Helloooo, senior citizen. MM-mm-mm. |
So...um...yeah. |
So after I got the Let's Dance album - which, aside from Nile Rodgers' fantastic production and Stevie Ray Vaughan's killer guitar work, is not actually that great - I picked up the landmark The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Which blew my freaking head off. Had I been, say, 14 in 1972 and not four, I totally would have been one of those glam bitches with sparkly eye shadow and platform shoes panting in the crowd at a Bowie concert. At four, that would have been somewhat unusual, I think.
(Here's a fun fact about your humble scribe: In 1983, I was simultaneously obsessed with the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Violent Femmes, and David Bowie. Please imagine how I chose to incorporate those influences into my wardrobe and general demeanor. Trust me, you're not even close to how bizarre it looked. Now imagine what it was like to be that person.)
Anyway, what I discovered is that listening to David Bowie's musical development is like getting a crash course in the past, present, and future of pop music. Not for nothing did they call him a chameleon. His command of musical genres, and his ability to transform his influences into a multi-media image circus that makes Lady Gaga look like a total pretender, remains pretty much unmatched. And holy crap, was he hot.
Christ in a sidecar, look at that. |
"Station to Station"
"Five Years"
"Life on Mars?"
"Heroes"
"Ziggy Stardust"
"Scary Monsters"
"The Man Who Sold the World"
"Watch That Man"
"Drive-in Saturday"
"Diamond Dogs"
"The Width of a Circle"
"Quicksand"
"Tonight"
"Sound and Vision"
"D.J."
"Teenage Wildlife"
P.S. Also, happy birthday to Elvis, who, if he had lived...would probably be dead by now.
I just LOVE bowie and he is getting better year after year.....wow! 10!
ReplyDeleteHe is like a wine, he gets better with age ... 65 and sexy
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