Touched by the Hand of Bowie?

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Aha! Just when you thought ever Bowie thread had been done...

As a fairly unintiated Bowiephile, I have begun being introduced to the Bowiesque by means of other artists: Destroyer, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed. And as I venture into these strange but pleasant waters, I realize that a vast many musicians have been touched by the omnipresent hand of Bowie.

The question of the thread is this: What album is the Best Bowie album which is not officially a Bowie album?

Pick Obvious examples -- Transformer, Lust for Life etc; or more obscure if you wish.

How far does the hand of Bowie reach? And to what extent does his hand
colour everything that he touches (in terms of production, collaboration, or just inspiration)?

What record do you love that owes itself to the hand?

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

certainly not what you're looking for but Black Randy & The Metrosquad's "Pass the Dust I Think I'm Bowie" should win by virtue of its title alone.

― dialecticbricks (dialecticbricks), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

My own pick is Transformer. People often say it is overated, but I am still quite fond of it.

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

The Associates to thread.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:18 (twenty-one years ago)

In the song 'Western Star' Frank Black refers to Bowie and mispronounces his name. He says 'Heroes-period Bowie' like the bow of a boat.
Frank Black = indeed molested by Bowie.

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:23 (twenty-one years ago)

http://mlh.i.bol.com.br/beleza/iman.jpg

― Picard Maneuver (Leee), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:32 (twenty-one years ago)

M.E. Smith also pronouces it with the 'ow' (like you've hurt yourself).

Maybe a Velvet Underground record? What's the deal with the VU comment on the Hunky Dory liner notes?

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

anything by australia's whirlywirld

― phil turnbull (philT), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

its a cliche but i cant get enuff of All the Young Dudes by Mott The Hoople .. the rest of the lp its from is damn fine . but that track is just too damn good.

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a case for saying that at certain points -- 1974, say, or 1980 -- the entire pop landscape was 'touched by Bowie'. He generated so many ideas and so many personae that other artists became ants, each carrying one small fragment of 'Bowie'.

All the Glam Rockers and all the New Romantics basically owed him their careers. I've sometimes thought that he was terrified of flying in the early 70s because he knew he had this historical mission. If the bumpy flight he was on between Cypress and the UK had gone down, the history of British music really would have been different, and considerably less interesting.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 06:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Indeed, very true. But is there an album in which Bowie played a direct role, and is not a Bowie album proper, that stands out as number uno.

― Gilles Meloche (Gilles Meloche), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll say, controversially, The Idiot.

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 07:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Lulu's 'Man Who Sold the World'

― bham, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 08:16 (twenty-one years ago)

After the Walker Brothers' Nite Flights, Bowie offered to produce Scott Walker's next effort, but he was turned down. Berlin-era Bowie producing Scott Walker: now that might have been a mind-blowing album.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Chris Connelly & the Bells, Blonde Exodus is the greatest non-Bowie Bowie album as far as influence goes. I also thought Yoko Ono's "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" had a whole whole lot of that-period-Bowie influence (wouldn't it have made for an interesting cut on Scary Monsters?).

― Joseph McCombs, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Mott and the Hoople is probably the correct answer. Too bad someone beat me to it.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Raw Power: it's the weirdest rock record ever. Check how Bowie rides Pop's vocals. It's the sonic equivalent of a desperate groupie high on cocaine. Awesome.

― sexxy, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think Transformer would have ended being what it was without Bowie. (.. in a good-for-Bowie way, that is.) I speculate that it would have been flat and dull without Bowie, and that makes it the correct answer because it's a wonderful record.

Mott the Hoople is also a good answer, but not correct.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Associates DEFINITELY to thread, as someone mentioned above...love 'em, though...

― Ian Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

That was me, and I'm a HUGE Associates fan, though the earliest stuff that tries it's hardest to be avant and baroque I don't like as much as the prime mid-period stuff, namely the post-punk genius of The Affectionate Punch(orig. version) and the synth-pop glory of Sulk(with all the singles attached.)

Special props to the Mackenzie sings Orboiding(sp?) single Ice Cream Factory, surely one of the most beautiful songs ever.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, the glorious wonderful Associates...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Not so much "best" as "obvious"......

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002HJV.01._PE8_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh whoops.....I didn't read the entirety of the question. The above Spacehog album is merely the work of Bowie-copyists.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Bowie did, however, 'discover'....

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002KJ1.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

But Dan, The Affectionate Punch is their first record.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:51 (twenty-one years ago)

but don't some of the singles from Fourth Drawer Down predate The Affectionate Punch?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure — though I knew at one time. I remember, either with these tracks or the Double Hipness ones, that they screwed some label by, like, releasing the demo and pocketing the advance, though. Oh, Billy...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

BTW, of the Fourth Drawer Down cuts, "Tell Me Easter's On Friday" is pretty terrific...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Musicians screwing labels? What was the world coming to?

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 1 July 2004 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I still love their cover of Boys Keep Swinging.

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

tvotr on stork and owl and blues from down here. i find the impression of bowie a bit silly/dissapointing. also a bit thesp-doing-thesp.

― p-noid (titchyschneiderMk2), Sunday, 8 February 2009 17:13 (seventeen years ago)

*affected baroque thesp-doing-thesp

― p-noid (titchyschneiderMk2), Sunday, 8 February 2009 17:18 (seventeen years ago)

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