[MUSIC] July Artist of the Month....David Bowie

[BridMorgan]

As I started to write this brief biography on David Bowie, I came upon a dilema.  How do you write a brief anything about an artist who has spanned 4 decades, influenced countless musicians and at times rewrote the book on what music should be?  Well, I haven't been able to answer that.  This is probably my 5th rewrite, to condense all of the above ideas.  My original bio would have been over 2 pages long!  So instead of giving you every detail of his life, I have condensed it into the highlights, or at least what I consider he highlights. 

 

David Jones was born in Brixton on January 28, 1947.  At the age of 13 he started to play the Saxaphone at Bromley Technical High School.  Upon graduation, he played with bands like the King Bees, the Manish Boys (which also featured Jimmy Page as a session man), and Davey Jones & the Lower Third.  In 1966 he changed his name to David Bowie due to the international popularity of the Monkees Davy Jones.

 

David Bowie has never limited himself to just making music. An early interest in theater led him to train as a mime and to start the Beckenham Arts Lab to experiment with theater and music. To finance the project, he signed with Mercury Records, putting out the album "Man of Words, Man of Music" (1969), which included his first hit "Space Oddity", a sensation at the time of the US moon landing. Renowned for exploring the fringes of pop music, Bowie has made a career out of change, managing to retain his reputation as a creative, experimental, thinking artist committed to trying new things, even at the expense of selling albums.

 

The prime exponent of "glitter rock" during the 1970s beginning with his flamboyant Ziggy Stardust persona, Bowie later toned down the "glam", added soul standards to his repertoire and appeared as the Thin White Duke in baggy Oxford trousers, without make-up, his hair trim and naturally blond. He battled drug addiction and emerged victoriously to record some of his best work with producer Brian Eno, the three albums "Low" (1977), "Heroes" (1977) and "Lodger" (1979), which did not sell. Though "Scary Monsters" (1980) was an uncompromised artistic statement and a big hit, "Let's Dance" (1983) made him rich while nearly bankrupting him artistically. For the first and only time, he began trying to meet other people's expectations for him, rather than doing what he found interesting.

 

Bowie's last hit single was "Blue Jean" in 1984, but since aligning himself with guitarist Reeves Gabrels in the late 80s, the chameleon has resumed his watch for cutting-edge material with which to reinvent himself. He produced the alternative sound of Tin Machine (much to the chagrin of many fans) before returning to the sound of "Low" with "Black Tie White Noise" (1993) and then fittingly reuniting with Eno for the concept album "Outside" (1995), a dense, difficult work and harbinger of things to come from the pair. Bowie's album "Earthling" (1997), released soon after his 50th birthday, exhibited his enthusiasm for techno's drum and base while his new flaming-haired incarnation (a cross between Ziggy and the Thin White Duke) was associating with reigning musicians of the day like Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins and the Cure's Robert Smith.

 

Though he made his first British TV, film and commercial appearances before achieving his musical success, Bowie attracted widespread notice as the alien visitor--a role well suited to his slightly aloof, deftly cultivated public image--in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (1976). After making his Broadway debut in 1981 as John Merrick in "The Elephant Man", he delivered a solid performance as a World War II British prisoner in Nagisa Oshima's first English-language film, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" (1982) and starred as a 150-year-old man whose aging scene was the highlight of "The Hunger" (1983). Bowie went on to play Jareth, King of the Goblins, in Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" (1986) and twice worked with Martin Scorsese in "Into the Night" (1985) and "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), in which he played Pontius Pilate.

 

Bowie, who has performed songs frequently for feature soundtracks in addition to contributing original music to several films, served as an executive producer on "Magic Hunter" and "Mesmer" (both 1994) and "Gentle Into the Night" (1996). While neither "The Linguini Incident" (1991) nor "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" (1992) found much favor, his turn as Andy Warhol in the independent "Basquiat" (1996) was right on target. Bowie had known Warhol (immortalizing him in the 1972 song "Andy Warhol") and took great delight during filming in frequenting some of the artist's old haunts in full makeup and wig to watch the heads whirl at his apparition. Though he has painted for years, the former commercial artist added to his Renaissance Man resume by exhibiting his work during the 90s and co-founding the art book publishing house 21 in 1997.

 

My favorite Bowie "era" has to be the late 60s, early 70s.  Some of my favorite songs are

 

 

Changes

 

Golden Years

 

I'm Afraid of Americans

 

Post comments, questions, make fun of me for loving Bowie...but you have to admit, he's definately someone everyone knows, whether you love him or hate him!

 

Discography

 

David Bowie (1967)

David Bowie/Space Oddity (1969)

The Man Who Sold The World (1970)

Hunky Dory (1971)

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust  and the Spiders From Mars (1972)

Aladdin Sane (1973)

Pin Ups (1973)

Diamond Dogs (1974)

David Live (1974)

Young Americans (1975)

Station To Station (1976)

Low (1977)

"Heroes" (1977)

Stage (1978)

Lodger (1979)

Scary Monsters (1980)

Let's Dance (1983)

Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983)

Tonight (1984)

Never Let Me Down (1987)

Tin Machine (1989)

Tin Machine II (1991)

Oy Vey, Baby (1992)

Black Tie White Noise (1993)

The Buddha Of Suburbia (1993)

Santa Monica '72 (1994)

Live 1972 (1994)

Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1995)

1. Outside (1996)

Earthling (1997)

hours... (1999)

Toy (originally scheduled for 2001)

Heathen (2002)

Reality (2003)

 

Soundtracks

 

Christiane F. (1981)

David Bowie In Bertolt Brecht’s Baal (1982)

Cat People (1982)

Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983)

Love You Till Tuesday (1984)

The Falcon And The Snowman (1985)

Absolute Beginners (1986)

Labyrinth (1986)

When The Wind Blows (1986)

Pretty Woman (1990)

The Crossing (1990)

Hellraiser III (1992)

Songs From The Cool World (1992)

The Buddha Of Suburbia (1993)

Showgirls (1995)

Basquiat (1996)

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Lost Highway (1997)

The Saint (1997)

Trainspotting #2 (1997)

Hackers 2 (1997)

The Ice Storm (1997)

The Wedding Singer (1998)

Whatever (1998)

Radioflaccia (1998)

A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries (1998)

The Sound Of Gran Turismo™ (1998)

The 13th Floor (1999)

Detroit Rock City (1999)

Stigmata (1999)

Next Friday - Old School (2000)

American Psycho (2000)

The Filth And The Fury (2000)

Almost Famous (2000)

Intimité (2001)

Moulin Rouge (2001)

Memento (2001)

A Knight’s Tale (2001)

Training Day (2001)

Mr. Deeds (2002)

Moonlight Mile (2002)

Charlie's Angels - Full Throttle (2003)

Underworld (2003)

Mayor Of The Sunset Strip (2004)

Raising Helen (2004)

Shrek 2 (2004)

Land Of Plenty (2004)

The Life Aquatic (2004)

Lords Of Dogtown (2005)

Three Dollars (2005)

Stealth (2005)

The Business (2005)

 

[Helike]

Nice write up, Brid! I've always found David Bowie an interesting personality. And I will admit publicly that I own the movie Labyrinth and have watched it countless times and forced my children to as well. Now I'm going to have him talking to goblins in my brain for the rest of the night...

 

"You remind me of the babe."

 

"What babe?"

 

"The babe with the power."

 

"What power?"

 

"The power of hoodoo."

 

"Who do?"

 

"You do."

 

"What?"

 

"Remind me of the babe."

[BridMorgan]

LOL!  Helike, that is one of my favoirite movies!!!  Now you have that stuck in my head too!!!

[Kara_J]

Yep mine too! Thats my favourite song from there.  ;D

 

I have that soundtrack :P

[Auld Manriva]

Never was a Bowie fan... I liked Zappa for my weird fix in the days of Ziggy.

 

My python boots are too tight..

I coulndn't get em' off last night..

A week went by and now it's July

Ya' got stink foot dahlin

Yer stinkfoot puts a hurt on my nose

Stink foot, stink foot...

Could ya rinse it off, do you suppose? (Zappa, Apostrophe, Stink Foot)

 

Although! Young Americans was decent...

His acting, now is another thing entirely... I think his acting is much better than his music... But thats just me most likely

[Taymist]

Hmm yeah, I'm not a huge fan. I can appreciate his talent and the impact he had on music in general but most of his music leaves me cold. I love the film Labyrinth. My sister bought me it on DVD for Christmas and I was delighted. But generally speaking, I liked some songs such as "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" and know a lot of the others but I wouldn't make a point of buying any of it.

[Helike]

I completely agree with that, Tay, but I absolutely adore watching him. Doesn't matter what he's doing, I just find myself staring at him with abject fascination. As a little girl, I thought he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Of course, I was 5 at the time and very into prissy little girl stuff, so his androgynous look utterly captivated me. I had a load of questions for Mom after seeing him for the first time...  ;D

[Taymist]

I know exactly what you mean Helike!! And he's very charismatic. I've seen him interviewed a couple of times. He's very interesting and an intelligent conversationalist.

[Helike]

He would have to be. He married Iman and I've always loved her. It's like a modern day fairy tale. Supermodel and the Goblin King.

How could you leave that out of the highlights, Brid?!  ;)

[Diamondmask]

I am a big fan of Bowie.  I saw him on his Red Spider tour in Wellington (NZ) and a few years back in The Docklands (I think).  I liked the Docklands concert better than then the Red Spider tour, but it was a great party atmosphere in Wellington at the time. 

 

He is such a versatile (if not just weird) performer and has always been one step ahead of the changes (I stopped myself in time from doing the obvious joke).  He is taking it easy these days and fair dues to him. I love the lyrics to Changes and it still rings true for people now as it did then.  And his music has stood the test of time - Major Tom to ground control ...

[BridMorgan]

Helike!  You are so right!!  *smacks self*  Forgetting Iman!!  Sheesh!  :D

 

Finally!  Another Bowie fan!!  *hugs Diamond*  Thanks for not doing the joke.  ;)  I have to admit that I am very jealous, I have yet to see Bowie live, something I would love to do!

 

He is a very charismatic character whether its when he's singing, acting or just doing an interview.  He is a great conversationalist Sis.  He captures your attention, even if you aren't a fan.

[Auld Manriva]

He does?  ;) .... yeah ok he does..

 

Not that I cared for the Little Drummer Boy thing with The Bingster all those ages ago..

[Taymist]

lol No I can't say I was too impressed with that one either.

[BridMorgan]

ROFLMAO!!!  No, Bro, didn't care for that myself either...  *goes to bury that disaster deep*  LOL