Inspired by:
"Why Are SO Many Millennials SO Uncool": http://bit.ly/1OYsuX9
It's about the money.
They came for the record stores, then they came for the MP3s, everything we knew disappeared, we didn't know they were gonna take the music itself.
It started in the nineties.
Or maybe we've got to go back to the eighties for perspective.
The music business was in the dumper, disco killed corporate rock, and then a deejay in Chicago blew up dance records and revenue cratered. But at the deepest, darkest hour MTV came along to save the day.
And suddenly, along with the new technology known as the CD, record companies were rolling in dough. And when there's that much cash involved, you don't hand the wheel to someone who just got their license, you only let the experienced drive, and old men solidified their hold on the business and ironically they're still running it today, I mean you Doug Morris and Marty Bandier, and the acts have been supplanted by the execs, they're the ones who not only make all the money, but have all the power. Dr. Dre may be worth almost a billion, but as talented as he is he's got to credit Jimmy Iovine, who shepherded Beats to Apple, another moribund company run by the clueless.
Used to be different, that's what the classic rock revolution delivered, creative control, you cut the album in the studio of your choice and the label had no input, under contract they had to release it as is. Today they don't, and they'll make you work with a co-writer, cut the same damn track over and over again, and the so-called "artists" agree to it!
Why? Because they want to get rich. And they're too uneducated to take another path.
Mark Zuckerberg famously refused to relinquish control of Facebook to adults, he wanted to steer, he needed no supervision. Who are the twentysomethings running the music business? Don't say Scooter Braun, who took Wall Street money he could never pray to repay and has foisted the fake known as Justin Bieber upon us.
Justin's no different from what came before the Beatles. A pretty face who could sing. And since the audience has developing hormones, and knows no better, they embrace him. And want to be him. And everybody's on social media promoting themselves in the desire of being discovered, while those who truly change the world are going to school and studying engineering in their bedrooms. Nerds and outliers ultimately triumph, they're the only ones with the balls to do it differently. And eventually it'll be done differently in America when we all burn out on the pabulum being fed us and admit although hooky today's music has got the nutritional value of a Slurpee.
I mean what kind of fucked up world do we live in where the biggest star in America makes her bones speaking the truth, unveiling her teen warts in country music, and then hooks up with the songwriter/producer du jour to make music that sounds just like the rest of the crap on Top Forty. Sure, it sells. And that's now the only criterion that counts, if you're rich, if you make a lot of money, if you control the chart, you matter, we bow at your feet, if you don't, you're irrelevant. Take the road less traveled? Most people think there's only one road to go on!
But so many are disaffected with no future, with little upward mobility. That's what's turned the Presidential campaign topsy-turvy. But when it comes to art, we lionize the latest Max Martin record and J.J. Abrams's remake of "Star Wars." Hell, even George Lucas was pissed, wishing J.J. had pushed the envelope. George had to apologize for that, because we live in a fascist country where it's all groupthink all the time and if you say something negative, if you go against the grain, you're a pariah.
But that's what all the hit acts of yore did, challenge precepts, make us uncomfortable.
We've got a cultural problem, caused by money. As long as it's hard to make a good living, the educated middle class, or what's left of it, won't risk a future in the arts, they play it safe. Hell, when I graduated from college I was a ski bum, nobody I knew went to a job interview, but today if you don't start your career right after you get your diploma you've already been left behind!
And the parents reinforce the paradigm. Thinking going to college is all about getting a job as opposed to opening one's mind. Hell, most people's minds are closed, to truth, to insight, to anything that contradicts what they've been told previously. And isn't it interesting that the artists of yore were the leaders, who got us to smoke dope, question authority and end the Vietnam War while we were at it.
So I could tell you about a few hit records, champion the underdog and extol the virtues of those who've succeeded. But the truth is we all feel the malaise, the seamy underside, the feeling that what once was is here no longer. Hell, didn't David Bowie say if he started today he'd be in tech?
And as powerful as tech is, it's not art. Tech needs to be seamless, art has rough edges, it challenges us, it doesn't give us what we want, but what we need.
This can't go on forever. A revolution is gonna come. But it won't be led by wet behind the ears kids who can sing but can't write because they haven't had enough education, never mind enough experience, to have something to say.
And that something is gonna have to be the truth.
And although I don't agree with all the causes of the situation delineated in the above article, I must chuckle at the juxtaposition of Grace Slick and Beyonce. Grace was an upper middle class woman who had no problem challenging authority, she was all about exposing bad behavior, while behaving badly herself, whereas Beyonce is in bed with corporations like Pepsi, which makes people fat and sick, while being thin and squeaky clean herself. Isn't it funny that millennials have abandoned soft drinks, but the acts endorsing this crap believe their audience will suck it up.
Or they just want the check.
But the end result is there's no trust, there's no believability. When questioned, acts just say they're doing what it takes to get by, to feed their family.
Is that what Van Gogh said? John Lennon? Other than mercurial Gene Simmons, who owes what success he has to uber producer Bob Ezrin, responsible for Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Peter Gabriel's solo debut, none of the hit acts of yore paid penance to the man or the money. They prayed to a higher power.
When are we gonna pray to a higher power again?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Friday, 15 January 2016
Oscars/Rams
I just don't care.
I never go to the movies and I'll never see the Rams play live.
Despite media telling me I need to pay attention, the truth is I'm on my own subliminal trip to somewhere, as is everybody else, it's the twenty first century condition.
Used to be entertainment was scarce. And those who got to play in the sandbox took their jobs seriously. We hung on every word, these artists defined the culture. But today the public defines the culture, Instagram is more important than any movie at the multiplex, including "Star Wars."
Kind of like "25." Have you heard anybody discuss the music? When was the last time you heard the music? Is anybody even listening? You can dazzle me with sales figures, but on YouTube Adele doesn't rule. Media tells us she's the biggest thing in music, but she's not really that big at all.
I haven't got any time. Not only do I not make it to the theatre, I don't watch the flicks when they come to TV. The hype has evaporated and there's always something new, I can barely keep up with the present, never mind catch up with the past.
As for Kroenke moving his team to Inglewood, I'll watch a bit of the playoffs, go to a Super Bowl party, but I'm not dedicating months of my life to sitting in front of the screen watching men maim themselves for life. And the truth is, I'm on the bleeding edge. Boxing died, football has already peaked, the owners and the inane Commissioner have lost touch with the public, they think it's all about the money, that the audience just can't get enough. But even Depeche Mode can't sell out stadiums anymore.
As for movies, chasing foreign bucks they lost touch with the American mind. If I want a comic book, I'll read one. And I'm an adult and I don't want one. That's what happens when you chase the dollar, you lose your soul, and then the public wakes up and walks. Kind of like baseball, so-called "America's Pastime," I'll argue it shot itself in the foot when it put the World Series on at night. Too late for young 'uns to watch and no longer special. They stopped respecting the game. And then we did too.
Live long enough and you can see the arc, you can see that most things are fads, hell, even American auto manufacturers no longer dominate, I'd never buy any of their iron, I want my investment to last!
Then again, anybody with a buck is leasing, because they want the latest and the greatest all the time. Kind of like with smartphones. But Apple's stock has tanked because after you've got LTE, do you really need the latest iPhone? When does good become good enough? No, that's not the issue, when does the mobile phone become a commodity, when you can't tell the brands apart and the manufacturers can barely make money. That's right, look at all the TV dropouts, those who no longer make sets, the mobile area is coming next.
Unless there's innovation.
But it turns out everything hits a wall and then the public moves on to something new. Seemingly nobody under twenty one goes to Facebook anymore, Zuckerberg is smart enough to diversify, but if the big Kahuna can't last, what's the chance anything else will?
And the truth is we're all so overwhelmed that we're doubling down on our own lives, our own activities, our own friends. Sure, some want to get famous on social media, but the truth is we want to connect with our circle of friends, who are known only to us, that's who we want to impress.
And we've got the tools at our fingertips. We love being in charge. The record companies don't want to let us remix, talking about antiquated rights, not realizing it's all about public participation in the new era. Take Taylor Swift off of YouTube and her career goes in the dumper. Not only do people watch her videos for free, they do their own versions, they lip-synch. And after doing this and checking out the work of their peers do they have any time to go to the movies?
Well, some teens do.
But the rest of us wrote off the flicks long ago. We used to pay attention because we wanted to belong, have starting points of discussion. But now we just talk about apps. And the media is hung up on the election but the truth is the rank and file have given up on Washington, it hasn't done anything for them lately, so they've tuned out.
Or are angry. Hell, at least Bernie Sanders is a real person speaking the truth, what a breath of fresh air. And Trump ping-pongs in his message, but his lack of b.s. is appealing, in a world inundated with b.s.
Like with the Oscars.
I don't even watch anymore. I don't care who wears what and I'm sick of the insider attitude. Life today is about the big tent, including everyone, that's why tech is so successful, it scales.
The movies no longer scale. People talk about TV.
As for the NFL... Why not put a game on every night, why not burn the franchise out completely in pursuit of greed.
But the truth is the rich, and this applies not only to sports and entertainment, are living in a bubble, out of touch with you and me. They want us to believe they count, they create jobs, without them we would die. But the truth is we have a cornucopia of tools and information at our fingertips, and we like to play. We're sick of being dictated to.
The story isn't how white the Oscar nominees may be, but how the whole show and organization became unmoored from popular culture years ago. Want kids to watch? Have it hosted by PewDiePie!
As for color, Killer Mike's endorsement of Sanders is more meaningful than nominating another entertainer bitching about recognition. You earn your status in the trenches, not on the awards shows, and we respond to honesty, truth and smarts, which Killer Mike demonstrated on Bill Maher, check him out, he made me a fan nearly instantly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuntEJl8okY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz9uQ6ehujg
That's today's world. Not the triangulation of the Clintons, not adjusting your message based on polls, but being authentic, human, just like us.
And then we may embrace you.
We don't need a football team in Los Angeles. Hell, without one we get better games on TV.
And the only person I know who's seen all the Oscar nominees gets the screeners from their next door neighbor.
Something is happening here, and it's plenty clear, if you pull your head out of your rear end and walk the streets, surf the net. The people may not have the money, they may not run the corporation, but they own the culture. They're creating it every day online. That's where the action is.
We don't need your stinkin' entertainment!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
I never go to the movies and I'll never see the Rams play live.
Despite media telling me I need to pay attention, the truth is I'm on my own subliminal trip to somewhere, as is everybody else, it's the twenty first century condition.
Used to be entertainment was scarce. And those who got to play in the sandbox took their jobs seriously. We hung on every word, these artists defined the culture. But today the public defines the culture, Instagram is more important than any movie at the multiplex, including "Star Wars."
Kind of like "25." Have you heard anybody discuss the music? When was the last time you heard the music? Is anybody even listening? You can dazzle me with sales figures, but on YouTube Adele doesn't rule. Media tells us she's the biggest thing in music, but she's not really that big at all.
I haven't got any time. Not only do I not make it to the theatre, I don't watch the flicks when they come to TV. The hype has evaporated and there's always something new, I can barely keep up with the present, never mind catch up with the past.
As for Kroenke moving his team to Inglewood, I'll watch a bit of the playoffs, go to a Super Bowl party, but I'm not dedicating months of my life to sitting in front of the screen watching men maim themselves for life. And the truth is, I'm on the bleeding edge. Boxing died, football has already peaked, the owners and the inane Commissioner have lost touch with the public, they think it's all about the money, that the audience just can't get enough. But even Depeche Mode can't sell out stadiums anymore.
As for movies, chasing foreign bucks they lost touch with the American mind. If I want a comic book, I'll read one. And I'm an adult and I don't want one. That's what happens when you chase the dollar, you lose your soul, and then the public wakes up and walks. Kind of like baseball, so-called "America's Pastime," I'll argue it shot itself in the foot when it put the World Series on at night. Too late for young 'uns to watch and no longer special. They stopped respecting the game. And then we did too.
Live long enough and you can see the arc, you can see that most things are fads, hell, even American auto manufacturers no longer dominate, I'd never buy any of their iron, I want my investment to last!
Then again, anybody with a buck is leasing, because they want the latest and the greatest all the time. Kind of like with smartphones. But Apple's stock has tanked because after you've got LTE, do you really need the latest iPhone? When does good become good enough? No, that's not the issue, when does the mobile phone become a commodity, when you can't tell the brands apart and the manufacturers can barely make money. That's right, look at all the TV dropouts, those who no longer make sets, the mobile area is coming next.
Unless there's innovation.
But it turns out everything hits a wall and then the public moves on to something new. Seemingly nobody under twenty one goes to Facebook anymore, Zuckerberg is smart enough to diversify, but if the big Kahuna can't last, what's the chance anything else will?
And the truth is we're all so overwhelmed that we're doubling down on our own lives, our own activities, our own friends. Sure, some want to get famous on social media, but the truth is we want to connect with our circle of friends, who are known only to us, that's who we want to impress.
And we've got the tools at our fingertips. We love being in charge. The record companies don't want to let us remix, talking about antiquated rights, not realizing it's all about public participation in the new era. Take Taylor Swift off of YouTube and her career goes in the dumper. Not only do people watch her videos for free, they do their own versions, they lip-synch. And after doing this and checking out the work of their peers do they have any time to go to the movies?
Well, some teens do.
But the rest of us wrote off the flicks long ago. We used to pay attention because we wanted to belong, have starting points of discussion. But now we just talk about apps. And the media is hung up on the election but the truth is the rank and file have given up on Washington, it hasn't done anything for them lately, so they've tuned out.
Or are angry. Hell, at least Bernie Sanders is a real person speaking the truth, what a breath of fresh air. And Trump ping-pongs in his message, but his lack of b.s. is appealing, in a world inundated with b.s.
Like with the Oscars.
I don't even watch anymore. I don't care who wears what and I'm sick of the insider attitude. Life today is about the big tent, including everyone, that's why tech is so successful, it scales.
The movies no longer scale. People talk about TV.
As for the NFL... Why not put a game on every night, why not burn the franchise out completely in pursuit of greed.
But the truth is the rich, and this applies not only to sports and entertainment, are living in a bubble, out of touch with you and me. They want us to believe they count, they create jobs, without them we would die. But the truth is we have a cornucopia of tools and information at our fingertips, and we like to play. We're sick of being dictated to.
The story isn't how white the Oscar nominees may be, but how the whole show and organization became unmoored from popular culture years ago. Want kids to watch? Have it hosted by PewDiePie!
As for color, Killer Mike's endorsement of Sanders is more meaningful than nominating another entertainer bitching about recognition. You earn your status in the trenches, not on the awards shows, and we respond to honesty, truth and smarts, which Killer Mike demonstrated on Bill Maher, check him out, he made me a fan nearly instantly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuntEJl8okY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz9uQ6ehujg
That's today's world. Not the triangulation of the Clintons, not adjusting your message based on polls, but being authentic, human, just like us.
And then we may embrace you.
We don't need a football team in Los Angeles. Hell, without one we get better games on TV.
And the only person I know who's seen all the Oscar nominees gets the screeners from their next door neighbor.
Something is happening here, and it's plenty clear, if you pull your head out of your rear end and walk the streets, surf the net. The people may not have the money, they may not run the corporation, but they own the culture. They're creating it every day online. That's where the action is.
We don't need your stinkin' entertainment!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Thursday, 14 January 2016
Bowie Stories
HI Bob,
Bravo on your moving, evocative last lines about David Bowie. Reminded me of the last paragraph of Gatsby "And so we move on ... floating in a tin can." For a while it felt like he invented the world we lived in. He was certainly the most European of any of the UK rock stars. Who thought of Berlin as hip until he went there and gave this lost generation its theme song "Heroes." Never put on much of an accent when he sang. After I recorded my first album "Aquashow" I wanted him to produce the second so I sent him a letter via RCA. And it got to him! And the next time he was in New York he called me from the Sherry Netherlands Hotel, no assistant, no secretary, just picking up the phone and him saying "Hi, it's David Bowie." He invited me down to Electric Lady Studio for a listening party of his new album "David Live." It was during his MainMan era and the eclectic entourage was everything you might imagine. But it was my first contact with rock royalty and he was eloquent and elegant
and inspiring and so knowledgeable. He asked me what kind of album I wanted to make, I said like "Hunky Dory" but with more guitars. He laughed at that. Alas, he had to go off on tour so we never had the chance to work together. Judging by the careers of those he did work with (Lou, Iggy, Ian Hunter) it probably would have changed my life.
We will not see the likes of him again for a very long time.
Best regards,
Elliott Murphy
__________________________________________
Suicide !!! I was thinking that after seeing the "last photo" of David... The one where he's looking like William Burroughs. How do you pass two days after that pic? Wouldn't you be bedridden? Wouldn't you be so weak that you couldn't walk? He looked vibrant in that pic.
He was so special. I've worked with many artists. I spent almost a year on the road with him playing drums on the Glass Spider Tour. He really was/is a superstar. A classy guy. Charismatic, intelligent, considerate and the ultimate gentleman. He trusted all his musicians. He knew we would play for the songs and for him. Like soldiers guarding the fort. We backed him up and never let him down!
The fact that I was hearing his voice in my monitors every night was an unbelievable feeling. I actually had/have his records in my collection. I was and always will be a fan.
Did I mention he was funny? Well he was. After our first show in Brussels, back at the hotel, I got a phone call in my room. I answered "Hello," and the voice said "Hi Alan, it's David." There was no David in the crew, who can this be? So I said "David who?" He then answered, "The singer in the band, silly."
It was funny when it happened. David had never called me before and I just never expected it. He wanted to go out for a drink and wondered if I'd like to join him and one or two other band members. Ha! This became the norm about once a week.
So many stories. So many fantastic shows. David was the ultimate professional.
Can you imagine what an honor it was to play his songs?
An innovator, an alien possibly ; )
A great man. Like I've said and you said Bob, his music will live on forever.
Peace. Alan Childs
__________________________________________
Dear Bob,
This happens all the time. Cancer is not always a drawn-out ordeal that turns you into a skeleton. I've seen that awful version too but it can also be stealthy and quick. My husband had stage IV lung cancer, and you would never know it. The doctors didn't know it either. He felt unwell - aches and pains, out of breath - and it took them 5 months to find it. By then it was a terminal diagnosis - spread all over - but you would never know it to look at him. Even 6 months into treatment he felt well, we went hiking, made plans for the future, even his oncologist thought he could last for a long time...and then it spread to his brain and he was gone in 6 weeks.
(It's awful to speculate and none of our business but I'm putting my bet on lung cancer precisely because no one has said what kind. Lung cancer has so much stigma, as though the sufferers brought it on themselves. My husband never smoked but people always assume he did)
We might never know what happened to Bowie, but if he did get such a diagnosis 18 months ago he could either ignore The End or plan for it. And of course, he did what he did, and turned it into art. None of us know of course, but perhaps he knew it would get him eventually, and he executed this plan for that inevitable end, not knowing when it would be. His End could have been quick, or he could have aided it (but I would call that "assisted death" rather than "suicide") and I respect him immensely for directing, as much as one can, such a horrible fate.
My heartfelt condolences to his wife and children and especially his teenager daughter. I hope the world gives them space but the people who love them do not.
Our world has another hole in it.
Zoe Keating
__________________________________________
Bob -- In 1997, when my father was dying of cancer, he literally willed
himself to continue living until my brother was married. He should have
died the day before the nuptials, but he just kept going. Fifteen
minutes after the ceremony ended, he breathed his last. I suggest that
Bowie may have done the same thing. He was determined to keep living
until the album was released. Once it came out, he went.
Mind over matter.
Douglas C. Weinstein
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Bravo on your moving, evocative last lines about David Bowie. Reminded me of the last paragraph of Gatsby "And so we move on ... floating in a tin can." For a while it felt like he invented the world we lived in. He was certainly the most European of any of the UK rock stars. Who thought of Berlin as hip until he went there and gave this lost generation its theme song "Heroes." Never put on much of an accent when he sang. After I recorded my first album "Aquashow" I wanted him to produce the second so I sent him a letter via RCA. And it got to him! And the next time he was in New York he called me from the Sherry Netherlands Hotel, no assistant, no secretary, just picking up the phone and him saying "Hi, it's David Bowie." He invited me down to Electric Lady Studio for a listening party of his new album "David Live." It was during his MainMan era and the eclectic entourage was everything you might imagine. But it was my first contact with rock royalty and he was eloquent and elegant
and inspiring and so knowledgeable. He asked me what kind of album I wanted to make, I said like "Hunky Dory" but with more guitars. He laughed at that. Alas, he had to go off on tour so we never had the chance to work together. Judging by the careers of those he did work with (Lou, Iggy, Ian Hunter) it probably would have changed my life.
We will not see the likes of him again for a very long time.
Best regards,
Elliott Murphy
__________________________________________
Suicide !!! I was thinking that after seeing the "last photo" of David... The one where he's looking like William Burroughs. How do you pass two days after that pic? Wouldn't you be bedridden? Wouldn't you be so weak that you couldn't walk? He looked vibrant in that pic.
He was so special. I've worked with many artists. I spent almost a year on the road with him playing drums on the Glass Spider Tour. He really was/is a superstar. A classy guy. Charismatic, intelligent, considerate and the ultimate gentleman. He trusted all his musicians. He knew we would play for the songs and for him. Like soldiers guarding the fort. We backed him up and never let him down!
The fact that I was hearing his voice in my monitors every night was an unbelievable feeling. I actually had/have his records in my collection. I was and always will be a fan.
Did I mention he was funny? Well he was. After our first show in Brussels, back at the hotel, I got a phone call in my room. I answered "Hello," and the voice said "Hi Alan, it's David." There was no David in the crew, who can this be? So I said "David who?" He then answered, "The singer in the band, silly."
It was funny when it happened. David had never called me before and I just never expected it. He wanted to go out for a drink and wondered if I'd like to join him and one or two other band members. Ha! This became the norm about once a week.
So many stories. So many fantastic shows. David was the ultimate professional.
Can you imagine what an honor it was to play his songs?
An innovator, an alien possibly ; )
A great man. Like I've said and you said Bob, his music will live on forever.
Peace. Alan Childs
__________________________________________
Dear Bob,
This happens all the time. Cancer is not always a drawn-out ordeal that turns you into a skeleton. I've seen that awful version too but it can also be stealthy and quick. My husband had stage IV lung cancer, and you would never know it. The doctors didn't know it either. He felt unwell - aches and pains, out of breath - and it took them 5 months to find it. By then it was a terminal diagnosis - spread all over - but you would never know it to look at him. Even 6 months into treatment he felt well, we went hiking, made plans for the future, even his oncologist thought he could last for a long time...and then it spread to his brain and he was gone in 6 weeks.
(It's awful to speculate and none of our business but I'm putting my bet on lung cancer precisely because no one has said what kind. Lung cancer has so much stigma, as though the sufferers brought it on themselves. My husband never smoked but people always assume he did)
We might never know what happened to Bowie, but if he did get such a diagnosis 18 months ago he could either ignore The End or plan for it. And of course, he did what he did, and turned it into art. None of us know of course, but perhaps he knew it would get him eventually, and he executed this plan for that inevitable end, not knowing when it would be. His End could have been quick, or he could have aided it (but I would call that "assisted death" rather than "suicide") and I respect him immensely for directing, as much as one can, such a horrible fate.
My heartfelt condolences to his wife and children and especially his teenager daughter. I hope the world gives them space but the people who love them do not.
Our world has another hole in it.
Zoe Keating
__________________________________________
Bob -- In 1997, when my father was dying of cancer, he literally willed
himself to continue living until my brother was married. He should have
died the day before the nuptials, but he just kept going. Fifteen
minutes after the ceremony ended, he breathed his last. I suggest that
Bowie may have done the same thing. He was determined to keep living
until the album was released. Once it came out, he went.
Mind over matter.
Douglas C. Weinstein
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
An Artist...
Never does what's expedient.
Worries about money, but never makes it paramount.
Is jealous of others' success, but puts his head down and keeps working.
Knows when he strikes a chord, knows when he gets it right. Look for this resonance, this inner light. When you've achieved it, you'll get an inner smile.
Knows a career is a journey and you learn through experience.
Risks.
Lives in the world of discomfort.
Challenges himself.
Knows that love is the answer, but is sometimes poisoned by hate.
Wants a wide audience more than he wants riches.
Knows not to listen to anybody but himself. Stories in the press are inaccurate, and everyone's an individual, on his own journey.
Plays to his strengths, not his weaknesses. Focuses on what he does right, not what he does wrong.
Is rarely good at anything else.
Dies inside when he is not creating.
Questions himself constantly, he not ever thinking of giving up is delusional.
Knows he needs suits, but is reluctant to listen to them on creative/career matters.
Feels more deeply than the average person.
Gets in touch with his inner tuning fork such that others may resonate.
Is afraid of overloading his audience but desires to overload them. This is an unending conundrum.
Is willing to destroy what he's created in order to move forward.
Knows that there are charts and awards but it's really not a competition.
Knows beauty.
Is a communicator.
Is riddled with feelings of inadequacy. When an artist boasts he is usually covering up insecurity.
Needs approval.
Wants fame and fortune, but wouldn't know how to live with either if he got them.
Feels pain.
Knows that the medium may be the message, but the medium keeps changing.
Is busy being born, otherwise he's dying.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Worries about money, but never makes it paramount.
Is jealous of others' success, but puts his head down and keeps working.
Knows when he strikes a chord, knows when he gets it right. Look for this resonance, this inner light. When you've achieved it, you'll get an inner smile.
Knows a career is a journey and you learn through experience.
Risks.
Lives in the world of discomfort.
Challenges himself.
Knows that love is the answer, but is sometimes poisoned by hate.
Wants a wide audience more than he wants riches.
Knows not to listen to anybody but himself. Stories in the press are inaccurate, and everyone's an individual, on his own journey.
Plays to his strengths, not his weaknesses. Focuses on what he does right, not what he does wrong.
Is rarely good at anything else.
Dies inside when he is not creating.
Questions himself constantly, he not ever thinking of giving up is delusional.
Knows he needs suits, but is reluctant to listen to them on creative/career matters.
Feels more deeply than the average person.
Gets in touch with his inner tuning fork such that others may resonate.
Is afraid of overloading his audience but desires to overload them. This is an unending conundrum.
Is willing to destroy what he's created in order to move forward.
Knows that there are charts and awards but it's really not a competition.
Knows beauty.
Is a communicator.
Is riddled with feelings of inadequacy. When an artist boasts he is usually covering up insecurity.
Needs approval.
Wants fame and fortune, but wouldn't know how to live with either if he got them.
Feels pain.
Knows that the medium may be the message, but the medium keeps changing.
Is busy being born, otherwise he's dying.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
More Bowie
BEST BOWIE TRIBUTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jogv7tD18gs
"I'd just played on what I considered to be the best song I'd ever had the privilege to work on."
Rick Wakeman
That's right, the guy who was in and out of Yes, who brought them to their height with "Roundabout" and the rest of "Fragile" and then did a solo album and ultimately disappeared into obscurity. He's back. To where he once belonged. Playing his original piano part from "Life On Mars?" on BBC 2.
You won't listen.
Nobody does anymore.
No one's got the time, everybody's overwhelmed, there's too much input, you're buried under the suggestions from your trusted filters, and when Wakeman starts to talk at the beginning of this clip your eyes are gonna glaze over. So...
Fast forward to the fifty second mark, listen, and then go back to the spoken intro.
Not that it's not interesting, it's just that musicians speak through their music, it's probably why none has truly succeeded as an actor, an actor plays a role, a musician evidences his inner life, his soul in his music, especially back then, when the hitmakers not only sang, but wrote and played.
But here you've got a minor figure, someone who never crosses your mind when you think of the song, and he lays his hands on the ivories and...
Bowie is dead, but his music lives on.
It's positively staggering. That someone has that much talent. We're so used to people faking it that to see someone demonstrate his wares on a song we know by heart, having done the original decades before and now playing the notes just as well, our minds are blown, we're speechless.
We think of the legends as passe. Plowed under. Yet here, paying tribute to a colleague, Rick Wakeman is more alive, more human, evidences more heart, than all the Top Ten combined. Bieber can't do that. Gomez can't even try. Gaga would be so busy mugging, illustrating her investment, that it would overwhelm the sound, and ultimately it's all about the sound...
And it's GLORIOUS!'
FASCINATION
Luther Vandross gets a writing credit, but he gets no performance credit. What exactly did he do here?
Check this out:
"Funky Music (Is A Part Of Me)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qEDfcgqzpM
Despite Luther being managed by Shep Gordon, who made his bones with rocker Alice Cooper, in the seventies R&B and rock rarely crossed paths, in the collections of fans, that is. You never heard soul music on AOR and vice versa. The musicians themselves cross-pollinated, especially the English, who were influenced by early R&B to begin with. All of which is an explanation for the fact that despite being completely aware of Luther Vandross, I was never aware of this track. Internet research tells me Mike Garson played it before Bowie shows in '74, that's how David knew it.
That's right, they used to be musicians, artists, they lived for the music and knew so much about it.
ROCK 'N' ROLL SUICIDE
Internet prognosticators are speculating that Bowie took his own life. Not that he was not ill, not that his condition was not terminal, but that the date and time were selected by the man himself.
Makes sense. You too can parse Tony Visconti's words for insight.
It's just that it was too soon after the release of "Blackstar," too much when he was on our minds, it was completely unexpected, we're looking for answers.
I have none.
Once again, internet research will tell you that Bowie had liver cancer, that it probably started in his lungs, that he may have had a bout before. But despite living in the information society, it's amazing how little we can know, especially about someone's death.
If it was suicide, it was one last, grand, artistic moment. Touche.
If it was not...
In the case of John Lennon, we could point our finger at Mark David Chapman, he was the villain, he took the Beatle from us. And George Harrison had a long cancer decline. Bowie was positively vital, at the peak of his game, and then he expired?
How do you explain that?
I can't.
I haven't read a single tribute, no obituary, I haven't looked at any pictures, because I'm still digesting his absence. I haven't fully metabolized it yet. It was a shock to the system, discovered randomly on Twitter. At first I thought it was a lighthearted joke. But then I went down my timeline and realized it was real. And then...
I didn't feel like saying anything.
He was too young. Despite being a recluse, he was in the public eye. He committed no cultural faux pas. There was nothing to ridicule. Sure, his commercial peak may have passed, but it didn't seem to bother him.
Then POOF!
He's gone.
It's akin to the "Leftovers." Have you read that book? Where suddenly people disappear? Messes up those left behind. They abandon their jobs, they find religion, they take their own lives... You see meaning has evaporated.
And I'd say meaning has evaporated here on Earth. With everything at our fingertips we don't know where to start. We can't get a handle on the 400+ scripted TV shows, never mind an album. Everybody wants our attention, few deserve it. We want to belong, but not to a club that does not align with our core beliefs.
Used to be we believed in musicians. Many still do. But before the Beatles Frankie Avalon and Fabian were big stars. Fame draws flies. But then there are those who twist the game, who utilize their notoriety to comment on the condition. Isn't that the essence of "Ziggy Stardust"?
But that was just the beginning.
And now we're at the end.
Ever read a great book and get depressed when it's over?
Usually I start reading slower and slower as I near the end.
But in this case, I was steaming along merrily, completely oblivious, and then a giant crater sucked up David Bowie. How do you process something like that? Especially in a world where nincompoops laud Donald Trump and crazy Cruz and Hillary is so busy telling us what she thinks we want to hear that we can't believe a word she says.
Bowie never did this. He never pandered. Always played it his way.
Which is why we paid attention.
We never grew up and out of it. We always believed in the power of music. And we've had such a hard time facing the changes. The death of not only the record store, but the album. The shift to mindless crap from meaningful media. We want to go back, but not only does rust never sleep, your DNA marches inexorably forward, you can get a facelift, but your genes don't care.
Time has changed us.
But we can't trace time.
But we want to.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jogv7tD18gs
"I'd just played on what I considered to be the best song I'd ever had the privilege to work on."
Rick Wakeman
That's right, the guy who was in and out of Yes, who brought them to their height with "Roundabout" and the rest of "Fragile" and then did a solo album and ultimately disappeared into obscurity. He's back. To where he once belonged. Playing his original piano part from "Life On Mars?" on BBC 2.
You won't listen.
Nobody does anymore.
No one's got the time, everybody's overwhelmed, there's too much input, you're buried under the suggestions from your trusted filters, and when Wakeman starts to talk at the beginning of this clip your eyes are gonna glaze over. So...
Fast forward to the fifty second mark, listen, and then go back to the spoken intro.
Not that it's not interesting, it's just that musicians speak through their music, it's probably why none has truly succeeded as an actor, an actor plays a role, a musician evidences his inner life, his soul in his music, especially back then, when the hitmakers not only sang, but wrote and played.
But here you've got a minor figure, someone who never crosses your mind when you think of the song, and he lays his hands on the ivories and...
Bowie is dead, but his music lives on.
It's positively staggering. That someone has that much talent. We're so used to people faking it that to see someone demonstrate his wares on a song we know by heart, having done the original decades before and now playing the notes just as well, our minds are blown, we're speechless.
We think of the legends as passe. Plowed under. Yet here, paying tribute to a colleague, Rick Wakeman is more alive, more human, evidences more heart, than all the Top Ten combined. Bieber can't do that. Gomez can't even try. Gaga would be so busy mugging, illustrating her investment, that it would overwhelm the sound, and ultimately it's all about the sound...
And it's GLORIOUS!'
FASCINATION
Luther Vandross gets a writing credit, but he gets no performance credit. What exactly did he do here?
Check this out:
"Funky Music (Is A Part Of Me)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qEDfcgqzpM
Despite Luther being managed by Shep Gordon, who made his bones with rocker Alice Cooper, in the seventies R&B and rock rarely crossed paths, in the collections of fans, that is. You never heard soul music on AOR and vice versa. The musicians themselves cross-pollinated, especially the English, who were influenced by early R&B to begin with. All of which is an explanation for the fact that despite being completely aware of Luther Vandross, I was never aware of this track. Internet research tells me Mike Garson played it before Bowie shows in '74, that's how David knew it.
That's right, they used to be musicians, artists, they lived for the music and knew so much about it.
ROCK 'N' ROLL SUICIDE
Internet prognosticators are speculating that Bowie took his own life. Not that he was not ill, not that his condition was not terminal, but that the date and time were selected by the man himself.
Makes sense. You too can parse Tony Visconti's words for insight.
It's just that it was too soon after the release of "Blackstar," too much when he was on our minds, it was completely unexpected, we're looking for answers.
I have none.
Once again, internet research will tell you that Bowie had liver cancer, that it probably started in his lungs, that he may have had a bout before. But despite living in the information society, it's amazing how little we can know, especially about someone's death.
If it was suicide, it was one last, grand, artistic moment. Touche.
If it was not...
In the case of John Lennon, we could point our finger at Mark David Chapman, he was the villain, he took the Beatle from us. And George Harrison had a long cancer decline. Bowie was positively vital, at the peak of his game, and then he expired?
How do you explain that?
I can't.
I haven't read a single tribute, no obituary, I haven't looked at any pictures, because I'm still digesting his absence. I haven't fully metabolized it yet. It was a shock to the system, discovered randomly on Twitter. At first I thought it was a lighthearted joke. But then I went down my timeline and realized it was real. And then...
I didn't feel like saying anything.
He was too young. Despite being a recluse, he was in the public eye. He committed no cultural faux pas. There was nothing to ridicule. Sure, his commercial peak may have passed, but it didn't seem to bother him.
Then POOF!
He's gone.
It's akin to the "Leftovers." Have you read that book? Where suddenly people disappear? Messes up those left behind. They abandon their jobs, they find religion, they take their own lives... You see meaning has evaporated.
And I'd say meaning has evaporated here on Earth. With everything at our fingertips we don't know where to start. We can't get a handle on the 400+ scripted TV shows, never mind an album. Everybody wants our attention, few deserve it. We want to belong, but not to a club that does not align with our core beliefs.
Used to be we believed in musicians. Many still do. But before the Beatles Frankie Avalon and Fabian were big stars. Fame draws flies. But then there are those who twist the game, who utilize their notoriety to comment on the condition. Isn't that the essence of "Ziggy Stardust"?
But that was just the beginning.
And now we're at the end.
Ever read a great book and get depressed when it's over?
Usually I start reading slower and slower as I near the end.
But in this case, I was steaming along merrily, completely oblivious, and then a giant crater sucked up David Bowie. How do you process something like that? Especially in a world where nincompoops laud Donald Trump and crazy Cruz and Hillary is so busy telling us what she thinks we want to hear that we can't believe a word she says.
Bowie never did this. He never pandered. Always played it his way.
Which is why we paid attention.
We never grew up and out of it. We always believed in the power of music. And we've had such a hard time facing the changes. The death of not only the record store, but the album. The shift to mindless crap from meaningful media. We want to go back, but not only does rust never sleep, your DNA marches inexorably forward, you can get a facelift, but your genes don't care.
Time has changed us.
But we can't trace time.
But we want to.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
David Bowie Playlist
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
"I'm an alligator
I'm a mama-papa coming for you"
The first Bowie song that hooked me.
It was the sound of Mick Ronson's guitar. Bowie plucked him from obscurity and made him an icon. Ronson ultimately co-produced Lou Reed's "Transformer," cut his own album, "Slaughter On 10th Avenue," worked with Ian Hunter and then died. But first and foremost, Ronson was cool. Which was quite a feat, standing next to Bowie himself.
It was the summer of '72, I was in London, cruising the record shops, reading "Melody Maker" and the NME, going to the Chelsea Drugstore, and the two biggest acts were T. Rex and David Bowie, the former with little traction in the U.S., the latter completely unknown. So, when I got back across the pond I bought the album with all the hoopla, "Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars." The vinyl was flexible, as was the wont of RCA, a label which featured very few stars, never mind true rockers, all this to say the LP was brand new to me, I was listening in my bedroom, having an adventure. And back then you'd play albums over and over and over again, and as they wore on you'd get hooked and favorites would change. But to this day, my heart remains pledged to "Moonage Daydream."
"Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah"
IT AIN'T EASY
I knew it. It was on the sampler LP "Friends" from the fall of 1970. There was an ad in "Rolling Stone." Unlike the Warner "Loss Leaders," you didn't even have to send A&M money. And it included Cat Stevens' "Trouble." And Free's "I'll Be Creepin'." Along with "It Ain't Easy" by Ron Davies, who never broke through. If you fast-forward to the one minute mark, you can hear Davies's original here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVdUg6Rt3MM
ZIGGY STARDUST
Because of the riff, instantly memorable. With the backstory of this concept album contained in its lyrics.
ROUND AND ROUND
And then the man went on tour, he played the Music Hall in Boston, it wasn't sold out, Bowie was still unknown, I mail-ordered the tickets and we drove down from Vermont and when the strobe lights came on and the band in their spacesuits started to play it was a transcendent moment.
But not as high a peak as the encore, when the house lights went up and the band came out and played "Round And Round."
The original is by Chuck Berry. The Stones had the famous British Invasion cover. It was the kind of song you knew by heart but never heard on the radio. Playing it Bowie illustrated his roots and his chops all at the same time. He was twitching on stage, the music was in him, all we could do was marvel.
CHANGES
From "Hunky Dory," arguably Bowie's best album. Hell, I'll go on record, it IS!
Once upon a time, "Changes" was completely unknown. I never heard it on the radio before "Ziggy Stardust" was released. Hell, I never heard any of "Ziggy Stardust" on the radio!
But Bowie had a whole career, a whole catalog, before I got hooked. But with limited cash and not knowing where to start, I did not immediately go out and buy "Hunky Dory." But my college buddy John Hughes did, and I followed him shortly thereafter.
"Changes" is the famous song, hooky and meaningful, but almost too obvious, especially compared with the deep, insightful stuff that fleshed out the rest of the album, like...
LIFE ON MARS?
"It's a god-awful small affair"
A story song, that pulled you in and made you want to get closer to the artist. Funny how album cuts do that, make you a fan. You think it's about the hits, but it's when you throw off convention and follow your muse that we become bonded to you.
KOOKS
"Ziggy" rocked, "Hunky Dory" had more of an acoustic feel.
This is the essence of the scene, if not life, we're all just kooks, hung up on romancing.
ANDY WARHOL
"As in 'holes'"
From before Bowie became an art rock icon, when he wasn't famous in New York, when he was looking to the art icon from across the sea.
He sings like he means it. So you do too. Haunting.
OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS
It's hard not to include every song from "Hunky Dory." I feel bad about leaving "The Bewlay Brothers" off. But "Oh! You Pretty Things" not only has indelible changes that have your brain twisting, the message encapsulates the era:
"Oh! you pretty things
Don't you know you're driving your
Mamas and papas insane"
PANIC IN DETROIT
I went back and bought "The Man Who Sold The World" too, but eagerly anticipated and purchased upon the day of release "Aladdin Sane."
I'd like to tell you it superseded what came before, built upon the base and broke through, but it didn't. I played it again and again, figuring I'd missed it, that it would reveal itself to me, but...
I did like a number of tracks, this one jumped out first. Especially the break, wherein Bowie sings about making his way to school and finding his teacher crouching in his overalls.
THE JEAN GENIE
The one you hear most from "Aladdin Sane" today. The vocal is a detached sneer wherein Bowie is cooler than you, he always was.
LADY GRINNING SOUL
Is this already forgotten?
The final track on "Aladdin Sane" became the one I played most. Credit Mike Garson's piano playing. For all the space age sound, the commentary on modern life, Bowie would display unexpected range, with stuff like this, which was one step away from a James Bond theme song, at least the ones they cut back then.
ALL THE YOUNG DUDES
So, the cognoscenti know Bowie, as referenced above, Lou Reed hired him and Mick Ronson to produce his breakthrough "Transformer" album, which contained "Walk On The Wild Side." Bowie made Reed palatable for the masses, without his work it's doubtful the bard of Long Island would be the legend he is.
And then comes Mott The Hoople.
Four albums and no success. I saw them open for Traffic at the Fillmore East, they played their instrumental cover of "You Really Got Me" from their debut LP with the Escher cover but...they never got bigger. And then they switched labels, from Atlantic to Columbia, were produced by Bowie and...
Let's be clear, Bowie WROTE THIS! Suddenly Mott The Hoople had a bigger hit than Bowie ever did! Who gives up his best number? Eventually a Bowie recording slipped out, but that was long after the fact.
SEE EMILY PLAY
A fan buys everything, without hearing it first.
By this time, the hip rock press was filled with Bowie stories, especially "Creem." We knew this album of covers was coming. But the problem was I already knew most of these songs already, and Bowie did not improve upon them. "PinUps" was not special. Was now the time for Bowie to indulge himself, or should he have gone in for the kill? Then again, he was a superstar in the U.K., even though he meant little in the States.
But this is one track I didn't know. Everybody lionizes Syd Barrett these days, but at this point in time people were just catching up with the latter-day Pink Floyd, "Dark Side Of The Moon" was beginning its ascendance. "See Emily Play" might have meant something over there, but here it was deeper than a deep cut.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE
One of these days Ray Davies is gonna die, and you're gonna lament you never saw him live, you're gonna look back at his work and marvel how someone could chronicle life so accurately, to the point so many covered his songs...hell, Herman's Hermits had a hit with "Dandy."
This is my favorite cover on "PinUps."
REBEL REBEL
And suddenly David Bowie is all over the radio, the FM dial, the only one that counts, Top Forty did not experience a renaissance until 1982, after MTV winnowed down the number of tracks and turned those chosen into hits and new radio stations copied their playlist and ate up market share and killed AOR.
The press hated "Diamond Dogs," said it shot low, was a disappointment.
So much for critics. Who mean even less in the internet era.
Bowie's now playing arenas, with multiple backup singers dressed as dogs, the story is all over the rock press, "Diamond Dogs" is a triumph, illustrating the power of a hit single to truly establish your career.
1984
My favorite track on "Diamond Dogs," from back when Orwellian nightmares were a constant reference, before that year came and went.
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME
Someone up there must need David Bowie, to trash the oldies and establish a new path. I liked the "Blackstar" song/video, and have to give the guy credit for doing the unexpected, for following his own muse, he's confounded our expectations, it's the album "The Next Day" should have been. And "Young Americans" was confounding, a complete one-eighty, a jump from moist London to gritty Philadelphia, David Bowie reimagined himself as an R&B star.
But I didn't buy the album, I didn't buy any albums, I was living on a wing and a prayer in Sandy, Utah. I had five pairs of skis on my roof, but not a dime in my pocket. Which is how I found myself sleeping in my car behind the Hart warehouse in Reno, Nevada, waiting for them to open the next morning so I could get a new pair of Freestyles. Before the security guard woke me up in the middle of the night, while I was huddled under my sleeping bag in the front seat listening to the radio, I heard this. It's still my favorite track on the album, it locks you into the groove the way a roller coaster locks onto the chain and it doesn't let go. Furthermore, it makes you feel GOOD!
FASCINATION
The other one that gets me on "Young Americans." Which was co-written by soul legend Luther Vandross and features the rock solid rhythm section of Andy Newmark and Willie Weeks, never mind New York legend David Sanborn on sax and Bowie teammates Carlos Alomar and Mike Garson on guitar and piano respectively.
I know, I know, "Young Americans" featured the multi-format smash "Fame," but I never cottoned to it, it's almost too obvious and was played to death, but I loved that Bowie had become a huge star in the U.S.
TVC 15
Cut in L.A. at Cherokee (just to get inside a recording studio was a treat back then, I remember the first time I was there in the eighties), "Station To Station" was an extension of the "Young Americans" sound, and this is my favorite cut from it, I love the way it ultimately transitions and accelerates at the four minute mark.
GOLDEN YEARS
How cool is this?
A hit I was enamored of, unlike "Fame," great changes, great sound, great production.
SPEED OF LIFE
I loved this, the opening track on "Low," I was living in one room with no light on Carmelina in West L.A. but every time I dropped the needle on this my mood brightened.
Bowie would completely change sounds and genres, daring us to come along. And he seemingly didn't care if what he did was a hit or not. Sure, Neil Young felt the same way, but Bowie was bigger and had further to fall and the jumps were much longer.
I know, I know, Madonna is famous for changing genres, but does anybody really give her credit as a musician? Don't we credit her cowriters? And even though she slings a guitar across her shoulder do we really think she can play? (And don't make this a sexist thing, Jennifer Batten and Tal Wilkenfeld, who both famously accompanied the best rock guitarist of all time, Jeff Beck, can SHRED!) Sure, electronic music was starting to burgeon, Eno had put out a bunch of LPs, but his breakthrough, "Before And After Science," came almost a year after "Low" so...it's hard to say Bowie jumped on the bandwagon, rather he helped establish it!
BREAKING GLASS
At the bleeding edge of the punk era, there was a ton of attitude in this, possibly "Low"'s most accessible track, which is saying something.
BE MY WIFE
An offbeat track by one of the biggest artists in the world, talk about taking a risk!
WARSZAWA
I can't believe I'm including four tracks from "Low"! But when you're a fan, you play this stuff over and over again, and if it's good, it reveals itself to you.
HEROES
And yes, Bowie worked with Eno on both "Low" and "Heroes," but this was much more accessible. And although a number one hit in Ireland, Scotland and the U.K., it was nowhere near as big in the U.S. But it had a place. And over time it's gained more and more traction in the public consciousness, it's one of the most referenced tracks since Bowie's death.
ASHES TO ASHES
From "Scary Monsters," instantly accessible.
UNDER PRESSURE
Let's see.
I moved from that ground floor apartment to Barry Avenue with my girlfriend. And when that ended I ended up where I am now, nearly friendless, because we each completed each other, and that's not a good thing. So I set out to make new friends, and I remember Andy Mazur being enraptured by this number, maybe even buying the single, when that was nearly taboo, we'd sit in his place overlooking the city and when I heard the music I felt my life would work out. And now not only are two Beatles deceased, but Freddie Mercury and David Bowie are gone too.
LET'S DANCE
And by all rights, Bowie should have been done, a creature of the seventies who'd been through so many twists and turns that he'd expended all his capital, and wasn't there a new wave of U.K. groups dominating the chart and ultimately the newfangled MTV?
Right.
But MTV gave David Bowie a victory lap, made him bigger than ever before, starting with this.
I'd love to tell you I love it, but I don't. I like it more than "Fame," love the groove, but it was simplistic lyrically and overplayed in a newly mindless era. But at a distance, I can tell why it went to number one. Bowie was built for MTV, even if he predated it, Bowie had a presence, he knew visuals.
MODERN LOVE
I liked this one better, it rocked more.
CAT PEOPLE (PUTTING OUT FIRE)
There's an iteration on "Let's Dance," but you really want the 1982 single. The title song from the movie, back when Nastassja Kinski was the new "It Girl," this track snuck up on you, was subtle and ultimately hooked you. Credit Giorgio Moroder, who was on an incredible hot streak, everything he touched went gold, he'd already succeeded in films with "Midnight Express." I can't imagine anything like this being chosen as a title track today, they want an instant hit, it's not about art, but commerce. Then again, the movies themselves are in the dumper.
LOVING THE ALIEN
Bowie was now on EMI America. One wonders what his career would have looked like if he was on Warner or Columbia in the States, he never had the benefit of a reasonable label in his heyday.
This is darker than the stuff on the "Let's Dance" album, but in many ways even more satiating.
Okay, okay, there was more.
"Blue Jean" was a hit after this.
And I never mentioned "Little Drummer Boy" with Bing Crosby. And it was stunning that Bowie rescued the Sales brothers from Todd Rundgren and obscurity with Tin Machine. But as time wore on, Bowie kept experimenting and had less impact, at least commercially.
Who do we blame? Bowie himself or a culture that became all about obvious pop hits, ultimately written by others with two-dimensional characters as fronts?
But I did see Bowie one more time, from mere feet away, at the Wiltern, an underplay back in 2004. It was neither sad nor creepy, Bowie smiled and gave it his all and then he was done, disappeared.
To tell you the truth, I thought the cocaine got him, that it compromised his heart and that's why he couldn't go back on the road. I did not expect him to die of cancer.
And now he's gone.
This has hit me hard. Because it wasn't Bowie's time. But the Grim Reaper doesn't seem to care, he takes people willy-nilly, no matter their impact, no matter how much they are loved.
So we end up with more questions than answers. Which is where art comes in. It makes sense of the world, it gives us something to hold on to and believe in.
And we believed in David Bowie. We didn't think he was a fraud, propped up by the machine, rather the genuine article.
And, of course, there was the acting and the outfits and the production, the theatre, but really it comes down to the music.
Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's all rolled up in this thing we know as a career.
You remember careers, right? That's what lifers did before money came first and they began whoring themselves out to corporations and it was about being a brand and getting a clothing line and having your own vodka and... Artists used to stand apart, they were beacons, now they're just hustlers looking to use and abuse us in their climb up the ladder. No one can say no, no one can take the road less traveled.
But Bowie did.
His most famous track didn't break through until years after he recorded it.
Yes Major Tom, your circuit's dead there's something wrong...
We never counted you out, we always hoped you'd surprise us, we always thought you'd be there to take one last swing, to define the game and play it your way.
But now you're floating in your tin can, far above the moon.
And you have no idea how blue planet Earth truly is. You have no idea of the pain and suffering, the outcry over the loss of your presence.
You played guitar.
You jammed good with Weird and Gilly, never mind Lou and Ian and Freddie.
You were the special man.
We could never be in your band.
But we wanted to be.
We wanted to get closer, we wanted to know you, see the world through your eyes.
Now we're all alone.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1J1Z9ZA
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
"I'm an alligator
I'm a mama-papa coming for you"
The first Bowie song that hooked me.
It was the sound of Mick Ronson's guitar. Bowie plucked him from obscurity and made him an icon. Ronson ultimately co-produced Lou Reed's "Transformer," cut his own album, "Slaughter On 10th Avenue," worked with Ian Hunter and then died. But first and foremost, Ronson was cool. Which was quite a feat, standing next to Bowie himself.
It was the summer of '72, I was in London, cruising the record shops, reading "Melody Maker" and the NME, going to the Chelsea Drugstore, and the two biggest acts were T. Rex and David Bowie, the former with little traction in the U.S., the latter completely unknown. So, when I got back across the pond I bought the album with all the hoopla, "Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars." The vinyl was flexible, as was the wont of RCA, a label which featured very few stars, never mind true rockers, all this to say the LP was brand new to me, I was listening in my bedroom, having an adventure. And back then you'd play albums over and over and over again, and as they wore on you'd get hooked and favorites would change. But to this day, my heart remains pledged to "Moonage Daydream."
"Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah"
IT AIN'T EASY
I knew it. It was on the sampler LP "Friends" from the fall of 1970. There was an ad in "Rolling Stone." Unlike the Warner "Loss Leaders," you didn't even have to send A&M money. And it included Cat Stevens' "Trouble." And Free's "I'll Be Creepin'." Along with "It Ain't Easy" by Ron Davies, who never broke through. If you fast-forward to the one minute mark, you can hear Davies's original here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVdUg6Rt3MM
ZIGGY STARDUST
Because of the riff, instantly memorable. With the backstory of this concept album contained in its lyrics.
ROUND AND ROUND
And then the man went on tour, he played the Music Hall in Boston, it wasn't sold out, Bowie was still unknown, I mail-ordered the tickets and we drove down from Vermont and when the strobe lights came on and the band in their spacesuits started to play it was a transcendent moment.
But not as high a peak as the encore, when the house lights went up and the band came out and played "Round And Round."
The original is by Chuck Berry. The Stones had the famous British Invasion cover. It was the kind of song you knew by heart but never heard on the radio. Playing it Bowie illustrated his roots and his chops all at the same time. He was twitching on stage, the music was in him, all we could do was marvel.
CHANGES
From "Hunky Dory," arguably Bowie's best album. Hell, I'll go on record, it IS!
Once upon a time, "Changes" was completely unknown. I never heard it on the radio before "Ziggy Stardust" was released. Hell, I never heard any of "Ziggy Stardust" on the radio!
But Bowie had a whole career, a whole catalog, before I got hooked. But with limited cash and not knowing where to start, I did not immediately go out and buy "Hunky Dory." But my college buddy John Hughes did, and I followed him shortly thereafter.
"Changes" is the famous song, hooky and meaningful, but almost too obvious, especially compared with the deep, insightful stuff that fleshed out the rest of the album, like...
LIFE ON MARS?
"It's a god-awful small affair"
A story song, that pulled you in and made you want to get closer to the artist. Funny how album cuts do that, make you a fan. You think it's about the hits, but it's when you throw off convention and follow your muse that we become bonded to you.
KOOKS
"Ziggy" rocked, "Hunky Dory" had more of an acoustic feel.
This is the essence of the scene, if not life, we're all just kooks, hung up on romancing.
ANDY WARHOL
"As in 'holes'"
From before Bowie became an art rock icon, when he wasn't famous in New York, when he was looking to the art icon from across the sea.
He sings like he means it. So you do too. Haunting.
OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS
It's hard not to include every song from "Hunky Dory." I feel bad about leaving "The Bewlay Brothers" off. But "Oh! You Pretty Things" not only has indelible changes that have your brain twisting, the message encapsulates the era:
"Oh! you pretty things
Don't you know you're driving your
Mamas and papas insane"
PANIC IN DETROIT
I went back and bought "The Man Who Sold The World" too, but eagerly anticipated and purchased upon the day of release "Aladdin Sane."
I'd like to tell you it superseded what came before, built upon the base and broke through, but it didn't. I played it again and again, figuring I'd missed it, that it would reveal itself to me, but...
I did like a number of tracks, this one jumped out first. Especially the break, wherein Bowie sings about making his way to school and finding his teacher crouching in his overalls.
THE JEAN GENIE
The one you hear most from "Aladdin Sane" today. The vocal is a detached sneer wherein Bowie is cooler than you, he always was.
LADY GRINNING SOUL
Is this already forgotten?
The final track on "Aladdin Sane" became the one I played most. Credit Mike Garson's piano playing. For all the space age sound, the commentary on modern life, Bowie would display unexpected range, with stuff like this, which was one step away from a James Bond theme song, at least the ones they cut back then.
ALL THE YOUNG DUDES
So, the cognoscenti know Bowie, as referenced above, Lou Reed hired him and Mick Ronson to produce his breakthrough "Transformer" album, which contained "Walk On The Wild Side." Bowie made Reed palatable for the masses, without his work it's doubtful the bard of Long Island would be the legend he is.
And then comes Mott The Hoople.
Four albums and no success. I saw them open for Traffic at the Fillmore East, they played their instrumental cover of "You Really Got Me" from their debut LP with the Escher cover but...they never got bigger. And then they switched labels, from Atlantic to Columbia, were produced by Bowie and...
Let's be clear, Bowie WROTE THIS! Suddenly Mott The Hoople had a bigger hit than Bowie ever did! Who gives up his best number? Eventually a Bowie recording slipped out, but that was long after the fact.
SEE EMILY PLAY
A fan buys everything, without hearing it first.
By this time, the hip rock press was filled with Bowie stories, especially "Creem." We knew this album of covers was coming. But the problem was I already knew most of these songs already, and Bowie did not improve upon them. "PinUps" was not special. Was now the time for Bowie to indulge himself, or should he have gone in for the kill? Then again, he was a superstar in the U.K., even though he meant little in the States.
But this is one track I didn't know. Everybody lionizes Syd Barrett these days, but at this point in time people were just catching up with the latter-day Pink Floyd, "Dark Side Of The Moon" was beginning its ascendance. "See Emily Play" might have meant something over there, but here it was deeper than a deep cut.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE
One of these days Ray Davies is gonna die, and you're gonna lament you never saw him live, you're gonna look back at his work and marvel how someone could chronicle life so accurately, to the point so many covered his songs...hell, Herman's Hermits had a hit with "Dandy."
This is my favorite cover on "PinUps."
REBEL REBEL
And suddenly David Bowie is all over the radio, the FM dial, the only one that counts, Top Forty did not experience a renaissance until 1982, after MTV winnowed down the number of tracks and turned those chosen into hits and new radio stations copied their playlist and ate up market share and killed AOR.
The press hated "Diamond Dogs," said it shot low, was a disappointment.
So much for critics. Who mean even less in the internet era.
Bowie's now playing arenas, with multiple backup singers dressed as dogs, the story is all over the rock press, "Diamond Dogs" is a triumph, illustrating the power of a hit single to truly establish your career.
1984
My favorite track on "Diamond Dogs," from back when Orwellian nightmares were a constant reference, before that year came and went.
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME
Someone up there must need David Bowie, to trash the oldies and establish a new path. I liked the "Blackstar" song/video, and have to give the guy credit for doing the unexpected, for following his own muse, he's confounded our expectations, it's the album "The Next Day" should have been. And "Young Americans" was confounding, a complete one-eighty, a jump from moist London to gritty Philadelphia, David Bowie reimagined himself as an R&B star.
But I didn't buy the album, I didn't buy any albums, I was living on a wing and a prayer in Sandy, Utah. I had five pairs of skis on my roof, but not a dime in my pocket. Which is how I found myself sleeping in my car behind the Hart warehouse in Reno, Nevada, waiting for them to open the next morning so I could get a new pair of Freestyles. Before the security guard woke me up in the middle of the night, while I was huddled under my sleeping bag in the front seat listening to the radio, I heard this. It's still my favorite track on the album, it locks you into the groove the way a roller coaster locks onto the chain and it doesn't let go. Furthermore, it makes you feel GOOD!
FASCINATION
The other one that gets me on "Young Americans." Which was co-written by soul legend Luther Vandross and features the rock solid rhythm section of Andy Newmark and Willie Weeks, never mind New York legend David Sanborn on sax and Bowie teammates Carlos Alomar and Mike Garson on guitar and piano respectively.
I know, I know, "Young Americans" featured the multi-format smash "Fame," but I never cottoned to it, it's almost too obvious and was played to death, but I loved that Bowie had become a huge star in the U.S.
TVC 15
Cut in L.A. at Cherokee (just to get inside a recording studio was a treat back then, I remember the first time I was there in the eighties), "Station To Station" was an extension of the "Young Americans" sound, and this is my favorite cut from it, I love the way it ultimately transitions and accelerates at the four minute mark.
GOLDEN YEARS
How cool is this?
A hit I was enamored of, unlike "Fame," great changes, great sound, great production.
SPEED OF LIFE
I loved this, the opening track on "Low," I was living in one room with no light on Carmelina in West L.A. but every time I dropped the needle on this my mood brightened.
Bowie would completely change sounds and genres, daring us to come along. And he seemingly didn't care if what he did was a hit or not. Sure, Neil Young felt the same way, but Bowie was bigger and had further to fall and the jumps were much longer.
I know, I know, Madonna is famous for changing genres, but does anybody really give her credit as a musician? Don't we credit her cowriters? And even though she slings a guitar across her shoulder do we really think she can play? (And don't make this a sexist thing, Jennifer Batten and Tal Wilkenfeld, who both famously accompanied the best rock guitarist of all time, Jeff Beck, can SHRED!) Sure, electronic music was starting to burgeon, Eno had put out a bunch of LPs, but his breakthrough, "Before And After Science," came almost a year after "Low" so...it's hard to say Bowie jumped on the bandwagon, rather he helped establish it!
BREAKING GLASS
At the bleeding edge of the punk era, there was a ton of attitude in this, possibly "Low"'s most accessible track, which is saying something.
BE MY WIFE
An offbeat track by one of the biggest artists in the world, talk about taking a risk!
WARSZAWA
I can't believe I'm including four tracks from "Low"! But when you're a fan, you play this stuff over and over again, and if it's good, it reveals itself to you.
HEROES
And yes, Bowie worked with Eno on both "Low" and "Heroes," but this was much more accessible. And although a number one hit in Ireland, Scotland and the U.K., it was nowhere near as big in the U.S. But it had a place. And over time it's gained more and more traction in the public consciousness, it's one of the most referenced tracks since Bowie's death.
ASHES TO ASHES
From "Scary Monsters," instantly accessible.
UNDER PRESSURE
Let's see.
I moved from that ground floor apartment to Barry Avenue with my girlfriend. And when that ended I ended up where I am now, nearly friendless, because we each completed each other, and that's not a good thing. So I set out to make new friends, and I remember Andy Mazur being enraptured by this number, maybe even buying the single, when that was nearly taboo, we'd sit in his place overlooking the city and when I heard the music I felt my life would work out. And now not only are two Beatles deceased, but Freddie Mercury and David Bowie are gone too.
LET'S DANCE
And by all rights, Bowie should have been done, a creature of the seventies who'd been through so many twists and turns that he'd expended all his capital, and wasn't there a new wave of U.K. groups dominating the chart and ultimately the newfangled MTV?
Right.
But MTV gave David Bowie a victory lap, made him bigger than ever before, starting with this.
I'd love to tell you I love it, but I don't. I like it more than "Fame," love the groove, but it was simplistic lyrically and overplayed in a newly mindless era. But at a distance, I can tell why it went to number one. Bowie was built for MTV, even if he predated it, Bowie had a presence, he knew visuals.
MODERN LOVE
I liked this one better, it rocked more.
CAT PEOPLE (PUTTING OUT FIRE)
There's an iteration on "Let's Dance," but you really want the 1982 single. The title song from the movie, back when Nastassja Kinski was the new "It Girl," this track snuck up on you, was subtle and ultimately hooked you. Credit Giorgio Moroder, who was on an incredible hot streak, everything he touched went gold, he'd already succeeded in films with "Midnight Express." I can't imagine anything like this being chosen as a title track today, they want an instant hit, it's not about art, but commerce. Then again, the movies themselves are in the dumper.
LOVING THE ALIEN
Bowie was now on EMI America. One wonders what his career would have looked like if he was on Warner or Columbia in the States, he never had the benefit of a reasonable label in his heyday.
This is darker than the stuff on the "Let's Dance" album, but in many ways even more satiating.
Okay, okay, there was more.
"Blue Jean" was a hit after this.
And I never mentioned "Little Drummer Boy" with Bing Crosby. And it was stunning that Bowie rescued the Sales brothers from Todd Rundgren and obscurity with Tin Machine. But as time wore on, Bowie kept experimenting and had less impact, at least commercially.
Who do we blame? Bowie himself or a culture that became all about obvious pop hits, ultimately written by others with two-dimensional characters as fronts?
But I did see Bowie one more time, from mere feet away, at the Wiltern, an underplay back in 2004. It was neither sad nor creepy, Bowie smiled and gave it his all and then he was done, disappeared.
To tell you the truth, I thought the cocaine got him, that it compromised his heart and that's why he couldn't go back on the road. I did not expect him to die of cancer.
And now he's gone.
This has hit me hard. Because it wasn't Bowie's time. But the Grim Reaper doesn't seem to care, he takes people willy-nilly, no matter their impact, no matter how much they are loved.
So we end up with more questions than answers. Which is where art comes in. It makes sense of the world, it gives us something to hold on to and believe in.
And we believed in David Bowie. We didn't think he was a fraud, propped up by the machine, rather the genuine article.
And, of course, there was the acting and the outfits and the production, the theatre, but really it comes down to the music.
Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's all rolled up in this thing we know as a career.
You remember careers, right? That's what lifers did before money came first and they began whoring themselves out to corporations and it was about being a brand and getting a clothing line and having your own vodka and... Artists used to stand apart, they were beacons, now they're just hustlers looking to use and abuse us in their climb up the ladder. No one can say no, no one can take the road less traveled.
But Bowie did.
His most famous track didn't break through until years after he recorded it.
Yes Major Tom, your circuit's dead there's something wrong...
We never counted you out, we always hoped you'd surprise us, we always thought you'd be there to take one last swing, to define the game and play it your way.
But now you're floating in your tin can, far above the moon.
And you have no idea how blue planet Earth truly is. You have no idea of the pain and suffering, the outcry over the loss of your presence.
You played guitar.
You jammed good with Weird and Gilly, never mind Lou and Ian and Freddie.
You were the special man.
We could never be in your band.
But we wanted to be.
We wanted to get closer, we wanted to know you, see the world through your eyes.
Now we're all alone.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1J1Z9ZA
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)