David Bowie R.I.P

Aside from the invention and the chops and the catchiness, his music works because he put so fucking much of himself into it.

heard "let's dance" just now -- still such an wonderful/odd sounding hit.

from Jim'll Paint It

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/12439255_617455185074756_8430022611780275721_n.jpg?oh=47764bcf5c19013e205789281dc07116&oe=5745BDD2

I love David Bowie’s music deeply, and yet when I learned of his death last night I instantly flashed on a terrible, guilty memory whose repetition at present risks speaking ill of the dead: Sometime around the Earthling album in the late ’90s, I sat with a friend and my boyfriend and we started to take cheap, idiotic pot-shots at that album, which we regarded as a catalogue of typical uninspired aging rock star moves, a case in point of a vampire trying to draw sustenance from a then-thriving subculture (drum and bass).

I remember listening to that album played at a bookstore for a good half-hour (it was around 8pm which is why the staff could play jungle beats). It was such an odd experience, stayed with me for years but I could never go back and try the album proper, but I remember getting a kick out of this lol old guy trying it out..balls etc.

oh wow i'm listening to Blackstar for the first time; "I Can't Give Everything Away" lifts the two-note harmonica line from "A New Career In A New Town," one of my favorites.

this is so sad.

Basically unable to function as a real human today. Surprised by the level of grief.

The release of Blackstar two days before his death is probably one of the most brilliant artistic gestures in the history of pop music. Unreal

Me as well, hardcore. And I also resigned from a shitty job today - sent out emails to all the pertinent folks last night before bed - so today is a perfect day to stay home and celebrate The Dame and forget all the bs.

flappy bird otm though the sense of "timing" for lack of a better word or phrase to describe it all is overwhelming.

my kid rufus and his pals at the variety show last year. he's the one with the hair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WceXXacO1SU

uh doing bowie. should have said that...

Bowie had been working on a book as well, right? Wonder how far he got.

full of despair, but he will live forever. after all he came from the future. can't imagine what music would be like now without his work.

woke up this morning to the news and felt completely shattered. feels unexpected and painful in a way few other celebrity deaths have been for me. ended up writing a short tribute in like half an hour while sleepily listening to my co-workers chat.

i actually had "blackstar" stuck in my head when i woke up this morning and it was still there as i came across the news, v v surreal

nb i came very close to watching velvet goldmine last nite w/ a friend who;d never seen it, that would have been extra spooky

Will Sheff's blurb in the Talkhouse roundup is typically corny-but-canny.

listening to Earthling right now, what can you even say about it? so many good and really bad ideas chased after simultaneously

on his history with NYC, in 2003:

Having performed a gig outside London on a Thursday in June 1972, I shot home to sleep, then caught an early-morning flight — getting me to Madison Square Garden about ten minutes after Elvis hit the stage. I had the humiliating experience of walking down the center aisle to my very good RCA-provided seat while Elvis performed “Proud Mary.” As I was in full Ziggy regalia by this time — brilliant red hair and Kabuki platform shoes — I’m sure many of the audience presumed Mary had just arrived....

People here are very decent about their interactions with well-knowns. I get the occasional “Yo, Bowie,” but that’s about it. My only rule is to avoid tourist areas. But if I weren’t known, I’d still avoid ’em. In London, the saying goes, life takes place behind doors. Here it’s on the street....

My three favorite places in New York are Washington Square (it’s the emotional history of New York in a quick walk), the Strand bookshop (it’s impossible to find the book you want, but you always find the book you didn’t know you wanted), and Julian Schnabel’s house (the most extraordinary interior and quite beautiful; no one else but Julian could carry it off).

http://www.vulture.com/2016/01/david-bowies-reflection-on-being-a-new-yorker.html

I left work early and am gonna do some drinking before my radio show in 2 hours. the fuckin DMCA means that I can only play three Bowie songs in two hours (unless we turn the streaming off), so I'm gonna play "Heroes," "Station To Station," and "Blackstar"

do you guys remember like 10-15 years ago he had this contest where a lucky fan was going to write the words or melody to one of his songs? Whatever happened with that?

― Poliopolice, Monday, 11 January 2016 19:45 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, I do: I entered.

what happened was, you got an jnstrumental (mostly) with DBowie la-lai-ng a melody, and singing a chorus, and you had to write verses. Then you saved them onto the website Bowienet, and then you got a series of other contributions that you could rate out of five. I was quite pleased with my entry, and I have to say all the other entries (and there were huge amounts) were pretty awful.

Anyway, it was won by Alex Grant, and his entry was . OK. The only other decent lyric I ever saw was his when I sneaked a look at the finished product's booklet. I still think mine was better but it wouldn't upset me to think someone else favoured his over mine, it was comparable.

I had a thought about finishing the instrumental with my lyrics for the ILX version of "The Next Day" but I had mislaid the cassette a friend had sent me of the backing from back in the day, and didn't find it in time.

One day.

(some time later, Robbie Williams did something similar, and my lyrics for that were awful, so it goes to show, something or other)

I always loved this super funky version of "What in the World" from the STAGE live album. Fucking great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-IySjuTNfk

My obit: http://www.spin.com/2016/01/david-bowie-tribute-eulogy/?utm_source=share-fb

great piece alfred

v nice. the chameleon bit is not something that had occurred to me tbh

one correction: i'm pretty sure the pumpkins never covered "quicksand"

That was Dinosaur Jr.

The Pumpkins covered "Kooks" in 1993. Billy insults the band at the end. "MISERABLE!"

https://archive.org/details/tsp1993-06-29

hmm I've a memory of a late summer '93 Pumpkins show during which they covered "Quicksand" and, I think, "Kooks."

xpost

ah, there you go!

The Pumpkins covered "Kooks" in 1993. Billy insults the band at the end. "MISERABLE!"

oh ha! guess i'm not as deep a fan as i thought

"The Secret Life of Araiiibia"

(Sorry, carry on, folks)

They did a pretty cool cover of "Fame" in 2014 around the release of the last record. They did a pretty lame cover of "Space Oddity" on the Oceania tour. And of course, at Bowie's 50th birthday party in 1997...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HD73LyWpcw

last SP post - Bill had this to say this morning:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYdZVDwUkAAtMVa.jpg

RIP David Bowie: 'When a true star blinks out, the sky looks different, and never feels the same' - Billy Corgan

lol @ Lou's head

robert smith kind of looks like mid 70s bolan there

bowie weirdly channeling scott weiland in that pic

A++ photo

realized i had a leaked version of the unreleased 01 album Toy, listening now...different, quirkier version of "Slip Away" called "Uncle Floyd"

In other things this illlustration by Helen Green of Bowie's different hairstyles throughout the years is awesome:

http://www.oldskull.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/All-Bowies-illustration-hele-green.png

and a gif (which is very fast in my opinion but it seems like this was the original intent of drawing the heads going from left to right)

http://payload342.cargocollective.com/1/16/514318/9158551/DB-Transformation-Colour.gif

And one of my favorite remixes of Bowie that some of you might not be familiar with - David Bowie - Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA):

https://vimeo.com/79764317

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyGO0IxAr4A

i'm revisiting the buddha of suburbia and man, what a wacky little record

Toy was a good experiment. Some great versions (most of those wound up being released anyway) and some duff ones but it was nice to hear him revist that material. I particularly like Conversation Piece.

really great piece Alfred!

I ran to a Coconuts store in November '95 to buy it and Tonight, the latter newly reissued. "Dead Against It" would easily make a Bowie 75 for me.

Just meekly asked my boss if I could leave at 3 for "bowie sadness" reasons :/

didn't expect to be so destroyed by this tbh

Excellent article, Alfred.

aw VG, I left early too, hope you get it off

thanks, crew

I remember going to the store to pick up Outside since the "Bowie's back" hype machine was in full swing and saw the Buddha of Suburbia in the rack right next to it. I picked it up as well and played both of them in equal measure in the autumn of '95. I was surprised at its quality and have always felt it was a little ignored. Dead Against It is a great track.

Yeah, great work, Alfred. The only nit I was tempted to pick was that you seemed to downplay Reeves Gabrels tenure with him before Outside, but I guess compared to Carlos it was fair enough.

i was watching a few videos from the 50th birthday concert and gabrels' guitar tone is offensive