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Bowie General > Images Vol. 38

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homebrewPosted at 2025-09-06 15:23:05(18 hrs ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 38)


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These articles appear just as they were posted in the Usenet group alt.fan.david-bowie by group member Jamie Soule aka AladINSAnE. I have made no attempt to alter the formatting, spelling, grammar or edit in any way.

Images: Part 38


In the early part of 1980 Bowie began work on what would come to pass as
the last album he would make for the RCA Records And Tapes label. This
album was his last obligation to them, and would fulfil the terms of his
contract. Although he was still "signed" to RCA and MainMan for a little
longer than two more years, meaning he could not release anything on
another label, he was essentially free, for the first time in his life.

Scary Monsters is another overlooked album, along with Low and a few
others. Ashes To Ashes, Scary Monsters, Fashion, Teenage Wildlife, It's
No Game will be the songs quickly recollected as the majority of you
disagree that this album is overlooked. Most of you will say it is
completely the opposite in fact, you will say this album is WELL KNOWN,
even to non Bowie fans because of the two hits it produced. Sorry, you
are still mistaken, it is overlooked. People may be able to easily
recognize the album and know most of the songs, even if EVERY TRACK on
it became a number one hit, it could still be overlooked. You wonder?
Well, Scary Monsters is not overlooked in terms of song recognition.
Scary Monsters is overlooked however for what it is, and I know this to
be true, because if it wasn't then you would hear people mention what I
am referring to more often, but I NEVER hear it discussed, EVER!

Oh, I agree as an album that Scary Monsters is not overlooked, it is in
fact one of the better known Bowie albums, and if people don't know the
album itself, they are familiar with some of the songs from it. That is
not my point, besides, popularity is not relevant in the least when it
comes to LOOKING at an album. The songs are not ignored, they are talked
about often I say, even so, that is not relevant either, and that is
because of what is usually discussed, which is again, popularity, oh,
and personal opinion. Personally, if I were you, I would not be too
quick to admit that I didn't overlook Scary Monsters myself for the
reasons that I know the album, and I recognize the material from it, or
I know the video. I say this because each of those reasons are
superficial, and I do not bother with what is superficial, and this is
one of the reasons that I have a poor opinion of the music, and the so
called "artists," we are plagued with  today. Oh, yes, I include Mr.
Bowie in there as well, but I wish I didn't have too. All of it is
superficial, it lacks any substance, there is nothing behind it at all
of any importance, no depth musically, no depth lyrically, no depth
whatsoever. I am going beyond the superficial, and THAT is the reason I
say this album is overlooked. It is my opinion, one that I believe is
proven simply by listening to the album, that the two most important
things that make Scary Monsters the album that it is, are the two things
I RARELY, if EVER, hear mentioned. What then? It isn't obvious? I guess
not or I wouldn't be writing this. How silly of me. Oh, well, that isn't
the first time. The brilliance of the album Scary Monsters And Super
Creeps is found first, in the writing, and second, in the music produced
by those who played on it. THAT, is what is overlooked. Oh, and if not,
then why do you never seem to hear these things mentioned by anyone.
See? Interesting.

The lyrics on Scary Monsters are among his best, and the album as a
whole stands as the greatest social statement he ever made. This was not
accidental either, by the way, it was planned. With the lyrics for
Lodger,  Bowie departed from his traditional method of working, which
was composing the lyrics in the studio, making them up as he went along.
The lyrics were written after the music was completed. This was the
first time Bowie had done this with an entire album. Scary Monsters was
a first as well, because Bowie wrote all of the lyrics for the album in
ADVANCE. This demonstrates just how important the message was to Bowie,
by the fact that he took the time, and gave them such close attention,
to be sure that  he got out exactly what he wanted to say. Bowie built
the songs this time around the lyrics.

Arguably, the talent of the musicians in the band on this album rates as
the best, or close to the best, line ups that Bowie has ever assembled
to work with him. The music is a solid testament to this I believe, and
Scary Monsters stands out in this regard, it has its own place. The core
of the group comprised of veteran musicians Carlos Alomar on guitar,
Dennis Davis on percussion and George Murray on bass. A former Bowie
guitarist returned for this album, and as usual, he left his
unmistakable signature on every track he played on. His contribution
succeeded in proving once again, that as far as technical guitar players
are concerned, there is Robert Fripp, and then there's Robert Fripp.
Also on guitar was Chuck Hammer, who later went on to work with Lou
Reed. Also returning, from the Station To Station sessions this time, on
piano, Roy Bittan. Andy Clark handled the duties on synthesizer. The
backing vocals were performed by Lynn Maitland, Chris Porter as well as
David Bowie, who also played keyboards. Solo artist, and guitarist for
The Who, Pete Townsend contributed a little, as well as Japanese
vocalist Michi Hirota: The album, like many other of Bowie's finest
works, owes an enormous debt to producer Tony Visconti, who produced
this album as well along with Bowie, and played acoustic guitar on two
of the tracks.

Once again Bowie succeeded in not only procuring a pool of marvellous
talent to draw from for Scary Monsters, but he organized a cohesive and
an extremely productive working environment. This point is also
overlooked, and it should not be, Bowie DESERVES a great amount of
credit for managing to do this, it is not an easy task to accomplish. It
is not confined to artists, but those individuals who are high
achievers, or posses a high degree of skill, intelligence, or talent in
a certain area tend to be a bit difficult to manage. These are people
just like me, as a very fine example, intelligent, talented, gifted,
know everything there is to know, good looking, successful, highly
superior to others, witty, motivated, always right, never wrong,
opinionated, never make mistakes, wealthy, admired, competitive,
respected, gifted, egotistical, worshipped by most, well dressed, mostly
perfect, humble and modest. These personality types often do not work
well together. This is because their strengths and successes leads to
the development of an extremely  high level of personal confidence,
often referred to, inaccurately many times, as ego. Their methods have
worked well for them, they made them high achievers, therefore it is
difficult for them to accept change, or adopt other people's ideas, they
rely on their own ingenuity. Countless bands have  been destroyed
because of this. It can also deeply effect one's character. I do not,
will not, and have no desire, to discover the music of Oasis. You may
think my reason is daft, well, so be it. I will not entertain the work
of Oasis because I have no respect for Liam Gallagher. Yep! It is ONLY
because of him. His own "self worth" along with an ample supply of cash,
has allowed him to demonstrate the fact that he firmly believes that he
is far superior to any other example of God's handy work. In this belief
he feels that he has the right to do what he pleases, without any regard
for others. Celebrities do not intimidate me, what others worship them
for, I consider their 9 to 5 job. Acting, painting, writing music is
WORK. It is no more special to me than your job or mine. Liam Gallagher
is a spoiled brat, he is abusive, disrespectful, arrogant,
unappreciative and he belittles others. If he behaved around me the way
he does around others I would smack him in the fucking head with a 26
ounce vodka bottle. Oh, and an empty one too, in case it broke, which it
would. Maybe I am different, but if you want to keep company with me, or
get my attention, then you must earn my respect first. Sorry, I have
standards. when it comes to who I associate with, and they must be met.
The vast majority of people seem to be in awe of celebrities, they view
them as superior, and what is frightening to me, is the  fact that they
blindly "WORSHIP" them as DEITIES. These people determine someone's
value as a person by how they look, what they have, as far as material
possessions are concerned and the value of a bank balance.  I, on the
other hand, do not measure the worth of someone that way. I do not give
a fuck about their looks, their job, their car, money, clothes, house,
or other possessions. This is because people are not superficial to me,
with regards to their value, I go far beyond that. I determine the worth
of people for their personal beliefs, demeanour, inner character and the
things which are valuable to them. I look for those who honour their
commitments, are truthful, who respect others, especially those who
respect people who are less fortunate than themselves, which
demonstrates to me the degree of THEIR SELF respect. I value honour and
integrity, above material goods and money. Liam Gallagher demonstrates
none of these characteristics which I value, so I do not have any
respect for him, therefore he can FUCK RIGHT OFF until he learns some
manners. I do not expect someone to associate with me until I have
EARNED their respect and trust, I value others enough that I am prepared
to work for their friendship, it is too valuable a commodity to be just
"given" away for nothing. It goes against my strong belief in the Bible
as well to elevate something such as Liam Gallagher to the status of a
"God," or Bowie for that matter. This is one reason I shun the Church Of
Bowiezoidnet.

Many of the :stars" in the "entertainment" industry these days, are
nothing more than  idolized "children with money." The problem is that
the worshipping public are accepting of ANYTHING that these stars do,
without question. The public has no morals that they expect these people
to live by. Six marriages, some are caught cavorting by the media while
still married, some pack handguns, others have used them. Assaults,
rape, drugs, booze, you name it. Yes, it is not just celebrities, the
problem is though, we find no fault in them for these things. As far as
their work, well again, the public accepts it all. There are no public
standards. Sadly, it didn't used to be like that. I often get criticism,
usually from Bowie fans, because I make it clear that I have set
standards for myself, in regards to all things in my life. Bowie had
them in the seventies. I still have mine, and look at him at times.
Wrong, I do not judge, and I do not tell others how to live, or behave.
However, I can grieve the loss of an artist and his music. When people
had standards, music, art and life itself was much better. Today
however, Standards are replaced by Stupidity. No? Really. Then try this
on for size. The Tate Gallery in London recently purchased a can
containing 30 grams of shit. This can is number 004 in a series of 90
that were made by Italian concept "artist" Piero Manzoni. The exhibit is
called, The Shit Of The Artist. The gallery paid more than 100 times the
going rate for gold for each gram of shit. The gallery paid   22,300,
that's  52,000  in US dollars, for this "seminal work." I am awash in
wonder, as I ponder the unfathomable, and incalculable levels of
stupidity that people are capable of. I hear the statement, "Art is in
the eye of the beholder. We all see things differently." I say that a
person first of all should set some quality standards for what they
determine is art. I know there are many of you who will defend  this
shit, excuse the pun, as art, citing "free expression" someplace in
there. I say, this is NOT ART. Furthermore, if you defend it as such I
pity you, for your low, or complete lack of standards. Sorry, but I
don't consider you too bright either, and that I can prove. This is NOT
art, it is something to prove how stupid, gullible and fickle people
are, and I know this for a fact. You are wrong if you this has value as
a piece of art. No, it is not my opinion, I have another person who
agrees with me on this. "Who," you ask? Well, Piero Manzoni, the artist
who canned this shit agrees with me. In a letter to a friend Manzoni
said his motivation for canning and selling his own faeces was to expose
gullible art buyers. Now, since the artist who created this exhibit says
that it isn't art, where does that leave you then? Only one of you is
right, and that is the person who made it. He knows more than you why it
was done. He did this before, selling his fingerprints  on hard-boiled
eggs, and staging a competition to see who can draw the longest line.
His was 7.2 km. "If collectors really want something intimate, really
personal to the artist, there's the artist's own shit,"  he said in the
letter. I find this amusing except for one detail, and that is that
there are hungry and homeless people in distress in this world, and
rather than help we chose to spend over $50,000 on a can of shit
instead. That says it all I believe.

What I fail to understand is this. Why is it that the average person
can't figure out the fact that most of these "art" exhibits are done by
these "artists" for the sole purpose of seeing if they can pull it off.
They create something completely useless, or disgusting, and see if the
public is first, actually stupid enough to accept it as art, and second,
brain dead enough to pay thousands or millions for it. Rarely are these
artists ever disappointed, and they laugh all the way to the bank. The
vast majority of society have their priorities in a mess, with their
heads stuck in a TV or video game they are like tranquillized sheep,
unthinking they follow  the crowd doing what they're told to do , liking
what they are told to like, buying what they are told to buy, thinking
what they are told to think , dressing how they are told to dress, no
standards, low morals and unquestioning as they drift through life.
Consider these for a moment. "Art" a n exhibit featuring nothing but 15
blank canvases. One gallery features a painting of the Virgin Mary, in a
gray  robe against a flat gold backdrop. Small cut outs of vaginas and
buttocks from pornographic magazines are stuck to the picture to suggest
putti. A ball of shit is meant to be one of the Virgin's breasts. I like
this one, the Golden Tower Project.  It is a seven foot tower made of
400 jars of urine which were collected from artists  around the country.
The jars are stacked one on top of the other on 16 metal bases and lit
by electroluminescent wires. This next one sure has value. It consists
of security camera stills of James Bulger with his murderers. Here, two
sheets of paper and a
slice of salami. The fat from the salami soaks into the paper leaving an
imprint. Rotting meat and vegetables, dead animals, human cadavers,
aluminium foil, dirt, and the best one, it was NOTHING. Yep. You paid to
go into a gallery that was empty, it was the art of "nothing." There was
a line up to get in. Tell me we have our priorities set right.

This society we live in is focused on those things which are temporary,
that which is superficial, things meaningless when compared to eternity,
we deny truth, choosing instead to live in a happy illusion  of our own
making,  believing in our own fabrication of a world, rather than face
the grimness of the real one.  We live in a frantic, confused and panic
driven world. The world is comparable to the sound that suddenly hits
you from the guitar of Robert Fripp on the opening track of Scary
Monsters. Equally as frantic is the statement "Shiruetto ya kage."
Accurate words in my opinion.


AladinSAne


To be continued?


""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987
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