David Bowie R.I.P

when Bowie got off the coke, he recanted his pro-fascist statements

I don't think equating Hitler with rock stardom is pro-fascist tbh

Didn't he say something like, "Britain could use a fascist leader" or some such? I mean, I'm not saying he was remotely sincere, or that it was a deeply-held belief of his or anything, but one of those purposely-inflammatory-but-I-don't-really-mean-it-I'm-gonna-do-a-few-more-lines kind of things.

Anyone know Bowie's late period recreational habits? The last reported instance of coke snortin' was during the Glass Spider tour, his last cig in 2000 (I'll assume relapses happened), but I wondered if he drank at all. Hard to be in Manhattan events without a glass of wine.

He had a big drink problem in the 80s, after cutting down on the coke. He cut out alcohol completely at some point.

Didn't he say something like, "Britain could use a fascist leader" or some such?

I believe this is in the Vonnegut interview, let me find it

But it's all projection, and we will never really know.

not sure of the purpose of projecting at all

I thought he only drank because he drugged; he had trouble holding his liquor. A pity. He gave the impression of being a guy with whom one could enjoy a Sazerac in a quiet boite

From that Paxman interview:

JP: "On a personal level, you don't do drugs anymore and you don't drink? Not even a glass of wine?"

DB: "No, it would kill me."

JP: "What do you mean it would kill you?"

DB: "I'm an alcoholic, so it would be the kiss of death for me to start drinking again. My relationships with my friends and family has been so good for so many years now, I would not do anything to destroy that again."

ah here we go: http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Appearances/Press/1976/0900/playboy.html
PLAYBOY: You've often said that you believe very strongly in fascism. Yet you also claim you'll one day run for Prime Minister of England. More media manipulation?

BOWIE: Christ, everything is a media manipulation. I'd love to enter politics. I will one day. I'd adore to be Prime Minister. And, yes, I believe very strongly in fascism. The only way we can speed up the sort of liberalism that's hanging foul in the air at the moment is to speed up the progress of a right-wing, totally dictatorial tyranny and get it over as fast as possible. People have always responded with greater efficiency under a regimental leadership. A liberal wastes time saying, "Well, now, what ideas have you got?" Show them what to do, for God's sake. If you don't, nothing will get done. I can't stand people just hanging about. Television is the most successful fascist, needless to say. Rock stars are fascists, too. Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars.

PLAYBOY: How so?

BOWIE: Think about it. Look at some of his films and see how he moved. I think he was quite as good as Jagger. It's astounding. And, boy, when he hit that stage, he worked an audience. Good God! He was no politician. He was a media artist himself. He used politics and theatrics and created this thing that governed and controlled the show for those 12 years. The world will never see his like. He staged a country.

Really, I would like to be Prime Minister, but I think I'd have to set up my own country first. I don't want to be Prime Minister of the old country. I'd have to create the state that I wish to live in first. I dream of one day buying companies and television stations, owning and controlling them.

which, to this Jew, all read like a provocateur's delusions of grandeur rather than an affinity for Nazi ideology

his coke-addled praise seems to be primarily for the efficacy of fascism's tactics, the goals towards which they were historically employed are not addressed.

yeah it almost sounds like he's wishing for things to get worse so that they can get better

which is a habit of some folks on the left, actually

not put in the same coked-out terms, of course

just wanted to post this cos i was reading about the Serious Moonlight Tour (how great a name is that, btw? what an amazing turn of phrase) and reading the tracklisting saw "I Can't Explain" and i remember loving his coked out sax'd out take on it.

kind of surprised it was recorded all the way back in 1973 for Pin-Ups. it has a cold and minimal Thin White Duke sound about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja6BQrIDVCE

I watched this interview on Sunday before his death. He was so enthusiastic about selling any product, even NLMD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhaRvqI0nHk

yeah it almost sounds like he's wishing for things to get worse so that they can get better

which is a habit of some folks on the left, actually

not least Marx

There's this weird chronology to his drug use. A lot of people would peg the cocaine peak around 1978 or thereabouts, but I'm pretty sure he's said that the coke really kicked in after Let's Dance, when he had so much money and, well, everyone was probably doing the most coke. Which all makes sense. So really his cocaine peak was from ... the mid-70s to the mid-80s? Like a lot of rock stars, I imagine, though it at least sounds like he applied it most judiciously toward his productivity. Coincidence or not, when he apparently left coke behind for alcohol, that's when the music took a (er) nosedive, though in that Playboy interview he does admit he prefers stimulants to depressants.

he says he can scarcely remember making 'station to station' b/c of the coke, and my first thought is, that's a HELL of an album to scarcely remember making!

There's an anecdote shared by Matthew Seligman in the Trynka bio, playing bass during the "Absolute Beginners" session, wherein Bowie asked him to get coke and he lost it or something.

Took this yesterday night. I have to pass this ad on my way to/from work, it feels somehow surreal that all the album campaigns just continue running.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/959470/DSC_0078_768lr.jpg

has anyone read peter doggett's book on bowie? i got it for xmas a couple years ago and have started it a few times but have bogged down every time, something about his approach seems plodding and uninteresting to me.

at last:

The late David Bowie is heading for his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Blackstar.

Blackstar's total equivalent album unit figure for the week will be higher than 130,000, and should easily bump Adele's 25 from the top slot. The latter title (released on XL/Columbia) has been No. 1 on the chart for seven consecutive weeks.

The set, which was released through ISO/Columbia Records on Jan. 8 (Bowie's 69th birthday), could sell perhaps 130,000 albums in the week ending Jan. 14, according to industry forecasters, and debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Jan. 30. Bowie died on Jan. 10 after an 18-month battle with cancer.

In his lifetime, Bowie charted seven top 10 albums on the Billboard 200. His highest-charting album was his last album, 2013's The Next Day, which debuted and peaked at No. 2. He previously visited the top 10 with Let's Dance (No. 4 in 1983), ChangesOneBowie (No. 10, 1976), Station to Station (No. 3, 1976), Young Americans (No. 9, 1975), David Live (No. 8, 1974) and Diamond Dogs (No. 5, 1974).

he's never had a no. 1 album?!

wow, that is poignant

Not in America. Two #1 singles though

xpost

I wonder how much of a spike the back catalogue is getting, what with these reports of Amazon and record stores selling out of albums.

As of this afternoon, Blackstar was #1 on iTunes, Best of Bowie #2, Ziggy Stardust at #4 and Hunky Dory at #8.

Really surprised he's never had a #1 album in the US up to this point, in the UK he's had several.

I've had several in your mom up to this point.

Oh, do shut the fuck up, you tedious cunt.

Reading Bowie Blog a few years ago, I was fascinated by his post-LD chart trajectory. That "Absolute Beginners" got to #2 in the UK has to be an anomaly, right? A position based on the hype for the movie? What do you guys think of it? I never much liked his vocal but love that storing string arrangement, the percussion breakdown, and the sax, which sounds like someone imitating Bowie's sax playing.

Apparently "Day In Day Out," "Time Will Crawl," "Bang Bang" (!), and "Never Let Me Down" got AOR play, and MTV played the hell out of DIDO.

*soaring

His last top 10 in the US was (gulp) "Dancing In The Street."

"Jump They Say" didn't even chart. That's wrong.

I definitely remember hearing absolute beginners frequently enough that year but it might have been on mtv playing in the background rather than on the radio

Never knew Matthew seligman played on that!

Apparently "Day In Day Out," "Time Will Crawl," "Bang Bang" (!), and "Never Let Me Down" got AOR play, and MTV played the hell out of DIDO.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, January 12, 2016 7:40 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard "Bang Bang" all the time on WXRT in Chicago, even into the early 90s.

A modern rock top ten, and like I pointed out in my obit, I did hear it four or five times on my college radio station in April '93, but, yeah, a flop crossover. I do remember crazy promotion for Black Tie White Noise at Specs and Sound Warehouse: posters and cutouts. He did all the American shows too, including:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ_Fl3Ed7dk

i really, really love "absolute beginners"

its gentle pace, its length, its circular structure, its video

It's strange, even though 'Absolute Beginners' charted highly, I still wouldn't consider it to be one of Bowie's better-known tracks. I seem to remember VH1 playing the video for it a lot, many years after its release. I dunno, though, I keep forgetting about it!

you absolutely love it

I've gotten the impression that people like it more now. When Chris admitted he liked it on the blog the commenters were a bit surprised.

oh also that arsenio performance is awesome, thank you for linking it

sometimes "jump they say" is my favorite bowie song

He's the whole show!

This is the comp that in tape form I had in a couple of glove compartments for a decade. To me his best comp:

http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/albums/covers/other//DavidBowie_TheSingles1969-1993.jpeg

sometimes "jump they say" is my favorite bowie song

― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson),

♥♥♥♥♥

I like 'Absolute Beginners' too, it's just that I find it so easy to forget about it... It's one of those tracks where I'll hear it and wonder why I keep neglecting it.

his coke-addled praise seems to be primarily for the efficacy of fascism's tactics, the goals towards which they were historically employed are not addressed.

Coke-addled is the word, not that it really matters that much if he was right wing or left wing or no wing. Certainly I can see those statements being more than enough to rile the Marxist-Leninist wing of the North London Branch of the Musicians' Union, ca. 1976.

^^Going for $99 & up on Amazon Marketplace ATM (CD version).

XPS The Ryko Singles comp

absolute beginners feels like a part 2 of heroes, maybe just the way it builds, i always think of them together

love it so much

I like all his 80s film songs a lot (prefer the soundtrack version of putting out fire to the lets dance version by a mile btw)

greatest offense of the "rock" mix of "jump they say" is how it splices the "got to believe somebody" hook into the first chorus. the delay is part of why it's so striking, the song seems to be sketching out this claustrophobic territory, then the lester bowie solo throws everything into brief anomie, then the song resumes and subtly expands