The Thin White Duke: David Bowie's Darkest Character
Vložit
- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
- Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.app/videos/polyphonic-...
If you think this video was worth $3 - ko-fi.com/polyphonic
-
Merchandise: standard.tv/collections/polyp...
TikTok: / watchpolyphonic
Twitter: / watchpolyphonic
Join the Polyphonic Discord: / discord
Theme Music by Pracs: / pracs
00:00 Intro
00:54 Title Card
01:02 Transformation
01:49 Fascism
02:37 Neo-Romance
03:53 Close Analysis: Station To Station
04:44 Lyrics
05:14 The Tempest
06:09 Occult
06:57 Self Parody
07:38 Side-effects
08:02 Final movement
09:17 Rest of the Album
10:16 End of the Duke
11:04 Conclusion - Hudba
If you want to help support the show and keep yourself safe, please go to www.NordVPN.com/polyphonic and use the offer code POLYPHONIC on check-out to get 77% off.
Thanks you, finally some one did a video on that time in david bowie's story. I have thought this for years his deeper meaning on all his philosophy is interesting to me. I often measure the new acts in music off him, Lady Gaga I compare her to his stuff.
Damn, now I feel sorta bad that the Thin White Duke has always been my favorite Bowie persona lol
Don’t feel bad. The character was fascist, to a degree, but he was just a character and he was beautiful and fascinating as hell. I love the character and I hate fascism.
well that was lame. I guess only americans cant see the act... That would also explain Trump and Fox news.
It's just the cocaine eating away at his brain.
I’m thinking that the “thin white duke” is also a reference to a line of cocaine.
Yes
That's what I had thought back in the day. Cocain was king.
Yeah same, I mean he was addicted in the 70s.
Definitely. And "throwing darts in lover's eyes" could be a reference to pupil dilation from drugs (or literally, injecting into the eyeballs, which is a thing)
Wasn't called a Cocaine diet for nothing.
Bowie was 27 when he went through this phase. He (barely) managed to not die and join the 27 Club.
28 actually in 75...he already made it.
Thank fuck he didn't, jesus.
I’m 27 rn and I listened to Dulny and Thunlind make a 10-part discussion on the comfy book of who’s author was a Painter from a country close to Slovenia, who had some small piece of facial hair
@@andrewSUN17 testosterone drops significantly in men starting around the age 27. That’s the average age when gang members will begin to reform or go harder. It’s a significant age no one seems to talk about other than reference to the 27 club.
@thelivingmanpart2 Good point and the mid/late 20's is also the age when mental health issues tend to develop and or increase in severity, which also is never mentioned and is no doubt due to these biological changes..
"Peppers, milk and cocaine" would be a fantastic album title
Back in the day, the rumor was that a user needed to take Vit C, hence the peppers.
Gonna just swipe that name
Would've been quite ordinary
If only David could b here to make that album ,, miss him
Reminds me of the Ween album, "Bananas and Blow"
loved the thin white duke..i was 17 years old dressed like that and met him on the STATION TO STATION tour...jumped into an elevator after hitchhiking to get there
Bowie was kind and sweet to an awestruck 17 year old kid...'You look terribly smart'' he said....
i said i had to for you WOW
How great that is
I bumped into him on the street once in the late 90's. I recognized him, but who he was exactly didn't register. I just figured I had met the guy around and said very casually, 'how's it going man?'. Cool as fuck and in much the same friendly tone, he replied 'hello mate'. It twigged moments later of course, but I thought that was very gracious of the chap. A cool guy at the bottom of it all, a gent to a total stranger.
Great story. Would have loved to have met him. Closest I came was tapping on a limo window with David,Iggy and Debbie Harry inside on the Iggy comeback tour at the Harvard Square theater in 1977. No one else was near the car. They all leaned forward, smiled..waved..and then the limo zoomed off. A perfect dream inside a reality moment.
Bloody great story!
Woahh, that's cool
Come to think of it, maybe the Thin White Duke ain't Bowie, but cocaine itself
A clear description for a line of coke I would say!
Excellent thought.
At this time there were no Bowie only cocaïne controversial interventions and mental problems
*bruh*
I just got it. A line of coke, thin and white.
"I blew my nose one day and half my brains came out".
~ Bowie, referring to his cocaine-fulled mid 70s period. Yes, actual quote.
That doesn't sound terrifying at all.
@@jerichofox6894 it's not literal, it's his way of saying he was too f-d up on coke to make anything intelligent
I don't know about brain matter, but you do end up having bloody bits of your sinuses come out eventually - I found that out the hard way when I was younger and stupider.
@nabokov orbust if I remember well, it happend to Stevie Nicks... she had a giant whole in her bone...
Lennie Bowie the space between her nostrils got eaten up by the coke but not her skull
Bowie adopting the Thin White Duke persona, who was attracted to fascism at least on a certain psychological/philosophical level,was him simply feeling attracted to control, control that he needed over the chaos that his life had turned in to
bawoman wow!!! Good observation maybe more relevant in society in general.
You can really hear this in "Stay"
Maybe after being in a place full of drogadicts in L.A made up his mind. He saw and lived in so much ibertinism and got sick. Maybe at some point, he was in a state of mind that made him think in the need of control. And after he left to Europe, far from all that stuff.
shut up LOL
Bollocks
David Bowie didn't look back on it as 'performance art.' He looked back on it with extreme distaste and frequently talked about what a shit period of his life of which he was so coked out he was convinced that satan was living in his swimming pool and wanted an exorcism on it. He's said how much he hated that character and said that the thin white duke was an 'ogre.' The Nazi salute was debunked pretty quickly, so idk why people still make such a big deal about it. David Bowie has spent a lot of time protesting racism in his life, but some people just love drama I guess.
IKR! He was such a Nazi he went and married a woman of color! Did I miss the memo saying that the Nazi's are now politically correct? Huh?
@@mikelouis9389 lol
is the satan part real? Where did you get this from?
Since when the Nazi salute is done with the left arm and the hand in that position?
Well he was married to an African woman; I really don't think he was racist at all.
That photo looks nothing like a Nazi salute, he's clearly just caught mid-wave.
this video is horseshit
This video makes a little more out of it than it was...
I've no idea about whether the other things are true but I've seen the video of the "Nazi" salute and it's one of the biggest Urban Legends lies of all time.
Obviously not a Nazi salute.bowie was into Nazi occultism.bowie was not a Nazi.
The photo was taken as he was waving. Capture at just the right moment, you can tell whatever story you like
Obviously a character. I met the man a number of times and he had no hate in his heart. One of the most friendly, personable, legendary rock stars I've ever met. Something this video misses is that Bowie had a brother who suffered from Schizophrenia and Bowie was somewhat terrified it would affect him one day, so by adopting different personas by choice was an attempt at having control over multiple personalities. Also, his dad was somewhat famous in England for his work with the mentally ill, so David knew a lot about the topic.
SgtTravisBickle you met David Bowie?
It's been agreed that Bowie was just hopped on cocaine which lead to his fascist comments and obsession with mysticism. I've read he always felt regret for the Duke, but still loving the music of Station to Station.
David's dad didn't work with the mentally ill. He worked for a children's home (Dr Banardos), fundraising and arranging entertainment for the children such as trips to the theatre.
There was mental illness ( schizophrenia ) in davids mothers family a few of them committed suicide, David was terrified he'd become schizophrenic like his brother who killed himself by jumping off the hospital roof he'd spent most of his adult life in, That's why bowie changed his persona so many times.
Robert Mcintyre His brother attempted suicide by jumping out of a window/off the roof of the hospital, but survived. Then a couple of years later succeeded by going in front of a moving train.
He’s said on record he doesn’t really remember even making this album.
Or most of the 70s. 😂
Wouldn’t you want him to say that?
But he's also on record saying that he doesn't really remember ever saying that he doesn't remember making this album.
Sounds strange but Bowie is underrated. Most everything he did was groundbreaking. And, like any musician with longevity- he was great live.
I’ve been saying this for years!
u r in sane
Yes. He was truly a legend and we will never see one like him again.
He was most definitely not underrated, everyone and their grandma knew who David bowie was
Decan Every one knows who he is, but not every one has taken the chance to really embrace him or his music honestly. People listen to the hits. There are a lot because his catalogue is huge. But people really don’t dive into him and that’s where they miss out. He is underrated. Not sure if I exactly worded that the way i wanted to so hopefully you get what i mean.
He never "praised" Hitler; just said he's a media figure, an image, created to impress populace, just like rock stars do. The quite clever remark, but media stupidly go on using it out of context and without any try to understand what he was saying.
Some things never change
I agree no one looks at the full interview where that part about Hitler comes from . Newspapers are terrible for taking 4 or 5 words and creating some totally false view point or opinion. Or a arm in mid wave, I have seen a video of that moment and he is waving from the car to the people around.
I've never heard this song but I'd rather listen to it and draw my own conclusions. Unless it comes out of the artist's mouth about a particular work, I'd rather interpret the meaning myself.
Good that some still remember.
Yes. Just like Lennon's comment that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus". People's vulnerability to such sound-biting is one reason they're fooled into supporting genuinely evil shite (and it's not just a lack of intelligence, but a "bug" in our psychology).
Bowie: *waves*
Polyphonic: "What appears to be a Nazi salute..."
danielle immel *drinks water*
Well Well Welll
not just Polyphonic though, that was the reaction of many media outlets at the time as well
Really it is ridiculous. Doesn't appear anything like one. The media trolling again.
Chris Crepon I did not know that.Interesting,, I still have trouble believing it doesn't mean death to all. Haha
Sorry to bash every one who justifies nazi saluting by saying it is only a "roman" salute. The roman salute is just an interpretation of some artist of some saltues done with the hand in different posittions and angles. The fascist and nazis took the salute depicted in the Oath of the Horatti by Jacques Louis David PAINTED IN 1784, who choose this salute because it was aesthetically and good for framing composition, but there is not proof that that salute was oficial or usual among romans. It was more usual to hace the arm and hand ponting upwards or un a 45 degrees angle like an actual army salute but in the chest. So no, is not just a "roman salute" is the fascist salute. PERIOD
*moves to L.A.*
*becomes evil*
Who could have predicted this?
He was never evil. Get that out of your head. LA is what it is but Bowie was never an evil person.
Groundbreak Games
J o k e
@@GroundbreakGames I'm assuming this was a reference to the tv show Lucifer (they used the song Fame in the pilot episode)
Groundbreak Games woooosh
Krystal Lights What??? I may be confusing the pilot with the first episode but I heard No Sympathy for the Devil.
8:30
I know it kinda goes without saying.....but Bowie was SUCH an interesting and attractive human being.
It's bizarre though how different he could look. In some shots he looks objectively unattractive and very strange.
In other shots he looks classically super handsome. In other shots he looks weird as shit...but incredibly attractive. Definitely a chameleon.
That always struck me too. Catch him at the right angle, and the light hits those perfect cheekbones, and he looks like a god. But a weird angle or the wrong lighting and it completely contorts, becoming overly angular, and that huge, bright smile he had looks downright nightmarish.
I am obsessed with the modern love video. Beautiful
The epitome of ugly cute.
I think he was a natural talent as an actor, a genius. He could play with the smallest muscles of his face, and that was the reason he looked so different... at least one of the reasons.
@@TatianaLovesGod I think you're right about that. He had an intuitive sense for how he visually came across, and would tweak that in subtle ways that added up to striking imagery. He's just one of those people you want to look at... there's just something very attractive and alluring about his face.
For good or ill, David Bowie was an experimenter and an innovator. You never knew what he'd come up with next and even if it was from the darkest recesses of his soul, the music that was created was still amazing.
And his music is STILL amazing...Peace...♐
I agree. David Bowie was a genius.
David Bowie is dead, long live David Bowie
Best observation yet. Bowie was a many faceted artist, and that dark side had to have an out. We all have our dark side. David Bowie merely did not try to hide his.
Darkness is beautiful, without Bowie we'd have no goth scene
I miss David bowie
Pixel Films don’t we all
We all do
Every day.
But I think that somewhere in the world there's probably, almost certainly, someone listening to his music at any given moment, so he's always here.
defo i’m 16 and getting my friends into his stuff, his legacy will live on
I just considered StationtoStation to be Bowie's "love" album. Love of cocaine (station to station), love of a woman (golden years), love of god (word on a wing), love of televison (tvc-15), love of fame (stay) etc. it's about obsessions and how you tend to move from one to another, like the train going from station to station.
Oh
Ahh
That's a great way of putting it 👍
He was just slowly transitioning into the goblin king guys... Jesus you gotta start somewhere...
I like to think The thin white duke was the way for Bowie to go as dark as he could humanly do, in order to essentially exorcise himself from that darkness.
Jude Quinn As well as to rebel against the new hedonistic orthodoxy (if you get my meaning) and explore ideas of inherent meaning, loyalty, power, etc. that many had foolishly decided they were above and labelled as dark (while letting their govts maintain peace and security for them to party within...). Play with those aspects of human life, see what he could bring out of value, when the height of hedonism (drug addicted, sex addled fame) could do no more for him.
If you don't see Darkness, Light means nothing. No contrast=no information.
He got what he wished for about what America needed
That’d be pretty radical of him yet befitting lol
It wasn’t exactly that dark. Millions of people around the world have the same views.
So Bowie was basically a method actor?
jmalmsten - “...a method actor..”
I like that. I don’t know if he was for sure, but I’ve never heard anyone say that about him before, and it’s an intriguing notion. I think your observation is interesting, and something I’d never considered before. Thanks for your comment. Food for thought! 🙏
69th like hehe
Character Actor, Chaos Magician. Same diff.
A Cracked Actor, if you will.
Basically
*listening to station to station for the first time*
me: this album isn't that dar--
bowie: Lord, does my breath fit in with your scheme of things?
me: oh.
Best album. Was my favourite during a hard time. Had panic attacks during it. What else can I say?
He was a complete musical genius.There will never be another like him,never.
Prince was better
Exactly!
Fred Hankins nahhhh
Kanye West is similar genius imo
Yep I agree
He looks like he's waving to someone in that photograph
Steven Edwards he’s like “Hel-looo Germany!”
He is. It was widely misinterpreted as a salute.
Ya that's what I thought. It looks far too loose and bent to be a Nazi salute. Nazi salutes are rigid, straight out in front with the hand straight in line with the forearm. His just looks like casual wave.
Another point that would argue against true Nazism is that he married a black woman and stayed married for a very long time. Nazis don't like that kind. I think it was the blow talking. Addictions can bring one to dark places
They also saluted with, you know, the right hand.
I'm pretty sure Blackstar Bowie is a hell of a lot darker lol
It is to me.
But is that really a character
They’re all characters. But they’re all part of him as well.
Of course it is. Yeah "Cocaine's a helluva drug", everyone keeps saying. Guess what is too? Chemo. Talk about your dark drug experiences...
no i would say Bowie is more reflective in the Blackstar and the Next Day
Comment section here is:
10% “Nice content man.”
10% “Such a great musician, even in his darkest times the music he made was amazing.”
80% “iT wAS a WaVE dUmbAsS”
Well it was a wave tho.
Lol. True. Everyone here is freaking out because a musician they like may have had vaguely fascist views 45 years ago
@@allsystemsgo8678 i don't think so, it's more like some dumbass on the internet is promoting some crackpot theories as if they were profound insights. And 10% are too stupid to see it.
Smash A Commie that’s all fake.
@Smash A Commie Do proper research instead of slandering somebody you don't even have any personal beef with. He did nothing of the sorts, the girl's story was told long after it allegedly happened, and its a bullshit tabloid false account. Many holes in that girl's story.
Bowie was always "in character" when it came to the early days of performing. He'd do interviews with bits of his current persona coming out. As Ziggy Stardust he admitted to being bisexual which he later on said was just him being in character. Same with the Thin White Duke. It was Bowie playing a role and we were all along for the ride. He was as much a creation as he was a musician.
The man was also an innovator, always on the cusp of something new. He didn't follow trends, he created them.
In terms of Jungian psychological thought, you could say that the Thin White Duke was Bowie's Shadow and that he integrated himself with it. Perhaps that's why he was able to reflect on it with such clarity later on. He understood it as a part of himself that he had come to understand and accept.
Or, he was just high as shit. ;)
inphanta In Marxist thought you don't integrate the shadow. You pretend it only exists in the named Other at the time (it was once the Rich, today it is the straight white man right-of-socialist) and focus all vital energy and venom on eradicting it, bringing yourself ever lower in the process, and citing your deterioration and suffering as proof of the machinations of the Other.
So what you're saying will be lost on many. View as Nazi apology or white supremacist dog whistling or some such Otherizing crusader's buzzword.
You can be high as shit and exploring Jungian psychology at the same time. You can even get fascinating results out of it. I'm just not sure I'd trust those results to actual real-life application.
Not Sure
I would venture to guess that you've never read Marx.
Oh, he might have read Marx, and just disliked what he read there, in the way that many sexists or racists become irrationally angry when reading powerful arguements against their own prejudicial hate. Some people get so overemotional about philosophy.
Precisely. You need to know and accept your Thin White Duke, even go so far as make friends with him, if possible, but NEVER forget that it's not you, it's simply a part of you, and one who should never be handed the steering wheel if you want to remain a decent and stable person. I know my Thin White Dutchess very well, but I'd never take her advice without a healthy grain of salt, and though she can seem attractive at times, she is not the person I want to be.
Polyphonic, it has struck me that Blackstar, his last album, is so similar to work from this era. It is believed that a man close to death tends to show his true colours and in Blackstar you get more than a glimpse of Bowie's dark side, the same darkness that I feel in the duke's music. Perhaps this means that the Thin White Duke is a side of Bowie that has always been present during his life. Perhaps it is the darkness WW2 left in the hearts of the Brits, that unconsciously got planted into him, growing up shortly after the war within a traditional English upbringing. Perhaps it is in fact the demon many gifted people carry; brilliance & depression. I remember a quote from one of his interviews, saying "when one is in their own mind, it's a dangerous neighbourhood". Clearly Bowie had a more dramatic side to him, like most humans do.
Blackstar in my opinion is truly his greatest work, like Mozart's requiem. Many people do not give it the credit it deserves, because it is so painful to listen to knowing he knew full well it would be his parting gift. But if you wipe the tears away, its brilliance shines through. It stares you in the soul, it's harsh, it's cheeky, it's hopeful and it's full of love. In short, it's David Bowie.
I’ve been unable to listen to the entire album. The title track is too creepy. But your comparison to the S2S era intrigues me. I’ll give it another go.
You are right, Blackstar is his best album!
+Morag MacGregor I know it's tough man, I feel you. But yes, do try to put your grief aside and listen to it. It's such a diamond! Also, I wouldn't say the music is directly relatable to the Station to Station era (although experimental as well), but it's the entire atmosphere that is very reminiscent of that era. Also, the costume Bowie wears in the Lazarus clip is the same as he wore in his Thin White Duke era and references to Kaballah again.
Jasper Dielemans
The b&w “pajamas” w the white diagonal tie-dye strips, right? Wasn’t he wearing that in a still photo on the S2S back cover where he’s sketching the tree of life?
Now that you’ve made the comparison I can say that the the visuals in Lazarus evoke a similar mood.
+Morag MacGregor, that's exactly right. That's the same outfit, so yes I am not just theorising the connection, but Bowie himself actually confirmed it by putting that costume on again. What a brilliant mind isn't he? Have you ever dug in to the symbolism behind the whole Blackstar album? It's amazing how well thought out it is with many hidden connections and vast clues not only about his imminent death but also about the cancer. www.wobblelikejelly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/bowie.jpg
In this photo he isn't standing in front of some abstract piece of art (although it could be labelled as such), it's actually a scan of his cancercells. Isn't that cheeky, confronting and brave?
I guess you could say that Iggy drove him away from his descent into darkness, which means that Bowie was "The Passenger"
Interesting perspective.
it's based on a poem by Jim Morrison, so I think Iggy meant for it to be more about Morrison than Bowie.
I’ve been a Bowie fan for a very long time - since the 70’s - and he has always had a certain “shock value” to his work, along with continually re-inventing himself, both in music and image. But the most profound effect he had on me was with his swan song release...
Blackstar had a curious effect on me. The first time I watched (and listened to) it, I found it to be incredibly dark and disturbing... but...that didn’t stop me from watching it again... and again... and again.
It wasn’t that I was trying to analyze it, to find some “deeper meaning” to it; ( at least I don’t think that’s why), it was because I couldn’t HELP it. It was as if I were hypnotized by it, drawn into it involuntarily. Was it because it was disturbing? Or because it was chaotic? Or exquisitely dark?
I didn’t know. And I still don’t. I think it was all of those things, with other things that were more subliminal. Maybe that reaction was what David wanted. Perhaps we’ll never know...
But in its sense of foreboding, I finally came to the conclusion that Blackstar was actually as “Bowie” as any of his other personas... maybe even more?
And... maybe I was drawn into it because I knew there wouldn’t be any more from him after that. I don’t believe there was one “consummate” Bowie. I think he had many parts to his whole. I’m not sure we ever saw all of those inner parts...
Just thinking out loud. :)
FWIW
Bowie was one of the lucky ones that got to truly explore his many facets.....most of us don't get the chance to dive so deeply into them.
"The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues."
Rene Descartes
"A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt."
Ursula K. Le Guin
The same can be said of small minds
Lmao panic! Named their album after this
Gotcha 👍
Did you know that Descartes used to vivisect living dogs to prove that they had no souls and "couldn't feel pain"? He did it for fun in his basement.
Few people are more interesting to look at then David Bowie
I could not concur more
THE CRITIC than
Few people have also stayed as consistently interesting throughout their career like David Bowie.
You're kidding right always thought that he looked with Dish especially with that short hairstyle
He's very handsome! One of a kind
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the incarnations of Bowie's alter egos, is how utterly normal he actually was as a human being.
I met David Bowie in a small Japanese town. For some reason though he had a pink cat fallowing him around...
Suddenly shit started exploding around him and then he vanished. I know, i heard about it.
he thought hands are hot
Damn, the thin white duke really is his darkest character. Though why the pink cat? Also I swore I heard him say the titles of Queen Songs
Weird. I thought I heard an explosion
Jesus Christ this JoJo reference almost flew over my head
This was my favorite Bowie era. The fashion, the music, and the art still hold up today, and I believe Bowie when he says his comments were performance art.
When I clicked this I thought it was “thin white dude”
LOL
You weren't wrong, technically.
Nice video. One remark: Wild is the Wind was not written by Bowie. It was written in 50ies. Nina Simone sang it in the 60ies. Bowie admired her. You can hear her influence in the way he performs it.
Actually, I'd say Bowie started to become himself with Station to Station. He fully realized his own musical vision with the 'Berlin Trilogy,' so much so that by the early 80s, he could make a relaxed, commercial album like Let's Dance (which is pretty damn good for a commercial album) and not feel self-conscious about anyone accusing him of selling out. The early glam stuff, while entertaining and often quite beyond any competition in that corner of the market, is still Bowie searching for his own, original contribution to rock/pop music. I appreciate all the music he made, all the moves he made as an artist, but I think Station to Station, Low, and Heroes are the very best records he ever produced.
“We live for just these twenty years.
Do we have to die for the fifty more?”
20+50=70
This implies that they live for 70 years.
David Bowie died when he was 69..
creepy
@Timothy Young lol
@Timothy Young it's also worth mentioning that was a general life expectancy at the time
Maybe not so creepy. Bible says "three score and 10" Which, of course, is 70 years.
@Timothy Young nice.
Mike Garson speaks of a conversation he had with David many years ago about the time David visited a psychic who predicted his death at 69 or 70. He believed that prediction.
You can literally smell the cocaine in the room when listening to station to station
pretty much.
what does it smell like ? Space- boy
@@royferguson3909 coke has a very particular smell.
Like Carlin I never liked cocaine I just liked the way it smelled.
@@michaelb2789 cocaine doesnt really taste or smell like anything pretty sure thats just the additives and leftover cleansers
This era in Bowie’s career was so dark and brutal but had some of the most brilliant Music ever crafted.
The Tin White Duke didn’t die.
He just went to the next Station.
Poetry.
Stonks
Yes
Dammmm
Tin?
Become the monster, then tame it.
Citan Lelantos niiice
Dude o_o
Daunting.
The Shadow
don't mind me, just replying to remember this comment
Darkest yes but probably the best one! A soul singer without a soul, what a great fuckin' idea.
And let's be serious, Station To Station is one Hell of a masterpiece. The unofficial sequel to that album is just as great, Iggy Pop's The Idiot is amazing.
Nice pfp
dude, this man was a crazy creative genius, his characters were just a reflection of the creativity pouring out of his body. having a 'dark' character isn't a big deal. We all have dark little characters inside us. He just knew how to get them out into the world.
Station To Station is my favorite Bowie album. The title track is epic and what I consider Bowie's masterpiece.
Station to Station is my favorite album of all time. It’s just one of those I can listen to over and over again and I’m still blown away by his performance and the grand, crazy instrumentation.
It's one of those albums that I feel compelled to listen to all the way through.
Great analysis! From space exploration to finding the meaning of life , Bowie's discography has it all
I've always thought of Bowie's Berlin album cycle as his version of the Divine Comedy (Low=Inferno, Heroes=Purgatorio, Lodger=Paradiso with an unofficial epilogue in Scary Monsters). Sounds like Station To Station was the moment he stepped into the Dark Wood of Error and Iggy Pop acted as his Virgil.
I’m going through a Bowie phase which I do from time to time. I’ve always felt murky about this era and thank you for your illuminations.
The Duke will always be the most worrying figure from Bowie’s menagerie. But, the European Canon… I’m not that sure about your interpretation. This is a Kraut-inspired song, and while obviously being a coke-fueled, nightmarish postcard from LA, StS is also a pointing to the next step: Switzerland, Eno, the sound of Düsseldorf. And then finally off to Berlin, where Bowie once again (and this time definitely) redefined what is possible for a pop singer to achieve.
Agree. No one knows for sure what the European Canon or Cannon meant to Bowie.
I wouldn't really call Bowie at this point a "pop singer".
I call him a rock singer but at the time I didn’t put him in the hard rock category. “Pop” has such a shallow connotation that it seems totally inappropriate to me but it’s not always easy to pin him down to a particular genre other than “experimental.”
+ Morag MacGregor + Ben Wagner, no big deal. I used the phase «pop singer» a bit tongue in cheek. But I’m just old enough to remember the spectacle Bowie made with Ziggy and those outlandish costumes back then. He was the theatrical prince of glam, annoying everyone who grew up with Elvis ;-) Nevertheless, he was at the same time actually quite prominent in the mainstream pop world. Later, when he launched the trilogy, participated in the Christiane F movie (shown at school to SCARE us away from heroin) and then went all art rock/new romantic with «Scary Monsters», Bowie had become more an artist for people who felt that they belonged a bit off mainstream. Perfect for the post-punk era. And then came … «Let’s Dance»! Pure pop, with those sinister undertones.
Thanks for that reply - I agree with you. I only really consider his 80s stuff (from Let's Dance on) to be pop, as it charted and was indeed, popular among the masses.
Station To Station is Bowie's best album. A brilliant piece of work conjured wholly by his brilliant instincts and talents working with his subconscious in tandem since he was so mind bendingly out of his mind on cocaine that he didn't even remember writing or recording the songs!
Thank you for this beautifully done segment! Station to Station is my favorite Bowie album and I was lucky enough to see him live on the Station to Station tour in Cologne! I still can't believe that he has passed on...
You do an excellent job of analysis. I've listened to these songs for literally decades and never read the lyrics with your insight. Thank you.
Woah you actually did this 👍😂 Awesome! Was thinking of following up my first David Bowie video, but i guess i'll just forget about that now. Great job!
Aww, Your David Bowie video was one of your best!
I loved your Bowie video
Healthy competition I guess xD
there is always more Bowie to delve into... you could always look deep into Blackstar, for instance... that beautiful introspective final gift Bowie bequeathed us.
Lie Likes Music, never give up..make your video ★★★
No one talks about Aladdin Sane
beetooex, possibly b/c it's an album of covers. Good, great songs for sure, but not his own.
Jennifer C , that'll be Pin Ups.....theres one cover on Aladdin Sane, the Stones track. ★
I was meaning his 'character' Aladdin Sane anyway. Everyone talks about Ziggy & The Duke but never Aladdin. Not that he lasted long.
Profound apologies, the character of Aladdin Sane in most accounts was America's influence on Ziggy Stardust, plus DB needed him (in a sense) to kill Ziggy off as he became quite the monster. 'Tis a pity the lightning bolt was never worn on his face on stage, that would've been amazing!(a lot of work i guess) so there was one on his right thigh on the '73 tour. Peace beetooex ★
an album, not a character
Wild is the Wind was originally recorded by Nina Simone I think. Also I remember Bowie saying he doesn't remember recording that album apart from the feedback at the start of the eponymous track. Thanks for the analysis mate.
Nina Simone definitely made a recording of it before David Bowie, but the song was originally written for a movie of the same name made in 1957, and was recorded by Johnny Mathis for the movie, so Mathis' recording was the original one.
2:00 damn so kanye wasnt the only one
After watching this, I think this may be my favorite video you have ever done. You really dove into the duality of Bowie's fractured personality at this time with excellence and care. Well done!
Brilliant video as always, a video on Tom Waits would be great
Pablo Bustamante oh yeah that would be so great 😃
God yes.
Agreed! Tom Waits is one of the only people I can think of off the top of my head who approaches Bowie’s complexity of musical characters and personalities. Sometimes, Tom Waits sounds like Bruce Springsteen; Other times like Louis Armstrong; and still other times like the devil himself. He really seems to have a character for each song!
You did phenomenal job explaining the back story and work of the Thin White Duke! I appreciate you explaining cultural concepts the most, as I had had no idea on Bowie's inspiration behind some lyrics. Thank you!
This period of David Bowie shaped my adolescence. I have much love for 'STATION TO STATION', as well as earlier character, ZIGGY STARDUST. Bowie was/is an eclectic artist. Everything he gave was 100%. Cocaine or not.
Station to Station is his best album. Thanks for posting this.
*ziggy stardust
*hunky dory
I like low
Agree! First album I ever purchased! I was blown away by the album's dark theatricality! The Thin White Duke perfectly portrayed Bowie's battles with paranoia and addiction! A truly brilliant but Underrated album!
...Your opinion means so much to me, Steebs; - I was a Bowie impersonator [ a good one ] Canada and europe:
'you' can listen to StS .... I'll have fun with the groupies .... etc.
Thin White Duke is my favorite persona, delving into the unknown and unleashed, what beauty, what curiosity Love Bowie 4ever!
good work. great presentation. Thin white duke has always been my favorite character out of the bunch. it was a treat to have this video recommended this morning. everything was spot on and YES he was very serious about this moment. The berlin years or trilogy did this to him and it was a GREAT moment in his story telling. long live the legend of one of the greatest artist to EVER do it.
Todd Rundgren was making concept LPs like these around the same time---one side fractured pop, and the other side instrumental soundscapes. I know they're from two different musical schools, but perhaps Bowie was subconsciously taking ideas from Rundgren?
Since we don't know the real name of the legend who is behind this channel, let's all call him Dennis.
He waved, that was it ........................ he waved. It looked no more like a salute than any other time he has waved at people. One Journalist said it was a salute, and all the sheep have been reiterating those words ever since, and another (incorrect) urban myth is born.
"A Fascist War March " Jesus Christ, I despair.
So *ALL* of bowies waves = salute *confirmed* ?
sHeEp
I remember watching one interview at that time (his Thin White Duke time) where he said that he didn't support fascist ideology, but rather felt like having the threat of fascism was the only way to get people to take action and fix things. And that always stuck with me, cause maybe on a deeper level that statement was really about him and that he didn't feel he could fix himself without a foe to force him to action...maybe that's what the Thin White Duke ultimately was, the embodiment of a threat (of becoming something he didn't want) that would force some part of him to save himself. Maybe that's why it disappeared, he beat it and he didn't need it anymore.
It's a shame how much damage this album caused to Bowie's life, as it's absolutely fantastic(Not that it wouldn't be a shame anyway). Stay, Golden Years, and Station To Station are utterly brilliant, the former of which he covered in a different style later in life, and it was really good too.
Oh, and the salute thing was apparently him waving as the man himself said: "That didn't happen. That. Did. Not. Happen. I was so livid with the camera man, I waved, I just waved. Believe me, on the life of my child, I waved. And the bastard caught me mid-wave! And god did that photo get some coverage... as if I'd be foolish enough to pull a stunt like that."
Bowie never abandoned his fascination with the occult, Gnosticism and Jewish mysticism. His final album, Blackstar, is the final culmination of a lifelong fascination with this stuff. That's part of what makes his music so damn fascinating, there are layers upon layers of symbolism to dig through.
I would really appreciate an analysis of The Clash's London Calling (the album not just the song)
Loris Bauer- Maybe the Clash have done that already... somewhere. They wasn't a band that didn't like to talk after all. 😀
I always wanted the studio version of Station to Station to end with "The return of the thin white duke..." like it did in some concerts
the first time I really heard of Bowie was when I was 10 or 11. A bunch of my friends and I were sleeping over at one of my friend's houses. It was near midnight and we were hyped up on sugar. We'd just laughed our way through princes bride, shouting "Humperdink!" and "Mowage" and being generaly crazy. Then we watched Labyrinth. Bowie plays the villain, and we were laughing about his crazy eyebrows. One of my friends was jumping up and down screaming "The eyebrows!" over and over. Part of his costume was tights, and there was one scene that was truly scaring to a group of 5th grade girls. Tights on a dude is never a good idea. There was much screaming.
What an excellent description! You did a damn good job on this!
Given that he married a black woman, I believe the the thin white duke was performance art
And had a child with her...
He was dating a black woman (Ava Cherry) at the time of the Duke
Did the Thin white duke ever say anything derogatory about black people? Sorry, your comment has confused me.
@Mr. Slipper - No he didn’t. In fact from 74-77 he was obsessed with black American music, dated a black singer, and had a band full of black musicians. The fascist thing was made up by the media looking for a story where there was none. He waved to fans from the back of a car when arriving in London by train. A still frame of his outstretched arm made it look more sinister that it was. His comments about Hitler were basically saying the Nazi’s effectively controlled the media. Which is a historical fact. It would be almost impossible for a party with no political track record to gain power without manipulating the media.
@@iaincameron4867 it makes sense he likes music from that community since rock was literally invented by black people
Finally watched this after it appearing on my recommended list for months. Definitely worth it.
this was a truly awesome commentary! im a HUGE Bowie fan... his music changed my entire life... and his fight through to overcoming addiction, was a key element in believing in my OWN ability to overcome my demons. i deeply appreciate this very well stated video.
David Bowie was a total innovator with more strings to his bow than average bow could handle, defo gifted with forsight n extremely well read n educated, doubt the world will be lucky enough to engulf such a talent again. Sorely missed n so glad he found love n happiness with Iman.R.I.P.
The video David Bowie deserves.
Bowie literally method acted his characters into his life so much that he became them. He reinvented this “character” ever few years and showed me I could be anyone i want to. I was inspired by this when i was in highschool and I eventually ended up in the hospital a few times. I guess i have more character at least
Superb video, this was the era I grew up with and caused me to explore the back catalogue whilst continuing to be a fan to this day. Saw him live in Paris in '86 I think. Would be interested in your take on "Lodger". Keep up the good work
"Aleister Crowley" -- how you pronounced that will give British people everywhere a twitch.
jtheyellow, I dunno, I kind of like his Canadian accent.
By "all the research", do you mean the 3 Wiki pages, 4 lyrics sheets and quick Google images/CZcams searches he did in an afternoon?
As HRH the Queen says: "There is English, and there is wrong."
Very true. It's pronounced "Aleister" NOT "Aleister".
Nailed it.
50% Performance art, 50% cocaine
Duke reminds me of what happened to Pink in The Wall, kind of a similar theme of corruption brought on by self / society
hell yeah finally found someone else making the connection! i was also thinking about how facist pink was so similar to the thin white duke,,,
Great job. Thanks for making it and posting it.
Would love to see a video about the doors
+1
+2
Oh yes
YESSSSSS!!!
Yesss!!!
So so good. Thank you. I miss David so much, such a brilliant human being.
This is the best video on CZcams. Chilling. Really captures the subject.
"With the help of his friend, Iggy Pop..." --Damn, what a friend to help someone escape addiction. But if it worked with Bowie, it might help some; and come to think of it, Iggy Pop is still alive!😁
so is the duke
I'm impressed by this critique. The music on this album IS dark. Strangely, it contains a couple of my favorite Bowie songs, especially TVC15 which is one of the earliest examples in Rock of how emotively powerful the electronic keyboard could be when used properly. It's way out front on this song, not hiding behind guitar riffs, creating an icy, mechanical, even futuristic feel.
Although these fascist flirtations that Bowie presented during this time always bother me, Station to Station remains my favorite album by his.
soiboi
FYI, both Alesister and Prospero are stressed on the first syllable. In fact, the have the same stress pattern as “syllable.”
I always found the Duke to be my favorite character, mainly because he was different compared to Bowie's other characters: This one was dark, soulless, and cold.
As for the fascist/Nazi stuff, it's later on made clear Bowie was __just lost in the character,__ especially considering the context behind the album's structure was very racially diversive and Bowie was pretty high on cocaine when it happened.
Greatest bowie period, the climax of wild is the wind is nothing short of mesmerizing .
Cocaine is a helluva drug.
Sam Peebles not really
there it is
Rick James is wrong, cocaine is a helluva overrated drug
Brah, speaking from personal experience, it really fucking is.
Dale Bagwell,indeed my friend.
you've to stretch really hard to get this kind of conclusion