The above title taken from a nice little tune from David Bowie song, Quicksand.
He name drops a lot of historical figures in there, and it's catchy as hell.
If you're interested, it's from Bowie's Hunky Dory album.
Today's skit, is all about Nightcrawler and Karl's favorite DC character, the Creeper;)
The End
Yep, the Creeper. What a character right?
I do believe Goo and I may have to split custody of ol' Kurt from time to time.
Today I figured I'd just write about whatever it was that came to mind, and right this minute, I'm thinking about the classic album by David Bowie, Hunky Dory.
If you didn't already know, Hunky Dory is one of those albums where you can see big things are in store for the artist or artists. Like this the album right before things blew up big time for them.
Hunky Dory's just that kind of album for David Bowie I think. It was right before his famous Ziggy Stardust phase and album, and we all know what a huge fucking album that turned out to be.
So without further ado, here's my Top 5 songs from Hunky Dory:
5). "Queen Bitch"/"Kooks"
Ah Queen Bitch. It's Bowie's way of writing a Velvet Underground-ish song, and this one sure sounds a bit like one. It's poppy, catchy, and has nice beat you can drive or bike to.
Kooks comes in as a tie because it's also a very nice song. This was Bowie's song dedicated to his son, as a kind of apology for having a rock star dad who was, well, a bit of a kook.
It's just a fun, light-hearted song, that I'm sure those of you who're parents will be able to relate to(Random, Goo I'm looking at you guys;)
4). "Quicksand"
Bowie and I must have a mutual love of history in common, because this song's nothing but a roll call of some pretty controversial historical figures. Bowie name drops people like Aliester Crowley, Heimlich Goebbels, Winston Churchill, and Nietzsche just to name a few.
It's such a beautifully odd song that further hints at Ziggy coming ever so soon, as the song's mostly about Nietzsche's idea of the Ubermench, or Superman.
Even the main chorus lyrics are bizarre but beautiful:
" Don't believe in yourself;
Don't deceive with belief.
Knowledge comes with death's release,
ah ah ah ah."
This is definitely a slight variation on Eastern/Hindu(Indian) teachings,
but with a Aliester Crowley/Golden Dawn twist.
A Really beautifully produced song people. 3). "Changes"
I really struggled with the positioning of #'s 4 and 3, but I love em all regardless.
How could one not love a song like Changes? It's all about the rebelliousness of youth, and that awkward growing stage in live where you're trying figure shit out. Beautiful, beautiful classic song, that's become, like the man himself, timeless.
"Time may change me, but you can't change time."
So, so right. 2)."Is there life on Mars?"
Oh but I do so love this one! Like any good story-teller worth his salt, if you read and listen to the lyrics, you'll see that Bowie's telling a poignant story. Sure, you may not always know what the fuck he's talking about, but it's still fun to sit back and let him do his thing....which he does oh so well;)
Oh, and I told you this was the precursor to Ziggy Stardust; just look at title. 1). "Oh you pretty things"
"Oh you pretty things! Don't you know that you're driving your mommas and poppas insane?"
How can you not love a song that proclaims those very lines? In case you weren't aware, Pretty things follows right after "Is there life on Mars?", and damn does it flow and transition so seamlessly.
Again, Bowie's talking about the eternal struggle between youth and the establishment. He just happens to be one of those artists that does it better than anyone, that's all.
And that's me.
Feel more than free to tell what songs are your favorites from this album, or just any songs of Bowie's you like.
For Today's weekly Top 5 list, I've decided to use a recently reviewed classic from David Bowie. An album that's been regarded as "Ziggy Stardust in America."
Aladdin Sane
This is another of those really hard to pick 5 type of albums, you know, since I don't want you guys thinking I'm throwing myself softballs here.
So 5 it is, and thus my top 5 picks:
5). "Watch That Man"
It's been featured on a few indie movie soundtracks, and is really nice song. No, really. It is;)
4). "Lady Grinning Soul"
Hey I really love this one, and David Bowie really sings the shit out of it. Seriously, the thin white duke had, and still has one hell of a set of pipes! Plus all the instrumental arrangements worked so well on this song, especially the blending of his acoustic guitar playing. And don't forget those beautifully nasty lyrics about a chick's musky odor, and how she'll but the loving down on you quick. Love it.!
3). "Time"
And here's the song that knock the previous one down to #4, Time.
Really I just attribute that to being kind of bias, since it's been a song I've been listening to quite a bit lately.
Especially since the lyrics, just as in the previous song, are fun and nasty. But who do you know that has compared Time to "A whore who fell wanking to the floor", or the Joker-esque sounding part of the song where goes(to the listener) "You! Are not a victim! You! Just screammmmmmmm from boredom!"
Plus he plays the hell out of that piano, in the typical vaudeville/saloon bar piano-style.
Yep, David Bowie A.k.a. Ziggy Stardust, lady and gentlemen:)
2). "The Prettiest Star"
This is another of those really awesomely sung songs, with Bowie being so hypnotic in painting such a picture with words. This is exactly the type of song that wouldn't sound out of place on Ziggy Stardust, and was once originally written as a single to and about Bowie's good friend at the time "Marc Bolan, A.k.a. T-Rex"
Nice huh?
1). "Jean Genie"
Yeah it's a classic, but this song shouldn't just be judged on that merit along; no, it;s also very catchy, not to mention a true, heavy bit of rock and roll there.
It rocks when it needs to, and grooves when it needs to, making this a top(and most recognized)song from the entire album.
Well that wasn't too bad. I guess Ziggy Stardust or Heroes could be next;)
Quick update on the gift front. Have to send my Jay Garrick figure back to Amazon. I didn't see it initially but after removing him from the packaging, I noticed the wings from his helmet were missing. And it was really super-noticeable too:(
So poor Jay's gonna' have to go back to the Glue Factory. Poor Bastard:(
Happy Post-Election Day folks!
So......who was surprised that Obama won? Not me.
And to to be honest, I'd rather him be pres rather than the clueless and transparently oblivious Romney.
True, I'm not 100% okay with ObamaCare coming down the pike, and for those who hate the idea too, but voted for him anyways, now it's your problem too.
I know Obama hasn't accomplished everything he set out out do, but I'll give him this, he was cock-blocked bigger than hell by the Republicans who had a mad-on to vote against any decent thing he was trying to get passed, just to spite him. That's not how things should be done, whether you like the person in charge or not.
I hope(even though I highly doubt it) that a true mending of the parties for the sake of this country. Trust me, like the old saying goes, "a house divided falls", and if these idiotic and petty political parties don't start to come together for the sake of the people of who elected them, then we're all royally fucked!
Alright, enough about that unpleasant topic called politics.
Today's post is primarily about David Bowie's hit album, 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.
I'll readily admit, I've been on a strong Bowie kick lately, discovering and rediscovering a lot of his classic albums like this one. And I'm telling you, to me they still hold up today. Especially with his songs about disaffected youth, politics, heartache, paranoia, and anything else we fucked humans feel.
Now while I knew some of the songs on this album, like "Moonage Daydream", "Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City", and "Starman", and there was still the rest of the album's worth of songs I'd never heard before until recently. And trust when I say, they'll blow your mind as much as they did mine.
So, let's get started, as I'll explain song by song, the whole plot and story behind this classic album.
"Five Years"
The first song on the album starts to tell the you the listener, what's going on. Basically the story, as David Bowie envisioned it, goes like this: It's the far, far future, and the Planet Earth has only 5 years left before everyone and everything on it dies. All around, the usual things such as panic, depression, hate, avarice, and every other human emotion under the sun are going on, keeping most of the population numb or unaware of Earth's imminent destruction.
This is one of those songs I discovered awhile ago, but fell in love with instantly upon hearing it. Bowie just paints such a story with his words, that you're automatically envisioning all this going down. Especially towards the end, where you just hear this desperation in his voice, as he's trying to warn the people that their world's about to die. Sound familiar Superman fans?
Take a listen:
Next up is another classic I recently discovered, and am completely in love with, you know, if its possible to be in love with a song:)
"Soul Love"
Soul Love starts the process of revealing the hero of the story, Ziggy Stardust, and his mission to save Earth. Ziggy's just a normal futuristic teenager in a rock n' roll band, but no one's interested in rock n' roll by that time period. As the album progresses song by song, you start to hear why he's destined to be a cosmic messiah. In fact, the first set of lyrics talks about a messiah-like figure who gave his life for his people, foreshadowing Ziggy's eventual demise.
That was a live version of the song from a 1978 tour in Japan.
"Moonage Daydream"
This song really gets the ball rolling, as it's here that Ziggy Stardust is transformed into the ultimate rock n' roll star and cosmic messiah, which is necessary for him to spread the message that Earth will be saved by a race of alien beings. So he and his rock n' roll band, The Spiders from Mars, go off and do just that.
I love the way the song starts off with these lyrics with Bowie singing "I'm an alligator, I'm a mama-papa coming for you I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you Keep your mouth shut, you're squawking like a pink monkey bird And I'm busting up my brains for the words
Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe Put your ray gun to my head Press your space face close to mine, love Freak out in a moonage daydream oh yeah!"
Awesome shit baby!
"Starman"
The classic Starman is next, as word of the Earth's messiah is spread near and far throughout the world. This song is sung from the perspective of one of Ziggy's recent convert's, not Ziggy himself, as some people used to think. Its this song, maybe more than others, that really drives him the parallels to the stories of Jesus and Superman, with the focus being about a savior coming from the sky. Great song people. Also, on a little bit of interesting trivia note, this song was heavily influenced and inspired by the song "Over the rainbow" from the movie the Wizard of Oz. It's true. Just listen to the chorus and chord progression, and see just how much it basically matches up note for note with this song. Cool huh?
"It ain't easy"
This song was written by singer/songwriter Ron Davies, not David Bowie. But Bowie included this song on the Ziggy album, and I'm glad he did. I really love this one too, as it has that heavy, classic rock n' roll/Blues/Gospel vibe to it. As far as where it fits in the story, that's probably up to the listener to decide, but I personally think it's just one of Ziggy's songs/messages to his growing legion of followers, telling them what they already know about the life being hard, but to keep on going anyhow.
"Lady Stardust"
Originally written about his good friend and fellow legendary Glam rocker Marc T. Bolan(or T.Rex as you might know him) this song was put on the album and used to further illustrate the rise of Ziggy Stardust as his popularity and fame grew in the story. A really, really great song as well.
"Star"
Pretty much continuing with the building up the myth and legend of Ziggy and his band here. We're pretty much hearing from Ziggy's point of view how much he enjoys being a rockstar and all the fame he's achieving. It's pretty much the standard opinion a lot of rock stars no doubt feel, as they're living out their dream, and hey, who'd blame them? Thoud really would be cool!
"Hang onto yourself"
We're getting near the end, and Ziggy's really on a roll. Maybe he subconsciously knows he's near the end of his own journey, as he sings for the kids/people "That you really need to hang on to yourself." Either that or its further inspirational, I'll save-like stuff. Either way, still a rocking song.
"Ziggy Stardust"
If you didn't already know about enough about the man, you will now through this song.
Ziggy's whole biography and hype are laid out for the mainstream world to know, and now there isn't really anybody who doesn't know the about the mythical cosmic rocker. Damn good song that pretty much simplifies what the whole album's about.
"Suffragette City"
Who doesn't know or has already heard this huge classic right? Heavily inspired by Little Richard(like the line "Wham bam, thank you ma'am") and the book A Clockwork Orange, the album's heading towards the end, and Ziggy's almost done with spreading his hopeful message.
Another musical trivia note, I found out that Bowie offered this song for the band Mott the Hoople to record if they'd stay together instead of breaking up(which they did anyway). They went with "All the young dudes" instead, and the rest is music history.
"Rock and roll suicide"
Finally we're at the end of the story, as Ziggy's saviors called The Infinites, show up as intended. They can save the Earth, but in order to fully enter our world(they can't since they're made of anti-matter) they have to use bits and pieces of Ziggy in order do that. So during the course of Ziggy's performance, they literally strip him piece by piece, killing him in the process, so that they can transform and enter our world. Thus Ziggy, like just about every other messiah figure "dies for our sins" and becomes a martyr. Damn good song though, that goes along perfectly with this whole event going down. It's the type of song that goes so perfectly with what's going on, and Ziggy/Bowie sings "You're not alone, you're wonderful!"
I have to say watching that video, especially towards the end, where Bowie puts down the guitar and just goes full out, gave me fucking goosebumps man! He had that crowd in the palm of his hand, loving every minute if it. Now that, that's a true rock star right there:)
The album would go on to sell millions and millions of records, going gold and platinum, as well as inspiring a movie about the Ziggy Stardust tour a year later.
1973 would also see a sort of sequel to Ziggy with Aladdin Sane, which was billed as "Ziggy goes to America." I'll probably highlight that kick-ass album in a future edition, but trust when I say it's just as good as Ziggy.
So as always, I highly recommend you guys out there check out this and other Bowie albums. You never know what you'll wind up liking/loving. Trust me on that;)
Also, you can go to this link, just in case you even more curious about everything I didn't mention or discuss concerning this album: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggy_stardust
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