The Man Who Polled the World, aka DAVID BOWIE POLL RESULTS

er, 11th

Stay should've beaten TVC15 (though I love both of them). Stay is a beast of a tune, though; chunky and coked out.

20. "John, I'm Only Dancing" (1972 single) - 526 points/24 votes/2 first-place votes

Official video: http://youtu.be/6VrqCBsbeuc
Single version: http://youtu.be/pXILmiNEf_k

I say "if she says she can do it then she can do it, she don't make false claims" around the house so often that my kids say it too, & they've never heard the song.

Has there ever been a better song about a hologram television?

Oh SHIT I love #20

"Drive in Saturday" I love for a number of reasons, one of which is it reminds me of a friend who named her dog Twig the Wonder Kid.

"Quicksand" is just awesome. Chorus has the greatest lyric he ever wrote. One of those songs that makes me jealous I didn't write it.

Yay my picks are all starting to show up!

The outro of "John I'm Only Dancing" scared me when I was a kid.

For the longest time, I thought the lyric was "Move me...fuck me" instead of "touch me"!

was listening to "John, I'm only dancing" the other day in the kitchen while cooking. My 3 year old son comes running in and just starts dancing. That's when I decided this would be my #1.

The only canonical Bowie track I more than just dislike. I haven't been able to make it through the whole thing in at least 20 years.

another i probably put too low on my ballot, but damn, he's got so many "best songs".

19. "Look Back in Anger" (from Lodger) - 527 points/23 votes/1 first-place vote

http://youtu.be/bnZx1Aejg1g

My #1!

My Lodger pick. Glad this has so much support. Love the competing vocals.

I haven't said much, but I love this poll and I'm following the results closely. I didn't vote because I always think I'm ruining the poll results by not being enough of an expert. But of course I wish I would have!

It sounds like he's duetting with Scott Walker. Incredible drumming too.

Hah, forgot we were going down to 16 today!

"Look Back In Anger" is the Lodger standout to me; I've been waiting so long for the album to click for me but this one's immediate

Yep, three more today. xp

i was the #1 voter for "Under Pressure," fuiud

"waiting so long"

When I first started listening to Bowie, I got my chronology mixed up and thought maybe John Lennon was singing the "waiting so long.." parts.

I had never heard any of Lodger before this poll, but I am so glad that now I have!
Look Back in Anger rules and sounds like flying really fast.

The Polecats version of John Im Only Dancing is better imho. Still voted for it tho.

DJ had better show, it's Lodger's standout imo.

I'm afraid my favorite Lodger track is going to be awol.

first verse of Look Back in Anger is all-time

I didn't include it in my ballot, but I've gone from hating John, I'm Only Dancing Part II to loving it!!

18. "Starman" (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) - 572 points/25 votes/1 first-place vote

Album: http://youtu.be/1eIfjWTtaPw
Top of the Pops: http://youtu.be/muMcWMKPEWQ

(The album version, a vinyl rip, didn't show up until the fourth page of results!)

My #1. It never fails to make me happy.

The dancing teenagers on that totp clip are the essence of 70s Britain

"Starman" was my #5. Had heard "Suffragette" and "Ziggy" on the radio for years, but after hearing "Starman" I finally ran out and bought the record. Glad I did.

When I saw Bowie at Glastonbury there was a guy in front of us dancing on his own and taking a blast of amyl nitrate at the beginning of each song. Starman was clearly his all-time favourite because he took blast after blast and then went pale and stumbled off halfway through the song to throw up. So that's why Starman will always make me smile.

aw, I feel bad for that guy now

Looking at the Glastonbury setlist, I wish I remembered it more clearly:

1. Wild Is The Wind 2. China Girl 3. Changes 4. Stay 5. Life On Mars? 6. Absolute Beginners 7. Ashes To Ashes 8. Rebel Rebel 9. Little Wonder 10. Golden Years 11. Fame 12. All The Young Dudes 13. The Man Who Sold The World 14. Station To Station 15. Starman (Cut) 16. Hallo Spaceboy 17. Under Pressure 18. Ziggy Stardust 19. Heroes 20. Let's Dance 21. I'm Afraid Of Americans

the bass player is a sasquatch!!!
JonValurscoot 1 month ago 39

Trevor Bolder's sideburns are dyed, and the stuff of legend. Not really sideburns, more of a ZZ Top beard with his chin left free.

Even more impressive:

While on tour with the Cybernauts he painted his face blue but then found out the paint was semi permanent and would not come off. Bolder had to sell his car to raise the money needed for a specialist skin peeling process at a Swiss clinic. To this day he still has traces of blue paint behind his left ear.[4]

17. "Space Oddity" (from Space Oddity) - 586 points/26 votes/1 first-place vote

Original 1969 "Love You Til Tuesday" version/video: http://youtu.be/D67kmFzSh_o
Album version/video: http://youtu.be/uhSYbRiYwTY

wow, did not imagine that would come in so low, my #5

Yeah, I had imagined that, despite it all, this would finish top 10. For some reason it still manages to be a pretty monumentally successful and enjoyable song after all these years, well orchestrated and arranged and conceived and all that.

It's kind of embarrassing how late I got into the Bowie game, but I think Space Oddity was the first Bowie song I ever really heard (at age 20, to boot!) that I realized was by him, and it got me into him. It's still a beautiful song and it would have made my ballot at around 25-30, I think.

Bummer -- ballots were capped at 20.

Can't imagine what compiling this list would have been like if people could submit 30 songs. I imagine that 20 is difficult enough.

???!!!

isn't Space Oditty THE Bowie song? what is going on here??

Oh shit! Well, I might have squeaked it in at #20, then. Gotta have Space Oddity in there somewhere, after all.

Oddity

Yeah, there should be a follow up poll for (1) songs you cut and/or (2) songs you didn't realize that you loved until the first poll!!

I have high hopes for my #1. I do.