The Man Who Polled the World, aka DAVID BOWIE POLL RESULTS

Knew this would be high, and would have been happy with it beating my #1 (which was Heroes). What now?

This was my #3! One of my favourite opening tracks to one of my favourite albums ever made.

I love his look in this Christine F. clip of "Station To Station":

http://youtu.be/KxtqJxq2yck

12 first-place votes

too low!

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, March 8, 2012 6:32 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), 2012. ožujak 08 19:35 (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

too low!

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, March 8, 2012 6:32 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), 2012. ožujak 08 19:35 (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― gospodin simmel, Thursday, March 8, 2012 1:37 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ad infinitum

TOO HIGH! (in every sense)

A bazillion xposts, but this clip of Iggy Pop and Lenny Kravitz doing "Rebel Rebel" should forever be held against any measure of the song's greatness:

http://youtu.be/GLxirL-fOz4

btw I posted links upthread to the pushing ahead entries for the first couple of days of tracks, will do a full set when it's through.

confession - bowie isn't always my favourite artist to listen to (got a bit stuck for a fifth album in my ballot tbh), but I do think he is more or less the most interesting person to think about and read about and watch in rock, or rock canon or popular music or something.

S2S quite incredible. I put it too low, can't remember why.

xpost:

I'm sorely resisting temptation to click on that link!

Resisting temptation to post top 3 all at once!

Station To Station my number 1 by an amazingly huge margin.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, March 8, 2012 12:33 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too. one of the greatest songs recorded in history.

confession - bowie isn't always my favourite artist to listen to (got a bit stuck for a fifth album in my ballot tbh), but I do think he is more or less the most interesting person to think about and read about and watch in rock, or rock canon or popular music or something.

― woof, Thursday, March 8, 2012 6:40 PM (1 minute ago)

Get out!

I'll confess - I'm stuck on what one of the last 3 is.

Don't post them all. At least one more by itself.

Am I right in thinking that China Girl got shut out here?

Am I right in thinking that China Girl got shut out here?

― Feebs K-Tel (NickB), Thursday, March 8, 2012 12:46 PM (1 second ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

iggy's version is way better IMO

xp Oh, I won't. Definitely going to let y'all bathe in your own adrenaline for 20 minutes before #1.

So "Sound and Vision" is in the top 3 right?

iggy's version is way better IMO

OTM

xp Bbbbbut I gotta leave in about half an hour!

I think so. I had high hopes for a song that I cannot imagine is gonna place now, pretty sure I know what's up next (though no idea about the order).

I really thought once Heroes went down that Station to Station was it.

I think so was in relation to China Girl getting shut out BTW

Can't guarantee I'll finish in half an hour, but here's #3.

3. "Sound and Vision" (from Low) - 1272 votes/50 votes/2 first-place votes

Album: http://youtu.be/6IJsAuUgSgc
Live by Request, 2002: http://youtu.be/GYEOlxcirX0

Don't really understand that. Sorry.

some amazing stuff which got shut out, 'Memories of a Free Festival', 'Jump They Say', 'Strangers When We Meet'. Unless they've miraculously sneaked in at the end.

loved this progression:

Heroes - 1213/48/6
S2S - 1250/42/12
S+V - 1272/50/2

i think "sound and vision" would have been my number 1

S&V is NEAR PERFECTION, a masterclass in deceptive simplicity. All the elements seem like they could come from completely different songs yet they slot perfectly into place, one by one. The funky bass, the rockin' drums, the slightly more staid guitar. The synth that descends from heaven like a chariot of the gods, and the girl-group throwback 'doo-doo-doos'. Even the saxophone blundering in like a drunken pantomime horse, I just want to give it a big hug. And finally Bowie himself, low and soft and close, welcoming you in to his reverie.

I'd only change two things about it: make it twice as long - or one hundred times as long; and get rid of that fucking cymbal that dominates the left channel - seriously when someone pointed that out it almost ruined the song for me.

Good song. Here's the David Bowie vs. 808 State version I would hear at parties in late '91/early '92:

http://youtu.be/1X6UR6E9xXk

sound and vision just seems really out of place in this top 5 alongside all the big theatrical weird epic tracks. it's nice, but it's kind of simple, breezy, and straightforward and i'm not entirely sure how it came to be one of his most highly regarded songs

what's wrong with simplicity when it's perfect

blue blue electric blue
that's the color of my room
where i will live
(blue blue)

The snare sound on "Sound & Vision" (and the rest of Low, obviously) was by far the best of Bowie's career.

yeah i like the song, i'm just trying to point out how different it looks placed alongside the other 4 (since we all know what the top 2 are)

Testament to Bowie's chameleon career.

My #4 -- I wish I'd switched it with my 2nd spot now.

My #2. Such a great song, doesn't need the bombast at all to great.

I'm kinda with ciderpress on this one. I love this song to bits, but I don't quite know how it came above many, MANY songs in this poll. It didn't make my ballot.

50 votes

well i mean you guys voted "beauty and the beast" all the way down at number 57 or something, when it clearly should have been higher. this is what happens with polls.

One of the top two I don't get the love for btw. I hope the other wins.

^ seconded but I feel like we probably each like the opposite

I think probably so

sound and vision is like going to a spa or something, feels like a fancy song

i don't want to give anything away, but there may be a planet involved

Re: S&V, I actually prefer the 1990 remix (unlike "Fame", "Look back in anger")

One of the top two I don't get the love for btw. I hope the other wins.
^this, although I dunno if we mean the same 'other'. In my case, the other was my #1.

xposts

my #6. Has a kind of calmness, clarity and balance that's not really in much else by him. Loved it as a single on compilations, and later loved how it sits in Low - frenzy, depression, fragments all around it, but there's this one precise, perfect thought sitting there.

'Heroes' is Bowie's 'Purple Rain'...never particularly liked either...kinda bummed at some of these placings but hey whaddayaiknow