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Bowie


Paranoid Android

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The missus and I had a fair binge on Bowie last night, he was pretty much unequalled when compared to his contemporaries. He always seemed to have a genuine interest in new bands, from bigging up Devo to Sonic Youth, the Pixies to TV on the Radio and Arcade Fire. There are not many artists who cut their teeth in the 60's who have kept an eye on what new artists are doing.

He was always well turned out.

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21 hours ago, Paranoid Android said:

Incredibly sad news today. Let's have a thread to remember everything that was great about him.

 

 

 

I posted this on Facebook last night - it's the best Bowie song.

I didn't like everything he's done, I prefer his pre-Berlin work - but there's always a song or two on every record that stand out. Also sterling mime work. 

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Yup, been playing a fair bit of Bowie over the past couple of days too.  Bowie looms in my early musical awakening also in the form of Diamond Dogs on tape (thanks Dad :) ).

Have something that wasn't on the tape which I quite like, just because it's so very different to what ended up on the album

 

 

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So many great songs, really difficult to pick favourites, you try to pick your three favourites and you're like well wait, I can't leave out these 12 songs. But these are the ones found myself drawn to over the past couple of days:

Had this one playing at my wedding a few months ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Weirdly it was this scene in the otherwise fairly forgettable 2010 movie The Runaways that made me realise the brilliance of Lady Grinning Soul. Sometimes it's seeing / hearing things outside the context of their album that make them stand out. 

 

 

 

Edited by Lemonade
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It's so sad and strange. It only really sunk in for me yesterday. I know this is sort of a cliche to say when someone dies but I genuinely don't think we'll see anyone like him, or an outpouring of grief on this level again. This is the first time I can think of where someone big has died and I have made it through the whole day without seeing anybody be a grief-fascist on Twitter or Facebook (although I've seen a few "shut up and let us be sad!" articles written, so I guess there must have been some arseholes dictating who and what we're allowed to cry about).

I'm trying to think of there's anyone of a similar stature to Bowie that would cause this much universal emotion if they died and I'm struggling. I initially thought maybe Paul McCartney, but almost immediately discounted him as I don't think it'd be the same and I've been trying to put my finger on just why not. I think Bowie is such a special case in this instance is because he is one of the few artists who has always been present and remained relevant. Jan is spot on about him constantly engaging with contemporary music. He wasn't out of touch in any way and I think that still being influenced by new music, decades after he first became an influence himself, is what kept his own work sounding so fresh. Yeah, he had a few albums that weren't great, but even the dull ones have some total belters of tracks on them. The last two albums are fucking great and I was really worried that they might be terrible. I'm so glad he lived long enough to see Blackstar released, and that it is mega-weird. 

Anyhoo, I think I could talk about him forever, but I'll leave it for now. This is still one of my favourite non-music things he's done. What a fantastic human being.

 

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Had an argument with someone in the pub last night, they were whining about him getting 14 minutes on the news, I stated that was probably not enough given the fact he is probably the most significant pop culture figure this country has ever produced...."get tae fuck, "Ziggy Stardust" was a fucking great album but he did fuck all else, he just reinvented himself about 6 times". Gave up at that point in disgust. And it's not like i'm even a Bowie fanatic, just appreciate and admire his imagination and ability to reinvent himself so consistently.

His albums from "The Man Who Sold the World" through to "Let's Dance" are all great in my mind. That's a fair run. Some of the later singles I heard were OK, never investigated the albums though. While "The Next Day" was pretty good it didn't blow me away, "Blackstar" is awesome though. Although I foresee a lot of copies appearing in charity shops due to nostalgia buyers finding it doesn't sound like his 70's stuff.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Monster Zero said:

Had an argument with someone in the pub last night, they were whining about him getting 14 minutes on the news, I stated that was probably not enough given the fact he is probably the most significant pop culture figure this country has ever produced...."get tae fuck, "Ziggy Stardust" was a fucking great album but he did fuck all else, he just reinvented himself about 6 times". Gave up at that point in disgust. And it's not like i'm even a Bowie fanatic, just appreciate and admire his imagination and ability to reinvent himself so consistently.

Ugh, dicks. There's no arguing with people like that sometimes. I had a similar a conversation today with a new woman in my office who is the single most irritating person I've ever met. She would get on with Teabags' AGFW. The person who owns the radio in our office has been on holiday forever, so I've had the luxury of 6Music every day instead of her preferred Heart or Radio 2. On Monday, Shaun Keaveny had the news about Bowie confirmed as his show began and you could hear him and Matt Everitt try to hold it together when announcing it. He then played loads of Bowie and stuff that influenced the big guy. Then Lauren Laverne played almost exclusively Bowie on her show. My AGFW made some comment about being sick of hearing his music, which I politely ignored because she has previously said that she doesn't see the point in "wasting money on going to see bands live" so I know that we are not of the same mindset at all. Today, though, there was some advert on the radio about a Bowie special this weekend and she said "Oh my god, what is this, the David Bowie station?" I was less polite this time. Remember when Michael Jackson died and that was all that was on the news for weeks and his entire back catalogue was getting played on every mainstream radio station? If Radio 1 or 2 had only been playing Bowie or songs he had featured on for an hour at a time, that'd be a little bit weird, but imagine getting pissed off at a station targeted at music obsessives daring to make several references to someone hugely important and influential days following their unexpected death.   

Ugh. 

Anyway, I read this today and it's good:  http://thequietus.com/articles/19533-david-bowie-blackstar-lyrics-death

Edited by kirsten
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