Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 29, 1981, edition 1 / Page 20
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Reviews Biography cites David 1 Bowie ise of sfyfeffc poses By LEAH TALLEY On David Bowie's most recent album, Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), he revives the tale of Major Tom in the song "Ashes to Ashes." In this song. Major Tom, now a junkie, faces reality. . . ."I've never done good thingsI've never done bad things I've never done anything out of the blue." These lyric reflect Bowie's controversial distance from his rock and roll career. In David Bowie: An Illustrated Record, authors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray give the positive interpretation of this aesthetic dis tance. Carr and Murray label Bowie and Marc. Bolan of the group T. Rex as saviors of pop rock in the early 1970's. Their glitter rock was welcomed relief from the proper musi cians with beards, or what was then an in creasing emphasis on progressive rock, heavy metal, and the album over the single. The age of the earth shoe was over. Bolan broke ground on this stuffy music scene, and Bowie took over in 1972. Aesthetic distance is Bowie's major contri bution to rock according to Carr and Mur ray. Bowie celebrated artiface, elevated it This becomes evident in 1972 with the crea tion of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Here. Bowie re-defined rock as perfor mance art Bowie was Ziggy, on stage and off. But all good things must come to an end, and Bowie ended Ziggs life and mov ed on to yet another pose. This ability to strike any pose for the sake, of the creation of music is seen by Carr and Murray as Bowie's greatest quality. Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, or a Young American is really Bowie refusing to "limit himself to any one set of stylistic devices, any one role', any one persona, any one audience, any one attitude." The authors find this ability inherently more stimulating than the music of, for ex ample, the Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan. These established musicians are always playing slight variations of themselves, ac cording to Carr and Murray, while Bowie is constantly breaking new ground. Many critics disagree with this interpreta tion, however. Again consider the lyrics from "Ashes to Ashes." Bowie may be constantly innovating, as Carr and Murray boast but his innovations often seem too calculated, cer tainly not out of the blue. Critics propose that "Bowie is a hollow man, that there is no True Face behind his succession of masks." The authors find such a vision of Bowie's career too simplistic. Bowie is not a proper rock and roler, one in love with the rock and roll dream. Instead he is in rock and roll because he is good at it, and this attitude allows him to change his face in search of entertaining music. Carr and Murray recount Bowie's career in a detailed discography that covers his first single as Davie Jones up to his latest work as well as his acting career in theater and film. .-J.1;--.. '. This section of the book is informative and entertaining as the authors sharpen their wits to make potentially dry material hilarious. This book also is blessed with an' abun dance of photographs. And Bowie has always been photogenic, especially during his days as Ziggy . Stardust complete with spiky orange hair and "skintight catsuits in hard, metallic colors." David Bowie: An Illustrated Record doesn't reveal any hidden secrets on the life and career of David Bowie. Instead it presents Bowie as an artist who rises above the trap of cliched, time-worri rock and roll. He does this by standing back from his career, creating a world to play his songs in. . and becoming a character within that world. This is what Bowie has done to re-define rock and roll, according to Carr and Murray, and what has made Bowie the most in teresting rock personality of the last 10 years. . . () Leah Talley is assistant arts editor for The Daily Tar Heel. March of Dimes' Birth Defects Foundation THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISHER Why Are All The Good People Dying? ' - M MCOLO Saturday, Oct. 31 8:00, 10:00, 12:00 Union Auditorium Admission 50c wID Draught House Cinema presents . HORROR FILM FESTIVAL PART II October 29 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD "The Cult Classic" 7 PM and 9 PM Favorite Beverage - 50c $1.75 members$2.00 non-members 50$ off with this ad ' i tjf vtM'1 1 THE CAROLINA THEATRE N.C. PREMIERE! 6 If 1 ! u u ... A u Daily 7:10, 9:10 Sun. Mats 1:15, 3:10, 5:05 3 HANNEFORD CIRCUS TONIGHT ,7:30 pm Carmichacl Auditorium $1.50 children, students, over 65 $2.50 General Public 11 0. featuring. "Dead Baggers" " 05 Thurs. .xNov. 5, 198 BYO Beer & Wine The Carolina Union Presents . . . , bun., imov. b 8:00 PM Memorial Hall Ticket: $2.50 Mm, Carolina m nnr im North Carolina Sympony Wed., Nov. 4 8:00 pm Memorial Hall Tickets $2.50 students Patrick Flynn, Conductor t - Q EIMGiVlAR 7 pH Fri.,Oct30 " I U 7 ft 9 nrn l wt 0 ' Union Auditorium 1 1 till FREE PROMTI-Ui Lin- OPTHH MARIONETTES SMILE DAY Thurs., Nov. 5 Noon in the Pit Hi fan Sunday, Nov. 8 9:00 pm Carmichacl Auditorium $7.50 limited advanced$3.50 General Admi ssion GdJery Ldinzberg Animated Art Sale and Exhibit Nov. 9 & 10 Union Gallery PMYA ANGELOU . Author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Tues., Nov. 10 8:00 p.m. Memorial Hall FREE Spotlight, October 29, 1981 11 i
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 29, 1981, edition 1
20
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75