David Bowie

[giveusaB]

A good evening’s viewing about to start on bbc2 for any Bowie fans.

[tiger76]

A good evening’s viewing about to start on bbc2 for any Bowie fans.

Didn't know about this cheers

[TVC15]

Seen them all before - great watch and would recommend for any Bowie fans (or fans of music)

[Claret Till I Die]

Seen it before but watching it again. Cheers for the heads up

[ClaretTony]

Didn’t get chance to watch it all again but it’s all recorded

[tiger76]

Watched most of it, i didn't realise he'd had so many knock-backs early in his career, mind you with songs like The Laughing Gnome, your not gonna break the charts, some of his other early offerings sounded pretty good, "Love You till Tuesday" especially had all the ingredients to be a pop hit, and yet for some reason it flopped.

He never really enjoyed fame, and perhaps rightly had a dim view of celeb culture.

[TVC15]

Watched it all - again - even the ToTP2 special which I’m not sure i have seen (seen the music clips but not the interview)

The 2 five years documentaries I think are brilliant. If you read any of the many good books written about his life you will see that he was absolutely desperate for fame in those early years - he openly admits that and that he was also trying to copy whatever style of music he could just to try and break through. He despised his suburban life and did not have a good relationship with his mum in particular.

Even when he broke through in the early 70s he loved the fame but after the first couple of really successful albums by around 1972/73 he has started to feel the pressure of the record companies wanting him to be a hit factory. He rebelled, got in with the wrong people and very quickly into drugs.
He realised that he could continue to make great music and reinvent himself, experiment etc whether he was on drugs or not and for the next 4 or 5 years that’s what he did.
His realisation that he was going to die if he carried on took him to Germany and you can see what happened there on the documentaries. Low and Lodger are probably my least 2 favourite albums he made in the 70s but at least he made Heroes in Germany.

What he did in music will never be repeated again. Still gutted he has gone but just like I have had his music for the last 35 years I have hopefully still got it for the next 35 years.
I was also lucky enough to see him twice live and the Serious Moonlight show at Milton Keynes Bowl in 1983 will never be beaten for me. One of the best days ever and very good distraction to watching the Clarets at this time !

[Swizzlestick]

Ah man I love Low. Horses for courses I guess.

Will definitely catch up on these.

[ClaretTony]

I was also lucky enough to see him twice live and the Serious Moonlight show at Milton Keynes Bowl in 1983 will never be beaten for me. One of the best days ever and very good distraction to watching the Clarets at this time !

I sort of saw him four times but went to see him twice, both times at Maine Road with the most recent in 1990. But in 1984 I was at the NEC when he joined Tina Turner on stage to sing Tonight and a year later I was at Wembley for Live Aid.

The two tours were Glass Spider & Sound + Vision.

[CaptainKirk]

Don't think I have ever come across someone who was at Live Aid before.
Was it as good as it seems now or too many fillers and lots of standing around - and how to you find any loos?

[Redbeard]

It would have been easy enough for you, Captain, eh? - You could simply have beamed yourself up and used the Enterprise bogs.

[ClaretTony]

Don't think I have ever come across someone who was at Live Aid before.
Was it as good as it seems now or too many fillers and lots of standing around - and how to you find any loos?

At the time it was unique, we didn’t know what to expect. Yes, breaks between the acts but an incredible day with some real highlights. I thought U2 were brilliant and then Freddie came on.

Easy for us blokes at the loo. But the old Wembley wasn’t set up toilet wise for so many women.

A day I’ll never forget. Absolutely brilliant being there and I can thank my friends Tom & Christine for getting the tickets. Tom went and queued all night somewhere in Preston for the tickets.

[CaptainKirk]

Wouldn't have been the best idea Redbeard, I was busy getting married at the time Status Quo were finishing their set.

Cheers CT for the reply. For me that ranks alongside Wembley 1966 as one of those "I was there" events. I had known someone for years and one night the conversation turned to the World Cup win and I said that must have been great to be there and he said "Yes it was!"
Cue jaw dropping and then intense questioning.

[Ptangyangkipperbang]

I loved the Berlin period of Bowie's albums I also include Iggy's the idiot and lust for life within that.Also it got me into Eno and Kraftwork

[LoveCurryPies]

I was living by Clapham Common at the time and offered tickets but couldn’t be bothered. Watched it on tv and realised I’d made a mistake.

However, I did attend a free all day concert on Clapham Common for ‘Artistes Against Apartheid’. Turned out to be an excellent event with Hugh Masekela & his band, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Boy George & Helen Terry, Sade, Style Council, The Communards, Billy Bragg, and Gary Kemp performed an acoustic version of ‘Through The Barricades’ that he had just written. Great day!