David Bowie "Where Are We Now?"

So I'm probably the last blogger on earth to post this new Bowie track.

But I'm not posting it to debut it.  I'm posting it to talk about the reaction to it.

Well, I've certainly heard plenty of folks who like it, who are excited about it, who think it's good.

And I've certainly plenty of folks who say that don't like it.  Or it's lackluster.  Or they don't care about Bowie anymore.

Reasonable people can take either side of that argument.

The comments that make me scratch my head though, are the ones along the lines of, "This isn't as good as 'Jean Genie.'"  Or, "He hasn't made a good record since 'Aladdin Sane"  Or, "He's not relevant anymore."

I suppose all those above statements can be true.  What's headscratching to me is that this seems like a surprise to the haters.

Kinda like when The Who played at the Superbowl and people were complaining, "The Who is old!  Roger Daltrey can't sing like he used to!"

No shit.

I'm forty years old.  I can't even stand up from a chair the way I did when I was 21.  Never mind reaching hard-to-get notes with perfect pitch.

Every time Madonna comes out with a record, people slag her because she's not able to carry off "Like A Virgin."  She's in her 50s!  She wasn't like a virgin when she sang it in her twenties, and she isn't getting any closer to it now.

My friend Ross pointed me to an article in Esquire about Bruce Springsteen, where the writer took issue with some of the lesser Springsteen albums, saying, "I don't like a man who has at least five flawless albums getting away with anything less."

Really?  An artist makes 5 flawless albums, and you fault him for sucking on some of the others?

I find it all bizarre.

David Bowie made a string of landmark albums and songs.  He became legend, in part, because he innovated.

But are we really to expect that Bowie will innovate at a steady, equal clip until his death?  If you really think his run of albums in the 70s was his greatest achievement, is there any sane way you can be disappointed by his 2013 single, 40 fucking years later?

Do I think "Where Are We Now?" is the best David Bowie song ever?  No.

10th best?  No.

But can I derive no pleasure from it, because of that?  Of course not.

That'd be Aladdin INsane.


Hear the song on Youtube.