David Bowie "The Man Who Sold The World"

Much like "Random Ridiculous Songs That Have No Business Being Played In Public Again But I Heard In The Grocery Store Today," I keep an ear out for songs in public places, that are strangely out of place.

For instance, standing in front of the elevators of the Florence, South Carolina Doubletree Hotel, it does not seem like they should be playing David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World."

But on the tail end of a long vacation, somehow it seemed appropriate.

I'd just come from Disney, where the art of merchandising is perfected, and amazing.

I mean, it's no revelation that the amusement rides promote the movies and the movies promote the rides, and they both promote the t-shirts and stuffed animals and acres of plastic crap that is every which way you turn.

But I did find myself both impressed an horrified and the marketing onslaught.

And as I stood there in front of the elevators, I thought, yeah Bowie, you're right, you can slap a logo on just about anything and sell it.  Even the world.


Hear the song on Youtube.

David Bowie "Rebel Rebel"

Part of being a DJ means announcing weird or awkward things.  Things that don't come out of your mouth just right.

I always hate saying the name of this David Bowie song, because every time I do, I hear myself doing a Hamburglar imitation.

"Rabble Rabble."


Hear the song on Youtube.


See a vintage commercial on Youtube.

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.

The Wallflowers "Reboot The Mission"

People seem surprised by the new Wallflowers single, "Reboot The Mission."

Pretty much since their inception, the band has been compared to, comfortably, artists like Tom Petty, The Band, The Counting Crows and Bruce Springsteen.

Straight ahead rootsy rock.

But if you've ever read anything about Jakob Dylan, you know that his formative influences go beyond those earthy antecedants.

He's professed a fascination with The Replacements.

He's covered David Bowie.

He wrote a section of the liner notes for "Beyond And Back," a Best Of collection, for the band X.

So is it a surprise that "Reboot The Mission" features Mick Jones of The Clash?  That it seems to contain programmed beats/samples and such?

It is, only if you've been listening to The Wallflowers, and not Jakob, I guess . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Tin Machine "Under The God"

Here's another Weekend Post:

By the time I was hosting "What's The Alternative?" (in the mid-90s), this David Bowie side project was an already largely forgotten anomaly.

But I thought it kinda rocked.


Hear the song on Youtube. Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

David Bowie "It's Hard To Be A Saint"

Here are a few things I know about David Bowie . . .

He hasn't made a record in nearly a decade, hasn't toured in ages, and is mostly a homebody these days. His schedule is open.

He clearly likes Bruce Springsteen, having covered two of his song ("Hard To Be A Saint" and "Growing Up").

He plays the saxophone.

Do you get where I'm going with this?

Bruce Springsteen announced this week that he and The E Street Band are going to tour next summer.

And the first question on everyone's mind is, Who's going to play saxophone now that Clarence Clemons is gone?

I'm just saying . . . Bowie's available.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy"

It is a real, incredibly difficult magic trick---in music or comedy---to produce genius while you're seemingly doing next to nothing.

Whether you're Brian Wilson, Sandra Boynton or Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly, you are no less that a Master if you can create something mesmerizing, with a few mere strokes.

Witness Ferrell and Reilly in this hilarious version of "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy." For the first 5 minutes of the video neither performer does anything but a fairly faithful recreation of the original Bing Crosby & David Bowie TV appearance. There is joke right at the end of the video, but otherwise, they don't appear to be doing anything.

And yet, I watched this video, crying/laughing.

Why is it hilarious? I can't quite say.

It's Christmas magic, I guess.

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy with Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly from Will Ferrell

Get this version as a free download!

The original

David Bowie “Ashes To Ashes”

Hitting Random on the iTunes playlist . . .

MTV came into my life at a pretty impressionable time.

For most people I know, from birth to your pre-teen years, your music tastes were formed by your parents’ music tastes. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I grew up listening to The Beatles and The Beach Boys and to Broadway Soundtracks like “The Music Man” and “Fiddler On The Roof.”

It’s when kids hit their pre-teens, or early teenage years, that they discover the world of music outside the cocoon of home.

When I hit those years, MTV hit the small screen. I was about 11 when the cable guys came and hooked us up. And it opened up this bizarre world beyond “Fun Fun Fun” and “76 Trombones.”

And sometimes, that world creeped me the fuck out.

It’s hard now to go back to such a blank slate mindset, after all the years of viewed videos, rock shows attended, and general loss of innocence toward (mainstream) weirdness. But I can still look at this David Bowie video, and feel a teenage sense of dread.

Not that I could take my eyes off this video, mind you. But I’d watch it in the darkness of our basement TV room, looking at this man in makeup and some kind of bizarre clown suit, and feel very ill at ease, not understanding why something that should be so enjoyable, seemed a little like a nightmare.

Clips of the artists mentioned in this post:

David Bowie “Golden Years”

There’s a story in Musical Notes today, about David Bowie, and how he’s suddenly gone silent.

Bowie has put out an album, or at least a single, pretty much every year, since the late 60s. But since his 2003 full length and the tour to follow, he’s been off the road and he hasn’t put out a new record (not counting reissues).

Pretty striking, for someone who’s output continued at a steady clip for 3 decades.

And the article suggests that nothing is imminent from Bowie, which is why the piece leads with a lyric from “Golden Years.”

So if Bowie kinda stops, can we expect “Run for the shadows in these Golden Years” to appear in any Bowie mention?

U2 “Breathe” & David Bowie “Space Oddity”

Travis came out to the theme from Rocky. The Reverend Horton Heat arrived to the strains of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from the movie “2001.” The Blues Brothers famously used an Otis Redding track.

What song a band uses, for their arrival on stage should say a lot about the band, and about the show they’re about to put on.

It has to be something that sets the mood. It probably shouldn’t be something by the band itself. Something familiar is nice, but you don’t want it to be a song that would suggest that you are on par with someone else’s level of fame or talent (i.e. Don’t come out to a Beatles song).

On the fan side, you are sitting there with great anticipation of seeing your favorite band. You’re waiting for the venue lights to go down, and the show to start. You know all your questions will be answered shortly (“Will they play my favorite song? What will they start with? What will they cover?”) And those questions begin to be answered with that introductory track.

Last Sunday at Gillette Stadium, we waited for, what seemed like forever. There must’ve been an hour between the supporting act’s set, and the beginning of U2’s set.

The enormous Space Station-looking set loomed large in the full stadium light, as the wife and I ate our popcorn dinner, asking those above questions.

U2 answered with David Bowie---an apt, but not immediately obvious influence.

Because yes, like Bowie, U2 have pulled of the successful trick of several re-inventions. They’ve achieved Stadium-level fame, iconic status. And they have both used their music to approach their fascination with space, the earth, and viewing humanity from within and without.

We captured this moment I’m talking about on video, here, where you can see the minutes before the show starts, the Bowie intro, a Larry Mullen drum solo, and the beginning of the opening U2 song, Breathe.

Hear the original Bowie song here

Hear the original U2 song here

And see the video we show at my sister-site blog, Every Day I Video The Blog