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Is there Life on Mars?

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It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
It's on Amerikas tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

:bowierock

I used to think Bowie was a talentless glam rocker who found success riding the glam idiot train of the 80's but after listening to Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust my mind has changed drastically and I suddently have a new found appreciation of The Labyrinth.
 
Wow, hating on Bowie. Tsk, tsk. One of the most talented musicians around, my friend! I always have trouble picking a favorite song? Queen Bitch? Space Oddity? Oh! You Pretty Things? Starman? So many to choose!

david_bowie.jpg
 
USED TO Being the key word!

:3

Bowie does indeed rock. What are his best albums other than Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory?
 
Well, clearly you've picked some of the tops right there. Aladdin Sane is also very good. Then it becomes a little less clear. There's certainly good stuff to be found on Space Oddity, Low, etc., but you're going to find more really fucked up Bowie when you start venturing into that territory. Your mileage will definitely vary.

Even his newer stuff is worth looking into. His latest album, Reality, isn't anywhere close to his old material, but if you're up for a little contemporary, modern Bowie with an electronic twist, you could certainly do worse...
 
Lemurs, you gotta get Black Tie, White Noise and Scary Monsters. Two fantastic Bowie albums.

For his newer stuff, try out Heathen. I like it a lot, and there's a Pixies cover.
 
That song reminds me of this mousey looking girl I made friends with in french class and also my ex who said it was her favorite Bowie song. I always preferred Oh You Pretty Things myself.
 
I cannot remember his discography and my router isn't keen on letting me do a search right now but everything in the '70s of his is great. The Man Who Sold the World (Nirvana did a cover), Space Oddity, and so on are are worth listening to. Station to Station ("Golden Years" is what got me listening to Bowie) or Low are likely my favorites.
 
Check out the Berlin trilogy (Low, Heroes, Lodger), but NEVER, EVER buy "Black Tie White Noise" or any Tin Machine.
 
Now the cover by Seu Jorge, in spanish!

Quando as coisas do coração
Não consegue compreender
O que a mente não faz questão
E nem tem forças para obedecer
Quantos sonhos já destruí
E deixei escapar das mãos
E se o futuro assim permitir
Não pretendo viver em vão
Meu amor não estamos sós
Tem um mundo a esperar por nós
Do infinito do céu azul
Pode ter vida em marte
Entao vem cá
Me dá a sua língua
Então vem
Eu quero abraçar vocë
Seu poder vem do sol
Minha medida
Entao vem
Vamos viver a vida
Então vem
Se não eu vou perder quem sou
Vou querer me mudar
Para uma Life on Mars

Entao vem
Se nao eu vou perder quem sou
Seu poder vem do sol
Minha medida
Então vem
Vamos viver a vida
Meu bem
Se nao eu vou perder quem sou
Ou ou ou
Vou querer me mudar
Para uma Life on Mars
 
DirtyHarry said:
Check out the Berlin trilogy (Low, Heroes, Lodger), but NEVER, EVER buy "Black Tie White Noise" or any Tin Machine.

I've actually two people who love Bowie because of Tin Machine but hate his solo albums. :P Go figure.
 
There hasn't been a Bowie thread in a while. As for the best Bowie album--my favorite is actually Outside, which can never get enough attention as far as I'm concerned. Like the other albums he produced with Brian Eno, though (Low, Heroes, Lodger), you might find it an acquired taste.

Bowie has so many different sounds in his career that there can be no agreement on which album of his is "best." (For instance, I listen to at least one Bowie song in one form or another just about every day, and I can't remember the last time I listened to anything off Ziggy or Hunky Dory.) Heathen is, I think, the album that's best for people who are just getting into Bowie, because it's a survey and recap of the typical kinds of sounds that Bowie built his career on. You get straight-ahead guitar-based songs (Afraid), an epic song with a horn section (Slow Burn), a couple of covers that are given the Bowie touch (The Pixies' "Cactus" and Neil Young's "I've Been Waiting For You") and a taste of the ambient/electronic period (Sunday). Heathen also has some great session players--Matt Chamberlain's drumming on that album is unbelievable, and Pete Townshend turns in an amazing solo on "Slow Burn".

Bowie has a fascination with forms of African-American pop music (blues, soul, etc.) that sometimes gets neglected in favor of the Ziggy Stardust and Brian Eno periods. Check out Young Americans (1975), and the two albums that he co-produced with Nile Rodgers of Chic: Let's Dance (notable for the appearance of the late blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar) and Black Tie White Noise. There is a three-disc limited edition of BTWN that is well worth the price.

If you find yourself gravitating to the truly weird-sounding Bowie, look at Diamond Dogs or Scary Monsters. Diamond Dogs is the result of Bowie's failed attempt to stage a musical based on Orwell's 1984 (Orwell's widow wouldn't give him the rights, so he just released the songs he'd written as an album under another name, with one or two additions).

DVDs--see if you can find the DVD for the Reality Tour concert, which goes for about $15 usually. I didn't like the album Reality much, but the tour was a great tour. Also, there's a Best of Bowie DVD that has about 30 music videos.

Almost all Bowie albums are worth owning in my opinion (I haven't even gotten around to Station to Station or Earthling or Pin-Ups). But there are two albums you should stay away from at all costs: Never Let Me Down and Hours.
 
"my favorite is actually Outside"

It really does have some great songs. I think I caught "Heart's Filthy Lesson" at the end of Seven and I have not been to Oxford Town pops up in Starship Troopers.
 
Fookin Bowie amateurs..... :D

Hell, I was a member of the OFFICIAL DAVID BOWIE FAN CLUB, 25 years ago. :lol

If I had to pick one album, I guess it would be Heroes. But of the older stuff I still really like the Man Who Sold the World.

All the Madmen

Day after day
They send my friends away
To mansions cold and grey
To the far side of town
Where the thin men stalk the streets
While the sane stay underground

Day after day
They tell me I can go
They tell me I can blow
To the far side of town
Where it’s pointless to be high
’cause it’s such a long way down

So I tell them that
I can fly, I will scream, I will break my arm
I will do me harm
Here I stand, foot in hand, talking to my wall
I’m not quite right at all...am i?

Don’t set me free, I’m as heavy as can be
Just my librium and me
And my e.s.t. makes three

’cause I’d rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen roaming free
And I’d rather play here
With all the madmen
For I’m quite content they’re all as sane
As me

(where can the horizon lie
When a nation hides
Its organic minds
In a cellar...dark and grim
They must be very dim)

Day after day
They take some brain away
Then turn my face around
To the far side of town
And tell me that it’s real
Then ask me how I feel

Here I stand, foot in hand, talking to my wall
I’m not quite right at all

Don’t set me free, I’m as helpless as can be
My libido’s split on me
Gimme some good ’ole lobotomy

’cause I’d rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen
Roaming free
And I’d rather play here
With all the madmen
For I’m quite content
They’re all as sane as me

Zane, zane, zane
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien
Zane, zane, zane (ah ah ah)
Ouvre le chien

 
Reality can't compared with his earlier stuff, but there's a few tracks on there that are definitely worth having, especially "Try Some, Buy Some". I think that's a really solid song.
 
Prospero said:
DVDs--see if you can find the DVD for the Reality Tour concert, which goes for about $15 usually. I didn't like the album Reality much, but the tour was a great tour. Also, there's a Best of Bowie DVD that has about 30 music videos.

Oh yeah, I went to the Reality tour when it rolled around here. Fucking amazing. What a show, seriously. I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but that thing was just electric, everyone was getting into it. Even if you're the most casual of Bowie listeners, you'll being doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't go and see him next time he's in your town.
 
I particularly like the Bowie/Eno collaborations:

Low
Heroes
Diamond Dogs

If you like Bowie, be sure to give Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" a try.
 
Flynn said:
I particularly like the Bowie/Eno collaborations:

Low
Heroes
Diamond Dogs

If you like Bowie, be sure to give Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" a try.
Me too. It's a toss up between Heroes and Hunky Dory for my favorite Bowie album.
 
The only albums of his that I've reaaally dove into were Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, and Man Who Sold the World. I'm basically sitting on top of his discography, though, and an contemplating between Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs.

His cover of Cactus is fantastic.

Long story short, I didn't even begin to know anything about or care about Bowie's music until this year, mostly due to his cover of Cactus, and I can't get over how amazing The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (whew) is. That and Hunky Dory have been in damn near non-stop rotation for a few months now. Mostly the lyrics that do it for me, but the music is fantastic.

As for a favorite song, I have no idea. I really like Queen Bitch at the moment, but I think Life on Mars is my favorite.
 
I didn't get into Bowie until about 3 or 4 years ago.... but he's amazing, and now high on my list of favorite artists :)
 
Flynn said:
I particularly like the Bowie/Eno collaborations:

Low
Heroes
Diamond Dogs

If you like Bowie, be sure to give Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" a try.

Just to clear up a misconception, Eno never produced any of those Bowie albums. The actual producer was Tony Visconti.

Also, Station to Station is probably my favorite Bowie album, though I admit I haven't heard as much Bowie as I should've by now. =X
 
I used to think you were an air-headed snotty 14 year old looking for attention on a forum full of 25+ year old geeks





amazingly my opinion hasn't changed.

where does your rock culture come from? MTV? :lol
 
Yeah, even with a his newer stuff it's quite difficult to go wrong with a Bowie album, bar a few exceptions.

My favourite album would be a toss up between Station to Station (favourite track, the title track) or Scary Monsters (favourite track, Scream Like a Baby).
 
I got into Bowie during high school and years later I'm still addicted to his music. To me he's the greatest solo artist of all time. One could make a great argument for Bob Dylan or Elvis, but for me Bowie is as good as it gets. My favorite album is Low. Pure perfection and one of my five favorite albums of all time. Other Bowie masterpieces are Hunky Dory, The Man Who Sold the World, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Station to Station, and Scary Monsters.
 
Musical pet peeve:

the glam idiot train of the 80's

Glam was long dead before the 80s began.

My favorite Bowie album is probably Station to Station or Low. Scary Monsters is also up there. Favorite Bowie track is. . .Station to Station or Sons of the Silent Age.
 
Flynn said:
I particularly like the Bowie/Eno collaborations:

Low
Heroes
Diamond Dogs

If you like Bowie, be sure to give Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" a try.

Eno had nothing to do with Diamond Dogs. He didn't show up until Low.

This ain't rock'n'roll. This is genocide!
 
Favorite Bowie songs of the moment (yeah, I've been listening to Aladdin Sane lately):

Cracked Actor
Panic in Detroit (one of the best guitar riffs ever, IMO... though I've never seen it on lists of such.)
 
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