Heard this just as I pulled into the office car park. Had tears in my eyes, tho God knows why. :'(
I'll be playing Ziggy Stardust as instructed on the sleeve of the first album I ever bought, at age 15 - at maximum volume.
Just listening to We could be Heroes now.He made many many absolutely top-class dittys, but 'heroes is the only one that in the right circs has me welling up.
He always seemed kind of impossibly out of reach to me, as if I wasn't worthy enough to be a proper fan. I was never cool enough, or other-worldly enough, to qualify as someone who could be in the Bowie camp.
Sad, I was reading an interview on the BBC just the other day with a famous (ex)-junkie from germany where she described meeting Bowie once (he was in a film about her life) and she described being disappointed as he seemed so small and frail.That'd be Niko?
They kind of hint at these things in the preceding days don't they, it's as if they already knew ::-)
RIP - not really a massive fan myself but clearly he was definitely a major force in music over the decades. A sad loss.
Everything I love about Bowie perfectly encapsulated in not much over three minutes - cracking tune, smart lyrics, slinky dancing, dressing up and a good dose of offbeat humour...Would be even better if he had John Travolta legs (and hips)!
https://youtu.be/UMhFyWEMlD4
He was a very effective collaborator, who was able to popularise Avant-Garde themes. Nile Rogers talking about 'Let's Dance' to an audience of record producers is instructive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIx_FBk4-Q
Essentially Bowie had an outline idea and session musicians fleshed it out. He always seemed to have the right musicians, Rick Wakeman for instance, here speaking about Life on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSlJO51V7o
He was a very effective collaborator, who was able to popularise Avant-Garde themes. Nile Rogers talking about 'Let's Dance' to an audience of record producers is instructive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIx_FBk4-Q
Essentially Bowie had an outline idea and session musicians fleshed it out. He always seemed to have the right musicians, Rick Wakeman for instance, here speaking about Life on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSlJO51V7o
Don't forget Mick Ronson
He was a very effective collaborator, who was able to popularise Avant-Garde themes. Nile Rogers talking about 'Let's Dance' to an audience of record producers is instructive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIx_FBk4-Q
Essentially Bowie had an outline idea and session musicians fleshed it out. He always seemed to have the right musicians, Rick Wakeman for instance, here speaking about Life on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSlJO51V7o
Don't forget Mick Ronson
He died in 1993
He was a very effective collaborator, who was able to popularise Avant-Garde themes. Nile Rogers talking about 'Let's Dance' to an audience of record producers is instructive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIx_FBk4-Q
Essentially Bowie had an outline idea and session musicians fleshed it out. He always seemed to have the right musicians, Rick Wakeman for instance, here speaking about Life on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSlJO51V7o
Don't forget Mick Ronson
He died in 1993
I know, I meant from a collaboration point of view. Ronsons, guitar, arrangement and production was a massive part of the Bowie sound at that point.
I'm looking forward to the tribute concert, Nile Rogers and Rick Wakeman suggest themselves immediately, Elton John as well I suppose, Brian May?
I wasn't a fan as a teen, he had mainly female fans at our school, a sort of thinking girl's Marc Bolan, the musical components of Prog Rock were present, so we liked the music, but not the commercial aspect.
Perhaps it's just me but tribute concerts, although a nice thought, are not something I particularly enjoy. Now Queen, that's my passion, and the Freddie Mercury tribute concert for me, aside from the beginning of watching the bands play their own stuff (fine!), was largely an abomination of listening to people murder their songs. :hand:
(albeit I guess the rest of the band were fine with this - but then given that May and Taylor seem to have recently sold off their back catalogue to the advertising world and did WWRY with F!ve or whatever they were called, I'm not sure their judgement alone is to be trusted ;))
Lots of people didn't make much money out of their involvement with Bowie. Wakeman got paid £9 for coming up with the piano part of 'Life on Mars', so I'd be happy to see some of his less known collaborators getting a payday.
Speaking of died too young, of cancer. I recall seeing the Hunter Ronson band in 1975 (see link below), as well as him playing with Bowie.He was a very effective collaborator, who was able to popularise Avant-Garde themes. Nile Rogers talking about 'Let's Dance' to an audience of record producers is instructive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIx_FBk4-Q
Essentially Bowie had an outline idea and session musicians fleshed it out. He always seemed to have the right musicians, Rick Wakeman for instance, here speaking about Life on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKSlJO51V7o
Don't forget Mick Ronson
Rick Wakeman only got paid a couple of pints or a tenner or something for the keyboard parts on Sabbath's Sabbra Cadabra too; he was either a spectacularly poor businessman or, more likely, off his tits for most of the Seventies.
Sad, I was reading an interview on the BBC just the other day with a famous (ex)-junkie from germany where she described meeting Bowie once (he was in a film about her life) and she described being disappointed as he seemed so small and frail.
They kind of hint at these things in the preceding days don't they, it's as if they already knew ::-)
I've recently rewatched Ashes To Ashes, at the end of which "Heroes" gets played over a defiant Gene Hunt standing outside the pub at the end of the final episode. The only Bowie in music library until yesterday was his keyboards on assorted Iggy albums, when I paid the Mega-Global Big River Corporation of Seattle, USAnia a few pennies for "Heroes". :'(
I don't yet have a full tracklisting, but here are the songs mentioned in the press release:
DAVID BOWIE - What Kind Of Fool Am I?
BLUR - Pop Goes The Weasel
RAY DAVIES - I Guess It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy
McALMONT & BUTLER - I Get Along Without You Very Well
THE PRODIGY - I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire
SUEDE - The Candy Man
PAUL WELLER - Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
THE WHO - Gonna Build A Mountain
Goodbye major tom...or ashes to ashes?
In irrelevant news I just found out that zowie bowie wrote and directed the film Moon.
Don't knock Anthony Newley, he wrote 'Feeling Good' with Leslie Bricusse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHs98TEYecM
Perhaps it's just me but tribute concerts, although a nice thought, are not something I particularly enjoy. Now Queen, that's my passion, and the Freddie Mercury tribute concert for me, aside from the beginning of watching the bands play their own stuff (fine!), was largely an abomination of listening to people murder their songs. :hand:
(albeit I guess the rest of the band were fine with this - but then given that May and Taylor seem to have recently sold off their back catalogue to the advertising world and did WWRY with F!ve or whatever they were called, I'm not sure their judgement alone is to be trusted ;) )
I think it depends on the artist and the type of songs they wrote. Freddie Mercury's was so much him and Queen that anyone trying to cover it just doesn't work really. There have been some good tribute concerts George Harrison's springs to mind.
There's a generation that only know Newley for 'Pop Goes the Weasel' on 'Junior Choice', where you'd hear 'The Laughing Gnome'. Farewell Ed Stewart, while we're at it.Don't knock Anthony Newley, he wrote 'Feeling Good' with Leslie Bricusse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHs98TEYecM
I wasn't knocking him in the least, merely commenting on the vocal similarity. And I'm well aware of Newley's writing, and have taught Feeling Good to a band I was mentalling at work. Both extremely talented people!
I think this must be how my Dad felt when John Lennon died. I wish I could just hang with some other people who get it.
Aside. Who was it who said, "The Beatles. They're dying in the wrong order"?
I'm hanging, Ruthie. *waves*
Bowie was a huge influence in my life. So was Lennon. I manage to be exactly the right age to have lost them both.
Oh, I'm also of the generation that lost Hendrix. That was a dreadful night.
Aside. Who was it who said, "The Beatles. They're dying in the wrong order"?
Aside. Who was it who said, "The Beatles. They're dying in the wrong order"?
Indeed it was. I think he thought he was being funny.Aside. Who was it who said, "The Beatles. They're dying in the wrong order"?
I believe it was a Mr Victor Lewis-Smith, your honour.
I always liked 'All the Madmen' from 'Man who Sold the World'. It's sort of King Crimson's '21st Century Schizoid Man', especially the snare sound, re-imagined by Anthony Newley. Certainly the nearest he got to Prog.
Goodbye major tom...or ashes to ashes?
In irrelevant news I just found out that zowie bowie wrote and directed the film Moon.
He calls himself Duncan Jones these days and he’s made a few other films – Source Code and the forthcoming Warcraft movie.
I follow him on twitter, he seems like a decent bloke, I feel sorry for anyone losing a parent at whatever age.
Thank God for 6 Music tonight. :thumbsup:And everything else they broadcast earlier today :thumbsup:
Bowie played and created some great music. He also was a strange chap and consumer of illegal drugs. His strangeness created some memorable music moments.
Didn't he go through a Nazi phase? Also didn't he claim he was part of punk in an an interview or is my mind remembering wrong? Didn't he write and create an album while on a diet or red peppers and cocaine.
I'd forgotten that Robert Fripp, of King Crimson fame, played on Heroes. he looks like a retired West Country bank manager now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyJ-v871Og
Briefly popular beat combo from the 1990s, fronted by a cute girl named Brian. I believe David Bowie was a fan.
I've been trying (not entirely successfully) to explain David Bowie to barakta. He's kind of a 70s non-shark-jumping answer to Placebo[1], I suppose.
I've referred her to the Wikipeda page, with particular attention to the Ziggy Stardust years, and the 1969-74 Greatest Hits album.
[1] Footnote for Wowbagger: Briefly popular beat combo from the 1990s, fronted by a cute girl named Brian. I believe David Bowie was a fan.
I have never been his the biggest fan, I have a best of album and that is it of his stuff. But I have always enjoyed his work and can see/hear his influence in other artist. Today while I played many of his tracks, some for the first time in a long time. It hit me that he have been a big part of my soundtrack and many of his songs means more to me than I really thought. As Von Board said he is part of my DNA. I think I got hit by his stuff twice, heard him in Denmark when I was young and didn't understand english, but still enjoyed the music. Then heard his stuff when I could understand it and understood the meaning (in most) of his songs.Welcome to the spaceship Woolly.
Labyrint and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence also got to me.
Thank, Jurek, honour to be on a ship where you are crew :)Tune in to BBC 6 Music, my friend.
I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
They were next door neighbours.
I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
They were next door neighbours.
Didn't Bowie write a song about him once?
Those yacfers who are about my age are feeling it. We were born in the late 50s (and are in our late 50s now).Just so.
Bowie was the music of my mid-teens.
I'd forgotten that Robert Fripp, of King Crimson fame, played on Heroes. he looks like a retired West Country bank manager now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyJ-v871Og
I think today was the first time I'd listened to "Heroes" on anything other than a crappy radio. There's so much more going on there than I remember from the 1970s. Possibly something to do what th the presence of a Mr B Eno twiddling the knobs.
60's..
So Laughing Gnome anyone?
He was among the very few artists who just kept moving forward.
He did write that song about the relationship between Bob Dylan and Robert Zimmerman and how one of them was lost somewhere.I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
They were next door neighbours.
Didn't Bowie write a song about him once?
What? FB?
I am somewhat surprised by how many folk on FaceBook cite Labyrinth as a fond memory. I thought it was one of the times he missed the mark.
I think I'm too much of a Dark Crystal snob ;)I am somewhat surprised by how many folk on FaceBook cite Labyrinth as a fond memory. I thought it was one of the times he missed the mark.
It was my generation's introduction to David Bowie.
Testicular giggles aside, my fondness of the film (such as it is) has little to do with Bowie's contribution.
I remember at the time everyone hating Absolute Beginners the movie.Yes, it was a very fashionable thing to hate! (IIRC it was mediocre, but there have been many "big" films that were much worse ... )
The BBC have put up the Rick Wakeman Life on Mars as a stand alone video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03f8qql
I am somewhat surprised by how many folk on FaceBook cite Labyrinth as a fond memory. I thought it was one of the times he missed the mark. But he produced such a fantastic range of magnificent music, I think he can be forgiven Absolute Beginners, Tin Machine etc...It's David Bowie in a mullet wig and extremely revealing leggings. It had an effect on a lot of teenagers. Also, muppets.
He did write that song about the relationship between Bob Dylan and Robert Zimmerman and how one of them was lost somewhere.I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
They were next door neighbours.
Didn't Bowie write a song about him once?
What? FB?
He's quite good, that Wick Rakeman.
Don't forget Mick Ronson
Ronson had a career after Bowie (I saw him live with Hunter & IIRC it was a damn fine gig) but you're right that it wasn't at the same level. I think he needed someone to provide him with music good enough to do his playing justice.Don't forget Mick Ronson
Never forget Mick Ronson. Bowie's owes a lot of his fame to Ronson, IMO. The songs were terrific, but the early sound is all Ronson. Supreme rock guitarist.
Poor old Ronno was virtually a musical orphan after Bowie disbanded the Spiders from Mars [he did other work, namely with Ian Hunter which was fantastic, but never on the same level], he took it badly, and despite being a fantastic guitarist [incredibly well respected by fellow musicians] - he spent the rest of his days trying to work out what the hell to do after Bowie. One minute you're a gardener at a school in Hull looking to get into the music business, then you're Bowie's right hand man over night, and literally on top of the world.........then you're no more - the guitarist who hell to earth. Some people are just born leaders and others need a leader to be great.
What Bowie was always so brilliantly ruthless at is getting the right people around him to get his ideas communicated at the right time. He was always so very clever and shrewd in that respect. Amazing bloke actually.
I am somewhat surprised by how many folk on FaceBook cite Labyrinth as a fond memory. I thought it was one of the times he missed the mark. But he produced such a fantastic range of magnificent music, I think he can be forgiven Absolute Beginners, Tin Machine etc...
So many episodes where he was very important in my life. And it's hard not to feel a bit empty.
He did write that song about the relationship between Bob Dylan and Robert Zimmerman and how one of them was lost somewhere.I saw a Fatbloke post on Facebook this morning, ruing the demise of Ziggy Stardust. I thought "Blimey! They are dropping like flies", not realising that DB was in some way associated with ZS.
They were next door neighbours.
Didn't Bowie write a song about him once?
What? FB?
I find it very hard to believe that anyone who has heard of David Bowie and heard of Ziggy Stardust didn't know they were the same person.
I'm sure that for people born in the 70's, he was their music in their mid teens :)
I'm sure that for people born in the 70's, he was their music in their mid teens :)
This.
Normally I'm not especially affected when famous people die. I don't know them personally and their work is still there.
With David Bowie, it was different.
David Bowie was a huge influence on me in my teens. I discovered him through "China Girl", but then by exploring his past, learned that conformity was not mandatory.
Growing up in small-town Denmark,this probably did more to influence me in a creative direction, more than anything else.
:'(
.... conformity was not mandatory.
I enjoyed singing Kooks to my babies :)
Nirvana's version of "The Man Who Sold The World"?
Nirvana's version of "The Man Who Sold The World"?
Yeah, that just makes it all the more bizarre that he didn't collaborate with Ferry.
Though I suspect it was more down to Ferry that they didn't - his autocratic nature was a large part of the reason Eno left Roxy Music, after all.
Did Bowie ever work with David Byrne? That's another surprising omission if not. I can't recall any occasions.
Ah, but he did collaborate with Brian Eno, and that was sublime.
He and Byrne would have been more of a collision than a collaboration.
Ah, but he did collaborate with Brian Eno, and that was sublime.
There was an interesting segment on last night's Instalment of "Music Moguls: Masters Of Pop" on which Tony Visconti explained how "Heroes" (the track) was put together. The whole series is recommended by This Unit, Fridays 21:00 BBC4; first two available on iPlayer. The first was about managers, the second producers.