DAVID BOWIE
Prog Related • United Kingdom
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David BOWIE is born David Robert Jones on January 8 1947.
He started making music in the late fifties (saxophone) and eventually played in a number of blues/rock bands, releasing his first single Liza Jane with The King Bees in 1964, he also changed his stage name to David BOWIE to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from THE MONKEES. BOWIE demonstrates several traits that single him out as a song-writer of interest to followers of Progressive music: narrative story-telling & characterisation, non-standard song structures, musical eclecticism and a variety of singing styles that have a wide vocal range and mixture of different tones & timbres to suit individual songs and stage personas.
Formative years. The Deram Years and Beckenham Art Labs
From 1966 until 1968 David BOWIE was under contract with Decca's Deram label. In 1967 he released his first album, a psychedelic pop album with music hall/cabaret overtones that show manager Ken Pitt's desire to form BOWIE into an 'all-round entertainer' like Tommy Steele and Anthony Newley when BOWIE's own aims were more Jacques Brel, Bertolt Brecht and Bob Dylan. The album and singles weren't much of a success, but reveal BOWIE's ability to craft simplistic sounding songs that were anything but the whimsical pop they first appear to be, rarely following pop or rock conventions many of these songs are mini-concepts or narratives with dark, subversive, dystopian and 'taboo' themes that he would develop in his later career. Marred by the uninspired addition of superfluous string arrangements the music of this early period has been captured by the Deram Anthology released in 1997 which also contains a number of previously unreleased tracks.
At the start of 1969 David was at a low point in his career. Together with some friends he decided to organise a Folk Club at the Three Tuns. It was an immediate success and soon developed into an Arts Laboratory - attracting talent from all over London and the south east. Musicians who played at the Arts Lab included Peter Frampton, Steve Harley, Dave Cousins and the Strawbs, Rick Wakeman, Tony Visconti and Mick Ronson. There was a lot more than music at the Beckenham Arts Lab. Visual artists created original works, poets gave readings, there were light shows, street theatre, dance - and Brian Moore's unforgettable puppets. Between 1969 and 1973 The Beckenham Arts Lab was a crucible for artistic talent and the launch pad for David Bowie's rise to stardom. Yet such endeavors need financing so he went into the studio to cut an album....
Early success
In 1969 BOWIE had his first major success with his 'Space Oddity' hit single, (released to coincide with the first moon landing), where the character of Major Tom is introduced (later to re-appear on the 1980s hit single 'Ashes to Ashes'). The album, originally titled 'David BOWIE' like his debut, (however in the USA it was subtitled ''Man of Words, Man of Music" and on later re-releases was changed to 'Space Oddity' to avoid confusion), shows that BOWIE has musically matured after the quirky style of his Deram period and that his song writing has also developed, creating characters for his narratives, such as the disillusioned messianic 'hero' from the 'Cygnet Committee' and the persecuted outsider in the 'Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud', two songs that were the first real Progressive songs from BOWIE. The album is a combination of progressive folk and acoustic ballad's coupled with the psychedelic pop he began on his previous album, but the heavy orchestration of that album is now replaced by a line-up of sessions musicians (who would go on to work in the Progressive and Folk music scenes) and the 50 piece orchestra is now used to augment the music rather than to provide it. It also features the first (un-credited) appearance of Mick RONSON.
After the success of 'Space Oddity' public interest waned a little, also the androgynous alter ego that would become Ziggy Stardust was starting to take shape and BOWIE had a assembled a team of supporting musicians to work with, most of whom would stay with him for the next five albums as The Spiders From Mars. 'The Man Who Sold The World' received critical acclaim but little commercial success on its initial release, though it would go on to influence a generation of musicians a decade later. Featuring songs that were musically far heavier and more rock-oriented than on previous and later albums, the dystopian themes have become far darker than before and the messianic anti-heroes have become more malevolent and less tolerant in songs like 'Width Of A Circle', 'Saviour Machine' and 'The Supermen'.
The following pop album 'Hunky Dory' did better commercially, and with songs like 'Changes', which explains why BOWIE feels the need to constantly change, 'Oh You Pretty Things' (further developing the Nietzschean 'Homo Superior' that began with 'We Are Hungry Men' from his debut) and 'Life On Mars' (featuring keyboards from Rick WAKEMAN). With 'Hunky Dory' BOWIE's take on Glam Rock is also emerging, fusing elements from the American Art Rock and Pop-Art scene with BOWIE's theatrical inclinations and English psychedelic-pop background. Along with 'Space Oddity' and 'The Man Who Sold The World', the album became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic after the release of next album and BOWIE's subsequent meteoric rise to stardom.
Ziggy Stardust and Glam Rock
'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars' was the real breakthrough that BOWIE was looking for. A conceptual album about an androgynous rock star from Mars who gets destroyed by drugs, sex, and ultimately by his fans, the story takes place in a world that has been given 5 years left to live before being destroyed by some unspecified disaster. The album was heavily inspired by T-Rex, The Who, Velvet Underground and Ray Davies (amongst others). In 1973 BOWIE further developed the Ziggy character with 'Aladdin Sane', BOWIE himself referred to the album as "Ziggy goes to America" with most songs written on the 1972 Ziggy Stardust American tour. At the end of the Aladdin Sane tour BOWIE retires his Ziggy persona and effectively disbands The Spiders. The 1973 covers album 'Pin-Ups' is the last album that relates to The Spiders From Mars era and features many of BOWIE's favourite songs from the 1960s Psychedelic Pop scene centred around the Marquee Club in London's Wardour Street.
From Glam to Experimentation
In 1974 BOWIE released 'Diamond Dogs', a loose concept album partly based on George Orwell's 1984 features another messianic character (the 'Candidate') in a dystopian (post apocalyptic) world. The album was recorded with a new backing band to replace the Spiders and saw the return of Tony VISCONTI as producer, who would stay onboard to co-produce most of the following albums. 'Diamond Dogs' is also the end of BOWIE's Glam Rock period, with a harder rock sound and none of the glitz and glitter of his previous incarnation. 'Young Americans' released in 1975 saw another change of direction into what BOWIE referred to as "Plastic Soul". 'Station to Station' again saw a change in direction for BOWIE, introducing the Thin White Duke as his new stage-persona, and is musically a fusion between funky soul and Krautrock-inspired electronic music (KRAFTWERK, NEU!). During this period BOWIE's excessive drug use started to become a problem, resulting in press accusations of him having fascistic ideals, a misinterpretion of his fascination with Nietsche (The Homo Superior, the Thin White Duke character etc). In order to get his act together he moved to Berlin in Germany and started working with Brian ENO on what would become his 'Berlin Trilogy'.
Berlin Trilogy
1977 released 'Low' was the first of three albums David BOWIE made in Berlin in collaboration with Brian ENO (production was done by David BOWIE and Tony Visconti), continuing with the Krautrock and Avant-Garde electronic genre. 'Low' is widely regarded as a prime influence on New Wave and electronic/industrial pop. 'Heroes' (the only album in the Trilogy that was entirely created in West Berlin), released in the same year, followed suit, but has a more optimistic sound compared to the gloomy desperation on 'Low' and features Robert FRIPP on lead guitar. 1979's 'Lodger' is one of BOWIE's most underrated albums, a bit more pop added to the experimental songs, and instrumentals are absent on this release it features guitar by Adrian BELEW, keyboards by Roger POWELL of UTOPIA and violin by Simon HOUSE of HAWKWIND. The cold reception of the album and the slowly dissolving chemistry between BOWIE and ENO meant the end of the Berlin saga which brought us some groundbreaking and highly influential albums.
Commercialization of his sound
1980's 'Scary Monsters and Super Creep's marks the beginning of a less experimental and more commercial phase, culminating in the commercially highly successful 1983 album 'Let's Dance'. BOWIE's creativity seemed to wane from then on, leaning heavily on his friend Iggy Pop, again rehashing songs he did with Iggy earlier. 1984's 'Tonight' refuelled Tina Turner's career, and was a success, but that doesn't stop it from being a lazy effort. The following 'Never Let Me Down' from 1987 was a critical disappointment, for which BOWIE openly apologized.
Return to ambient industrial post-disco
1993 saw the beginning of BOWIE's return to electronic and dance experimentation with the 'Black Tie White Noise' album. In 1995 BOWIE started a new collaboration with Brian ENO, which was intended to be a multi-album concept (5 albums to be created in the five years leading to 1999), but '1. Outside' was the only album that was actually produced. The music is industrial sounding, with ambient and electronics being at the core of the music. BOWIE continued to experiment in the following album 'Earthling', with its techno and jungle ambient rave music. 'Hours' is a mellower affair. 'Heathen' saw the return again from Tony VISCONTI, and was a fairly good album, with several contributions by renowned artists as Tony LEVIN, Jordan RUDESS, Pete TOWNSEND. The follow-up, 'Reality', is a more straight forward rocking affair.
Why this artist must be listed in www.progarchives.com :
one of the purest examples of what prog in it's purest form truly is. The merging of the artistic aethestic and rock music. In many circles is considered to be prog.. but to others he is not. Accepted by the admin team into to related sub-genre so that he. .and his music can be appreciated.. and considered by the listeners themselves on this site.
Discography:
* David Bowie (1967)
* Space Oddity (1969)
* The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
* Hunky Dory (1971)
* The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
* Aladdin Sane (1973)
* Pin Ups (1973)
* Diamond Dogs (1974)
* Young Americans (1975)
* Station to Station (1976)
* Low (1977)
* "Heroes" (1977)
* Lodger (1979)
* Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
* Let's Dance (1983)
* Tonight (1984)
* Never Let Me Down (1987)
* Black Tie White Noise (1993)
* Outside (1995)
* Earthling (1997)
* 'hours...' (1999)
* Heathen (2002)
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