David Bowie - The First Five Decades

[scotty]

Does anyone know whats the story of Steve strange on the ashes to ashes video? Just thought id ask cause i dont know.Or should i just fade to grey?

[winston]

Sorry I personally did not know any background about his appearance in the video, but apparently the following is at least some of the story.

"The video clip for "Ashes to Ashes" was one of the most iconic of the 1980s. Costing £250,000, it was at the time the most expensive music video ever made. It incorporated scenes both in solarised colour (helped by an innovative Quantel Paintbox technique) and in stark black-and-white, featuring Bowie in the gaudy pierrot costume that became the dominant visual representation of his Scary Monsters phase. Also appearing were Steve Strange and other members of the London Blitz scene, forerunners of (later participants in) the New Romantic movement that was heavily influenced by Bowie's music and image.

Bowie described the shot of himself and the Blitz Kids marching towards the camera in front of a bulldozer as symbolising "oncoming violence". Scenes of the singer in a space suit - that suggested a hospital life-support system - and others showing him locked in what appeared to be a padded room, made reference to both Major Tom and to Bowie's new, rueful interpretation of him. Contrary to received opinion, the elderly woman lecturing Bowie at the end of the clip was not his real mother. Record Mirror readers voted "Ashes to Ashes" and Bowie's next single, "Fashion", the best music videos of 1980."

[tamborineman]

There were two camps back then;

1)The I [try to] sing like Robert Plant

or

2)The I [try to] sing like Bowie

[scotty]

Thanks Brian, I often wondered if there was another reason that S Strange appeared.Cheers mate!

[rickenmetal]

I thought that Tin Machine stuff was very interesting too.

There are lots of people who tried to sing like Robert Plant, that whole '70s hard rock '80s heavy metal thing, but I haven't really heard anyone that even comes close to sounding like David Bowie, except for maybe Peter Murphy or Steve Kilbey at certain times, but of course they have their own styles.

[shamustwin]

I'm a big Bowie fan, always have been, but he did "adopt" a lot of Brian Ferry's schtick.

[winston]

When you have the same circle of friends you are bound to be influenced in some manner I suppose. Roxy Music was a great band.

[shamustwin]

That must explain Mick Jagger "adopting" Brian Ferry's girlfriend!

[wints]

Simply one of the greatest songwriter/performer/producer etc over the last 35 years.

I still love the 70's stuff, from '72 to '77which is him at his classical best imo...

[winston]

An excerpt from Wikipedia

"Ferry was known to date very beautiful women, who often appeared as cover models on the Roxy Music albums. Ferry dated singer and model Amanda Lear, who was photographed with a black jaguar for the cover of the For Your Pleasure album. She later went on to date and create music with David Bowie"

Ferry was miffed when Hall took up with Jagger. What 's a girl to do when your circle of friends include a whole pile of rich and famous rock stars? Sorry I could not resist temptation.

[wints]

You can't blame her...

Could you live with the name Jerry Ferry?

[shamustwin]

When I was a long-haired, platform shod, ear ring wearing freak in High School in the early '70's, I was called something like that a few times.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Well, there it is: it can be done.

[antipodean]

Bowie stands out as one of the very few artists to be considered avant-garde and still be commercially successful.

Like anyone trying to push the envelope he had his fair share of clangers - there are some albums that have just one or two brilliant tracks and a whole lot of filler. I feared that following "Let's Dance" he was in danger of becoming the "Thin White Duck", but he managed his usual trick of transformation and regained his artistic credibility, although the magnitude of the commercial success he enjoyed '70s has become impossible to replicate.

[winston]

When I was a long-haired, platform shod, ear ring wearing freak in High School in the early '70's, I was called something like that a few times.

Too funny Thanks for a really good laugh.