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

write-in for Entwistle.

― by the light of the burning Citroën, Tuesday, January 26, 2016 3:46 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pretty sure that's Tony DeFries behind them.

Though Entwistle did play on Susanna Hoffs' cover of "Boys Keep Swinging," so it's all a rich tapestry.

heh i've always thought there should be an in-depth oral history just about that lou-david-iggy party, but it is likely no one remembers much.

For real! Do we even know what's its from? The MainMan holiday party?

It was taken at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
http://www.5years.com/rock.htm
(scroll down to the picture Rock's paragraph describing the circumstances is below)

Damn, I never thought about the timeline, but "Transformer" was recorded August 1972, "Raw Power" recorded September 1972

Bowie > Iggy >>>>>>> Lou

Really?

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

I dunno, I thought it was the last cry for his mortality and so on.

it was hardly the valedictory lap that Bowie's last album has been. Granted Lou didn't die the day after came out or anything, but I doubt that would have improved its reception. Certainly since Lou died it hasn't really gotten a critical reappraisal (which might still happen!) It's a bleak album imo, done in a style and with collaborators that he knew would throw people for a loop, at the very least.

it's definitely bleak, but maybe aside from "junior dad" it doesn't seem "old-man-about-to-die" bleak to me?

yeah there doesn't seem to be a lot of personal reflection or soul-searching or career-summing up in it.

I mean, Little Dog is obviously personal but

All that bit about "spermless" or whatever it was? I only heard it once, entirely. (The ILX lulu, however...)

Raging against the dying of the light, etc..

Who would be the best company in a bar: Iggy > Bowie >>> Lou

"You know, you have to be real careful where you sit down
In a bar these days"

For me, the Velvet Underground makes it no contest.

(btw that is Tony DeFries in the background of the photo at the top of the thread)

write in vote for b.g.

gah that's "made man". Ban me

Bowie's defense of Lulu looks a bit more calcualted now tbf.

iggy all the way

Poor Marc Bolan is in that picture too

Don't really dig Iggy or Bowie or Lou all that much tbh.

or you tbh

any velvets album > any bowie album

that's like saying any Dylan album > any Petty album

or Shakespeare > O'Neill

Meh, I'd say there are a few Bowie albums that are preferable to Loaded.

a disciple's albums rarely surpass a master's.

fun house is my pick of the litter. bowie was warhol and had the most cosmic imagination. lou came from long island accountant money and acted like it. bowie

this is David Bowie for me but Lou Reed is like 1B.

nah, lou is definitely more of a 2B

a disciple's albums rarely surpass a master's.

Yeah, I don't see this as being the relationship at all. The Velvet Underground were a great band. Their '66-'67 output is better than Bowie's. "Space Oddity" is not the work of a VU disciple, though. If you want to make the argument that the VU were the godfathers of it all with glam and punk, I mean, OK? I'm not buying it so much tonight.

It's more fun for me to think of them as a cool '60s band from New York. And to think of the Stooges and Marc Bolan and a bunch of others as innovators. David Bowie.

My point is that the Velvets don't even belong in the conversation.

Why?

Too big, too encompassing, too weird. It's like saying Joyce is better than Colm Toibin. Why would you compare a supremely gifted novelist and short story writer to a novelist of singular protean skill like Joyce because they share a lineage? It does the lesser writer no favors.

I don't see the Velvets that way. They were a very cool band but I'm not at all convinced that their scope was ultimately greater than, let's say the period covered by Changesonebowie, much less in such a rarefied league that you can't even compare the two.

Velvets aren't as weird as Bowie imo. They were minmal and droney but Bowie is far more baroque and grotesque. Velvets have no Goblin King pop moment either. Bono singing "Perfect Day 2000 Remix" doesn't count. I will take many Bowie albums over "Loaded" any day.

Bowie had pop hits early in his career, and far greater success with novelty hits subsequently over the decades.

Tony Defries is a British former pop music manager. Defries worked in the 1960s music scene with such figures as Mickie Most, Allen Klein, before turning his attention to David Bowie. Defries' company MainMan had a management structure that combined ingredients of the movie studio with those of the independent producer/record label/music publisher. The company management included Jamie Andrews as vice-president and later president. Defries represented Bowie through his rise to stardom, reputedly making more money from the deal than the star himself. He also helped to launch the solo careers of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Mick Ronson, Mott the Hoople, Luther Vandross and John Mellencamp. His MainMan Group of companies assisted in the creation of many independent record and publishing companies that were later acquired by major conglomerates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Defries

Bowie vs Iggy is tough cos didn't Bowie basically save the Stooges?

Bowie is far more baroque and grotesque

LOL gtfo Velvets were both of these, in spades. Among other things.

Life On Mars vs. what is the most baroque Velvets song?

Murder Mystery? Lady Godiva?

The viola and glockenspiel on "Stephanie Says," the glockenspiel on "Sunday Morning." Maybe the extended chords on "Femme Fatale." Maybe something like the melodicism and imagery of "All Tomorrow's Parties."

This thread is taking a stagenosedive

I'm just throwing out things I think are about as close to baroque rock as, say, Love. Would probably give a narrower definition of baroque rock proper, though.

Iggy's the least gifted of the three, but the Stooges records (particularly Funhouse) meant more to me than anything Lou and Bowie ever did. Have to vote for Igg.

Bowie vs Iggy is tough cos didn't Bowie basically save the Stooges?

If by "save" you mean keep alive via artificial means, sure. Artistically, though, there's no universe in which Raw Power is a better album than Fun House, or even a fit sequel.

Lou and David wish they were Iggy.

xpost it's a fit sequel, but.

naaah, Lou only wished one thing : to play for the coach.
by the way, I have listened to "Blue Mask". It's ok but I guess I don't really need 80s Lou... (although I have to admit "Women" made me laugh !).

there's no universe in which Raw Power is a better album than Fun House, or even a fit sequel.

Wrongest statement of 2016 so far. Long way to go though tbf.