“…and we’re gonna have a party…”
This weekend,
all of the bloggers residing at Chez Gunther (both of them) are in the mood to
play music, and not just any old music. We’ll pay our respects to David Bowie with what I believe is an
excellent selection of music videos.
Warrior Queen has already posted her choices.
My
selections highlight Bowie in three of his more definitive phases – pre-glam,
glam, and post-glam, admittedly in no particular order.
Starman…always
reminds me of my mom’s fourth cousin, Robert Overmyer, who flew two shuttle
missions. I never had the opportunity to
meet him, but it’s nice to know that some relation - no matter how distant - did do
some important work to further the human race’s endeavors.
Under
Pressure…I don’t believe any of the tributes to Bowie this week mentioned this
masterpiece, a duet with the British rock group Queen. This is too good to be overlooked.
Memory of a
Free Festival…very early Bowie, the song at the end of Space Oddity. It’s been compared to Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil, but I don’t know. I think it’s closer to Hey Jude in structure, particularly with the
words “the sun machine is coming down/and we’re gonna have a party,” swirling
around for over three minutes into the song’s final fade out. The video images are a nice collage to
Bowie’s career.
Who can
argue with that sentiment?
(Thank you
for reading…and listening!)
posted by todd gunther | 7:08 AM
6 Comments:
Reading, yes, RTG, but sadly no listening for me on this defective computer. But I get your gist.
I also like 'Under Pressure'.
Another I'd nominate is 'Absolute Beginners' which got to #2 here in '85, (#53 in U.S.!) but had the misfortune to be the title music to a widely derided film of the same title, a film which I actually liked a lot.
Then whenever I hear 'Ashes to Ashes' - a chart topper here in 1980 but didn't chart at all over there - I get goose bumps whenever I hear its slowly shifting bass line. I think this would be my ultimate choice.
(I ought to have put these on my reply to W.Q.s blog but only thought about it later.)
Enjoy your 'party' - but do go steady!
I enjoyed looking at the retrospective photos in the last video - he certainly was nice to look at wasn't he. His looks and costuming played as much a part in his success as the music. I think Bowie was ALL colours of the rainbow.
If you like "Under Pressure" (and who doesn't) have you seen the David Bowie/Annie Lennox duo from the tribute to Freddie Mercury?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCP2-Bfhy04
~ Freckles
Hi Raybeard, sorry you can't fully partake in our 'party', but you understand.
I lived in rural Pennsylvania as a teenager and our radio choices were country music or Top 40. Bowie wasn't even heard on Bloomsburg Top 40 station until he released Fame (!). Suffice to say, i didn't even know about Ashes to Ashes until I saw it listed on Changestwobowie. Absolute Beginners got a fair amount of airplay on the AOR stations, but yes, it died a quick death along with the movie.
Thank you, Freckles, for the tip. I'll check it out.
In response to your previous post:
My top three TV series -- and as I have lived most of my adult life without TV, this is saying something (thank you, HULU!) -- are, in no particular order:
Northern Exposure
Glee
Melrose Place
In response to this post:
Thank you, David Bowie, for showing me, a young high school kid in the 70s, that it was cool to be glam! RIP, Ziggy Stardust...
no argument here!
I have to agree with the Queen pairing. That is my favorite Bowie work.
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