Apr 082007
Remember, we’re interested in your feelings here. Coming to terms with how these two videos make you feel is the only way we’ll ever get to the bottom of the RTH Bowie Problem.
Video #1:
Video #2:
Remember, we’re interested in your feelings here. Coming to terms with how these two videos make you feel is the only way we’ll ever get to the bottom of the RTH Bowie Problem.
Video #1:
Video #2:
I get it! I get it! Bowie is a Master of Disguise! 🙂 Er, right?
It’s only “right” if that’s the way you really *feel*.
Do you think Bowie is a master of disguises? I feel certain you’re not the only one — but that’s not necessarily the “right” answer.
I feel embarrassed for artists whom I respect that are stooping and humiliating themselves and their legacies.
Thanks for sharing your feelings, Sammy. I validate you!
While I’ve occasionally liked things that Bowie’s done, I have never actually been able to warm up to Bowie. As cheesey as that video was, I’m not sure that it’s any cheesier than his original Ziggy incarnation. I just never get the feeling from Bowie that he’s actually playing Rock’n’Roll, rather he always seems to be playing at it. Sort of like Pat Boone playing doing Tutti Fruiti. I know there are a lot of good elements there, such as the ones brought out in the Bowie background vocals discussion earlier this week, but the hollowness I perceive where his heart should be makes it impossible for me to dig him without reservation.
I second that emotion in the way that it makes me *feel* geo. I know that I do get a good feeling from certain bowie songs, but like you, I have never been able to warm up to the material completely. I definitely dig his character though, again – depending what it is.
Video #1 makes me FEEEL that Hrundi is stacking the deck by presenting Bowie in his ZZ Top-post-Elimnator era.
Video #2 makes me FEEEEEEEEEEEL that Hrundi is stacking the deck by comparing Bowie to Dana Carvey in his ZZ Top-Recycler era.
You’re blocking, Oats!
Geo, I know that sometimes sharing can be hard. You really showed some courage there, and I know the group appreciates it. I think your comment about how this supposedly lame late-era Bowie is just as good/bad as the Ziggy period stuff will really spark some dynamic thinking — and, more important, uncork some really important feelings in the group.
How do I feel? Well, the Bowie video starts out making me feel like I need to figure out what came first, this song or Psychedelic Furs’ “Love My Way”. Then the song gets really bad, and I feel sad to see Bowie throw whatever it is he threw “like a girl” at the ubiquitous mirror that was always breaking in mid-80s videos. After laughing through Sammy’s silly piece the other day, I did not want to see Bowie throw with so little authority. I felt good anytime they cut to the band in those stupid, broad-brimmed hats. They were funny looking. It feels good to laugh for whatever reason. Finally, I felt very bored and had to bail with about a minute left in the song.
The Dana Carvey trailer made me feel sad, like I was seeing a guy headed for a bout with cancer or some unexpected disease. There was a foreboding feel to that trailer. Of course, I can’t really be sure if I felt this, because I vaguely remember Carvey having suffered from some mysterious ailment sometime after the release of this movie. Either way, I felt like his soul was in deep trouble, and there was no way to save him.
I didn’t feel that way about Bowie, by the way. I felt like he was in the midst of bigger and better things in his life, that the music and the video were just commitments that needed to be fulfilled.
Thanks for this opportunity to feel things, Townsman.
Mr. Mod, thanks for sharing. I have to be honest — I felt a lot of the same feelings you did when watching these two videos! Bowie’s “disguises” — though ultimately no more concealing (and not a whole lot less silly) than the Carvey character’s — remain artful and confident. But, seeing them both side-by-side, I felt more kinship, more sympathy, for the Carvey “character” than the Bowie “character.” Bowie is trying to fool us into believing he’s *something*, when I’m not sure he’s really anything at all; Carvey is “real,” and I feel more for him as a result. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather listen to a good (or even bad) Bowie album than watch “Master Of Disguise,” but we’re talking about *feelings* here, after all.
Oh, and I also feel like Carvey’s Tony Montana character was tragically lost in this giant steaming turd of a movie. I mean, come ON — that bit about the neapolitan ice cream makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it. I can’t think of a Bowie character who I find so consistently compelling.
Thanks for letting me share in this friendly, open environment — it means a lot to be able to open up about my feelings in this way.