He's no adam buxton :-)
Of course everyone's already heard him do dodgy impressions of a few of these! That was nice to hear tho
― eoy_saer (wins), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:22 (eight years ago) link
David Bowie scores first top forty hit in America since 1987.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:27 (eight years ago) link
Lazarus is actually kind of the least memorable song on the record for me.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:28 (eight years ago) link
He's got Iggy nailed....
― Hadrian VIII, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:29 (eight years ago) link
Meantimehttp://pitchfork.com/news/63059-hear-david-bowie-impersonate-bruce-springsteen-neil-young-iggy-pop-lou-reed-tom-waits-in-newly-unearthed-recording/― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:45 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkThis is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a very long time.― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
http://pitchfork.com/news/63059-hear-david-bowie-impersonate-bruce-springsteen-neil-young-iggy-pop-lou-reed-tom-waits-in-newly-unearthed-recording/
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:45 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a very long time.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Ha! His Springsteen parody is spot on!
― Turrican, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:34 (eight years ago) link
His impressions are ... not very good.
― Allen (etaeoe), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:25 (eight years ago) link
I remember Eno saying that good singers tend to be good impressionists, I think he was talking about Bowie... and (whisper it) Bono.
― The Return of the Thin White Pope (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
the hot pants line
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
he nails a couple of 'em, but his voice provides a limited bag of impersonation tricks
reminded me of Andy Partridge's "That Wag" on "Fuzzy Warbles" where he does Robert Smith, Morrissey, etc.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:31 (eight years ago) link
Springsteen by far the best. Think I have heard him do a better Iggy impression on the officially released material.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:39 (eight years ago) link
He sure is a chameleon, that David Bowie. Perhaps further proof that by that point he wanted to be anybody but himself.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 20:18 (eight years ago) link
...
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 21 January 2016 20:47 (eight years ago) link
So, here's a question:
Have we ever gotten the full story on why Bowie retired?
We all know about the heart attack onstage in 2004 and rumors of poor health afterward. I know he had young children. And obviously, he did a few things here and there, as evidenced by Lazarus musical, various appearances at shows, and, of course, the two records.
But is that really the story? I'm asking in large part because Bowie's reclusion over the last decade has obviously colored how it feels as a fan to lose him so suddenly -- particularly given that we literally JUST got him back before he departed for good.
For that matter, this was someone who seemed to really, really enjoy his celebrity. As much as I've been listening to his records the last week, I've also been watching his interviews. And man, Bowie did a LOT of interviews -- the guy was positively everywhere for long, long stretches of his career, including the early 2000's. It's hard to believe this was someone who "just got tired of it all." The guy was ubiquitous -- and seemed to really, really enjoy being in the limelight.
Do we know what exactly happened? Did he conclude that he didn't have much else to say? Did he want to spend time with family because he never really had before? Was he no longer able to keep up with the pace of being a celebrity? All of these are legitimate reasons -- as is his right to not really share why he decided what he did.
It just seems odd.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 21 January 2016 21:59 (eight years ago) link
I think you're right, he wanted to spend time with his family because he never really had before. One account had him walking his daughter to school every day. There's also the (apocryphal?) story of him post heart attack of being afraid of dying on stage.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:03 (eight years ago) link
I thought it was a canny career move in which health played a large part. It's obvious now he was sicker than we all thought -- and for a long time.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:03 (eight years ago) link
Is it so obvious? He had his heart problem in 2004, but the cancer battle was reportedly only the last 18 months. There's a lot of time in between where who knows what was going on.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:06 (eight years ago) link
Much we don't know. These boomer guys and their drugs. It's probable he was sick for years the rest of us knowing.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:07 (eight years ago) link
NOT knowing
You sound like Yoda.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:11 (eight years ago) link
Albums do not make one great.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:15 (eight years ago) link
phew.just listened to my fave album, lodger, and did not crash into a heap.this hopefully means i can now start listening to bowie again.i genuinely thought i would be locked out forever due to the emo chaos/connections.all i can say is that lodger is fucking brilliant.lodger was the first bowie album i really fell for (basically 'boys keep swinging' on TOTP = my bowie/ronson moment), and i have never ever become bored of it.better late than never : bring on the bowie weekend.
― mark e, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:21 (eight years ago) link
oh, and just realised, i have never actually listened to 'buddha of suburbia' despite having it on skinny promo for years ..
i.e. i have a new-to-me album to listen to.
― mark e, Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:23 (eight years ago) link
guy went tot low-profile his last ten years in Manhattan
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:40 (eight years ago) link
this was someone who seemed to really, really enjoy his celebrity
eh, i don't know, i see this around a lot and personally i think it's reading a bit too much into him. the media projecting it's own importance. he liked talking and giving interviews but not so much schilling a product as describing his working methods and his thoughts. i would say he really really enjoyed working rather than being enamored of the glitz and glamor.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 21 January 2016 22:52 (eight years ago) link
Is it so obvious?
heart problem in his 60s, does he need any further reason to retire?
Do we know what exactly happened?
ch-ch-ch-
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 21 January 2016 23:37 (eight years ago) link
Bowie said the best quote about the importance of fame: "All it means is getting a good table at a restaurant."
Got the impression he was always rather private, as opposed to Jagger
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 January 2016 23:58 (eight years ago) link
I assume Jagger is pretty private, too! And probably most big rock stars. That's why these guys buy palatial estates, so they don't have to go out and be bothered.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 January 2016 00:11 (eight years ago) link
Jagger's quiet NOW. He was far bigger tabloid fodder in the seventies and eighties. Bowie was invisible.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 January 2016 00:13 (eight years ago) link
not so much schilling a product
i see what you did
― mookieproof, Friday, 22 January 2016 00:47 (eight years ago) link
In that video interview I posted above Bowie talks about moving all the time, never owning a house. He was always in other cities, which probably made him pretty hard to find.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 January 2016 01:54 (eight years ago) link
He was clearly sick in 2013 - people dropped hints everywhere. The Next Day had tons of references to degenerative diseases and memory loss and death and loss of eyesight. It was just the liver cancer that finally got him. Dude had SIX heartaches in 2015.
― flappy bird, Friday, 22 January 2016 02:05 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXibq_9Q8gI
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 January 2016 02:09 (eight years ago) link
lol, sry, too much gin. David Bowie suffered six heart attacks in his last full year alive on this Earth
― flappy bird, Friday, 22 January 2016 02:19 (eight years ago) link
No worries.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 January 2016 02:23 (eight years ago) link
I smiled..
― Mark G, Friday, 22 January 2016 07:35 (eight years ago) link
I always assumed the heart condition was reason for no touring, what's the source on heart-attacks? any big heart-aches post hermione?
btw watery VH1 'adult' album is such a great description of the Hours cover
I wouldn't miss out on any Lou decade
― niels, Friday, 22 January 2016 10:18 (eight years ago) link
David Bowie suffered six heart attacks in his last full year alive on this Earth
Where did you get this information?
― Eyeball Kicks, Friday, 22 January 2016 10:43 (eight years ago) link
Oh wait, it comes from gossip in UK tabloids (e.g. the Mirror reporting a comment by Bowie biographer Wendy Leigh. The first sentence in the Mirror article claims, like you, that Bowie had "six heart attacks in the past year", but this isn't exactly what Leigh said ("six heart attacks in recent years"). In any case, her Bowie book is the trashiest, most appallingly researched piece of shit and I wouldn't consider her a reputable source about anything.
― Eyeball Kicks, Friday, 22 January 2016 11:44 (eight years ago) link
(should be a closing parenthesis after the link there)
― Eyeball Kicks, Friday, 22 January 2016 11:46 (eight years ago) link
Lots of blindness and dementia throughout Bowie's lyrics, from the beginning. Nearly losing your eye and coming from a mentally unhealthy family on one side'll do that.
― Three Word Username, Friday, 22 January 2016 12:47 (eight years ago) link
I didn't realize until I was reading a ton of stuff last week that the Ziggy cover artist was responsible for Bowie's eye. I guess I always figured it was a congenital thing.
― Meat Sheet (Old Lunch), Friday, 22 January 2016 13:20 (eight years ago) link
That reminds me that after the discussion of how much or little he cared about fame yesterday I came across an interesting passage in Paul Trynka's Starman about how he told Iman his only close friends were from his teenage years in Bromley such as George Underwood.
― Starman Jones said it's 2 legit 2 quit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 January 2016 13:25 (eight years ago) link
I'm up to the young Americans era in the trynka biography. It's really great. There's so much super basic shit I didn't know about young Bowie
― major tom's cabin (Jon not Jon), Friday, 22 January 2016 14:28 (eight years ago) link
Parodies would have been better if he had sung the appropriate fragment from the respective artist's song featuring Marlon Brando in the lyrics.
― YOLO Versus Powerball on the Moneygoround, Part One (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 January 2016 15:56 (eight years ago) link
maybe it's been noted already, but i keep seeing this thing posted around ... durr.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZWL36-WEAAsz_p.jpg:large
― tylerw, Friday, 22 January 2016 19:10 (eight years ago) link
(i know he covered that song, but the context i've seen it in is "David Bowie's most amazing lyrics/quotes")
― tylerw, Friday, 22 January 2016 19:11 (eight years ago) link
twu otm, also in my extensive bowie research that consisted of listening to the buxton thing I heard an interview where he pretty much said "I wanted to be a celebrity" so idk about this disinterest in fame people are ascribing to him
― white privelege 2: the legend of clumsy scold (wins), Friday, 22 January 2016 19:14 (eight years ago) link
yeah bowie is the new lennon for quote misattributions in fb images.
― akm, Friday, 22 January 2016 19:43 (eight years ago) link
― YOLO Versus Powerball on the Moneygoround, Part One (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 January 2016 19:52 (eight years ago) link