Someone has to be brave enough to say it: David Bowie is WAY over-rated.

In fact, I would go far enough to say that he sucks.

:hide:

And that's my two cents in this thread.

:hi:

But I know all the words to pretty much everything he did in the 20 before that.

Over-rated? No way.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over-rated.

is great. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSnXjE66tvQ

I don't have to like what I hear in order to respect the talent behind it. I didn't "like" Bowie at first, but grew to respect his talent. Now I get him, but don't like everything he's done.

Taste is evolutionary.

followed closely by "Starman"

In fact, I'll take any song off "Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" and it kicks the ass of 99% of the music released in the past decade.

blasphemer!!! :evilgrin:

...I forgot how good that piece was. Gotta admit that I leaked a few tears.

Here's my favorite Bowie vid from the early days of MTV. (back when they played videos)

It was disturbing and wonderful to my 16 year old mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r44OFO-MNPo

...it affects me now.

BTW I have "squirrel's" answer



Squirrel: "Why drag me into this? I'm only the paranoid VP that set our agenda.

Take that, folks who think Bowie can't sing. :thumbsup:

:D

But Bowie is not over-rated.

Daring, versatile, enduring...what's not to respect? The dude's been appealing to both counterculture and mainstream audiences for like three decades....

:shrug:

He's possibly the most influential popular musician of the past forty years (he influenced everything from glam to punk to disco to electronic music, in some way, and not only was he influential musically, the stagecraft of his performances was also quite influential, to a degree I think is generally overlooked); every album he released between "Ziggy Stardust" and "Scary Monsters" is critically ranked among the top 5 or 10 for its given year (and "Low" is considered to possibly be the album of the decade); that's a run that very few other musicians can match (the Beatles, maybe, but their creative period was shorter, and arguably their influence was neither as great nor as diverse). And in addition to his work as a musician, he produced albums for Lou Reed (Transformer) and Iggy Pop (Lust For Life) that are ALSO considered among the great rock albums of the '70's.

I'm sure there are people out there who think the Beatles and Elvis suck, too. Hell, there are probably people who think Mozart and Beethoven suck. They're entitled to their opinion, but they're still wrong.

I don't think he is the greatest musician ever, but he's done some excellent work.


However, as Tesla in The Prestige, he was terrific.

....way, way over-rated. IMHO

second" - David Bowie
And I think THAT is indeed Bowie's greatest contribution. He is a popularizer and synthesizer of the truly groundbreaking work of others- Lou Reed, Iggy, Eno, Philip Glass, Kraftwerk, etc... incorporating their work into his own (while also championing the work of said artists)
That being said, I think what is often overlooked (even by many of his rabid devotees) is his MUSICAL CHOPS. He does have a great singing voice and is a wonderful guitarist, keyboardist, and sax player. While I find the idea of Bowie as a visionary to be laughable (Hey, I'm not 14 any more), the man is a first rate musician.

Oh...and "Hunky Dory" is a masterpiece.

"The Laughing Gnome" cements his status for me.

I once actually kept shouting for "The Laughing Gnome" at a Bowie show.
The faithful were not amused.