David Bowie Documentary - "Five Years"
Jan. 13th, 2016 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cjlasky, I was able to catch the David Bowie Documentary Five Years, which is a fascinating look at his musical career, and how he created his music, and his performance art, and to a degree his persona.
Littered with quotes, and interviews with Bowie and various musicians who worked on his various albums, it shows how he changed his style over the years and continued to redefine himself. He states at one point that he defined who he was, the world and no one else did.
It highlights five key musical stages in his career from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, featuring bits from the 1990s. The documentary features the creation of the songs: Fame, Life on Mars, Major Tom, Let's Dance, Ziggy Stardust...China Doll. There's a fascinating bit with Brian Eno, regarding the LOW album, which my brother gave me for Christmas one year. David Bowie -- I was introduced to in stages, first by the theme song to Cat People, then in France with Let's Dance, and then through my brother, who discovered him via his love for King Crimson and Brian Eno.
End quote:
"I never expected all of this to happen, in the sixties I was told that I was too avant-guard to be successful."
Which in a nutshell states what I always admired most about him -- he did not cater to others. He did what was in his heart. And he defined himself. He explored who he was and the world around him through his music. It is also an inspiring quote for all of us who have been told we're too this or too that...for our art to truly resonate with others. Bowie clarified that it's okay if the world thinks you are weird and undefinable. Heck, it's better than okay.
Trailer for the Showtime airing of the documentary is below:
cjlasky, I was able to catch the David Bowie Documentary Five Years, which is a fascinating look at his musical career, and how he created his music, and his performance art, and to a degree his persona.Littered with quotes, and interviews with Bowie and various musicians who worked on his various albums, it shows how he changed his style over the years and continued to redefine himself. He states at one point that he defined who he was, the world and no one else did.
It highlights five key musical stages in his career from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, featuring bits from the 1990s. The documentary features the creation of the songs: Fame, Life on Mars, Major Tom, Let's Dance, Ziggy Stardust...China Doll. There's a fascinating bit with Brian Eno, regarding the LOW album, which my brother gave me for Christmas one year. David Bowie -- I was introduced to in stages, first by the theme song to Cat People, then in France with Let's Dance, and then through my brother, who discovered him via his love for King Crimson and Brian Eno.
End quote:
"I never expected all of this to happen, in the sixties I was told that I was too avant-guard to be successful."
Which in a nutshell states what I always admired most about him -- he did not cater to others. He did what was in his heart. And he defined himself. He explored who he was and the world around him through his music. It is also an inspiring quote for all of us who have been told we're too this or too that...for our art to truly resonate with others. Bowie clarified that it's okay if the world thinks you are weird and undefinable. Heck, it's better than okay.
Trailer for the Showtime airing of the documentary is below:
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Fame
Date: 2016-01-14 07:36 pm (UTC)I was thinking about your post on the way to work this morning, and I started to reflect on the difference between Bowie and some of the artists that came in his wake.
Sometimes I wonder if these new icons shift personae not so much to explore new horizons, but to keep themselves in the spotlight. They were once outsiders, but dammit, now everyone will love them--or at least notice them. Fame as an end in itself.
Bowie didn't care. He always knew fame was just another pose, another mask. He spent most of the last two decades away from the spotlight, perfectly content--and it didn't diminish him at all.
His acolytes could learn from his example.