Monthly Archives: October 2009

Seven degrees of Bowie – U2

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About a week or so ago, I had a discussion with my teenage step-daughter.  She’s hip.  She keeps one eye covered with hair at all times so the world can’t see her face.  She’s not emo tho.  Be sure to understand that.  During some strange dinner time conversation, she questioned the fact that I seemed to have a David Bowie comment about anything pop we discuss.  She really seemed to think I was stretching things a bit.  I explained to her that the reason I focused on the world according to David Bowie is because he sort of is in the middle of everything musical for the last thirty years or so.  I was fairly confident in my claim.

We then hopped in the car and drove to Atlanta, Georgia, to watch U2.  Now, the only U2 connection was the fact that Bowie worked with a fella named Brian Eno.  Brian Eno would later hook up with U2 to produce an album called The Unforgettable Fire.  That was a pretty good mix.  Bowie and Eno were a good mix as well, delivering one of Bowie’s most recognizable songs to this day.  Eno has again teamed up with U2 to produce the album U2 is supporting for this tour.  So, imagine how I felt when U2 was preparing to hit the stage and they played one song over the PA before the band came on:

David Bowie of course. And, in deference to Eno in some way or another, not a song Eno had anything to do with. They could have done Heroes…….

Needless to say, I had to get a dig in on the young and inexperienced step-daughter.

Tomorrow I’m taking the boy to see a movie that features this song:

During their shows, they often do Heroes, a Bowie/Eno collaboration.

And, they opened for U2 a time or two.

Small world huh?

The Absolute Prettiest Star

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My friend JeniQ noticed something I had always noticed, but never really put much thought to.  It’ll make itself kind of obvious as this post meanders.  Some history first.

In 1969, following the success of Space Oddity, Bowie went back in the studios to release his next big hit.  He teamed up with Marc Bolan, who was pretty hot at the time.  And, he was pretty much totally infatuated with a babe named Angela Barnett.  Tony Visconti was producing this round, and had a particular song in mind:

London Bye Ta Ta wasn’t floating too well with Bowie.  So, Bowie and Bolan put together a little ditty pretty much featuring Bolan’s guitar work:

Catchy guitar riff, smooth lyrics, nothing shocking or weird.  It went absolutely nowhere.  A few years later, Bowie was a star, and he was putting together a quick album to follow up on the popularity of Ziggy Stardust.  Most of the songs for Aladdin Sane were harsh, cold, disenchanted, and loud.  Except for one song:

Not content that The Prettiest Star was so horrible no one would buy it, Bowie re-made it with Mick Ronson on guitar.  Visconti once again was producing the song he didn’t want to produce in the first place.  There was one very noticeable difference.  They added doo-wops.  What got left on the cutting room floor was the guitar solo intro.  Starting instead with the classic guitar riff.

Fast forward a decade or so and Bowie’s friend Julien Temple was producing a movie.  He got Bowie to do a supporting role.  And, more importantly to me, record the theme song to the movie.  This type of collaboration had previously yielded Cat People.  So, the concept was promising.  However, the song was not quite as creative as Cat People.  It enjoyed a quick stint in the charts and pretty much faded from most Bowie fans’ song lists.  There was most definitely a reason for this:

For those that had been around Bowie for a while, we had already heard it.  He even brought back the opening solo.

But, it was still good.  And, both are in my Top 20 Bowie tunes of all time.