are they though? sailors fighting in the dancehall could totally be British
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 10:45 (twelve years ago) link
i think the thing is that the descriptions of these movies all code as "old" b-movies, that she lives somewhere crappy where there is one movie theater that plays these old b-movies because it is crappy and can't afford doesn't give a fuck about showing contemporary fare. it's probably during the day, i'm guessing
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 10:50 (twelve years ago) link
I think it ties into the faltering pre-Ziggy state of Bowie's career: Space Oddity was a false start, he hadn't quite made the leap into stardom, he's still a struggling songwriter (failing to write the English lyrics for the song that would become My Way) - just like the girl in the song has failed in her plans to run away from home, and the whole ludicrous Hollywood spectacle doesn't console her, just mocks her dreams of escape.
― Stevie T, Friday, 9 March 2012 10:52 (twelve years ago) link
She wants the escapism, but the films are rubbish and cliché driven.
― Mark G, Friday, 9 March 2012 10:55 (twelve years ago) link
so that second verse is… Bowie/girl poetic digression about rotten state of England, uk pop culture consumer thralldom?
― woof, Friday, 9 March 2012 11:13 (twelve years ago) link
It's just "I am the Walrus" type bol.
― Mark G, Friday, 9 March 2012 11:17 (twelve years ago) link
The post-1983 shutout in the top 60 is regrettable
David Bowie continued to make records after 1983? Far out. (Sorry--being a wiseguy.) More regrettable to me is that nothing from the Lower Third snuck in.
― clemenza, Friday, 9 March 2012 12:36 (twelve years ago) link
Only 3 other ppl voting for "Absolute Beginners" is just shocking. (I hadn't expected much support for "Looking for Water".)
― dorsalstop, Friday, 9 March 2012 12:38 (twelve years ago) link
It just occurred to me (seeing the date, d'oh) - that mugshot Moka posted was taken two days after the Nassau show in '76 that's included in the Station to Station reissue from last year.
― willem, Friday, 9 March 2012 12:58 (twelve years ago) link
A day later, at Madison Square Garden, still classy.http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Appearances/Concerts/1976/0326/JD02.jpg
― willem, Friday, 9 March 2012 12:59 (twelve years ago) link
1. Life on Mars?2. Ashes to Ashes3. Five Years4. Station to Station5. Rock n Roll Suicide6. The Bewlay Brothers7. Sweet Thing8. Lady Grinning Soul9. Fantastic Voyage10. Sound and Vision11. Yassassin12. Quicksand13. Look Back in Anger14. Sons of the Silent Age15. It's No Game (Part 2)16. The Secret Life of Arabia17. Changes18. Absolute Beginners19. African Night Flight20. Golden Years
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 15:28 (twelve years ago) link
1. Starman2. Life On Mars?3. Oh! You Pretty Things 4. Ziggy Stardust5. Lady Stardust 6. Cracked Actor7. Heroes8. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)9. Bewlay Brothers 10. Quicksand 11. Lady Grinning Soul12. Prettiest Star 13. Young Americans14. Rock 'n' Roll Suicide 15. Stay16. Time17. TVC 1518. John, I'm Only Dancing 19. Watch That Man20. Five Years
Changes accidentally ommitted. Painfullest cuts, iirc:
Hallo SpaceboyPanic In DetroitModern LoveJean GenieMoonage DaydreamAshes to AshesStation to Station
I'd have put Stay higher id I'd listened to it before I submitted, but I'm still happy with Starman at #1. It makes me smile all over my body.
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
regarding what "Life on Mars?" is about: http://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/life-on-mars/
― horseshoe, Friday, 9 March 2012 15:48 (twelve years ago) link
I honested figured ILX's love for Berlin-era Bowie would place Station to Station and Heroes above Life on Mars, but I always believed it would be in the top three... my local Bowie universe has always regarded Hunky Dory as his finest work (I remember late night diner arguments over Hunky Dory vs. Aladdin Sane, me arguing the latter) and Life on Mars is the shorthand for that record.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:10 (twelve years ago) link
honestly. honestly!
I like Aladdin Sane heaps better than Hunky Dory. It hangs together better and doesn't have any songs on it that make my teeth hurt. Some of HD is just horrible. However there is a certain softness (warm and upbeat like in Starman or wistful and strange like in Bewlay Brothers) that you don't really hear again. When it's good, it's really good?
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
What part of HD is horrible? "Fill Your Heart"?
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:29 (twelve years ago) link
I like Fill Your Heart!
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:31 (twelve years ago) link
I don't like Fill Your Heart.
Also I am no fan of Andy Warhol or Song for Bob Dylan, cute & clever once but very grating after 30 years, and for some reason Kooks rubs me up the wrong way lately too.
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
B-b-b-but that dead-on guitar playing on Andy Warhol!
― Feebs K-Tel (NickB), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
Our criteria at the time was admittedly... very high school. Although since the Ryko reissues were just released, we actually had access to his entire catalog! Space Oddity was rejected out of hand for reeking of hippy and the sixties, Ziggy Stardust was "too popular" although what that meant in real terms I don't know since there were about six Bowie fans in our entire high school, most of them teachers. So the battle lines were something like Man Who Sold the World/Hunky Dory vs. Aladdin Sane/Low. Eventually somebody got a copy of Station to Station and attempts at narrative were abandoned.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
I agree--Fill Your Heart, Kooks, Warhol, and Dylan are stinkers!
― Iago Galdston, Friday, 9 March 2012 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
No! Warhol is great!
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 9 March 2012 16:42 (twelve years ago) link
It's DELIBERATELY ANNOYING!
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
Kooks is just a nice place to be
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:44 (twelve years ago) link
'Andy Warhol' is clearly where Metallica stole one of the riffs in 'Master Of Puppets' from.
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
"Andy sleeping/ Andy tired/ Andy take a little snooze"
Don't know why, but i find it hilarious.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
I used to think it was funny, but I've heard it too many times for the childish humour *or* the natty guitar to overcome the oh-god-so-annoying vocals.
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCf3xa5tYKM
― "marvellously inoffensive" (Eazy), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
I should 'fess that HD, as well as being an old favourite in its own right, is one of my writing-to albums, which means I might have overplayed it, just a touch. Same goes for Aladdin Sane, Ziggy and Diamond Dogs. You sure notice which songs work for you when you've got them on rotation for 6 weeks straight.
xpost
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
and for some reason Kooks rubs me up the wrong way lately too.
It's a song written for an audience of one: Zowie (two if you count Angie). In a way it annoys me in the same way Phil Collins' 'relationship' songs annoy me - I'm not the intended audience and I don't even want to eavesdrop on the situation, I feel awkward about it even.
― rain came down like water falling from the clouds (snoball), Friday, 9 March 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
Hunky Dory vs. Aladdin Sane
Both albums have some annoying tracks but Aladdin Sane has Mike Garson, so I give it the edge. I love them both, including all the annoying tracks.
― Brad C., Friday, 9 March 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
which reminds me of this, from way up thread:
"what are the most avant-garde/outside solos on pop singles?"Great thread idea!
Great thread idea!
^ otm
― Brad C., Friday, 9 March 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
thread idea inspired by Steely Dan's "Do It Again" btw, even though it wouldn't win the "most avant-garde solo" prize
― Carlos Pollomar (WmC), Friday, 9 March 2012 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyf0o6YS9t1qfkgyio1_500.jpg
― mookieproof, Friday, 9 March 2012 18:16 (twelve years ago) link
God, I love "Kooks." It's the song that more than any other made me reconsider my long-standing antipathy to Bowie. (Big fan of Changesone in high school, completely uninterested through my 20s and 30s, again a big fan of the dozen songs I voted for.)
― clemenza, Friday, 9 March 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican)
Yep, and they stole the phrase 'Leper Messiah' from 'Ziggy Stardust'. Obviously Jaymz is a closet Bowie fan.
Holy shit, the vicar in that Young Ones scene is Terry Jones? It's been yonks since I watched the Young Ones I never noticed that before.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 18:59 (twelve years ago) link
my dumbass all-hits ballot, classic rockist 2 the core and (unsurprisingly) non-ILX-canonical in that i gave v short shrift to station to station & the "berlin trilogy":
1) Suffragette City2) Ashes To Ashes3) Rebel Rebel (perhaps i overrate due to imagined spiritual kinship w bikini kill's "rebel girl")4) The Man Who Sold The World5) Space Oddity (not so much for now, but then)6) Cat People (long moroder version ftw*)7) Heroes8) All The Young Dudes9) Quicksand10) Starman (have no idea how this drek got on here, should have been "fame", smdh)11) Andy Warhol12) Is There Life On Mars?13) John, I'm Only Dancing14) Fashion15) Diamond Dogs16) Moonage Daydream17) Under Pressure18) Young Americans19) Let's Dance20) Modern Love
* there's supposedly a nine minute version of the bowie/moroder "cat people (putting out fire)" on an australian 12-inch. is this a myth? anyone have it/heard it?
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
I always liked Fill Your Heart anyway, but liked it even more when I heard the various ways that Bowie improved on the original. It's not like he made huge changes, but every one is perfect...
― dlp9001, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
I like every song on Hunky Dory TBH.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Friday, 9 March 2012 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
3 of my favorites that didn't make it:
Let Me Sleep Beside youMemory Of A Free FestivalUnwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
1.Life On Mars?2.Time3.Cat People (Soundtrack)4.Modern Love5.Breaking Glass6.Drive In Saturday7.Oh! You Pretty Things8. Warszawa9.Time Will Crawl10.Suffragette City11.Ashes To Ashes12.Young Americans13.Panic In Detroit14. Art Decade15.Watch That Man16."Heroes"17.Ziggy Stardust18.Fame '90 (was not tied to this particular version)19.Space Oddity20.Cracked Actor
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
nine minute cat people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvrXkOeu-ss
― fit and working again, Friday, 9 March 2012 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
eek sorry for the embed
so so worth it though!
― sarahell, Friday, 9 March 2012 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
o shit! couldn't find it the last time i looked (which was apparently quite some time ago). ^-_-^
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
just needs this as an intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPP1i2YrrfA
― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Friday, 9 March 2012 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
i think his singing got better with aladdin sane. i don't like some of the more nasally vocals on the earlier stuff.
― riding on a cloud (blank), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
i think life on mars won cuz it's a fucking amazing song
― a little tiny crunk person (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:25 (twelve years ago) link
music crit gold ^^
― Also unknown as Zora (Surfing At Work), Friday, 9 March 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link