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

how weird Ashes To Ashes seemed when you only heard it on the radio and knew it was by the same guy as Space Oddity.

I put 'The Laughing Gnome' on a mix tape I made for someone ages ago. He had no idea who it was and freaked out when I told him it was DB.

I am surprised Up The Hill Backwards didn't place. I didn't vote for it myself but I though there was a lot of love for it.

20. You've Got A Habit Of Leaving

― willem, Thursday, March 8, 2012 2:43 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Aha! I knew I wouldn't be the only one! Great Who pastiche.

Can I just say that I thought my numbers had totally gone through a blender and come out wrong when "Life on Mars" came out on top. Completely baffled. The song had never been on my radar until voting opened for this.

DL:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Alm9ijj_zohtdEE3cnJuQmpxRG81amdfWVZPaDg0Vmc

Songs
1. “Heroes”
2. Life On Mars?
3. Changes
4. Suffragette City
5. Diamond Dogs
6. Under Pressure
7. Ashes To Ashes
8. Starman
9. Black Country Rock
10. Boys Keep Swinging
11. Beauty And The Beast
12. Red Sails
13. Rebel Rebel
14. Strangers When We Meet
15. V-2 Schneider
16. All The Young Dudes
17. Five Years
18. Let’s Dance
19. Sound And Vision
20. TVC 15

Albums
1. Heroes
2. Low
3. Lodger
4. Ziggy Stardust
5. Hunky Dory

Didn't relisten to Low before voting; S&V would have been WAY higher. It's so sad; he's so miserable he's locked himself in a blue room and he can't see or hear. Amazing song.

My ballot:
Breaking Glass
Aladdin Sane
Ashes to Ashes
Sound and Vision
All the Young Dudes
Fashion
Moonage Daydream
The Man Who Sold the World
Sons of the Silent Age
Fame
Golden Years
Win
John, I’m Only Dancing
Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)
Art Decade
Wild is the Wind
Life on Mars?
Yassassin
Panic in Detroit
I Dig Everything

albums:
Low
Heroes
Ziggy
Young Americans
Scary Monsters

If this had been a 30 vote ballot, I'd have thrown in "I Dig Everything". I like the Bowie/Tony Hatch stuff.

That one just leapt out at me from the early days.

Hardest stanned tracks (score/votes. leaving out tracks that only got 1 or 2 votes)

1) 29.76 (1250/42) Station to Station
2) 29.67 (356/12) Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)
3) 28.80 (288/10) Word on a Wing
4) 27.89 (251/9) Joe the Lion
5) 26.80 (1367/51) Ashes to Ashes
6) 26.60 (1463/55) Life on Mars
7) 25.50 (663/26) Suffragette City
8) 25.44 (1272/50) Sound and Vision
9) 25.33 (608/24) Be My Wife
10) 25.27 (1213/48) "Heroes"

I was right about StS probably out-stanning the Sweet Thing suite upthread :-)

Here's a top ten of albums based a total number of points all the songs from each album received:
1. Hunky Dory (4370)
2. Low (4106)
3. Station to Station (3731)
4. Ziggy Stardust (3711)
5. Scary Monsters (2712)
6. Heroes (2698)
7. Aladdin Sane (2280)
8. Lodger (2010)
9. Young Americans (1692)
10. Diamond Dogs (1577)

x-post to Tarfumes - Yeah, lots of love for mod-Bowie here! Got that Lower Third/Mannish Boys 10", think it's a 80's reissue iirc.

hahaha, I was wondering who the other person was that voted for "I Dig Everything." Awesome. Much thanks again for your work in tallying and presenting the poll!

yay statistics :-)

Off to hunt a late lunch, have fun datamining!

Those that love Word on a Wing really love it.

I just want to post this lovely picture
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/3079898529_063e8028bb.jpg

Those that love Word on a Wing really love it.

― kraudive, Thursday, March 8, 2012 8:16 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is very true for me!

My favourite Bowie pic - always see this when I hear Kooks:
http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg60z2ab5i1qc7qvfo1_400.jpg

My lists

Tracks
Station To Station
Sound And Vision
Ashes to Ashes
Be My Wife
Life On Mars?
Kooks
Young Americans
The Jean Genie
Teenage Wildlife
Diamond Dogs
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Moonage Daydream
Everyone Says Hi
I Have Not Been To Oxford Town
Letter To Hermione
Little Wonder
Dead Against It
Breaking Glass
Bring Me The Disco King
Maid Of Bond Street

Albums
Station To Station
Low
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars
1. Outside

xp re WoaW - My #1. I think I said - er, exclaimed - a few days ago as much. I was disappointed it was so low, but it's nice to see that stat.

my ballot:

1. David Bowie & Mick Jagger - "Dancing In The Street"

my mans

i'm genuinely regretful that i didn't include it on my ballot in between "Magic Dance" and "Little Drummer Boy"

Here's my ballot;

Win
Five Years
Golden Years
Sound and Vision
Station To Station
Janine
Panic In Detroit ('73)
Drive In Saturday
TVC 15
Watch That Man
What In The World
Young Americans
Black Country Rock
A New Career In A New Town
Life On Mars?
Rebel Rebel
Move On
Oh! You Pretty Things
The Bewlay Brothers
Repetition

nice, korn--i'm into janine slipped in there!

This would have been my ballot but i left it too late to enter it,ah well next time.Of course by then it wiil be completely different.

Top 20 songs

1 Alternative Candidate
2 Conversation Piece
3 T.M.W.S.T.W
4 An Occasional Dream
5 Queen Bitch
6 Starman
7 Teenage Wildlife
8 Fantastic Voyage
9 Drive In Saturday
10 Ashes To Ashes
11 TVC15
12 Silly Boy Blue
13 Be My Wife
14 There Is A Happy Land
15 Letter To Hermonine
16 Loving The Alien
17 Lady Grinning Soul
18 Black Country Rock
19 V-2 Schneider
20 Win

Top 5 albums

1 Diamond Dogs
2 Ziggy Stardust
3 Aladdinsane
4 Hunky Dory
5 T.M.W.S.T.W

The crazy thing is you could strike these 60 songs from Bowie's catalogue and still have an enviable supply of gold, "Width of a circle", "Hang onto yourself", "Watch that man", "The supermen", "China girl", etc. etc.

Yeah, whoever said these songs were all winners was pretty OTM.

whoa... no China Girl. didnt even notice til just now

iggy's version is superior

i love both!

"Width of a Circle" almost made it onto my ballot

Stevie T, that is a fantastic pic: "Bowie's wearing a great jacket - oh, hang on..."

nice, korn--i'm into janine slipped in there!

Yes! In it's own way, it's a perfect song.

If I could do it again I would rank my Lodger picks higher

Golden Years
Holy Holy
Ashes to Ashes
Young Americans
Station to Station
Starman
Boys Keep Swingin
TVC15
Win
Life on Mars
Look Back in Anger
Moonage Daydream
Speed of Life
It's No Game (part 1)
Red Sails
What in the World
Repetition
Beauty and the Beast
The Man Who Sold the World
Fame

fame
young americans
modern love
changes
ashes to ashes
station to station
always crashing in the same car
golden years
drive in saturday
moonage daydream
a new career in a new town
sound and vision
tvc
under pressure
the jean genie
lady grinning soul
subterraneans
watch that man
the man who sold the world
win

This has been a great exercise and over the last few days I've been listening to things I haven't heard in years or never before and so I'm not going to post my ballot cos I'd change 75% of it now. Anyway, Be My Wife was my #1.

I think the highest-placed song that I didn't vote for at all was Sound & Vision (fatigue!) and my highest-placed tune that didn't make the top 60 was Jump They Say.

What a life.

A couple of final questions/impressions, now that I'm jammed full of chicken curry and don't want to gnaw my own arm off:

• Why the hell did "Life on Mars" win? Did the TV show(s) give it a higher profile than it would have had otherwise? I like the song well enough, but from my vantage point (late 40s/US/rural) it was invisible until 10 days ago. Did it do better among voters east of the Atlantic compared to the US?

• The post-1983 shutout in the top 60 is regrettable. There is a lot of really good material from the last 29(!) years. Ultimately I'd characterize the top 60 as a whole 60% Strength of 70s Catalog/40% LOL Nostalgia. Maybe that's too harsh?

In answer to the second question, I think that Bowie's 70's catalogue is a) so strong and b) so varied, that even if he hadn't have had that sucky period in the early 80's the percentages would have been about the same.

Although now I've got to disagree that I don't think it's 40% LOL Nostalgia - more like 10%. The older stuff is dope, no feelings of nostalgia needed.

The Life Aquatic might have something to do w it.

Meaningful Bill Murray smoking a J

My mostly singles heavy ballot (been appreciating the albums a lot more, no small thanks to this poll, but the radio friendly stuff has been burnt into my brain since childhood, not sure it will ever be surpassed):

Station to Station
Sound and Vision
Ashes to Ashes
Life on Mars
Five Years
Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold the World
Heroes
Changes
Oh You Pretty Things
Starman
Look Back in Anger
Ziggy Stardust
Rebel Rebel
Young Americans
China Girl
Let's Dance
Suffragette City
Fame
Under Pressure

Albums:

Station to Station
Hunky Dory
Low
Ziggy Stardust
Let's Dance

I'm mid-40s/US/urban and iI didn't hesitate for a second putting Life on Mars? as my favorite: a) epic and cinematic b) incredible arrangement and Rick Wakeman's piano c) the generosity of spirit--no glacial distancing here--it's kind of a love letter to his fans ultimately

I would have said, as a UK radio listener from the late 70s on, that Life on Mars has always been high profile over here.

The US TV show was cancelled after less than a season, so I can't imagine it made much of an impact in terms of vast numbers of people suddenly becoming aware of the song. I didn't hear it myself until 1991, and while it's definitely a standout on Hunky Dory, it didn't knock me out as much as about 5 other songs on that record.

It's on here, that's pretty high profile, right?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-SingStar-Legends-Solus-PS2/dp/B000HKBAUC

If my flatmates weren't in I'd go and bust out a version right now.

Life On Mars has always really annoyed me and now I'm going to have to go away and figure out why. Have seemingly known that song since I was aware of pop music so yes, what ledge said about its high profile over here.

IIRC, "Life On Mars?" has popped up in some other movies and trailers (besides Zissou, in which tbh I thought it was used poorly). Hunky Dory's stock has risen in recent years and I think to many it's THE SONG on the album.

I should recognize my own hypocrisy here and note that there's nothing on my ballot newer than "Ashes to Ashes".

xps -- ah, I haven't seen The Life Aquatic yet, so that solves a bit of the mystery for me.

I think its singularity counts for a lot--the other major songs on HD have counterparts elsewhere (or on the same album!)