Following his realization of Andy Warhol’s vision for the Velvet Underground and his mastery of the pop culture art of shape shifting, David Bowie’s third-most distinctive contribution to rock is his use of backing vocals. Typically overdubbing his own backing vocals, Bowie took unique approaches to backing vocals that may have been original to rock and have barely been used by others since his work.
Letting his vibrato shine boldly and without regard to the timing of his vibrato on double-tracked recordings, Bowie’s lead vocals have always been distinctive enough. Surrounding his lead vocals, which often feature disorienting effects of their own, are highly personal backing vocal techniques, such as the “drunken sailors” backing vocals, as heard on both the Mott the Hoople hit (Bowie on backing vocals) and his own live verion of “All the Young Dudes” as well as tracks like “Five Years”. He also does more humming than anyone else in rock, maybe featured most prominently on “Moonage Daydream”. On “Ashes to Ashes” the mumbling call-and-response parts during certain verses become key to the song’s atmosphere. Large parts of Station to Station and Low exist for his unusual backing vocal workouts. Maybe the only singer who’s had a comparable “inner” approach to backing vocals is Marvin Gaye, as best represented on What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On.
Bowie’s frequent collaborator – and an influence on Bowie himself – Brian Eno has been known to string together odd, impressionistic backing vocal parts, but there’s always a strong “scientific” element to his most elaborate backing parts. Bowie is more improvisational. For all the singers who’ve been influenced by Bowie, have any of them picked up on his backing vocal ideas and run with them? No one has coming to mind since I thought of this while listening to Ziggy Stardust this morning. The New Romantics just copped the lead vocal mannerisms. Elvis Costello used some “inner” backing vocal techniques on Armed Forces and Imperial Bedroom, but they never sounded off the cuff, the way Bowie’s backing vocals sound. Do you know what I’m talking about? Would you agree this is Bowie’s third-most distinctive contribution to rock?
I agree.
Bewlay Brothers.
Great point, Mr. Mod. I would also link this to the notion of the heavy-riff and lyrics thread, in that Bowie’s embracing of androgyny allowed him to do something as wussy as worry about singing. Whenever I see a band where only one person sings, I get annoyed at the waste of all that sound! Look at the Who. You can amke a hell of a lot of noise with 4 people. In any case, Bowie’s whole drag element allowed him to be finicky about vocals, even to the posed casualness of the drunken sailor sounds you mention, without losing an aspect of what, danger? Edge? One thing he took from Eno, or was brought out by Eno, was the aesthetic of using whatever meagre chops you may have strategically to cover the most ground. Like Bowie’s very slight sax abilities. He lets it rip! And a very effctive use of other singers is the Young Americans album, where they’re all over the place. The backing vox there included Luther Vandross. Funny. Win, Somebody Up There Like Me, great vocal business.
The one band that leapt to mind as I was reading was Yes. In the car yesterday, I listened to all 18 minutes of the title track off Close To The Edge (during the very non-Yes errand of buying a case of beer and a bottle of bourbon.) You have to machete your way through the dense wankerism of Yes, if such things bug you, and ignore the bizarre pixie-with-thesaurus poetry, but in terms of the vocal techniques themselves, they are richly textured and inventive. Also, though, no one – and here anyone can contradict or inform – but no one sounds wussier than Jon Anderson! A very hetero-wussiness, if you will. (Even if he *is* gay!)
A last note. One song where the backing vocals made the song was the prefab one-hit Tenpole Tudor’s MTV song, “Wunderbar.” Anybody remember this viking fantasy hollering song?
Oh. And p.s. I just loaded Spinning Wheel into my iTunes, and again I say, it rocks, Mr. Mod. Even the “Ach du lieber Augustine” recorder jam rocks, for me.
Jon Anderson’s gay? Really? I thought that only a straight man could sing like such a wuss! I know what you mean about Yes’ use of vocals, though. I’m telling you, if you could shave off even 20% of that band’s musical body fat, you’d be left with a very inventive and easy to like pop band.
Oh, and we will dedicate a day to the music of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Let me know offlist if anyone has a half dozen of that band’s songs that I can download. The deal is, though, you must include “Spinning Wheel” and “And When I Die”. Thanks.
Didn’t we go through this with Andy Partridge a few months ago?
Well said. If every Yes song sounded like “Long Distance Runaround,” they’d have been one of the great ’70s AM pop bands.
RUMOR KILL: I wasn’t saying Anderson is gay. I have no idea. Like Mr. Mod, I was suggesting that it is indeed hetero-wussiness, which is strangely more wussy than homo-wussiness. I was just saying in case anybody was going to pince-nez me that he was indeed gay, my statement would stand either way.
And, Mr. Mod, re:B,S, &T. I *only* like Spinning Wheel. When he sings the title line in “You Make Me So Very Happy” it is enough to carry the rest of the dead weight of that song. But the rest is awful. And they went so swiftly downhill from 1970! I keep hearing about their first demo-period album being this incredibly adventurous jazz album with pop overlays and what-not, but I have yet to hear it. But I wouldn’t waste much time with a whole examination of the band. Spinning wheel is the exception that proves the rule, to me. But that song is brilliant.
I just read somewhere about Andy Partridge being gay and I think Mick Jones too? Where did I see that?
OK, OK…My apologies for being such an idiot this morning! Carry on.
Indeed. A most fun tune.
Getting back to Bowie backing vocals…
I never thought too much about this topic before. I don’t know if they count as backing vocals, but I like the different “character” voices he uses on “Sound and Vision.” But my favorite overall example of Bowie backing vocals are on Scary Monsters, which is actually him and a couple other people, both male and female. They’re low enough in the mix to let the lead vocal shine, but high enough that you can definitely hear the little hooks in these b. vox arrangements. Key examples, “Teenage Wildlife” and “Kingdom Come.”
By the way, I meant to second General Slocum’s props for “Wunderbar”, but as it is, I can only “third” the props. So be it!
I guess the glam circle was passing ideas around like herpes sores, but T Rex used some of Bowie’s vocal ideas, though less inventively sometimes. And they travelled with Bowie to Lou’s Transformer record, which is a Genre That Never Came To Be-spawning album of the first order, IMO. A lot of people can’t get their teeth into that record, and can only listen to other versions of its songs. But I’ve always been a fan of that seventies excessive production on Andy’s Chest, as well as the Bowie-couched Satellite of Love. Add vicious, I’m So Free, and Walk On the Wild Side, and what’s not to like?
Could another one of Bowie’s contributions be to showcase innovative guitar players? I’m thinking of Carlos Alomar’s funk chops, Adrian Belew’s controlled feedback (“Red Sails”), and Robert Fripp’s abstract laters of sound (“Fashion”). While most artists settle into a guitar sound, his late 70s records seem to sonically change just as his “characters” changed.
Absolutely! Most frontman would be content just to have discovered Mick Ronson. Other Bowie guitar highlights include his getting session guy Earl Slick to play like a crazed avant rocker on Station to Station and Ricky Gardner’s ultra-flanged Beatleisms on Low,
Too bad about all those years of Reeves Gabriel, though.
In general when you can detect the lead vocalist’s voice in the background vocals it sounds weird, but it works for Bowie because the lead vocal doesn’t function as the central character of the song. As the Ashes to Ashes video illustrates very nicely with those little insets and with the multiple sets, the lyrics are Burroughsian cut-ups and different personas sing different lines. There is no center, so the background vocals are not really background — they’re just one more piece of the puzzle.
Hey guys, DO NOT leave SRV out of the pantheon of guitar greats Bowie brought to the mainstream. Someone might get pissed – not me, but someone.
I knew it was just a matter of time before someone said it. I’m not as down on Reeves as most of you. Lighten up. I’m afraid he’s in danger of becoming a Rock Crime.
Bowie also gave Stevie Ray Vaughan a spotlight for a bit during the Let’s Dance era, when he was at his commercial peak, or one of them.
Like what Oats said above, I’ve never thought much at all about Bowie’s backing vocals approach before reading this post. However, when I was reading it, it made me think of the way Elvis Costello uses his own backing vocals, often double-tracking them and burying them in the mix (though still audibly) on the albums you mentioned. I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Get Happy!!, though, especially given your (and my) love of it. Whenever, I think of his backing vocal approach, the first song that comes to mind is usually “Love for Tender”. Incidentally, its predecessor “Clean Money” (a lot of its lyrics were used for “Love for Tender”) is the only song of his I can think of that features any of the Attractions on backing vocals other than “Baby’s Got a Brand New Hairdo”.
Mr. Mod: you may be pleased — or perhaps disappointed in a weird way, I dunno — to learn that I found an early David Clayton-Thomas solo LP in one of my thrift store bins the other day, and did *not* buy it. It just looked too idiotic to pursue.
Having said that I really do like “Spinnin’ Wheel,” “You Make Me So Very Happy,” “Lucretia MacEvil,” and a few others.
Hrrundi, when we play Hear Factor, rumor has it I’ll be spending 3 days with that BS&T crap! Guess I won’t come running to you for support.
Matt, I didn’t include Get Happy!! because I think of the backing vocals as pretty traditional soul approaches. I was thinking specifically of his records where it sounds like he’s privately singing along to himself. I do love the BVs on GH though.
Hey! OPEN mind! 😉