The History of Bowie in 100 Objects

April 25, 2012 10:45 AM

With fans struggling to come to terms with David Bowie's musical hiatus and likely retirement, any new Bowie-related material has been eagerly pursued. Last year, the leak of the unreleased album Toy (previously) slaked the thirst of those needing a Bowie fix. Last week, an unauthorized preview of another Bowie project emerged— Bowie: Object. First announced in 2010, the book features 100 objects from Bowie's archive, with text written by the man himself.
posted by kimdog (12 comments total)

David Bowie's writing style is suspiciously pitched almost exactly where one might expect a very keen fan to be.... Still, all the commenters on that page seem convinced, so who am I to argue?
posted by robself at 10:56 AM on April 25, 2012

Oh man, when I saw this post I was SO hoping that the full Outside sessions finally leaked. I'm dying to hear 20 hours of Bowie/Eno/Gabrels improv cyberpunk opera!
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 11:08 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

That may be the best description of a garden gnome ever.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 11:21 AM on April 25, 2012

Define "struggle".
posted by spicynuts at 12:24 PM on April 25, 2012

Really? are you sure the fans actually want new material? Thats definately not the vibe I got when I saw him live in about 2006 in Sydney and the crowd seemed mostly disinterested in anything after Lets Dance..

Just play the hits ok..
posted by mary8nne at 1:17 PM on April 25, 2012

are you sure the fans actually want new material?

The fans are an ass.

See, not just about Bowie but in general, first you get the fans who really like the early stuff - ideally the first album or better yet the first EP. Nothing for them will ever live up to that and besides once other people discovered the musician's music, the musician ipso facto sold out.

Then you have the fans who only got into the band because of the hit or hits. The musician might have two dozen other excellent songs that weren't hits, but they only want to hear the ones that they know - presumably so they can sing along at the top of their lungs at a volume that prevents them from actually hearing the musician sing it herself or himself.

Then you have the fans that complain if the musician doesn't try something new on their next album. "Yeah, that album was good, but I liked it better when it was called their debut album."

Of course, you also have true believers who like everything the musician does regardless of relative quality. This small, undiscerning group will stick with a musician no matter what, gods bless em. I mean, you can't trust their feedback because it will always be "you are awesome" but its still nice to have some people you can count on to buy everything you release.

So, to make fans happy, an artist needs to keep their sound the same forever, but change it on every album, and not get old or successful, but have a bunch of hits so that concert attendees have something to sing along with.

Long story short, if a musician spends to much time worrying about the fans want, his or her brain is going to collapse into a black hole due to conflicting impulses.

And then they will be Xorn.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:36 PM on April 25, 2012 [4 favorites]

thats a nice rant little you have there. but... I was actually attempting to snidely point out that there are a variety of "fans" and actually most of the fans at concerts don't really seem to want new material from Bowie.

I actually really like this blog about Bowie's Songs: Pushing Ahead of the Dame: David Bowie, song by song. And I do like a lot of the hits and early stuff but he's really just not that relevant now. And after that concert in 2006 I vowed never to go to another aging rocker show again.

I"m actually quite surprised that anyone really gives a shit about Bowie these days.
posted by mary8nne at 1:52 PM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]

I saw him live in about 2006 in Sydney and the crowd seemed mostly disinterested in anything after Lets Dance.

Bowie completely stopped doing concerts of any kind in 2004, and his live performances since then have been usually a song here and there, usually an impromptu appearance joining some band/performer onstage for a spell. You must be talking about the Sydney Entertainment Centre 21st February 2004. In that case, here's the playlist from that concert:

Intro
Rebel Rebel
New Killer Star
Afraid
Fame
Cactus
Panic In Detroit
Pablo Picasso
All The Young Dudes
China Girl
A New Career In A New Town
The Loneliest Guy
The Man Who Sold The World
Hallo Spaceboy
Sunday
Band Intro
Ubder Pressure
Life On Mars?

Looking For Water
Quicksand
Days
Let's Dance
White Light White Heat
Ashes To Ashes
I'm Afraid Of Americans
Heroes
Bring Me The Disco King
Five Years
Hang Onto Yourself
Ziggy Stardust
posted by VikingSword at 2:32 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

I actually really like this blog about Bowie's Songs: Pushing Ahead of the Dame: David Bowie, song by song. And I do like a lot of the hits and early stuff but he's really just not that relevant now. And after that concert in 2006 I vowed never to go to another aging rocker show again.

I heart that blog unequivocally. Its tone (wry, knowledgeable, occasionally mischievous) seems of a piece with its subject. Check this parenthesis:

After his chaotic early Eighties (drugs, voodoo), Iggy Pop was at a happy standstill.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:33 PM on April 25, 2012

mary8nne : That blog is awesome. Thank you for the link.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:24 PM on April 25, 2012

He used fabric scissors on newspaper. Oh dear. Oh dear, no.
posted by pfh at 1:00 AM on April 27, 2012

BOWIE OBJECT Preview – The Facts.

It is still awesome.
posted by Artw at 11:20 AM on April 29, 2012