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

it is a good song, but i am kind of surprised it placed so high! maybe i'm missing something

My #16!

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

The bowiesongs entry is OTM about how weird the arrangement is... I didn't vote for it but it's an amazing song.

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.

the synthpads at the end are so unsettling

iirc "Ashes to ashes" and "Heroes" were routinely #1 and #2 on Bowie Usenet polls in the 90s

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 :-/

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.

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

i totally should have voted.

i have memories of ashes to ashes as a little kid but i was confused so much because there was that other "major tom" song and i obviously didn't even know "space oddity" so i thought major tom was some real person or something who i didn't know

it was all mysterious

tbh the idea of ranking bowie songs vis-a-vis each other seemed impossible

Think I first heard "Ashes to Ashes" as a teenager around 1997. What's weird is how out-of-time it sounds - if you'd never heard song or artist before there's no way your brain would say "early 80s" based on the production. It sounds a lot more like what was on the radio in 1997 than in 1980.

The bit in the video where he's sitting in an ejection seat in the middle of a suburban kitchen was just o_O to me as a kid.

If Ashes To Ashes loses by one point...

...to The Laughing Gnome?

fingers crossed

Ashes to Ashes has some mutant Al Green falsetto stuff in it.

that would be ideal

Old lady chattering enthusiastically to sullen Major Tom on beach = greatest image ever.

OK! The big finish.

tbh the idea of ranking bowie songs vis-a-vis each other seemed impossible

― horseshoe, Thursday, March 8, 2012 1:15 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark
true, but we all feel that way and we still did it!
i just went with purely emotional choices and hasty decisions -- probably made a lot of bad calls (look back in anger is better than cygnet committee...I GUESS) but who cares. no one is going to hang me by my ballot, at least i hope not!

Jeez, almost posted it on the Paul Simon thread.

Old lady chattering enthusiastically to sullen Major Tom on beach = greatest image ever.

That's not Major Tom, that's uh... the Pierrot. Who he is, idk.

xxp Bowie Holy Holy Wars

1. "Life on Mars?" (from Hunky Dory) - 1463 points/55 votes/4 first-place votes

Official video: http://youtu.be/v--IqqusnNQ
at Fashion Rocks, 2005: http://youtu.be/HIFmNRDuM3Y

SAY-looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooors fighting-in-the-dance-hall

(this was my #6)

always thought it was Major Tom as Pierrot.

I never thought this would win.

Ah, there it is! My #1!

i was obsessed with "life on mars?" as a teenager and now i feel like i've lost that feeling of thunderstruck-ness at it. hate to be predictable, but the bowiesongs post on it is excellent.

My #20, but glad it's #1.

best poll ever.
ta muchly for all the effort wmc !
i didn't send in a sub cos i couldn't break down my faves.
every single track in this list could be a top 5 for me.
simple as that.

xxxxp He seems to be more a commentator than an alter-ego but yeah maybe.

Bonus video: Bowie sees into the future, notices this poll, and performs both of the top 2 on The Tonight Show in 1980:

http://youtu.be/NkefglL9c4c

Thanks wmc! Now I can go to the pub.

Thanks for doing this WmC!

I've always been fond of the chord changes in 'Life On Mars?', and of course Wakeman's piano playing.

Wonderful job WmC, and great votes all around. Kudos to all who participated.

xxxp b-b-but you'll miss the hours and hours of recriminations and arguments oh right *gets coat*

Life On Mars? was my #4.

Thanks WmC! You did a great job! Everyone's rolling out their picks now, correct? Thanks too for everyone not guessing their top fives or threes in advance, made it more suspenseful, at least for me

my ballot, fwiw:

1. Life On Mars? (#1)
2. Word On A Wing (#45)
3. Station To Station (#4)
4. Look Back In Anger (#19)
5. Be My Wife (#14)
6. Stay (#22)
7. Red Sails (did not place)
8. Rebel Rebel (#10)
9. Fashion (#32)
10. Subterraneans (did not place)
11. Starman (#18)
12. "Heroes" (#5)
13. It's No Game (No. 1) (#40)
14. V-2 Schneider (did not place)
15. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (#49)
16. Ashes To Ashes (#2)
17. Fantastic Voyage (#39)
18. Blackout (#55)
19. Drive-In Saturday (#27)
20. Sons Of The Silent Age (#60)

Thanks WmC, this was fabulous.

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS

Totally LOVE LOVE LOVE his look in the "official video" -- the suit, the makeup, the colors, everything. it reminds me of when i went to work one day and my coworker told me i looked like liberace. i said no, i look like david bowie. <3 <3

excellent #1
thanks WmC for your diligence!!

Yay!!!! "Life on Mars?" was my #1 of course.

I'm really conflicted about "Ashes to Ashes". I like lots of little things about the song. But I can't really love it. Back in 1980, I didn't really understand it. And TBH I'm still not sure what Bowie is trying to say. (True of lots of Bowie songs, sure, but here the lyrics are so memorable you want to 'get' it. And I don't really.)

Favourite bit: the mumbly echo in the "I've never done good things" section.

Favourite parody (of song and video): Lufthansa Terminal.

Thanks WmC! Wonderful poll!

My #8, though easily could have been lower (sorry). Middle of my ballot got pretty arbitrary, but I do love this song. Happy enough with it at #1.

I've always been fond of the chord changes in 'Life On Mars?', and of course Wakeman's piano playing.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, March 8, 2012

That's because it's "My Way"...isn't that right? Doesn't he even give backhanded thanks to Sinatra in the liner notes? I think there was bad blood from Bowie to Sinatra for some reason, maybe the former wanted to play him in a biopic and Frank said something like, "not that pansy" or something?