Did David Bowie die or something? I guess everyone needs to tell their story about the fictional relationship they had with his music. O.K. Here's mine. I was in college studying photography during his Ziggy Stardust period. My two closest photography friends were glam kids. Coke. I was a hippy. Pot. And I wasn't even smoking. But I was listening to a different sort of music. I didn't even appreciate The Velvet Underground. My bad. But I loved my little glam buddy, a fay rich boy who bought all his friends tickets to a Bowie concert (and provided the drugs, too). I think my glam girl went with him.
Bowie never did become "my thing" though I learned to love the Velvet Underground. Bowie was a bit slick, sort of a proto-Michael Jackson. Don't be a hater. It is just the way I feel.
But if you really like him, I leave you with this. I understand. I am a working man, however, and must hustle to the factory. There'll be no dancing in the streets.
Yes, he has had some shit moments in his career, and Dancing in the Streets was among his worst, though his cover of Across the Universe (actually with John Lennon) is even worse, for me. While he was certainly a "pop" artist where I would say that he differed from Michael Jackson in many ways, most notably was in that he wrote his own music, and lyrics, some of which were far and away superior to anything Jackson ever did. To each his own.
ReplyDeleteSure. He was more like Elton John. Show tunes, really.
ReplyDeleteYou're right in one way. It requires a lack of knowledge of a fair portion of his work, and to have relied only on what was available to you on the radio, but the conclusion you've drawn certainly can be. It's dismissive without knowledge or authority of the subject, but at least it's all yours.
ReplyDeleteWhile all things are comparable to discriminating minds, you were ill-guided to favorably compare Bowie to Michael Jackson. You're out of your depth in music.
ReplyDeleteI'll forgive you, but I'll never forget that you were willfully wrong about something that mattered. You can claim that you want to be a nicer man, but that does not make niceness happen.
You can support your claim, easily enough - comparing things is little challenge - though you seem incapable of recognizing its error. Your error.
Your photography is comparable to Norman Rockwell's painting, but you might take offense at anyone who pointed out the obvious compositional strategies and contextual clues, and yet some others might think you were being lauded by the comparison.
The subject of youth is used similarly by both of you. One Roman, one Greek. I'll let you do the math on that one, old science fellow.
By the way, are you a Mick Jagger fan, or is that just the very source of the gripe? (I won't blame you if you don't publish this, you seem threatened by an old near-queen like David Bowie, who knows why you keep me around, a genuine monster)
I don't know what to tell you, man. You've always liked disco music and show tunes. Nobody is ever going to change that.
ReplyDeleteI've always admitted to bad musical tastes, but I realize it. . . eventually.
I don't know what to tell you, you've always liked someone that liked disco and show tunes. I like what you do, but you are defensive, too much, some might say.
ReplyDeletejol·ie laide
ˈZHōlē ˈled/
noun
a woman whose face is attractive despite having ugly features.
You seem to miss some vital things, particularly those that you most promote. I accept this as artistry.
I pre-forgive you, of course. We're old friends, but if you wish to be nicer then perhaps start with niceness.
I've never found the right entrance and you seem to be stumbling for the exit.
"Nobody is ever going to change that."