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

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.

Lou. I'll take the Velvets' four albums (along with The Blue Mask) over Bowie's and Iggy's entire catalogues.

by the way, I have listened to "Blue Mask". It's ok but I guess I don't really need 80s Lou...

hey Lou doesn't need YOU either, he's just an average guy

I love women. I think they're great.

more thoughts re: the Velvets vs. Bowie - the one thing Bowie did, thematically, that the Velvets didn't was science fiction. Lou was not interested in that shit. But musically an awful lot of Bowie's styles can be traced back to the Velvets in some way or another (which he would and did freely acknowledge), I think Alfred is v otm about the master:disciple relationship.

SATELLITE OF LOVE tho

but yeah, Lou wasn't really a sci-fi dude as far as i know (he was into EC horror comics, i believe)

hmm yeah satellite of love is kind of proto-space oddity - the alienation of space/technology

At one point Lou was going to do a comic bk version of The Raven w/ Neil Gaiman, p glad that never happened

I sold Bowie an EC Science Fiction box set when I was working in a London comic shop in the 1980s

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

― The Return of the Thin White Pope (Tom D.), Wednesday, January 27, 2016 6:40 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agree with 誤訳侮辱, Fun House towers over Raw Power.

Fun House is absolutely epochal and decades ahead of its time; Raw Power is a fun, shitty-sounding record with a middling guitarist.

xp well this came out (don't think Gaiman was involved)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iKlhcytgL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I'd forgotten about that - any good?

i've avoided it...

whoa stop the presses and look at this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4kl8LNm7hc

nice Joker makeup

i don't really see the value in choosing
their careers and lives were intertwined but honestly they are all so different artistically that i don't care to say like oh man station to station kicks funhouse's ass! fuck that! satellite of love blows compared to v-2 schneider! oh yeah?? the passenger makes afterhours sound like a donkey fart!

hmm yeah satellite of love is kind of proto-space oddity - the alienation of space/technology

Not sure how it could described as proto.

well I'm not really sure which one was written first (I doubt you know either)

certainly Space Oddity was *released* first

it's possible that was Lou copping "Space Oddity", I suppose, dunno if he ever discussed that particular song anywhere

The Byrds "Hey Mr. Spaceman" and "Eight Miles High"

also "telstar"

that's probably ground zero

those songs aren't really about alienation iirc

I mean there are tons of songs about outer space, aliens, astronauts etc. but Space Oddity and Satellite of Love are more about how *lonely* being in outer space could be, and about how technology separates people from one another

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CQA3jzmvA4

heh I wonder if Lou and Tom Wilson ever chatted about Sun Ra