Legend, Genius… these words get thrown around too much. So much so, that they’ve lost their currency. It seems that if every artist with two decent albums is called a genius then the words start to lose their meaning.
But David Bowie was the reason that these
words are used to describe musicians. Better scribes than I am will
describe his impact on modern culture and why he was so important. I
haven’t touched on his acting career, or any of his other endeavours.
I’ve just chosen 5 Bowie Songs to listen to. But to make the challenge a
little harder on myself, I’ve limited it to one song per decade and
tried to cover the breadth of his career.
1960s - Space Oddity.
This is where it all started. Sure it technically wasn’t his debut single, but this is the beginning. Introducing Major Tom…
If you’ve not seen it, the version by Commander Chris Hadfield on the Space Station is truly something special.
1970s – Heroes
The
70s. Possibly Bowie’s creative high point and he was on a hot streak
that can be matched by only a few artists and bettered by none. The
songs I haven’t chosen are Changes, Starman, Jean Genie, Life on Mars, Rebel Rebel (I’m still only up to 1974 here), Fame, Station to Station, Suffragette City… it goes on and on and on…. I have of course picked Heroes. I can almost not bear to listen to this song today though.
1980s - Let’s Dance
And the hot streak continues… Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Under Pressure, China Girl, Blue Jean, Modern Love. But I’ve chosen Let’s Dance. Possibly Bowie’s biggest “hit single”. But I’ve mainly chosen it because the video was filmed in Australia.
1990s – Hallo Spaceboy
I’m
reminded of the Bowie quote “I don’t know where I’m going next but it
won’t be boring”. That certainly applied in the 90s. He touched on
“drum and bass” (remember that genre?) and industrial and rediscovered
his Jazz roots (more of which later). I’ve always liked some of the
songs he did in the 90s (The Heart’s Filthy Lesson featured in the film Seven) and I’m Afraid of Americans. But I’ll go with Hallo Spaceboy (which ties things nicely back to the beginning, as it references Major Tom). It featured a pretty cool Pet Shop Boys remix.
2000s – Lazarus
After
his surprise release of The Next Day in 2013, David Bow released his
final single Lazarus from the album Blackstar only last week. It has
been reported that this is a parting gift for his fans and he is still
exploring new territory here (while referring to his previous work). He
recorded the album with a group of New York Jazz musicians which kind
of feels like him returning to his first love. I should point out that
the album was getting 4 and 5 stars even before his death, so there is
no chance of that revisionism that happens on the death of an artist
where all their work is seen as works of Genius. I’m pretty sure that
he was, quite plainly, a genius.
