Who's the Main Man : Bowie, Iggy or Lou ?

Rob Thomas by miles.

(xp) the easiest choice of all for that question, Iggy.

Bowie never did a car insurance advert. (Or did he?)

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, January 26, 2016 10:13 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He did a Pepsi ad in the 80s, and a couple of others since then.

But Lou did this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDLAM48TmJQ

All I really need of Bowie: Low, "Heroes", Stage, The Next Day, Blackstar.
All I really need of Reed: Metal Machine Music, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts.
All I really need of Iggy: The Stooges, Fun House, 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions, Raw Power, Lust for Life, The Idiot, TV Eye: 1977 Live, New Values, Soldier, Party, Blah-Blah-Blah, Instinct.

So...Bowie's the only one who's done anything I love in the last 30 years, but I still gotta vote for Iggy because Fun House might be the single greatest rock album ever, and seeing the Stooges (plus Mike Watt, but with Steve Mackay) in 2003 was genuinely life-changing.

There are no losers here

hang on to yourselves!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjF-1zcK4s

well, if we're going to look for the most ridiculous/awful thing any of these guys has been involved in...

https://500daysasunder.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/screen-shot-2013-01-24-at-4-03-50-pm.png

B-b-but what about some of those latter day Lou harmony duets?

Oh yeah, there was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBd4SuDNsGQ

god that is incredible

love all these guys, there's no wrong answers, but off the cuff I'm inclined to say Lou>>Bowie>>Iggy, just cuz Lou was first and is arguably the more archetypal and emotionally engaging (and ultimately kind of tragic, I think) figure

like Bowie and Iggy both seem to have found some measure of peace, Lou seemed tortured and bitter and cranky to the end

Shakey otm

Despite all the Tai Chi master silkscreen.

yeah, lou was like the least chill zen-minded individual ever

god the iggy i have no use for i have no for to an extent that nothing in the lou or bowie catalogs can dream of approaching. that said when bowie passed i found myself listening to the idiot over and over more than any actual bowie albums. brain says lou, heart says iggy. voting lou, maybe if iggy had played guitar for the stooges...

really glad you guys *know* people just by following em in the media

xp

Lou seemed tortured and bitter and cranky to the end

Really?

otoh i was gonna say 'this is like modern lovers vs new romantics vs...' but i couldn't find an inheritor to the stooges that i felt comfortable actually comparing to the stooges

Lou for me, but I can understand arguments for all three.

really glad you guys *know* people just by following em in the media

xp

Once in a while you get shown the light
in the strangest of places if you look at right

best album from them : I might go with VU&Nico or VU for Lou, Stooges or Raw Power for Iggy and Ziggy or Station2Station for Bowie, I guess.
Lou wins.

really glad you guys *know* people just by following em in the media

true, we should all just pay attention to dennis perrin's twitter instead

I don't really care about Lou or Iggy

this thread makes me want to know more about Lou's output in the 80s.

I'll give a try at "Blue Mask" and "New York"...

The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, and New Sensations are wonderful records, superior to anything Bowie and Iggy released in that period.

Blah Blah Blah is not terrible though.

Anyone defend Brick by Brick? It got lots of boomer praise for its "mature" songs and boomer career revivalist Don Was' production. Guess Iggy benefited from nostalgia as much as the Stones, Dylan, Young, etc.

Ugh

superior to anything Bowie and Iggy released in that period.

that's not saying much, is it !
but yeah, apparently, they're quite good.

Really?

his last album was a grim, rage-filled contrarian "fuck you" move (ie, standard operating Lou procedure) so yeah

I'll give a try at "Blue Mask" and "New York"...

Blue Mask is good, the last one I would recommend unreservedly (Alfred and I differ on this point). New York is fun for the first couple of songs and then becomes something of a po'-faced slog.

Blah Blah Blah is not terrible though.

No, but the production is arguably the worst of anything any of those artists put out in the 80s.

Like one or two tunes on BxB but can't stand the production.

"New York" is kind of an outlier in Lou's catalog in that every single song has the same sound/instrumental setup. The lack of variation is both unusual and (after awhile) grating.

xp

B-b-but what about Rock and Roll Animal?

Magic and Loss is much more samey-sounding than New York

No, but the production is arguably the worst of anything any of those artists put out in the 80s.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat),No, but the production is arguably the worst of anything any of those artists put out in the 80s.

Bowie's production suits "Shades" and a couple others more than it would on, say, NLMD.

B-b-but what about Rock and Roll Animal?

well okay sure but that's a live album, guess I should've specified studio albums (fwiw I don't really like RnR Animal at all)

"New York" is kind of an outlier in Lou's catalog in that every single song has the same sound/instrumental setup.
YOU CAN'T BEAT TWO GUITARS, BASS, AND DRUMS

lol just came across this john mellencamp quote in re: to Lou's New York: "Yeah, it sounds like it was produced by an eighth-grader, but I like it."

hahaha

xposts
thanks for the recommendations !
I'll start with Blue mask, then.
As for Iggy, nothing seems worthwhile after idiot/lust for life...

http://www.toorex.com/_/rsrc/1442393593822/news-page/marc_bolan.jpg?height=356&width=400

write-in for the real MAIN MAN

The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, and New Sensations are wonderful records, superior to anything Bowie and Iggy released in that period.

agree 100%-and that's without mentioning Quine on the first 2.

ahah, yeah, I thought about him (since he's on Iggy's t-shirt in the picture) !

/"New York" is kind of an outlier in Lou's catalog in that every single song has the same sound/instrumental setup./
YOU CAN'T BEAT TWO GUITARS, BASS, AND DRUMS

& tbh i love the overall sound of New York, just nicely recorded, crisp sounds, doesn't sound terribly dated. that eighth grader had skillz.

Still wish he had gone back to get his GED

Wow, that "Soul Man" video with Lou/Sam Moore was something else. I turned it off when the old granny was singing with the black mic.

Bowie - Iggy --- Lou

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The capper is surely Reed’s audible contempt as he consigns the consensus world’s best rock and roll band to idiot fodder: “I never liked the Beatles. ... I thought they were garbage. If you say, ‘Who did you like?’ I liked nobody.”

Lou wins.

You should have quoted the paragraph above as well.

Saw this in the window of a store yesterday, almost bought it:
http://www.nostalgicimages.com/store/images/products/large_1097_406.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Balls.

Lol wat

If only Iggy was dead.

Bite yr tongue

ha ha well we can put this one to bed

Nonsense

i didn't vote because i couldn't decide

I'm is correct once again

Lol stupid phone lol

ILM is correct

You fools! Iggy is the main man.

Anyhoo poll reminded me of this recently released recording of Bowie doing impersonations of several musicians: Bolan, Lou and Iggy among them. His Lou and Iggy are spot on:

http://youtu.be/NrtXFTw2ico

69...

xxxposts

I didn't vote either !
I guess I should have voted Lou.
Maybe the poll was a bit biased because of the timing regarding Bowie but I suppose he has a broader appeal, anyway.

It does say http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/graphics/mainman125.gif

Now, if it was "The Man"...

Yeah this poll should have been done after Lou died.

Any artist who disrespects another artist by calling their music crap is a complete asshole, I picked up Lou Reed when I was a driving a cab in 1973, told him I was a big fan and he was an incredible nasty prick. Then gave a 10 cent tip, which I threw at him and hit him in the back of his head. he just kept walking away

Like · Reply · 13 · Yesterday at 08:37

LOL, Lou wins again.

ahah. classic !

Wait, where is that from?

Facebook.

Thought you told me you didn't do