Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day — Bowie

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Of course I had a GBV related post all ready for my first FMD and then David Bowie surprisingly died, meaning I had to switch things up to recognize his role in my love of music while writing the first post-Bowie FMD in WGOM history.

There’s probably only a few of us citizens old enough to grow up on albums. I’ve told my son many times that when I hung out with friends, we didn’t play video games, we played albums. We would bring our records over to a friend’s house and just listen to music. Not only did we listen to music, but we would spend hours looking at the album covers and reading liner notes. I was lucky in that I had a friend who’s parents weren’t home a whole lot and had older siblings, meaning access to lots of music and hours of unsupervised pot smoking and album cover gazing. David Bowie took up a lot of those hours.

My two favorite Bowie albums were David Live and Ziggy Stardust. Bowie looked so cool on that live album cover and the songs were great live. Ziggy Stardust was mindblowing of course and to this day remains one of my favorite albums. We spent hours trying to figure out that album cover and contemplating the songs. It was heady and it rocked. I’ve always been a Bowie song guy, not so much an album guy, but Ziggy Stardust is something else.

When we were doing college visits with my son, I played a bunch of Bowie in the car and then we had dinner with some of my college friends in Chicago. Charlie was both blown away by the songs and our in-depth discussion of the different Bowie personas. How freaky he was and how damn cool he was. Boys and girls both wanted to sleep with Bowie and who could blame them? Charlie became a fan that weekend.

Charlie is now in Norway for Study Abroad and this past Monday morning, I wake up and before I turn on the radio, I notice I had gotten a text in the middle of the night. It was Charlie texting from Bergen telling me Bowie was dead. Even though he knew I was sleeping, he had to reach out to experience our shared grief. Thanks Bowie you freaky handsome musical genius. The stars do look very different today.

Drop your lists.

37 thoughts on “Friday Music Day — Bowie”

  1. Among the new toys in our house from Christmas is a pretty bottom-of-the-line turntable. I have not had the pleasure of listening to actual records since I was very young, and I have spent more money than I should have buying vinyl in the past two weeks.

    As far as Bowie goes...never really got too deep into his stuff, though I always enjoyed the stuff when I did hear it.

    1. The Replacements - "Hangin' Downtown" - Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash!
    2. Best Coast - "Last Year" - Best Coast
    3. Soul Coughing - "Disseminated" - Irresistible Bliss
    4. Belle & Sebastian - "I Don't Love Anyone" - Tigermilk
    5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - "Cigarettes and Wine" - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

    6. Germs - "Dragon Lady" - Germs
    7. The New Pornographers - "Crash Years" - Together
    8. Regina Spektor - "Us" - Soviet Kitsch
    9. Naked Raygun - "Managua" - Throb Throb
    10. Los Campesinos! - "We've Got Your Back" - Romance is Boring

    1. I have a decent stack of albums and no speakers*. At the risk of inviting myself over, we could do what free described and hang out and play albums.

      *Still haven't made room to set up the stereo I got curb side

  2. 1. Drinker's Peace -- Guided By Voices -- Same Place The Fly Got Smashed
    2. Police & Thieves -- The Clash -- The Clash
    3. Bury Our Friends -- Sleater-Kinney -- No Cities To Love
    4. Crazier -- Fred Eaglesmith -- Ralph's Last Show
    5. The Ascended Master's Grogshop -- Guided By Voices -- Demons & Painkillers
    6. Eternal -- Joy Division -- Closer
    7. Original Love -- The Feelies -- Crazy Rhythms
    8. Holland, 1945 -- Neutral Milk Hotel -- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
    9. Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town -- Talking Heads -- Talking Heads: 77
    10. Looking Around -- Young Fresh Fellows -- Electric Bird Digest

    B1. Theatre Is The Life Of You -- Minutemen -- Double Nickels On The Dime
    B2. The Mystery Zone -- Spoon -- Transference

    1. I can't get enough of Holland, 1945. I also find myself coming back to the untitled track on that same album. Really, all of Aeroplane.

  3. 1. Aaron Dilloway “Eight Cut Scars (for Robert Turman)”* Modern Jester
        a. Blue-winged Warbler “Flight Call” (The Warbler Guide)
    2. Current 93 “Oh Coal Black Smith” Judas as Black Moth*
    3. Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld “Flight” Never Were the Way She Was
    4. Ryoji Ikeda “Supercodex 09” Supercodex*
    5. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy “Missing One” Lie Down in the Light

    6. Portishead “All Mine” Portishead
    7. Vessel “Kin to Coal”* Punish, Honey
    8. The Orb “Majestic” U.F.Orb
    9. A Winged Victory for the Sullen “Atomos VII” Atomos
    T. Black Dice “Lazy TV” Repo

    B. David Bowie “Hallo Spaceboy”* 1. Outside

    *Notes:
    1. This song will always be on my iPod, it's on my "Wake Up" 3-song playlist to use for alarms (only used when I'm not at home). Hear why for yourself. I did just now listen to the full eleven minutes.

    2. A "Greatest Hits" collection of sorts. This particular song must be traditional. Yep.

    4. Of all the music I listen to, Ikeda's is the only one in which I worry about compression changing the feel of the music. He works in frequencies up to the 44.1 kHz** limit CDs impose. Particularly on +/-. (**or is it 22.05 kHz that one can hear from 44.1 kHz sampling?) Back in college, I watched the audio-wave visualization that my roommate's Playstation produced for that piece (the second half of the album of the same name). I finally understood what my ears had been hearing.

    7. This and #2 comprise all of the songs on my iPod with the word "Coal" in the title. I do also have a recording of the Coal Tit (a European bird that looks like a chickadee), and the Emot song "Coffee and Cream Don't Coalesce Like They Seem To..."

    B. Keeping with the theme week.

  4. I’ve always been a Bowie song guy, not so much an album guy.
    I'm with you on that. Even though I listened to that one album from the 90s (see above) a lot, there are a lot of songs on it I don't like or overstay their welcome and then continue for another 3 minutes.
    I realized it was a concept album, and the parts that fit that weren't a problem, just the long ballad-type songs.
    I never bought the next album, Earthling, but I had two singles off it (albeit for the Nine Inch Nails, Photek, and A Guy Called Gerald remixes).

    As for album artwork (cover-wise, at least, I can't speak for the liner contents for albums I don't own), I think that The Next Day is about the pinnacle of the medium.

  5. I have to admit that I know very little about David Bowie. I hear about all these tributes and how great he was... and I never experienced any of it.

    I think the only song of his I can name is Pressure, and that's only because of Vanilla Ice.

    My favorite movie with him was The Prestige.

        2. I am a little disappointed that Rhubarb and AMR didn't point out that Vanilla Ice was found not guilty of copying Under Pressure. Not sure how you two missed this.

          1. I did not know that.
            The only copyright trials I recall are

            • Biz Markie found guilty of ripping off Gilbert o'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" for his song "Alone Again". I have a CD copy.
            • John Fogerty found not guilty of ripping off himself and CCR (someone else owned the copyrights) for "Old Man Down the Road" which sounded too much like past songs he had written.

            Sorry, legal terms are wrong, but I don't know what to call it.

            I had first heard the collaboration between Bowie and Queen on Classic Queen, which I listened to in 1992 (borrowed the tape from an older scout on the bus trip to Philmont).

            1. Did George Harrison ripping off He's So Fine go to trial? Also I think Ghostbusters ripping off Huey Lewis and the News' I Need a New Drug settled before a trial.

                1. No kidding. My Sweet Lord went to trial. Ghostbusters settled. The MySweet Lord Wikipedia page had quite a bit on the trial

          2. Now that I look into it (I should work, really),
            I would have thought that would be mentioned in this article.
            While absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, was this actually a lawsuit and trial or did he just deflect such criticism?

          3. I never missed, just didn't seem pertinent. Vanilla Ice isn't on my radar. I'm more concerned that Lloyd-Weber wasn't found guilty of copying Rick Wakeman's "Judas Iscariot" in his "Phantom of the Opera"

  6. * The Hollow - A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
    * Orderly - EULA - Wool Sucking**
    * Dream of the Canyon Wren - JACK Quartet - The Wind in High Places (J. L. Adams)
    * Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes - Elephant
    * Scotty Says - Courtney Barnett - The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas
    * Passing - Fins - (self-titled)
    * 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2) - Tool - 10,000 Days
    * Heart of a Dog - Indian Jewelry - Peel It
    * Blue Hen - MewithoutYou - Pale Horses
    * Tempered Glass - Yvette - Process

    ** Hi, Pepper!

  7. 1. “Fire Bug” – J.D. McPherson - Signs & Signifiers.
    2. “Marigold” – J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Essential Tremors
    3. “Changes” – David Bowie - Hunky Dory
    4. “Leggy Blonde” – Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
    5. “Heavy Metal Drummer” – Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
    6. “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” – Cake - Comfort Eagle
    7. “Got Nuffin” – Spoon - Got Nuffin EP
    8. “Kiss With A Fist” – Florence + The Machine - Lungs
    9. “Sweater Weather” – The Neighbourhood - I’m Sorry...
    10. “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” – Waylon Jennings - Dreaming My Dreams
    B: “I’d Be Waiting” – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

  8. I actually have my iPod with me today. Let's see what I come up with:

    Old 97s - "Lonely Holiday" Fight Songs
    Tapes 'n' Tapes - "Outro" Outside
    Elton John - "Your Song" Greatest Hits
    Lou Reed - "New York Phone Conversation" Transformer
    Tenacious D - "Wonderboy" Tenacious D

    Muse - "Blackout" Absolution
    Sufjan Stevens - "Age of Adz" The Age of Adz
    Muse - "Soldier's Poem" Black Holes & Revelations
    Fleet Foxes - "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" Fleet Foxes
    Wilco - "Walken" Sky Blue Sky

        1. I was intrigued by these bands Walken and Tiger Mountain Peasant Song that titled their songs off other bands.
          Are they like Wesley Willis or something?
          But then it turns out they don't exist.

  9. All Bowie Random Dozen.

    I've always known Bowie through albums. By the time I was a senior in HS I had Space Oddity, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, and Pin Ups. In college I added Hunky Dory, Heroes, Station to Station, and Scary Monsters. Some years later I would eventually add The Man Who Sold the World, Low, Lodger, Let's Dance, and Young Americans. It truly is amazing to me the breadth of his musical styles. The guy was an all timer. RIP, David Robert Jones.

    1. Also, a couple years ago there was an internet hoax about a lost soul record of Bowie covers by a group called Milky Edwards & The Chamberlings. Turns out it wasn't really an old record at all, but the work of some very talented (and anonymous) pranksters. Hoax or not, these covers are bloody brilliant. Long live Milky Edwards.
      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y115_2h4a68

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlsNSWDVdM

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvXLuYXPL94

        1. Yeah, aren't they? That version of "Soul Love" is outta sight. FYI, I made mp3s from the vids here. so now 3 songs from Milky's Starman LP are in my iTunes.

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