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If I could listen to just one artist for the rest of my life, it would be David Bowie.
(Told you it was bold.)
I guess in a way I’m cheating slightly, because by choosing him I’m actually getting the full spectrum of Bowies, a vast collection of all kinds of personas and genres, from both in and out of this world...
There’s teddy boy Bowie, hippy Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, and the Man Who Fell To Earth, not to mention the musical styles transforming through psychedelia, Glam rock (my fave), soul, new wave, electronica and pop. The man is a chameleon.
This is the first of many appearances that Bowie will be making on the blog, so let’s not go into a full detailed history of his rise (…and rise…) now. Instead, I want to take you back thirty-five years to the 8th August 1980 - the day when Ashes to Ashes was released.
Bowie is more than a singer/songwriter. He is, like the best are, a storyteller too, and it was his concept albums and the characters that captured my attention when I was first made aware of his music. Usually these characters just exist within one song or album, but in Ashes to Ashes, Bowie makes reference back to Major Tom, the “Action Man”, from his 1969 classic Space Oddity.
In Space Oddity, a conversation takes place between Ground Control and astronaut Major Tom, who is successfully launched into space on a solo mission. But after technical complications, communication is lost and Tom is left "floating like a tin can far across the world", we think never to be seen or heard from again. However, jump forward eleven years and Tom's back, making contact with Ground Control once more. He's happy and well, but those on earth are weary of him, describing him as a "junkie, strung out in heaven's high, hitting an all time low". It has been discussed whether Tom is representative of Bowie's struggles with drug addiction. It is suggested, therefore, that in order to progress both musically and in his personal life, Bowie must put old habits behind him.
In past interviews, Bowie has spoken of one song in particular that had an influence not only on Ashes to Ashes, but many of his tracks. Inchworm was sung by Danny Kaye and featured in the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen. Bowie said:
"I loved it as a kid and it's stayed with me forever. I keep going back to it. There's a child's nursery rhyme element in it, and there's something so sad and mournful and poignant about it... There's a connection that can be made between being a somewhat lost five-year-old and feeling a little abandoned and having the same feeling when you're [an adult]. And it was that song that did it for me."
Ashes to Ashes may not be considered a predominant hit for some Bowie fans, but in fact it has great historical importance. In the UK charts the track went from the No.4 spot straight to No.1 in its first week of release, meaning that it was Bowie’s fastest selling single up until that time (amazing when you consider the cult-like following he had throughout the previous decade).
The music video was also groundbreaking. Not only did it cost £250,000, which at that point made it the most expensive video ever made, but it also featured effects that had never been seen before, like solarised colour and clever transitions. It may look rather amateur now, but the video is still considered one of the most iconic of the decade. For most of it, Bowie is dressed as Pierrot, adding theatricality to the otherwise dark scenarios; drowning, being locked in a padded cell, and walking in front of a bulldozer (a symbol of "oncoming violence" according to Bowie).
As previously mentioned, my love of Bowie comes from my mother, whose life was changed forever when watching Starman on Top of the Pops aged thirteen (the same age I was when I first delved into her record collection). "I'd never seen anything so beautiful and so extraordinary in my life," she told me. It seemed only natural to invite her to feature on my cover of Ashes to Ashes. So, enjoy!
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