Wow, so it's been over 2 years since I last attempted to write something. Laziness and procrastination, I am you. However, I thought it was time to get off (well, actually, on) my butt and put some stuff down, because I've had a year's worth of Very Important Showertime Thoughts that frankly, nobody else would really be interested in. You might not even be interested, but here they will be, for my own record if nothing else!
So to ease myself into things... here is a music confession!
I was listening to David Bowie's Never Let Me Down (1987) in the shower and really enjoying it. To me it's a fun, upbeat album with just the right touch of Bowie-eqsue surrealism. And everytime I think that this is one of my favourite Bowie albums, I feel a bit guilty/lame, because most people (including Bowie himself apparently) think that it is shite.
Wikipedia's got this quote from him:
"My nadir was Never Let Me Down. It was such an awful album. I've gotten to a place now where I'm not very judgmental about myself. I put out what I do, whether it's in visual arts or in music, because I know that everything I do is really heartfelt. Even if it's a failure artistically, it doesn't bother me in the same way that Never Let Me Down bothers me. I really shouldn't have even bothered going into the studio to record it. [laughs] In fact, when I play it, I wonder if I did sometimes."
Ouch. But why? I understand why I like it personally - seeing as I became a Bowie fan in the first place after Labyrinth, which came out in 1986. Oh yes I did. The songs he did for that movie have a very similar feel.
I recently got The Next Day, which is supposedly his comeback, and his "return to form", and after a couple of listens, boy am I reluctant to put it back on my playlist. And again that makes me feel guilty/lame, because this is apparently the return to the "true" Bowie of the 70's, before he "sold out" and tried to make music for the masses. I mean, it's definitely trademark Bowie, and it sounds good, but it is SO bleak and depressing and unrelenting. Just death and greyness, and cynicism. Cheer up, son!
I do think his early stuff was brilliant, and all classics of course, but I just don't connect with them as much and his "crappier" stuff from the 80's and 90's. Does that make me one of the mindless masses? A victim of being born in the 80's? Maybe it just makes David Bowie one of the most versatile, accomplished, and just all-round kickass rock stars we've had the pleasure of listening to.
Anyway, here is Beat of Your Drum from Never Let Me Down. Tell me you don't start jiggling when that chorus kicks in!
So to ease myself into things... here is a music confession!
I was listening to David Bowie's Never Let Me Down (1987) in the shower and really enjoying it. To me it's a fun, upbeat album with just the right touch of Bowie-eqsue surrealism. And everytime I think that this is one of my favourite Bowie albums, I feel a bit guilty/lame, because most people (including Bowie himself apparently) think that it is shite.
Wikipedia's got this quote from him:
"My nadir was Never Let Me Down. It was such an awful album. I've gotten to a place now where I'm not very judgmental about myself. I put out what I do, whether it's in visual arts or in music, because I know that everything I do is really heartfelt. Even if it's a failure artistically, it doesn't bother me in the same way that Never Let Me Down bothers me. I really shouldn't have even bothered going into the studio to record it. [laughs] In fact, when I play it, I wonder if I did sometimes."
Ouch. But why? I understand why I like it personally - seeing as I became a Bowie fan in the first place after Labyrinth, which came out in 1986. Oh yes I did. The songs he did for that movie have a very similar feel.
I recently got The Next Day, which is supposedly his comeback, and his "return to form", and after a couple of listens, boy am I reluctant to put it back on my playlist. And again that makes me feel guilty/lame, because this is apparently the return to the "true" Bowie of the 70's, before he "sold out" and tried to make music for the masses. I mean, it's definitely trademark Bowie, and it sounds good, but it is SO bleak and depressing and unrelenting. Just death and greyness, and cynicism. Cheer up, son!
I do think his early stuff was brilliant, and all classics of course, but I just don't connect with them as much and his "crappier" stuff from the 80's and 90's. Does that make me one of the mindless masses? A victim of being born in the 80's? Maybe it just makes David Bowie one of the most versatile, accomplished, and just all-round kickass rock stars we've had the pleasure of listening to.
Anyway, here is Beat of Your Drum from Never Let Me Down. Tell me you don't start jiggling when that chorus kicks in!
No comments:
Post a Comment