The Words and Music of David Bowie (The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection)

214 Pages·2007·0.6 MB·English

by  James E. Perone

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HE RAEGER INGER ONGWRITER OLLECTION
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James E. Perone
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perone, James E.
The words and music of David Bowie / James E. Perone.
p. cm. — (The Praeger singer-songwriter collection, ISSN 1553–3484)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ), and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–275–99245–3 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–275–99245–4 (alk. paper)
1. Bowie, David—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
ML420.B754P47 2007
782.42166092—dc22 2007008323
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2007 by James E. Perone
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007008323
ISBN-13: 978–0–275–99245–3
ISBN-10: 0–275–99245–4
ISSN: 1553–3484
First published in 2007
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
∞
M
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Series Foreword by James E. Perone vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1. From David Jones to David Bowie 1
The Early Pye Singles 1
The Early Deram Singles 4
David Bowie 6
The Later Deram Recordings 9
Man of Words, Man of Music (Space Oddity) 11
2. Becoming Ziggy Stardust 15
The Man Who Sold the World 15
Hunky Dory 19
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the
Spiders from Mars 26
Aladdin Sane 33
Pin Ups 39
3. Of Diamond Dogs and Plastic Soul 41
Diamond Dogs 41
Young Americans 46
Station to Station 50
vi Contents
4. Berlin 57
Low 57
“Heroes” 65
Lodger 71
5. To the Dance Club and Down 79
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) 79
Let’s Dance 85
Tonight 90
Never Let Me Down 93
In the Wake of Pop Success 97
6. Tin Machine: 1989–1992 99
Tin Machine 99
Tin Machine II 103
Oy Vey, Baby 106
7. New Sounds: 1992–1998 107
Black Tie White Noise 107
The Buddha of Suburbia 112
Outside 115
Earthling 118
8. The New Traditionalist: 1999–2007 125
hours . . . 125
Heathen 132
Reality 138
Conclusions: Assessing Bowie’s Signifi cance 143
Selected Discography 151
Notes 161
Bibliography 167
Index 189
Series Foreword
Although the term, Singer-Songwriters, might most frequently be associated
with a cadre of musicians of the early 1970s such as Paul Simon, James Tay-
lor, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, and Carole King, the Praeger
Singer-Songwriter Collection defi nes singer-songwriters more broadly, both
in terms of style and in terms of time period. The series includes volumes
on musicians who have been active from approximately the 1960s through
the present. Musicians who write and record in folk, rock, soul, hip-hop,
country, and various hybrids of these styles will be represented. Therefore,
some of the early 1970s introspective singer-songwriters named above will be
included, but not exclusively.
What do the individuals included in this series have in common? Some
have never collaborated as writers. But, while some have done so, all have
written and recorded commercially successful and/or historically important
music and lyrics at some point in their careers.
The authors who contribute to the series also exhibit diversity. Some are
scholars who are trained primarily as musicians, while others have such areas
of specialization as American studies, history, sociology, popular culture stud-
ies, literature, and rhetoric. The authors share a high level of scholarship,
accessibility in their writing, and a true insight into the work of the artists
they study. The authors are also focused on the output of their subjects and
how it relates to the their subject’s biography and the society around them;
however, biography in and of itself is not a major focus of the books in this
series.
Given the diversity of the musicians who are the subject of books in
this series, and given the diversity of viewpoint of the authors, volumes in
viii Series Foreword
the series will differ from book to book. All, however, will be organized
chronologically around the compositions and recorded performances of
their subjects. All of the books in the series should also serve as listeners’
guides to the music of their subjects, making them companions to the artists’
recorded output.
James E. Perone
Series Editor
Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without the valuable assistance of a
number of people. I wish fi rst to thank Karen Perone for offering moral and
technical support throughout this and all of my book projects for Greenwood
Press and Praeger Publishers, and for offering much-needed input at every stage
of every project. In the case of this project, I wish particularly to acknowledge
her ability to endure repeated hearings of David Bowie’s pre-fame song “The
Laughing Gnome.”
Over the course of writing several books, the entire staff of the Greenwood
Publishing Group has been most helpful and cooperative. I wish to extend
special thanks to Editor Daniel Harmon for his assistance in putting this book
together and for his continuing support in the development of the Praeger
Singer-Songwriter Collection, and to all the copy and production editors for
helping me in the fi ne-tuning of this book. I also wish to thank Eric Levy and
Rob Kirkpatrick for their assistance in getting the Praeger Singer-Songwriter
Collection off the ground over the course of the fi rst few years of the twenty-
fi rst century.
I also wish to send a special shout of thanks out to photographer Chris
Walter (www.photofeatures.com) for the photographs of David Bowie that
appear in the photo essay in this book.
Despite my own best efforts and the assistance of those named above there
are bound to be errors in this book: they are solely my responsibility.