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Sweet Thing - David Bowie
Billy Ruben Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:40 pm
This thread will discuss Bowie,his influences and other bands he was responsible for making others aware of.
And the great respect that he deserves.
Starman is waiting in the sky.
And the great respect that he deserves.
Starman is waiting in the sky.
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
David Bowie and Brian Eno Influences
Billy Ruben Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:42 pm
…You wouldn’t think Bowie would fall under a kind of music censorship.He did in my family.In the seventies,people in Australia were openly racist,openly sexist and homophobic.I was harshly censored,forbidden to buy Bowie albums in the seventies,had my black clothes and Lou Reed sunglasses burnt and beaten for listening to Lou Reeds “Kill Your Sons”,which my father said,”turn off that Nazi shit !”,”But dad,he’s Jewish”,the second hit was much harder than the first.Things changed in the late eighties and 90’s,when I subjected my father to The Velvet Undergrounds “Heroin” or the full play of Public Image Limiteds’ Metal Box album,I converted to cassette,annoying him quite intentionally,driving me to the Army Reserve barracks,that I never wanted to be enlisted in the first place.That was his punishment.
It was my mothers intolerance to Bowie that came first.Dad worked as a security guard in the first half of the seventies,then become a gaol warden.He’d work late and I’d kind of,steal the coins trapped in the bench seat of the car that accumulated over a week and buy records with them.The first was The Beatles,a double album of their hits,The White Album tracks were the best.Then I moved onto the Rolling Stones,Split Enz,Kate Bush,easy stuff like that.But when I announced to mum,I was going to buy David Bowies Diamond Dogs,she flipped out.”You’re not buying that homosexuals stuff and playing it here !”,I was young,maybe only six and had to content myself with taping Bowies songs off the radio.I fell in love with him at five,when I first heard Starman,blew my mind and they often played Bowie videos on television.
I loved the fashion and men wearing make-up and those gnarly Ronson guitar,I can’t remember if it was 1977 or 79,but the parents were having a dinner party,I was bored with dads drunken rants,and snuck out the door,riding my bike around Croydon Park,Ashbury,thought about going to Burwood,but turned home instead,getting back it was near 12,mid-night and no-one noticed.Afterdark was a late night music program that started at midnight on channel seven.Sitting down,this gorgeous guy strutting over the Piano,”Make a deal and make it straight,all signed and sealed,I take it” he sneered the lyrics,there and then,riveted,this is what I’ve been looking for,so other worldly,just like Bowie,it was Roxy Musics’ Virginia Plain.In the band,was this strange little man,certainly the androgyn,way over the top,eccentric,stamping away at a strange instrument,that resembled a keyboard,but only half the length,emitting the craziest sounds,it was Brian Eno.
Brian Eno and David Bowie,actually became my two greatest influences,not just because of their own music,but what they recommended and other artist they revered through interviews and magazine publications.Funny enough,after the Roxy video ended,this strange funny funny little thin man was strutting about the stage,with a horse tail and bleeding,two tracks,”Lust For Life” and “The Passenger”, Iggy Pop pranced about.That night changed my life forever and so glad the parents were to enthralled with their inane chatter to notice what I was upto.
And that is the weird part,they were all connected in some way.Bowie produced the Berlin albums for Iggy Pop and Brian Eno was producing Bowie albums at the same time in Berlin,the mid to late 1970’s.And both Bowie and Eno extolled the virtues of this band called “The Velvet Underground”.I knew of Lou Reed already,hated “Walk on the Wild” side,but that changed later.That album,Transformer,was produced by Bowie back in 1972,again,they’re all connected.It was one big music family of artist,not rock and rollers,but art-rock,that spawned later punk,New Wave,New Romantics,they were the essential pre-cursors and forever in debt to these people.
Fast forward to 1986.I chose modern history as an elective at North Lakes High School.Trent and I hated it,always coming to class stoned or drunk,we’d sneak off to the bar at lunch,shoot pool and down as many schooners of beer in an hour,throwing up occasionally,particulary if we smoked weed later.We learnt not to mix drugs very early.And yes,we’d drink at the bar in school uniforms.Don’t ask why and how we got away with it.I thought I was classy and arty,we’d both wear sunglasses to class to hide our bloodshot eyes.The school teacher,Paul Hart would bet if I come to class stoned.Making a few dollars,Miss Riach would give me Christmas presents with Space Cadets,cause I’d stare out the window,reading Wuthering Heights,having fantasies about Kate Bush or Kyrily Dunstan,this Jackie Kennedy look alike.
Hart was selling his record collections,updating to CDs.He came upto my desk and slapped down two records,one with a banana and the name Andy Warhol,the other,this dark album,Nico The End.”Here Jason,your search for the Avante Garde ends”,avante Garde pronounced properly,with a slight smirk,always knowing my incorrectness.Like I said,I ‘thought’ I was arty.I quickly ripped out the five dollars he demanded,opening the gatefold album to see the coolest looking collection of New York bohemians I ever seen.The Velvet Underground.My search didn’t end,it was the true beginning.Getting home,I took off Kate Bushes The Kick Inside,got stoned and played that first track,Sunday Morning.Next song,took off like a freight train,”Waiting For The Man”,it was my first ecstatic epiphany,when your consciousness expands and you’re out of your body looking down on your physical being,far far better than wanking at that time,let me tell you.That Banana Album never left that old Weltron UFO shaped record player for a year,except to make way for White Light / White Heat,The Velvets second offering,the bemused look I’d have when mother would wince,walking past my room,when that line from Sister Ray would bleat out,”She’s too busy sucking on my ding dong,Just like Sister Ray said”.David Bowie,you got your revenge on mother dearest,happy to say.
Thanks to Bowie and Eno,I never looked back.
It was my mothers intolerance to Bowie that came first.Dad worked as a security guard in the first half of the seventies,then become a gaol warden.He’d work late and I’d kind of,steal the coins trapped in the bench seat of the car that accumulated over a week and buy records with them.The first was The Beatles,a double album of their hits,The White Album tracks were the best.Then I moved onto the Rolling Stones,Split Enz,Kate Bush,easy stuff like that.But when I announced to mum,I was going to buy David Bowies Diamond Dogs,she flipped out.”You’re not buying that homosexuals stuff and playing it here !”,I was young,maybe only six and had to content myself with taping Bowies songs off the radio.I fell in love with him at five,when I first heard Starman,blew my mind and they often played Bowie videos on television.
I loved the fashion and men wearing make-up and those gnarly Ronson guitar,I can’t remember if it was 1977 or 79,but the parents were having a dinner party,I was bored with dads drunken rants,and snuck out the door,riding my bike around Croydon Park,Ashbury,thought about going to Burwood,but turned home instead,getting back it was near 12,mid-night and no-one noticed.Afterdark was a late night music program that started at midnight on channel seven.Sitting down,this gorgeous guy strutting over the Piano,”Make a deal and make it straight,all signed and sealed,I take it” he sneered the lyrics,there and then,riveted,this is what I’ve been looking for,so other worldly,just like Bowie,it was Roxy Musics’ Virginia Plain.In the band,was this strange little man,certainly the androgyn,way over the top,eccentric,stamping away at a strange instrument,that resembled a keyboard,but only half the length,emitting the craziest sounds,it was Brian Eno.
Brian Eno and David Bowie,actually became my two greatest influences,not just because of their own music,but what they recommended and other artist they revered through interviews and magazine publications.Funny enough,after the Roxy video ended,this strange funny funny little thin man was strutting about the stage,with a horse tail and bleeding,two tracks,”Lust For Life” and “The Passenger”, Iggy Pop pranced about.That night changed my life forever and so glad the parents were to enthralled with their inane chatter to notice what I was upto.
And that is the weird part,they were all connected in some way.Bowie produced the Berlin albums for Iggy Pop and Brian Eno was producing Bowie albums at the same time in Berlin,the mid to late 1970’s.And both Bowie and Eno extolled the virtues of this band called “The Velvet Underground”.I knew of Lou Reed already,hated “Walk on the Wild” side,but that changed later.That album,Transformer,was produced by Bowie back in 1972,again,they’re all connected.It was one big music family of artist,not rock and rollers,but art-rock,that spawned later punk,New Wave,New Romantics,they were the essential pre-cursors and forever in debt to these people.
Fast forward to 1986.I chose modern history as an elective at North Lakes High School.Trent and I hated it,always coming to class stoned or drunk,we’d sneak off to the bar at lunch,shoot pool and down as many schooners of beer in an hour,throwing up occasionally,particulary if we smoked weed later.We learnt not to mix drugs very early.And yes,we’d drink at the bar in school uniforms.Don’t ask why and how we got away with it.I thought I was classy and arty,we’d both wear sunglasses to class to hide our bloodshot eyes.The school teacher,Paul Hart would bet if I come to class stoned.Making a few dollars,Miss Riach would give me Christmas presents with Space Cadets,cause I’d stare out the window,reading Wuthering Heights,having fantasies about Kate Bush or Kyrily Dunstan,this Jackie Kennedy look alike.
Hart was selling his record collections,updating to CDs.He came upto my desk and slapped down two records,one with a banana and the name Andy Warhol,the other,this dark album,Nico The End.”Here Jason,your search for the Avante Garde ends”,avante Garde pronounced properly,with a slight smirk,always knowing my incorrectness.Like I said,I ‘thought’ I was arty.I quickly ripped out the five dollars he demanded,opening the gatefold album to see the coolest looking collection of New York bohemians I ever seen.The Velvet Underground.My search didn’t end,it was the true beginning.Getting home,I took off Kate Bushes The Kick Inside,got stoned and played that first track,Sunday Morning.Next song,took off like a freight train,”Waiting For The Man”,it was my first ecstatic epiphany,when your consciousness expands and you’re out of your body looking down on your physical being,far far better than wanking at that time,let me tell you.That Banana Album never left that old Weltron UFO shaped record player for a year,except to make way for White Light / White Heat,The Velvets second offering,the bemused look I’d have when mother would wince,walking past my room,when that line from Sister Ray would bleat out,”She’s too busy sucking on my ding dong,Just like Sister Ray said”.David Bowie,you got your revenge on mother dearest,happy to say.
Thanks to Bowie and Eno,I never looked back.
Last edited by Billy Ruben on Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
David Bowie - Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing Reprise
Billy Ruben Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:50 pm
Always been the favourite this trilogy of songs that is the centre-piece for the Diamond Dogs album.Other greats,Breaking Glass,Boys Keep Swinging,Fantastic Voyage,It's No Game,Fashion,Speed Of Life,Heroes,Queen Bitch,Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed.Just to name a few.
But Sweet Thing First...
Sweet Thing:
It's safe in the city, to love in a doorway
To wrangle some screens from the door
And isn't it me, putting pain in a stranger?
Like a portrait in flesh, who trails on a leash
Will you see that I'm scared and I'm lonely?
So I'll break up my room, and yawn and I
Run to the centre of things
Where the knowing one says
CHORUS
Boys, boys, its a sweet thing
Boys, boys, its a sweet thing, sweet thing
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
'Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing
I'm glad that you're older than me
Makes me feel important and free
Does that make you smile, isn't that me?
I'm in your way, and I'll steal every moment
If his trade is a curse, then I'll bless you
And turn to the crossroads, and hamburgers, and
Candidate:
I'll make you a deal, like any other candidate
We'll pretend we're walking home 'cause your future's at stake
My set is amazing, it even smells like a street
There's a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend
Someone scrawled on the wall "I smell the blood of les tricoteuses"
Who wrote up scandals in other bars
I'm having so much fun with the poisonous people
Spreading rumours and lies and stories they made up
Some make you sing and some make you scream
One makes you wish that you'd never been seen
But there's a shop on the corner that's selling papier mache
Making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
So you scream out of line
"I want you! I need you! Anyone out there? Any time?"
Tres butch little number whines "Hey dirty, I want you
When it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad I go to pieces"
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
Well, on the street where you live I could not hold up my head
For I put all I have in another bed
On another floor, in the back of a car
In the cellar like a church with the door ajar
Well, I guess we've must be looking for a different kind
But we can't stop trying 'til we break up our minds
'Til the sun drips blood on the seedy young knights
Who press you on the ground while shaking in fright
I guess we could cruise down one more time
With you by my side, it should be fine
We'll buy some drugs and watch a band
Then jump in the river holding hands
Sweet Thing Reprise:
If you want it, boys, get it here thing
'Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing
Is it nice in your snow storm, freezing your brain?
Do you think that your face looks the same?
Then let it be, it's all I ever wanted
It's a street with a deal, and a taste
It's got claws, it's got me, it's got you
But Sweet Thing First...
Sweet Thing:
It's safe in the city, to love in a doorway
To wrangle some screens from the door
And isn't it me, putting pain in a stranger?
Like a portrait in flesh, who trails on a leash
Will you see that I'm scared and I'm lonely?
So I'll break up my room, and yawn and I
Run to the centre of things
Where the knowing one says
CHORUS
Boys, boys, its a sweet thing
Boys, boys, its a sweet thing, sweet thing
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
'Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing
I'm glad that you're older than me
Makes me feel important and free
Does that make you smile, isn't that me?
I'm in your way, and I'll steal every moment
If his trade is a curse, then I'll bless you
And turn to the crossroads, and hamburgers, and
Candidate:
I'll make you a deal, like any other candidate
We'll pretend we're walking home 'cause your future's at stake
My set is amazing, it even smells like a street
There's a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend
Someone scrawled on the wall "I smell the blood of les tricoteuses"
Who wrote up scandals in other bars
I'm having so much fun with the poisonous people
Spreading rumours and lies and stories they made up
Some make you sing and some make you scream
One makes you wish that you'd never been seen
But there's a shop on the corner that's selling papier mache
Making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
So you scream out of line
"I want you! I need you! Anyone out there? Any time?"
Tres butch little number whines "Hey dirty, I want you
When it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad I go to pieces"
If you want it, boys, get it here, thing
Well, on the street where you live I could not hold up my head
For I put all I have in another bed
On another floor, in the back of a car
In the cellar like a church with the door ajar
Well, I guess we've must be looking for a different kind
But we can't stop trying 'til we break up our minds
'Til the sun drips blood on the seedy young knights
Who press you on the ground while shaking in fright
I guess we could cruise down one more time
With you by my side, it should be fine
We'll buy some drugs and watch a band
Then jump in the river holding hands
Sweet Thing Reprise:
If you want it, boys, get it here thing
'Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing
Is it nice in your snow storm, freezing your brain?
Do you think that your face looks the same?
Then let it be, it's all I ever wanted
It's a street with a deal, and a taste
It's got claws, it's got me, it's got you
Last edited by Billy Ruben on Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
David Bowie - Andy Warhol
Billy Ruben Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:05 pm
It's why I loved these two characters,Warhol and Bowie.They encouraged you too be anything you want.They didn't discriminate against eccentricity,or sexual orientation,artistic inclinations,but provided enviornments for those types of minds to flourish and create.
Went against the grain.I remember Bowie leading a society in the late 1960's for "tolerance towards men with long hair".It's not the name of it of course,but he did stick up for the strange and unusual birds.
He marketed that brilliantly early in the 1970's by falsely declaring his homosexuality to the press.
Of course the mainstream media went along with the hype,not thinking he was newly wed at the time to Angela Bowie.But I think it was Oscar Wilde that said bad publicity is better than no publicity,bad press is good press and if notoriety sold records,so be it.
Of course a lot of people fell for the hype,I remember Iggy Pop heckling an obese member of the public at one of his gigs,laughing at the heckler,"You'd like to fuck Bowie",teasing him,before spitting on him.Yes, the abusive audience member started it and you could only hear Iggys part of the conversation,not to mention he was saliva drenched before returning the favour.
Went against the grain.I remember Bowie leading a society in the late 1960's for "tolerance towards men with long hair".It's not the name of it of course,but he did stick up for the strange and unusual birds.
He marketed that brilliantly early in the 1970's by falsely declaring his homosexuality to the press.
Of course the mainstream media went along with the hype,not thinking he was newly wed at the time to Angela Bowie.But I think it was Oscar Wilde that said bad publicity is better than no publicity,bad press is good press and if notoriety sold records,so be it.
Of course a lot of people fell for the hype,I remember Iggy Pop heckling an obese member of the public at one of his gigs,laughing at the heckler,"You'd like to fuck Bowie",teasing him,before spitting on him.Yes, the abusive audience member started it and you could only hear Iggys part of the conversation,not to mention he was saliva drenched before returning the favour.
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
Brian Eno - Needles In The Camels Eye
Billy Ruben Mon Jan 18, 2016 5:23 pm
And since it was Bowie and Eno that led me to the same paths to music and art,a small acknowledgement is most deserved to Eno.This is from his best period1973-1974,his first two Art Rock albums,were his most creative and colourful.Another Green World,1975,introduced what was to become his ambient music genre...But this is Eno at his artiest.
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
The Pixies - Bone Machine
Billy Ruben Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:31 pm
Ann Marie Murphy was a lovely girl at school.She was going out with Karl Hayes,a phenomenal drummer,we had ideas at the time,to form a band,but he wanted straight English style punk,his favourite band then was The Sex Pistols,which I denounced in favour of The Metal Box offerings Lydon offered.I was leaning towards more a Roxy/Eno cross Velvet Underground fusion and the guitarist we had was a madman Hendrix type of player.Steve Cook.He picked up the guitar and three weeks from learning,he was playing it behind his head.He was the best I ever seen,better than Hendrix,a pure freak virtuoso.He blew me away,yet he never went anywhere with it,family tragedy and how life throws you cruel deals.
Annie would collect these import magazines.She'd cut them up and give snippets away to her favourites.She'd collect re-runs of Melody Maker interviews with Bryan Ferry and Eno from the early days and give them to me.Even though I loved this,I urged her to keep the magazines in tact and photocopy the stories,but she was sweet like that.They called her frog,due to her amphibious looks,I never did.Always respected the girl.
This story was about Eno leaving Roxy,but before she cut it out,I read the story at the top,where David Bowie was discussing the new wave of acts coming out in America and Avante Garde music.I remember the quote,"The Pixies are the most important band around for the moment",this was 1986.For some reason,it stuck in my mind over the years,Always listening to Bowie and Eno,it was their influence that led me to the Velvet Underground,I had just acquired an old MGM copy in bakerlite off the History teacher,that was afore discussed.
Come 1993-1994,there was this strange man,on Rage,the ABC's all night music program.Probably the best in the world,as the focus is not Top 40 shite.On Saturday nights,they invite a host programmer in,to host the videos and music that inspired their careers and of course,show-case their own.That night was Frank Black.I was just getting into The Breeders,with the CD single Safari and did not realize at the time the connection between The Pixies,Kim Deal.There was no internet,no books about them and concerts I had obviously missed,which only get mentioned in Drum Media magazine.
This funny funny man,Frank Black,ironing and dry cleaning his clothes in the ABC studios,making cups of tea,had me in hysterics of laughter.He was the strangest guy at the time,certainly appealing to quirky taste.He played a host of Bowie and Roxy videos,funny enough,his favourite Roxy song was Remake Remodel,my favourite.
But it came full circle that night.It was Bowies' recommendation for The Pixies that made me take interest and Frank Black payed back the compliment,hailing them as great influences.Love karma in action.
Annie would collect these import magazines.She'd cut them up and give snippets away to her favourites.She'd collect re-runs of Melody Maker interviews with Bryan Ferry and Eno from the early days and give them to me.Even though I loved this,I urged her to keep the magazines in tact and photocopy the stories,but she was sweet like that.They called her frog,due to her amphibious looks,I never did.Always respected the girl.
This story was about Eno leaving Roxy,but before she cut it out,I read the story at the top,where David Bowie was discussing the new wave of acts coming out in America and Avante Garde music.I remember the quote,"The Pixies are the most important band around for the moment",this was 1986.For some reason,it stuck in my mind over the years,Always listening to Bowie and Eno,it was their influence that led me to the Velvet Underground,I had just acquired an old MGM copy in bakerlite off the History teacher,that was afore discussed.
Come 1993-1994,there was this strange man,on Rage,the ABC's all night music program.Probably the best in the world,as the focus is not Top 40 shite.On Saturday nights,they invite a host programmer in,to host the videos and music that inspired their careers and of course,show-case their own.That night was Frank Black.I was just getting into The Breeders,with the CD single Safari and did not realize at the time the connection between The Pixies,Kim Deal.There was no internet,no books about them and concerts I had obviously missed,which only get mentioned in Drum Media magazine.
This funny funny man,Frank Black,ironing and dry cleaning his clothes in the ABC studios,making cups of tea,had me in hysterics of laughter.He was the strangest guy at the time,certainly appealing to quirky taste.He played a host of Bowie and Roxy videos,funny enough,his favourite Roxy song was Remake Remodel,my favourite.
But it came full circle that night.It was Bowies' recommendation for The Pixies that made me take interest and Frank Black payed back the compliment,hailing them as great influences.Love karma in action.
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
David Bowie & Frank Black - Scary Monsters & Super Creeps
Billy Ruben Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:42 pm
Never heard this before,spose I'll just Keepvid it to flash-drive and sample it later
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
DAVID BOWIE & FRANK BLACK - fashion
Billy Ruben Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:50 pm
Think this is from Bowies 50th birthday...
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
The Sacred Triangle; Bowie,Iggy & Lou 1971-73
Billy Ruben Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:55 pm
Oh one last thing,The three Kings of Art rock,must pay homage too..
Must fly now,just won Brian Enos More Dark Than Shark book,I've been after since 1986.Secondhand and over $100,from a Newtown bookshop that is the gas with real occult knowledge.
Might be a customer long time to come.
Can't wait to get it,put a $50 deposit back in 1986 for it and the bookshop closed down,taking the money and not supplying the book.Now,I finally have it within reach,ebay of all places.
Must fly now,just won Brian Enos More Dark Than Shark book,I've been after since 1986.Secondhand and over $100,from a Newtown bookshop that is the gas with real occult knowledge.
Might be a customer long time to come.
Can't wait to get it,put a $50 deposit back in 1986 for it and the bookshop closed down,taking the money and not supplying the book.Now,I finally have it within reach,ebay of all places.
Billy Ruben- Posts : 8077
Join date : 2010-03-29
Location : No Fixed Address
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