes.

I can see Bruce segueing into Heroes after Backstreets.

[machinegunner]

OR, can you see Bowie doing Backstreets.....wild.!

"remember all the movies

Terry we'd go and see

trying to learn how to walk like the heroes

we thought we had to be"

[wasted]

Reality is a great album.

Changes Bowie is like Screamadelica you can play it in polite society and nobody says turn these drug addicts off.

[izzygirl]

OR, can you see Bowie doing Backstreets.....wild.!

"remember all the movies

Terry we'd go and see

trying to learn how to walk like the heroes

we thought we had to be"

I think I prefer Bowie singing Springsteen's songs over Bruce himself!! Those 2 covers by Bowie sound brilliant. I always loved Bowie's voice and the way he sings and I think it's a perfect tandem. I don't know how I didn't know of this before, thanks for sharing.