It has taken me awhile to put
down what I wanted to say about David Bowie.
The main reason being what I
write sounds slightly negative even though I was fan of many of his records.
For starters, I think David
Bowie was a great popularizer, a great synthesizer of existing musical trends
that were underground. Glam started with
T Rex and both Marc Bolan and Roxy Music were more interesting musically and
more to my preference, meant more to me personally but it was Bowie that made it big internationally. The German music scene was vibrant and
thrilling in the mid 70’s and Bowie took what he wanted from it to make classic
music.
That is not to say Bowie did
not make music that was interesting or innovative or powerful in its own
way. He wasn’t Nirvana pushed into milking
an alternative scene whoring it out with dull commercialized tunes. Bowie was at his best musically when he was
in transition from one musical identity to another, shifting scenes. My favorite album (and song) is an example of
this - STATION TO STATION. The title
track is powerful, complex. I’m a sucker
for a song that changes melodies halfway throughout. The intro is amazing – one of the best of all
time. Other favorite Bowie albums –
HUNKY DORY, EARTHLING, SCARY MONSTERS, HEROES.
I think everything he did up to the early 1980’s is great or near
great. I am NOT a fan at all of the LET’S
DANCE era which always seemed like a pathetic sell-out – Bowie now copying
those who copied him. However I think
some of his 90’s – early 2000’s records were also quite good.
There are a lot of things
Bowie was famous for but one thing that is hardly mentioned is songwriting. I
was listening to random Bowie songs last night and couldn’t recall who wrote
what so checked the credits. Most if not all of his best songs during
arguably his best period 1970 to 1980 were written by him. Most of the records
he released during this period are 70% to 80% sole Bowie compositions not to
mention songs he wrote for other artists such as All the Young Dudes (always a
favorite of mine). When you consider the quality of the songs he was producing,
that’s quite amazing!
Bowie also meant a lot as the
central figure in a very large cult of fans. On ZIGGY STARDUST in particular on songs like
Rock and Roll Suicide (“You are not alone”) Bowie forged a relationship with
his audience, kind of like “I am one of you”. I’ve seen a lot of people say
that they felt like misfits until Bowie first appeared (separated by
gender/sexuality, lack of interest in a material society or even just having an
open mind) and they finally found someone they could connect to. I am not trying to turn this into bashing
America or the West in general but that kind of aloneness, opulence everywhere,
too much freedom but no skills or resources to grab it is even more frustrating
I imagine than being in a much more conservative country. I think Morrissey’s
fans have similar but even more intense feelings (I should know – I am one ).
I’ve recently read a lot of people
calling Bowie post-mortem The Beatles of the 70’s. In the 70’s he made one great record after
anther although the music sometimes didn’t necessarily change as much as his
appearance. He was constantly growing,
trying to expand his musical boundaries.
So RIP David Bowie....Sad to say
I don’t think we’ll see someone of his musical curiosity and desire to do
different things again. The economy as it
relates to music has totally changed.
Depressing but at least we have his records.
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