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
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:54 (twelve years ago) link
what's wrong with simplicity when it's perfect
― horseshoe, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:55 (twelve years ago) link
blue blue electric bluethat's the color of my roomwhere 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.
― we can be gyros just for one day (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:56 (twelve years ago) link
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)
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:56 (twelve years ago) link
Testament to Bowie's chameleon career.
― ledge, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
My #4 -- I wish I'd switched it with my 2nd spot now.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
My #2. Such a great song, doesn't need the bombast at all to great.
― grandavis, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:57 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
50 votes
― grandavis, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 8 March 2012 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
One of the top two I don't get the love for btw. I hope the other wins.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
^ seconded but I feel like we probably each like the opposite
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
I think probably so
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
sound and vision is like going to a spa or something, feels like a fancy song
― the wild eyed boy from soundcloud (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
i don't want to give anything away, but there may be a planet involved
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
Re: S&V, I actually prefer the 1990 remix (unlike "Fame", "Look back in anger")
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
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
― Jeff W, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:03 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― woof, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:03 (twelve years ago) link
'Heroes' is Bowie's 'Purple Rain'...never particularly liked either...kinda bummed at some of these placings but hey whaddayaiknow
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:03 (twelve years ago) link
I'm really nervous
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
i don't understand what you mean unless you just mean they're both "big songs." they don't seem similar in other ways.
xp
― horseshoe, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
Hah, it is a fancy song. Wonder just what that blue room would look like.
― grandavis, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
― woof, Thursday, March 8, 2012 1:03 PM (6 seconds ago)
I agree with this strenuously.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
'Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy'?
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
Let's see if everybody's guesses are right.
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
2. "Ashes to Ashes" (from Scary Monsters) - 1367 points/51 votes/2 first-place votes
Album: http://youtu.be/j-IkC3isMocLive at the Beeb, 2000: http://youtu.be/6Q3r6fkZTpkLive by Request: http://youtu.be/unuo-fdhbXs
'Sound & Vision' is Bowie's 'Coffee and TV'
― c'est ne pas un car wash (snoball), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
They are kinda of both there big bombastic songs and there both a bit dirge like and the 2 songs that always get trotted out...
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
Awwwwwwww crapola.
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:07 (twelve years ago) link
I was 8 years old when Ahses to Ashes would have been getting radio play. Definitely more than enough mystical freakish weirdness in the music, lyrics, and video for a kid that age. I think it's part of my subconscious now. Was my #3, could've been my #1. Should've been my #2 at least, instead of S&V.
― ledge, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
Asses to Asses.
Gah, wrong one!
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
i was really blown away to find out that ashes to ashes was a hit single, it's one of the weirdest, least cohesive pop songs ever written
it's so good
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
life on mars is number one then for sure huh?
― the wild eyed boy from soundcloud (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
British time-time-travelling cop show 1-2?
― Mike Love Costume Jewelry on Etsy (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
Ashes to Ashes was my #1. It's perfect.
― nate woolls, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
"Ashes to ashes" got bumped from my ballot at the last second but I would've put it #1 in a heartbeat if I'd known anybody cared about a crappy Sinatra ripoff
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I was 7 when this was on the radio, and it fucking mystified me for sure. I would totally stop what I was doing when it came on the radio. My #4, great great song.
― grandavis, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
I love the clever little hocket at the end. A three-bar chord progression with a four-bar lyric
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
it is a good song, but i am kind of surprised it placed so high! maybe i'm missing something
― horseshoe, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
My #16!
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
The bowiesongs entry is OTM about how weird the arrangement is... I didn't vote for it but it's an amazing song.
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
Funny thing is I always thought I hated Ashes To Ashes, but walking around with it on headphones recently I couldn't deny it. It's brilliant.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
the synthpads at the end are so unsettling
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
iirc "Ashes to ashes" and "Heroes" were routinely #1 and #2 on Bowie Usenet polls in the 90s
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
I cut Ashes to Ashes because I knew it would be ok without me. Was right!
Also horseshoe -- if you did not vote, you should have :-/
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
As a kid that "I've never done good things, I've only done bad things" line really got me. As well as the "You better not mess with Major Tom" bit at the end, which of course didn't make any sense to me, but made it all the more creepy.
― grandavis, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
like everything about the song is askew...the verse is in a different key than the funky intro bit and comes in halfway through a bar, the bridge is completely different in the first and second verses, etc
― ciderpress, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
i totally should have voted.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 8 March 2012 19:15 (twelve years ago) link