Ten years ago, we awoke to the sad news that David Bowie had passed away. There are many aspects of Bowie's career that were a huge influence on myself and many other musicians. So it is only fitting to celebrate Bowie's anniversary with a list.
1. Rebel Rebel. If you have never been in a pub with someone you fancy the pants off, put Rebel Rebel on the jukebox and kissed them after the line in the chorus "Hot tramp, I love you so" then you have really never lived. There are many Bowie songs that to me are important, but this line perhaps gave me the happiest five seconds of my life. Pubs, kissing pretty girls and juke boxes are three of the best things in the world and when they all come together for a split second, it is the absolute best.
2. Space Oddity. This song absolutely fascinated me. The video of Bowie in a rather bad space suit was perhaps my favourite video. The concept of Major Tom floating in his tin can absolutely fascinated me for years. "Planet Earth is blue and there is nothing I can do". People do not make such songs anymore, more's the pity. The strangest thing is that for several years, I felt like Major Tom, floating in his tin can. Before the arrival of punk rock, I felt alone and isolated. It chimed with me. It also gave me hope for the future. I felt Bowie wrote the song specially for me, even though he clearly didn't
3. The Man who fell to Earth. I used to love science fiction. Most science fiction films are crass excuses to have lots of explosions and special effects. There was none of this. It was a very dark, powerful and disturbing film. It is probably one of the very few science fiction films that has a plot that is credible, if you accept the premise that there is alien life. Bowie was excellent and I doubt anyone else could have pulled the role off as well. It showed that Bowie was far more than a singer.
4. Lou Reed Transformer. Bowie was the producer of this album. Lou Reed was clearly a genius, but he was not someone given to making great, accessible pop records. Bowie took all of the dark energy around Lou Reed and somehow managed to package it in such a way that the rest of us mere mortals could somehow enjoy it. I happen to think that Perfect Day is the perfect pop song. Bowies production of it is incredible. If I have any regrets at all regarding Bowie, one is that he did not do more production of other aartists.
5. Mott The Hoople - All the young dudes. The generosity of Bowie as an artist is not really something that is widely recognised in the way it should be. All the young dudes is an absolute banger of a tune. Many artists would have greedily kept such a song. Bowie gave it to his mate Ian Hunter. A couple of years ago, my good mate Lee Thompson of Madness sung it with The Silencerz at The East Barnet Festival. Lee was brilliant and it just brought home what an amazing pop song it is.
6. The V&A Bowie Exhibition. One of my old schoool mates was a curator at the V&A, in about 2005, we met at a school reunion. We were chatting and he was explaining that the V&A were looking at ways to reach out and engage a wider audience. I casually remarked that they should do an exhibition on the costumes and art of David Bowie. In 2013, the V&A did the original Bowie exhibition. I have no idea whether it was a pure coincidence. I don't really care, I was just glad that we got the chance to see it. Other exhibitions of musicians have since taken place, but none has been anywhere near as interesting as Bowie's. I believe that Bowie actually transformed the V&A from a place I had no interest in as a philistine, to my favourite London museum.
7. Low. Side one of Low is probably my favourite Bowie record. I could just talk about the great music, but the thing that always fascinated me was that it was recorded in West Berlin, at the height of the cold war. There was an oppresive feel to the album and a certain desperation and intesity in the vocal performance that I don't think Bowie acheived before or after. It is by far the best of the 'Berlin Trilogy' of Bowie's work. It really stirred my fascination and in some ways was an inspiration for my own relocation to Stockholm in 1981. I read an interview with Bowie where he said he needed to "be somewhere else and be a different person" after the cocaine fuelled excess of Station to Station. That stuck with me and I felt the need to do the same thing in 1981, although I have never been a coke head. It was the best thing I did. It gave me a differernt perspective on life. Bowie's Berlin sojourn was an inspiration. I am not quite sure whether "what in the world" or "be my wife" are my favourite tracks on the album, probaby whichever one I am listening to at the time.
8. Tin Machine. This much derided period of Bowie's career is something I believe should be re-assessed. I saw Bowie twice. Once at Wembley on the Glass Spider tour, which was a huge disappointment. The other was with Tin Machine at Brixton, which was absolutely brilliant. Bowie was a great rock and roll singer and I think he just fell victim to musical snobbery during this period. I always thought it was great that he just wanted to be the singer in a band.
9. Lulu. Bowies collaboration with Lulu was something that I really didn't get at the time. Lulu was Britains favourite bubblegum pop girl. No one really recognised that she has a great voice. Bowie wrote and produced "The man who sold the world" for her. It was her first top ten hit of the 1970's and the highest chart position she reached until "Relight my fire". Bowie saw something that everyone else missed.
10. The Lazarus video. Bowie's parting gift. Can you imaging you know you are dying, you are presumably in pain and turmoil, yet you do that. I think it is actually a very positive and hopeful song, in a rather odd way. It is the perfect full stop.
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