Then this song came on the radio, sung by Nirvana. It was great! Real mellow, and it had more depth to it than most of the other songs on the air then. It was "The Man Who Sold the World." I found out later that Nirvana hadn't written it...it was by David Bowie. That name again! Well, when I ran across the album I decided I might as well buy it. Anyone who could write a song like "The Man Who Sold the World" must be pretty good; at least that album, if nothing else.
Well, the rest of the album wasn't much like the song I loved, and eventually it kinda got pushed back into my collection (hides her face in shame). I wasn't really into the harder rock, and I was trying to break away from my parents' interests (thus I shunned anything even slightly retro). And The Man Who Sold the World was very retro. "Right on" and "Far out" don't show up that much nowadays, you must admit.
Well, Kelly (my friend) decided half-way through that she was tired of The Best Movie Ever Made, and that she wanted to watch Casper. And you don't argue with Kelly, even if she has just decided to tear your heart out on a whim. So I lost Jareth...
Bowie didn't pop up again for about half a year. Hanging out with the gothic crowd, one doesn't tend to ask if anyone has seen a Muppets romantic fantasy. And I couldn't find the movie anywhere. But Jareth sat in the back of my mind, never loosing his shimmer. I started listening to The Man Who Sold the World again. And caught the occasional glimpse of Bowie (his mention on the MTV Music Awards for the "I'm Afraid of Americans" video, and another awesome song on the Lost Highway soundtrack). But it wasn't until the beginning of my senior year (after I had bought the Labyrinth soundtrack) that I found out a friend of mine owned Labyrinth. She let me borrow it. And she said I could keep it as long as I wanted. I was ecstatic. When I got it home I watched it about 20 times in the course of a few days. Drove my family nuts. Their usually highly intellectual daughter is watching a childrens' movie over and over and over. And has this unbearable grin on her face. They thought I'd finally totally lost it. But God, I was happy. After almost a year I finally got to see the end of the movie...
That was it. This guy was special. So I spent my Hanukah money and my earnings for that week on CDs. I got four - The Deram Anthology, The Baktabak interview, Black Tie/White Noise, and EART HL I NG. A friend gave me the new Best of 1974/1979 for Christmas. And my parents got me 1. Outside for Hanukah. Whoa. A little variety there. But all of it was at varying levels of perfection (some just had to grow on me).
I've now added a few other things to my collection...here's a listing, which will be updated often. It's grown just a little.
The further adventures of BabyGrace, the Bowiephile...
Well, back on the subject...at a school function I ran into an acquaintence from drama, and ended up talking about something that invariably (as it tends to with me) led to the metion of His name. At which point Terry exclaimed, "I love David Bowie!" Oh, I found someone...someone who not only recognized the name, but didn't automatically associate it with Labyrinth or "I'm Afraid of Americans" - both wonderful works, but apparently the extent of the modern public's knowledge of him. So we drove to the store blasting Let's Dance - yes, I finally got to hear it - and having a grand ol' time. It ended up she was more obsessed with 80's rock than Bowie in particular, but she was enough to get me thinking...
Has anyone else noticed that this has turned into a veritable diary?
I know it's not the best picture of him, but it just fit so well!
These are a few other people who adore David Bowie as much as I do. Some of it's good, some of it's not so good, but with him it's hard to go wrong!
Another good way to find Bowie pages is by using the David Bowie Web Ring (I suggest "random" - it's more interesting).
Well, here goes. Hold your nose, close your eyes, and jump on in!
The Life and Times of...
This section will be compiled with help from Ryko, Virgin, and CDnow. When I get the time to compile it.
David Bowie exemplifies the new aesthetic...from his humble, folky beginnings, to the glitter and glam of Ziggy Stardust, to the elegance of the Thin White Duke, at each twist and turn of his career, creating more than one myth to hearken back to his creative visions.
Sound and Vision...
Information taken from the Tours & Concerts section of Teenage Wildlife. Right now I'll give you the dates, and later I'll add countries (or at least continents) and related albums, but for set lists and cities and a ton of other minutia, see the link I just gave you.
The Silver Screen...
From most recent to oldest, this is every appearance I could get my hands on. This specific list mostly came from The Internet Movie Data Base. Bold means a main part, italics means it's a documentary or music video sorta thingy. If the text is plain, then it was just a small part.
How I found religion, and how I show my everlasting awe...
I ran across David Bowie rather by accident. His name had been mentioned once or twice in my life by my mum, who adored "Space Oddity" (I think I finally got the version she wanted - I've got three now, so I should...). Other than that, though, I knew nothing about him.
A little later I was at a friend's house to spend the night. She gave me a choice of videos - The Dark Crystal (which is supposed to be really good, but I've never gotten to see) and Labyrinth. Hey, that Bowie guy is in it. He just keeps popping up. I fell in love. The music was great, he was great, the whole concept was great. Sarah was an idiot. But I'm not going to go there.
Well, I came back to school from winter break with a genuine obsession - to the point where one uniformed friend asked me why I didn't just run off with him and have a bunch of little "goblins" of our own. To enlighten her, I wouldn't do that, thank you very much. I don't like children.
Other Acolytes...
Main | Gehenna's Dansers