Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room David Bowie

..well couldn't have an Alex Harvey / Gary Numan / Zaine griff thread without a David Bowie one eh guys and gals?
As a bit of a DB 'ignoramus' (see what are you listening to' thread) I'd be interested to read anything you'd care to throw in on the subject of the Thin White Duke / Ziggy Stardust / Zowie's dad etc., good or bad of course...

Some good albums, some bad films, nice wallpaper!

I've probably mentioned my various Bowie favourites numerous times elsewhere.

But I'll say it again. There's a David Bowie song for everyone. So few artists can boast such a diverse body of work. And although there are a couple of turkeys in there (Tonight anyone? Peace on Earth?), the Bowie back catalogue is vast and fascinating, fusing rock with electronica, to jazz, soul and pop.

I often feel at my most creative when listening to Bowie. Some of my favourite David Bowie albums include Station to Station, Lodger, The Buddha of Suburbia (an overlooked classic) and what I regard as his creative masterpiece, 1995's concept album, 1.Outside.

I've seen Bowie twice - on the Reality tour in 2003, and on the 1995 Outside tour - for me that was the ultimate Bowie experience and a concert that exceeded my every expectation.

Bowie's music has been a great inspiration to me on many levels. Like John, David is an artist at heart, and sculpts sounds into shapes, the same way he does with his paints. There has always been a huge visual side to his work that can't be ignored. Every aspect of Bowie's work is an inspiration.

But I stand my ground when I say that I don't like Ziggy Stardust. That whole Ziggy thing never worked for me. I'm much more in tune with David from his Thin White Duke period onwards.

That said, the Ziggy album contains many Bowie classics - why I don't play it more, is beyond me, given the songs on there. But my general disliking of glam rock probably has something to do with it, plus it's one of those albums you are almost brainwashed into believing you must love to bits (a bit like Scary Monsters really...). I also find that the production is very much of its time though, nowadays sounding like a dusty, muddy old glam record, compared to the way in which many of the songs evolved when played live.

I don't think anybody can truly appreciate the impact of Ziggy Stardust, unless they were around at the time (I know I can't!). From today's perspective, I find that there is much more to David Bowie than a catsuit-wearing pasty white guy with spiky red hair. So while Ziggy may not rank among my personal favourite David Bowie albums, there's no denying the impact this record had at the time of its release. Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character was exactly what rock music needed – not only did he push all boundries at the time, but that persona provided inspiration for whole new generation of artists, without whom rock music would have been a very boring place indeed.

I am however, quite a fan of Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory.

It's a shame he lost it in the mid to late 80s, but then again, he wasn't the only one. The 1980s screwed up a lot of musicians. For Bowie the success of Let's Dance threw him right off course. he needed the Tin Machine period to get back to basics, and he was firmly back on track from 1993's Black Tie White Noise onwards.

My Bowie top 15:

1. Outside
2. Station to Station
3. Buddha of Suburbia
4. Earthling
5. Hours...
6. Lodger
7. Low
8. Let's Dance
9. Live at BBC Radio Theatre
10. Heathen
11. Black Tie White Noise
12. Hunky Dory
13. Aladdin Sane
14. Heroes
15. Scary Monsters

Bowie, comes and goes with me. Sometimes, I think he has such greatness, but when I listen to the mid-80s songs, I just can't help thinking he's human like all of us.

My favorites:
Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Scary Monsters, and Diamond Dogs. Those albums changed rock, no doubt. As influential as the Beatles, possibly.

To this day, I still can't believe all the grief about the Diamond Dogs cover and the dog's thingy. I mean, every day I see one on the way to and from work. What's the big deal?

Blue

He's Anthony Newley's hipper , more avant- garde younger brother

My fav Bowie albums are almost equal to the one's of Alex S and bluepicasso. "Heroes" is perhaps my number one. And I can't tell you exactly why. I bought it because I liked the titlesong (which was strangely beautiful for that time). The rest I thought was poppy noise. But after repeatedly listening I discovered the complexity of it. Even now, after countless listenings, it disturbs me in a nice way.
In general, Bowie was (like The Beatles), where my taste of music started. In his footsteps followed Eno, Fripp, Pop, Reed, Roxy, Foxx, Numan, Stranglers, Ants, OMD, League, Heaven, XTC, Japan, Czuckay and many, many others ...

My favourite artist of all time but agree mids 80's stuff dodgy through he made a decent album with Iggy around that time!

I'm not much of a Bowie fan, but I can appreciate what a fine songwriter he is.

My favourite album is 'LOW' - a masterpiece!
2nd one is 'Scary Monsters...'. Side 1 has to be one of the best side one's of all time.

I did have 'Lodger', but only liked a few songs. I have 'Heroes', which is okay.

Thank you Alex for sharing your thoughts about David Bowie. I like Bowie a lot but not to the extreme but I liked what you wrote that there a Bowie song for everyone. Personally I love Aladdin Sane and Hunky Dory ever since they were first released.

IMHO Bowie has done some wonderful singles over the years, with songs like Space Oddity, Fame, Starman etc.

Peter