What about Bowie?

As you can see by the title, I am not considering this post to be part of the Greatest Guitar Songs series, but it does have its roots there.

If you recall, in sorting through the comments regarding the list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs as deemed by Rolling Stone, the worst of the comments was someone who just put "Bowie". Looking up a specific song or album is easy. When someone only gives an artist name, that can be a little harder, but still doable. But Bowie? There was just too much there.

I tried listening to different things, and talking to a friend, and that led to some thoughts, but I really thought there was just going to have to be a lack of closure on this one. I would not know what the original poster meant. Then I started The Platinum Collection, and it just clicked. Somewhere in the first few songs I nodded and thought "Now I get it."

(Those specific songs are "The Jean Genie", which I had never heard before, followed by "Space Oddity" and "Starman". Probably at about track 7, "Let's Spend The Night Together", the guitar starts to be less of a factor, but I was nonetheless just grateful to feel like I understood.)

It was a relief to have that thought, but I wanted to go over a few points that had come to mind when I was still thinking it was hopeless.

First of all, even though I trying to focus on a Bowie song or timeline that would make sense when talking about "greatest guitar songs", I had sort of thought "Let's Dance", and Karen mentioned that one too. The guitar is good in it, though I'm not sure it stands out. The big problem is that generally when listening to David Bowie, I am focusing on the voice or the piano or the saxophone.

I think I know why we both thought of "Let's Dance" though, because I'm pretty sure that was where Bowie first became accessible to us. I had seen videos for "Under Pressure" and "Ashes to Ashes" early on, but they were a little off-putting with the grotesquerie and extremity.

She developed an appreciation for his envelope pushing pretty quickly. For me, I didn't really get "Ashes To Ashes" until a few years ago, where it was used for...I guess it would be considered a modern dance. It was pretty close to ballet, but perhaps not strictly all ballet. Anyway, in a new setting, I could actually hear the music, and I loved it. It is an amazing, brilliant song. I still don't like the original video for it, though it's not quite as overpowering as it was for a fourteen-year old girl.

So, there might be more room for exploration on the topic of music and visuals, and I may go there, but the real point is how many places there are to go. You can write doctoral theses on Bowie, from the themes he incorporated, the influence he had, the psychology involved, and possibly the part that is most important, the ability to reinvent himself over and over again. Some of that is being able to be a musician or an actor or an internet service provider, which is impressive, but it's probably more impressive of how he was able to adapt musically.

I don't want to give unalloyed praise here. I don't believe in pushing the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope, or for publicity's sake. There are consequences to it, and Bowie himself felt Ziggy taking over his life. I am seeing a lot of people getting overly caught up in things, where they may be cheating their real lives, and so the foundation you are working from is an important thing. I want to focus more on things he does right.

First of all, Bowie is a total innovator. Lots of good things can come from one person doing it a different way. Maybe not everyone can see the possibilities at first, but once that door is opened, other people still get to go through. So having that vision, and the willingness to chase it is important.

Also, he is good at recognizing the talent and abilities in others. David Bowie is gifted musically, and he can do a lot on his own, but he still does amazing collaborations, and that is helped by his being open to other styles. So he can work with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Brian Eno, Bing Crosby, Cher, Mick Jagger, or Nile Rogers, and take influences from others, even if he might not work with them, and putting it all together not be confined to one genre or sound.

Finally, he seems to know when to take a rest, and let one project go, start a new one, or take time off.

When I say "finally", that is not in any way implying that this is the final word on Bowie, or even a particularly complete word on him, but all of these things have come up, because they are things that I am thinking about for other bands, and for music in general. So, don't be surprised if those issues come up again. That's why this is not a continuation of the "Greatest Guitar Songs" - we're moving on.