2: April 6th — The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory
Listen to both albums.
Watch:
- “Life on Mars”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKcl4-tcuo
- Nirvana, “The Man Who Sold the World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8
Blog question: What are some of the themes and ideas that Bowie starts to introduce in The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory? What are some musical ideas that jumped out at you? Why do people consider The Man Who Sold the World the first proper Bowie album? Basically, pick one concept or musical idea that runs through both records (or maybe just one) and write about it, quoting from the lyrics.
For this week, I will focus on Hunky Dory of the two albums. For me, I felt like Hunky Dory was definitely more Bowie-esque compared to the other album, The Man Who Sold The World. In my opinion that specific song from the album would have fit in more with his Hunky Dory album. You could really tell in Hunky Dory that Bowie was inspired by folk/lyrical music and decided to incorporate that style into his songs. In his first song "Changes" Bowie sings "But I've never caught a glimpse/Of how the others must see the faker/I'm much too fast to take that test," which could mean that Bowie thought of himself as almost a fake rock and roller. He then continues on "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange)/Ch-ch-changes, don't want to be a richer man," which I interpret as Bowie's hesitance to be a force of change in the music scene. He was not a typical artist and this song and the other songs in this album also touch on themes of identities and new beginnings.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Cohen
As Amanda said, David Bowie was heavily influenced by folk music, and one can see these influences in several of Bowie’s songs. However, The Man Who Sold The World seems to be exclusively hard rock, contrasting his previous albums. Therefore, this might be an experimental period for Bowie where he was dipping his toes into different genres. It’s clear that he was satisfied with the outcome of his songs on TMWSTW, as several songs in Hunky Dory, his next album, had a lot of rock influences including ‘Queen Bitch’, which was a pop-rock hybrid incorporating Bowie’s signature style and rock music which was popular at the time. This introduction and distortion of various genres of music is detailed explicitly in his song “Changes” where he describes his yearning for musical reinvention: “Changes are taking the pace I'm going through.” While this is the general theme of the song, the song specifically addresses rock music when Bowie says: "Look out, you rock 'n' rollers”, highlighting how he yearns to go against the grain when it comes to picking genres for his songs.
ReplyDelete- Natasha Mubeen
I listened to both albums in succession, which made the contrast between The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory so much more overt. As noted above, TMWSTW comes across as a predominately hard rock album especially when compared to the more pop-y and upbeat Hunky Dory. While the latter album contains more melodic tracks, some of the lyrics circle back to themes explored in TMWSTW. For example, with Oh, You Pretty Things, the opening notes immediately reminded me of the Beatles' Martha My Dear, so I was somewhat expecting the subject of OYPT to to be as lighthearted as the melody itself, which was a bit naive of me. As with The Superman from TMWSTS, Bowie circles back to his interest in Nietzsche by referring to the "homo superior" - a nod to the philosopher's concept of the Ubermenschen. He also touches on the generational divide between teenagers and their parents, thereby suggesting that the older generation is to be replaced by a younger, more superior one. This made me appreciate Bowie's ability to incorporate some of the themes explored in TMWSTW into Hunky Dory, while allowing the album to evolve both musically and stylistically.
ReplyDelete- Oksana M.
In The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory, Bowie introduces quite a few themes, including spirituality, technology/development, and life/death. Musically, I felt like there were some key differences between the two albums, as The Man Who Sold The World has a heavier hard rock sound that incorporates prominent guitar riffs, while Hunky Dory’s emphasis on the piano creates a sound that is more poppy and folky. The Man Who Sold The World is often considered to be Bowie's first proper album, as it is quite unique in terms of how it creates such a surreal and unsettling atmosphere that forms the basis of the concept album, showing a glimpse of Bowie’s new direction as a unique artist. Thematically, the concept of growth, development, and evolution on a personal and/or larger scale is often encountered in both albums. In “The Man Who Sold The World,” the lines “‘I thought you died alone/ A long long time ago’/ Oh no, not me/ I never lost control,” relate to the struggle of finding oneself after feeling like you have lost yourself and changed to the point of being unrecognizable. Meanwhile, in “Changes,” Bowie sings “Turn and face the strange/ Ch-ch-changes,” which provides an encouraging and confident view embracing life changes, although they may be “strange”. Though not explicitly related, both relate to personal growth, as well as the journey taken to accept and discover oneself.
ReplyDeleteLillian Gabrelian
For Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World, it truly seems very hard rock/psychedelic rock in a sense with typical guitar strings coupled with the lyrics of Bowie always telling a story. It's a change from his previous more folky music, and the music that we hear in Hunky Dory. Bowie clearly is not shying away from odd musical themes or stories, but the way the music accompanies it is more typical of the psychedelic rock style of fuzz pedals or other guitar styles. There is sense of folk with acoustic guitar in songs like "After All," but it is clearly more of the trippy, odd style for it.
ReplyDeleteWith Hunky Dory, which is considered by many to be one of his best albums, it really sees Bowie comfortable in being poetic and meaningful. It is quite different from "The Man Who Sold the World" and focuses more on Bowie and his words, not really being "distracted" in a sense by all the guitar and other elements of the previous album that, at times, seemed to talk over him. In a sense, the subtler guitar strings go hand in hand rather than louder than Bowie to deliver a typical outer-worldy experience but in a very literature way unlike before.
When we look specifically at the song "The Man Who Sold the World," as Amanda says it does seem like it should fit better alongside Hunky Dory. It isn't this high-paced guitar and introduces a unique way of playing the guitar rather than the long solos like we see in "Width of a Circle" that really echo that of rock stars like Hendrix or Clapton maybe.
Many may consider The Man Who Sold the World as his first real album as the "Bowie" we know because quite simply, everything seems to be more of the signature Bowie rather than the more tame, or perhaps uncomfortable, of songs like "When I'm Five" (still going to have to get over that fearful song 0.0 ) It is him in his element more than before, yet it is still miles away from the music he produces later on.
In the song "Changes," we truly see the way that Bowie is emphasizing how he is truly shifting. "...gonna have to be a different man/Time may change me/But I can't trace time." It is truly symbolic of how he may no longer be as worried about him experiencing all these different ways of music and him building up on the fact that he will constantly be experimental. He knows he has to be different, yet he understands this won't be a negative.
-Idella Smolyar
I think throughout the two albums, but especially in Hunky Dory, there is a strong continuing theme of adolescence and young adulthood and finding oneself in those formative periods. Hunky Dory's opening track "Changes" sets this tone for the whole album, most clearly in the second verse when Bowie refers to "these children that you spit on / As they try to change their worlds." It felt very Bob Dylan-y to me, probably because it reminded me of "The Times They Are A-Changin'," which makes the inclusion of the later Hunky Dory track "Song for Bob Dylan" all the more appropriate. The theme of young adulthood and making way for the younger generation specifically becomes less and less blatant throughout the album, but "Quicksand" brings back the references to "homo sapiens" that were first introduced in "Oh! You Pretty Things" when Bowie sang "gotta make way for Homo Superior" and "homo sapiens have outgrown their use." I think he consciously chose to use this sort of language to refer to people, rather than just saying "people" or even "humans," because he wanted to evoke imagery of evolution, specifically the evolution of ideology and values from generation to generation.
ReplyDeleteSofia Potter
Listening to the two albums back to back, the contrast stylistically and sonically is pretty clear. The man who sold the world draws influences from hard rock-esque riffs, while Hunky Dory is more piano based and art-pop-y, almost even theater-like in some songs. I think both records (maybe Hunky Dory more so than The Man who sold the world) have strong themes that explore Bowie’s sense of identity that he is starting to form that establish himself as a competent artist while also distancing himself from the stereotypical American rock and roller at the time. In Changes, for example, he says “every time I thought I’d got it made it seemed the taste was not so sweet,” and then in After All, he says “I sing with impertinence, shading impermanent chords with my words.” Although both records explore different themes, he seems to refer the idea of never really finding a constant thing for himself; his choice to take on different personas throughout his career and the drastic contrast between these two records being two key examples of that.
ReplyDeleteMia Sparks
Of the two albums assigned this week, lyrically, I was incredibly taken by the tracks on Hunky Dory. Besides “Changes” and “Life on Mars,” all of the other songs were new to me, and listening to them all back to back, I feel as if I have a greater understanding of Bowie as an artist, especially at this point in his career. “Changes” is a phenomenal entrance to this album as it introduces many of the themes present throughout the work, including that of adolescence, the questioning of convention, and the purpose of living. The first track, in my opinion, is about the embracement of growth and life-altering opportunities, and this theme flows perfectly into “Oh! You Pretty Things,” which also touches on growth but through a youthful lens. Through this tune and many others on the record, Bowie asserts his belief in the younger generation’s power and condemns society for suppressing their potential. “Oh! You Pretty Things” achieves this effect through the symbolism of disproving parents, “Don’t you know you’re driving your mamas and papas insane,” and this motif is seen again in “Life on Mars.” Bowie, in “Life on Mars,” tells a familiar narrative of a girl grappling with societal pressure and injustice, and how when she questions such realities, her parents retaliate, “But her mummy is yelling, ‘no’ and her daddy has told her to go.” These lyrics epitomize what is so great about Bowie and his music, as he conveys his own feelings towards greater issues but does so in a relatable manner. This profoundness continues in the sequence of “Kooks,” “Quicksand,” and “Fill Your Heart,” which was an emotional rollercoaster. “Kooks” similarly calls to the listener to embrace their uniqueness because, as the song states, “if you stay, you won’t be sorry.” The song also explicitly states their belief in the audience’s ability to do so, “‘cause we believe in you,” which wildly contrasts with the tone of “Quicksand.” “Quicksand,” quite literally, repeats the lines, “don’t believe in yourself, don’t deceive with belief,” many times, which accurately summarizes the lack of hope present in the track. However, after this incredibly impactful song, where Bowie feels torn down by the world, he sings happily in “Fill Your Heart” about how love is the answer and makes life worth living. Overall, there is so much to these two albums, and I am very excited to see where he goes next.
ReplyDeleteDevin Bosley
For me, I definitely enjoyed Hunky Dory more generally because I feel like it was more developed. Sometimes, when I am working on music with other people, I feel like they try to make songs really complicated tonally and very long just for the sake of making them that way, totally disregarding the actual purpose/flow of the song itself. When I think of the Bowie songs that I love, I often think that he gets the perfect balance of complicatedness and respect to the song as an art piece. Unfortunately, while I don't think that Bowie completely let go of the purpose of the song's themselves on The Man Who Sold the World, I definitely think that the balance is shifted a bit on many of the tracks. Personally, I see this as being more of a development of personal style than a lack in songwriting capabilities. Of course, with a few of the tracks (including 'After All' and the title track), Bowie hits the nail right on the head. The title track especially takes a very modal, somewhat Middle Eastern sound in the lead guitar and uses it to create a very compelling song in both its lyricism and listenability. Shifting focus to Hunky Dory, I think this album is more mature in some ways than The Man Who Sold the World and details a Bowie that is continuing to find his own voice. One thing interesting about Bowie as an artist is that his catalog is so expansive that you can basically see all of the small changes between his sounds on each album. Hunky Dory, to me, demonstrates this complicatedness/purpose balance becoming more and more even. 'Life on Mars?' is a song that I would definitely say has a sort of like transcendental quality to it that I don't feel often when I listen to music. I feel like you listen to it and you're like, "Woah, everything is exactly where it should be."
ReplyDeleteCharlie Whitcomb
The motif that stood out to me the most throughout The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory was one of metamorphosis and growing up. Bowie explicitly references “ch-ch-ch-changes” but listeners can also hear the distinct shift in music styles from his previous folksy songs to his guitar and drum backed rock songs and see his appearance evolve from a hippie-like singer to the precursor to the fashion icon he would become, subverting several traditional gender stereotypes. Throughout both of these albums, his lyrics became moodier, darker, deeper, and more introspective. At the cusp of his future success, Bowie compares his career to that of emerging adulthood, “And these children that you spit on/ As they try to change their worlds/ Are immune to your consultations/ They're quite aware of what they're goin' through”. Changes highlights the connection between his early forays into the industry and his self awareness of his own unique, authentic talent, foreshadowing what Bowie expects to become in the future. In Man Who Sold the World also alludes to the deliberateness of his actions in terms of changing his musical style and identity to the public, “We never lost control/ You're face to face/ With the man who sold the world”.
ReplyDeleteAnother area where Bowie introduces something listeners hadn’t seen before were his implied references to his sexuality. He plays with his appearance, wearing a dress on the album cover of The Man Who Sold the World and sporting longer hair in both, breaking out of the gender conformity of that time. Furthermore, songs like Queen Bitch explicitly refer to queer culture at the time (“She's so swishy in her satin and tat”) and others like Width of a Circle hint at Bowie’s sexuality with lyrics like “He swallowed his pride and puckered his lips/ And showed me the leather belt round his hips”. Through lyrics like these and self , Bowie cements his developing persona as something revolutionary and different.
Tanvi Gaitonde
It is very interesting to see Bowie’s shift in style throughout these albums. After “Space Oddity” which in my eyes felt very folky and mainly focused on the acoustics, Bowie seemed to dive deep into hard rock that was very powerful and almost dark in “The Man Who Sold The World.” In this album is was apparent that Bowie was shifting his style and started to explore themes surrounding religion, mental health, war, and new technologies. This is very apparent in the song “The Width of a Circle” where Bowie dives deep into this theme surrounding religion and sings “So I cried for all the others till the day was nearly through. For I realized that God's a young man too” (Bowie). He goes on in this song discussing his prayers and hearing from God. While this album is seen as very dark and almost unsettling, many saw this album as Bowie’s actual start to his career as it sounds most similar to the rest of music. However, as we move into “Hunky Dory” it becomes apparent that Bowie is still playing around with his music style as this album become more pop rock oriented rather than hard rock. In my opinion this album sounds very similar to something like Queen, it is very soft pop rock especially with the use of the piano in so many of the songs. While in “The Man Who Sold The World” Bowie finds with these feelings of insanity and religion we see in “Hunky Dory” that Bowie is calling out his struggles with fame and power. We see Bowie’s inner chaos and his doubt in himself throughout this whole process. In the song “The Bewlay Brothers” we heard Bowie sing “Oh, And we were Gone. Real Cool Traders. We were so Turned On. You thought we were Fakers” (Bowie). Through this song we see Bowie doubting himself and his work while also drawing back to this theme of Religion as seen in the previous album as he brings up the devil in his life. Throughout both of these albums it is apparent that Bowie is trying to find his style the the type of music that fits him as a artist. It is also apparent that Bowie was struggling mentally with who he was and the chaos that filled his brain, however, he was able to use his music as an escape from those thoughts.
ReplyDelete- Ella Barnes
ReplyDeleteI noticed that in both of these albums, Bowie showcases a sense of escapism into the unreal in his lyrics and instrumentation. His songs all have somewhat of a story in which he builds the lyrics around. In “After All,” the lyrics “We're painting our faces and dressing in thoughts from the skies / From paradise / But they think that we're holding a secretive ball,” are not talking about anyone in particular; instead Bowie is creating a world with his own characters that he builds a context around. I think that neither the vocals or instrumentation really take center stage in these songs. They both play a major role in setting up the tone and context Bowie is going for, and without either one, this could not be achieved as well. I don’t think the lyrics are quite metaphorical either. For example, I don’t think the lyrics “It seems the peacefuls stopped the war / Left generals squashed and stifled / But I'll slip out again tonight / 'Cause they haven't taken back my rifle” from “Running Gun Blues” are an allegory for anything else, it’s just Bowie creating this image in your head. I listen to quite a few soundtracks from musicals, and many of Bowie’s songs in these albums remind me of any given song taken from a musical (lyric-wise) which would carry a story forward rather than just focus about vague, repetitive concepts that may be a staple of more conventional songs on the radio. In a way, I think that his songs from “Hunky Dory” are even more musical-esque, not only lyrically but also in the instrumentation.“Hunky Dory'' has less guitar riffs with Bowie focusing a lot more on his vocals, leaning even harder into the stories he tells. “Life on Mars” has always been my favorite Bowie song, and I believe this to yet again be a fabulous example of Bowie creating a whole world with the imagery in his lyrics. You can picture each specific thing Bowie sings about, and the accompanying instruments help add to the tone of cosmic whimsy. Bowie is not literally himself in these songs, but rather a character participating in the stories. His lyrics are very much so crafted like a poem rather than a classic pop/rock song because the lines feel so specific and meaningful.
-Mila Daniel
David Bowie spends time imagining the future in Hunky Dory, while Bowie remembers the past and discusses potential future plans in The Man Who Sold the World. While Hunky Dory seems to take a more positive approach to the future, The Man Who Sold the World seems to take a more ominous approach to the past and a somewhat less dreamy version of what could come next. In the title track of The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie sings of a world in which he meets a powerful individual, and then spends the rest of his life searching for the man who sold the world. He speaks of the past and the future in a sort of combined way, as his future is spent searching for his past, and the song ends on a note of defeat and disappointment before the final chorus: “We must have died alone/A long long time ago.” In “All the Madmen,” Bowie paints a picture of a depressing life that he could live if he takes the option to go away where his friends have all gone. Even though he may be disappointed that they are going away, he prefers this desolate life rather “[t]han perish[ing] with the sad men roaming free.” In both of these tracks he looks at the more depressing sides of life, and uses ominous music to help paint this picture. Based on last week’s class discussion, I assume that The Man Who Sold the World may be considered the first proper Bowie album as it may truly be the start of Bowie’s music that features and highlights the world-famous David Bowie persona and voice and musical style.
ReplyDeleteHunky Dory highlights a more positive future in “Changes.” Although this track does emphasize some of the downfalls of society, it also emphasizes resilience: “And these children that you spit on/As they try to change their worlds/Are immune to your consultations/They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.” The instrumentals seem to be used to create a mood of triumph over difficulties and a pursuit of a positive and better future. In “Oh! You Pretty Things,” Bowie again speaks of the future. Although he continues to introduce ideas of problems that will exist in our future society, he does so in a light-hearted way, as if to show that even if “Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use,” and “Oh You Pretty Things (Oh You Pretty Things)/Don’t you know your driving your/Mamas and Papas insane,” life really is not too bad. I think that is the major difference between Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold the World. Both albums look at the good and the bad in the world, but Hunky Dory puts a more positive spin on it with more light-hearted songs and instrumental choices, while The Man Who Sold the World creates a more negative depiction of past, present, and future society.
Thank you!
Although Hunky Dory is one of my favorite albums of all time, I wanted to take a closer look at The Man Who Sold the World for this post because I was mostly unfamiliar with it before this assignment. I think one of the main themes I noticed throughout this album (and at some points throughout Hunky Dory as well) was sanity vs. insanity. The songs "All the Madmen" and "Running Gun Blues" particularly stood out to me as dealing with insanity as they blatantly discuss being in a mental facility/going through treatment for mental illness and PTSD/insanity due to war, respectively. As Bowie states in "All the Madmen": "And I'd rather play here/With all the madmen/For I'm quite content they're all as sane as me." This shows that the line between sanity and insanity is quite blurry, especially in the world of artistic expression that Bowie inhabits. "Running Gun Blues" takes the concept of insanity and places it in a political context. I haven't heard many Bowie songs where he makes such a explicit political statement but "Running Gun Blues" definitely is a critique of war and how going through such a traumatic experience fundamentally changes a person. The character in this song is described as killing civilians and cracking their heads, actions rooted in their time fighting in the Vietnam War. All of this discussion of insanity vs. sanity can also tie into the concept of Nietzsche's Ubermensch which Oksana brought up. Many songs on TMWSTW were based on Nietzsche's writings, but "The Supermen" is Bowie's musical translation of the Ubermensch. I'm not a huge philosophy person so I could be wrong in saying this but I feel like to become an superman/Ubermensch, one has to step outside of traditional sanity or morality and transcend to a higher level. Bowie's "The Supermen" says: "No pain, no joy, no power too great" like these supermen exist outside of anything that we as humans can grasp. Although the themes in TMWSTW seemed a little more muddled to me than the ones present in Hunky Dory, I thought that this sanity vs. insanity thread was very interesting for Bowie to insert and for me to explore.
ReplyDeleteAddison Harms
(Also is there a GroupMe for this class? I wasn't able to make the first meeting so apologies if that was discussed there.)
The first major difference that I recognized between Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold The World is genre. Hunky Dory is more of a pop or pop-rock while TMWSTW is purely rock and blues-rock. In both of these albums, specifically TMWSTW, Bowie steps away from traditional themes of music in the 60s and early 70s, and instead focuses on themes of his own life and identity. In TMWSTW, we see a little bit of a darker side of Bowie and his mental health. In “All The Madmen,” he sings, “ ‘Cause I’d rather stay here / with all the madmen / than perish with the sad men / roaming free and I’d rather play here / with all the madmen / for I’m quite content / they’re all as sane as me.” This album has a heavier guitar sound. In one of my favorite songs from Hunky Dory, “Kooks,” there is a great sense of youthfulness and growing up. One line that stuck out to me most is, “ ‘Cause if you stay with us you’re gonna be pretty Kookie too.” This album really stands out to me because of all the different instruments and sounds used. It seems to be more melodic with lots of piano sounds.
ReplyDeleteSofia Sabra
As others have mentioned, Hunky Dory came off as more of a pop album thank a rock album. The first song "Changes" sets up the album as pop. The beginning of "Andy Warhol" was unexpected and off-putting because I wasn't expecting abstract electronic sounds. This doesn't really go with the idea of rock. Overall. the songs are about what's happening around him in the world ("Is there life on Mars?" possibly referencing the moon landing a couple of years prior).
ReplyDeleteThe Man Who Sold The World was more personal to David Bowie and had louder, heavier use of electric guitar. The first song, "A Width of a Circle", sets it up as a rock album, rather than pop. This song is written in the first person and references Bowie's frustrations with himself in "And I looked and frowned and the monster was me."
In the record The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie sheds the Anthony Newley theatrical facade. Although the album still has folky undertones to it. Bowie adopts a provocative essence in his tracks. The opening track, A Width of a Circle, and seventh She Shook me Cold are arguably the heaviest Bowie has recorded. Ironically enough, in my opinion, these songs exhibit his ambiguity in his sexuality. For example, in A Width of a Circle, the verse is as stated: "He swallowed his pride and puckered his lips /And showed me the leather belt 'round his hips /My knees were shaking my cheeks aflame." The lyrics are metaphorical. However, it was an engaging approach to describe a character succumbing to his vices. The seventh track on the album She Shook Me Cold has lyrics that are sexual, involving intense and almost vulgar language that could go over someone's head. (No pun intended?) Bowie sings, "I had no time to spare/ I grabbed her golden hair / And threw her to the ground / Father, she craved my head, oh lord, the things she said / My god, she should be told."
ReplyDeleteI am very sad right now because I just wrote a whole comment for this website and it shut me out when I published it. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say that the most stark difference to me when listening to the two albums was the attitude behind the vocal performance. I was surprised to hear that The Man Who Sold the World is considered the first true Bowie album. As I listened and remembered only scarcely what the post said, I thought for sure that Hunky Dory would be given that title. The songs, which I agree with my classmates are more "pop" than perhaps experimental, are what I have been raised to believe is Bowie's sound. I also think that the different personas driving these varied vocal performances are what might account for the discrepancy between "pop" and what my classmates are calling "rock" but I just find to be very broadly experimental. I can see Bowie sending off into a variety of personalities and energies with which to perform these songs and he obviously hones in on these nuances to create the more distinguished personas of all his albums and later work. Ultimately I think a lot of these songs are driven by a beautiful and poetic angst which manifests as these different personalities of energy, but each song has either a rush or a dread. As is obvious with the title "man who sold the world" the songs are really broad in terms of narrator and audience, speaking of the state of humanity (man) overall and the dreads and desires which drive us and make us alike.
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ReplyDeleteBowie was and is adored by LGBTQ fans because of his embrace of the strange in both his music and the larger than life personas he adopts. In Hunky Dory, though he not even begun to accomplish the peak of his stardom, Bowie already seems intent on empowering guiding the next generation of outcasts. When he sings “Oh, you Pretty Things/Don't you know you're driving your Mamas and Papas insane/ Let me make it plain/ You gotta make way for the Homo Superior” in “Oh! You Pretty Things,” the artist appears to be saying that the ultimate, and better, form of the human can only come through change, a feminized “pretty” change at that. He also seems to understand (and encourage) that this will anger whoever is not changing.
ReplyDeleteIn “Kooks,” Bowie says he will give the recipient of the song, presumably his child, “A trumpet you can blow and a book of rules/On what to say to people when they pick on you/ 'Cause if you stay with us you're going to be pretty kooky too.” In this way, “Kooks” was for his kid, but it was also for all the kids (his fans) that felt as though they might need a “lover’s story” to stay in to avoid the bullies. In this song, Bowie tells them to stay loud and defiant against people, and to find solace in sticking with weird.
Bowie presents two possible extremes of what can happen when you do believe in yourself in “Quicksand,” and “Fill Your Heart.” However, the over-dramatic lyrics in the former and the nearly sickly sacharine quality of the instrumentals in latter song suggest Bowie things of neither option as entirely realistic. Instead, Bowie wants his audience to choose for themselves what they want their own personal stardoms to look like, and whether to model their stories on one’s they “have lived ten times or more”, be original creators (like Robert Zimmerman and Warhol), or do something completely new and outlandish and unheard-of. In the end, Bowie empowered his fans choose to play with their futures and gender expression as much as they wanted. It follows that LGBTQ communities would venerate him and the freedom he represented.
I think for Bowie Ziggy Stardust was this sort of escape from reality and a way he can change the way he performs. You could tell he probably felt trapped in this rock world that wanted him to act and dress a certain way to fit the “rock star” look. So, by creating this persona Bowie was able to rebel against the norms that were created for rock stars. He was able to play around with his hair, makeup, and clothes really breaking the boundaries od gender in our society, especially for its time. He was going for this very campy feel and made Ziggy Stardust this powerful and elegant figure for rock and roll. I think Bowie added glam to make his work more about a story and a show rather than just the music. He wanted his concerts to be a show that was all put together and all work to fit this idea of glam in rock and roll. Bowie’s glam consisted of crazy outfits with full makeup and accessories. He would put together full costumes with platform shoes and lots of glitter. All of these details fully embodied who David Bowie became during this era.
ReplyDelete- Ella Barnes