Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
Do you remember a guy that's been in such an early song?
I do. And that guy is Major Tom.
A man I've learnt, over the years, that I'd better not mess with.
Although I don't know why.
Anyway, the reason I know what I do know is because, in this week in 1980, Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie hit the Number One spot on the UK singles chart, becoming, as far as I'm aware, the first sequel to a Number One to also make Number One.
Over on the LP chart, things felt a little less groundbreaking, as Flesh and Blood by Roxy Music climbed to, once more, reclaim the Number One crown.
The Millenium Falcon's arrived at Lando Calrissian's floating fun palace, little suspecting the trap they're blundering into.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker's in a cave and fighting an imaginary Darth Vader.
In Monsters of the Cosmos, a group of time-travellers are startled to see an alien space rocket standing around in the age of the dinosaurs.
On Mars, Gullivar Jones' girlfriend's about to have her first meeting with her captor and would-be husband, the decidedly anti-social Ar-Hap.
While Tales of the Watcher gives us a Lee/Ditko classic called Hunted, a tale of which I know nothing other than its title and that it features one man opposed by an entire planet.
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51 comments:
Steve - I am concerned with UK's transition away from the EU. Given we are an international group are there any constraints that might impact you? Please see the official www site below to make sure we are safe to continue our merry meanderings!
https://www.gov.uk/transition
Steve, my understanding is that it was best not to mess with Major Tom if you wanted to get things done because, funk to funky, he was a junky.
Because its now a bit of a classic, its easy to miss how unusual Ashes To Ashes was for a #1. The best of Bowie's hits imo (although Low is still my fave album of his).
On the subject of the Howling Commandos, Stan Lee once claimed Pinky was gay.
https://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/13/cf.opinion.rawhide.kid/
It sounds pretty dubious to me, like Stan was retrospectively trying to claim credit for being ahead of the curve. "We didn't make a big issue of it". Indeed they didn't!
-sean
My favorite deep Bowie track is "Let me Sleep Beside You."
I dunno what album that's from.
M.P.
For years, when he sang 'the little green wheels are following me' I thought it was 'the military wings are following me'. I can laugh about it now...
Sean, agreed regarding the unusualness of the song. It wouldn't surprise me if a couple of execs at RCA were a bit dubious with this being the lead single. They possibly thought Bowie was only good for unusual (albeit critically well regarded) albums at this stage of his career. That Scary Mounters isn't the obvious choice for everyone's favourite Bowie album is testament to the strength of his catalogue.
I reckon Bowie should have joined the Avengers as the lead quintet pilot.
DW
I'm not familiar with that particular song, DW, but your version of the lyrics would make more sense...sort of.
"The Man Who Sold the World" was another haunting song of Bowie's.
The lyrics remind me of a poem by a man named Hughes Mearns:
"Yesterday, upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away."
M.P.
MP
That line is from Ashes to Ashes. Its from this verse:
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I was too young at the time to realise what a junkie was, and thought the military wings may have been trying to save the stranded Major Tom.
A few months later I thought his Fashion song was literally about the latest style of trousers.
DW
DW, I don't think the albums Bowie made in the late 70s were particularly well regarded by critics at the time (the NME called Low boring, titling its review "Homage to Catatonia").
Now of course they all rave about the "Berlin trilogy" in retrospect...
-sean
Since when did a so-called music critic's opinion amount to anything?
Everybody has the freedom to like what they like.
Hacks...typists...sonsabitches.
Same with film critics.
M.P.
Charlie, so far, this site is totally unaffected by Brexit but who can know how long that can last? I hear rumour that, soon, all mention of EU based super-doers will be banned and Batroc the Leaper will be doomed.
As for Bowie, Ashes to Ashes is one of my favourites, although I'd put Life on Mars at the very pinnacle.
Uh...any of you guys ever check out Lou Reed's "New Sensations"?
Lotta good tracks on that one. They're on the U-tube.
M.P.
David Bowie's mum thought this pop thing he was involved in was a total waste of time. She thought 'Space Oddity' would fail like all the other songs he'd written up to that time. Hence -'My mother said to get things done. You better not mess with Major Tom'.
Fortunately Latveria isn't in the EU Steve, so Dr Doom will still be around.
Charlie, don't be concerned - I reckon Brexit is a fantastic opportunity.
As they say, Britain's difficulty is always an opportunity for the Irish... (;
-sean
SCARY MONSTERS was the Bowie album that came out when my fascination with cannabis was at its peak. It was a PERFECT album for listening to while thoroughly blazed. Peter Gabriel’s swoony third solo album was in heavy rotation at the time too.
I used to love LET’S DANCE but not so much these days. I admire its musicianship, swagger and polish (and I love Stevie Ray Vaughn) but for some reason it feels absolutely hollow to me now. I do still listen to HEROES and DIAMOND DOGS fairly often.
- b.t.
Lee, I wasn't previously aware of that.
Bt, I only know the singles from Let's Dance. I must confess they don't have the appeal for me they once had.
MP, I've not heard that one. I shall take a listen at some point.
Sean, wait? What? You mean Doom has never been present for any of the negotiations about common fishery and agricultural policies? He doesn't know what he's been missing out on.
I’ve never much indulged the idea of ‘What if things in the Marvel Universe worked more like they do in the Real World?’ — but I have to say, imagining what would happen if Putin were foolish enough to try to annex Latveria has a certain appeal.
- b.t.
Surely it should be more the other way round b.t., with the Russians relieved that Doom isn't annexing them?
Steve, that doesn't mean there wouldn't be negotiations for a UK-Latverian trade agreement... probably supervised by Liz Truss!
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/doctor-doom-does-brexit-in-new-marvel-comic/
-sean
David Bowie was a reaccuring villain in the Adult Swim cartoon Venture Brothers.
His henchmen were Iggy Pop & the German guy who wore a dress, as did Bowie, singing TVC-15 on SNL. Brian Eno was the commander of his air force. "Here come the warm jets!!"
It turned out after a few episodes that it wasn't Bowie, but a shape-shifter.
I highly recommend that cartoon. It's a parody of Jonny Quest.
The Hangman was one of the lamest villains ever. Jessica should have been able to clean his clock in one page.
I remember that K.D.! I'm a big Venture Bros fan.
What was Iggy's line in that? "Gimme danger! I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart fulla napalm!"
M.P.
I suspect Bowie would be relatively unknown were it not for Let's Dance. I mean, he is an unknown probably for anyone under 50?
Also, I, like Sean (inferring) am not sure why the Berlin Trilogy moved into our consciousness. Was it simply marketing strategy? Who knows... It just seems odd that 30 odd years late the Berlin recordings became important to pop culture history.
Hye - UK dudes - were you familiar with this band called "The Extras" which apparently is the first decent band from SHeffield, prior to Human League, et al. breaking out?
Charlie, I discovered Bowie during the late Seventies-early Eighties from his appearances on SNL, the Tonight Show, and that Satanic duet he did with Bing Crosby on one his Christmas specials. Who woulda guessed the bigger moral deviant was Crosby? The guy was an aging scumbag with his own Christmas T.V. special. Go figure.
I wasn't as surprised by Let's dance as I was by the success of it.
M.P.
I recall Bowie's SNL appearance where he head was juxtaposed on a women dancer? I thought... how the hell does this guy go from "Fame" to this? B/c frankly the head on the dress just looked somewhere between weird and stupid. But that's just my opinion. I also liked Charleston Chew candy bars fwiw.
And in my 4 years in college I only met one Bowie fan. He made me a Cassette of his best and I was hooked... on his best stuff. The rest just didn't do much for me. It wasn't until Let's Dance exploded that he became truly famous for a few years.
That's my take on it.
Charlie, if we're gonna talk about the mistakes we all made in the '70's we're gonna be here
all day.
Take me for example. My second-grade teacher pinned a note to my report card saying "M.P. lacks self-control." (that actually happened)
The cocaine, the women...Sesame Street...disco...it was too much for me. I got burnt out.
M.P.
Charlie, up until a few days ago, I'd never even heard of the Extras.
I don't know about Bowie not finding "Fame" (pun intended) till Let's Dance.
When changesonebowie came out, a greatest hits collection, everyone I knew seemed to have a copy.
My first copy was on 8-track.LOL.
Didn't Bowie turn down a knighthood? He realized a knighthood was totally uncool, unlike those tedious old farts Sir Macca, Sir Cliff, Sir Mick and Sir Elton.
I can't help noticing that, apart from Sean's brief mention of the Howling Commandos, nobody has commented on the actual comics. Is that because they were totally crap by this point and everybody had stopped reading them?
Yes, good on Bowie for not being Sir David.
Charlie, while I don't know about Bowie being exactly unknown to the under 50s without it, Lets Dance was clearly intended as a move into the international big league. Which was a success - otherwise, we probably wouldn't have got his version of Dancing In The Street with Sir Mick!
Ermmm...
Anyway, I reckon critical - or perhaps, rather, marketing - recognition for the Berlin trilogy came because those records (I'd add Station To Station and Scary Monsters) were obviously influential.Same goes for the music that shaped Low and Heroes - Brian Eno, Neu! and Kraftwerk.
By the 90s they all still sounded very current, whereas most of Bowie's contemporaries from the 70s were at best "retro".
-sean
Mostly agree with you, Sean (insert apocalypse here, lol).
Ahhh the elusiveness of Bowie. At least Paul did hits with Michael J and Stevie Wonder. But Bowie with Mick Jagger just seemed exaggerated.
KD - you are correct. I did have the Changes One Bowie (Greatest Hits). Beats the hell out of me why I did. I think it was on the strength of Fame? Also, perhaps, because FM radio was finally getting a toe hold and taking us teeny boppers away from Top-40 AM?
Colin - Yes, I kind of noticed there was not a lot of chatter about the comics. I think if Steve were to start scanning the entire contents and we could read them, that would help. Steve???
In response to Colin's observation that thoughts on the stories in this post being a little thin:
Thoroughly loathed the Black Cat. Not a loyal DC reader by any means, a blatant Catwoman copy on the cover put me off from buying any Spidey book.
Heck, she was supposed to be the "Black" Cat. White hair, white fluff in her costume, and it was tinged in green.
She's one character I wouldn't mind a racial swap for a future movie.
I quit reading Star Wars after a few issues when the origial movie adaption was completed. Picked up a copy later and was disgusted by the "bunny-guy". Man... Guuhhh...
Only bought Sgt. Fury when I was a kid if there were no superheroes on the shelf, or a good cover. I don't even remember Pinky in the Howling Commandos.
Wish I would've read the Hulk/It! fight, but Steve said Hulk took him to the cleaners, and that's enough for me.
Might still look it up, just cuz I was an IT! fan.
Am I truly the ONLY ONE that enjoyed Lunatik vexing the Defenders?!
He was alot better than that Nebulon/Bozo garbage.
Plus Lunatik led into the legendary BOC storyline! Thumbs Up For Lunatik!
Charlie, I'm afraid I don't have the entire contents to scan.
KD, I too had almost zero interest in the Howling Commandos.
Colin, I was still reading the weeklies but they were generally uninspiring. Marvel UK had definitely used up most of their parent company's best material by this point. The monthlies were much stronger.
Ok... true confessions. While I do have a handful of old Sgt Fury, they all read the same... "superhero antics in an army uniform." (KD - If I get them out of storage, check your mailbox, LOL!)
The best issue of Fury I ever read was issue #100. It is set in the present and some nutjob shoots (kills?) the Howler who is jewish, Cohen IIRC.
Fury then spends the next pages (many without dialogue and perhaps 12 panels as I recall) tracking the shooter.
(OK - Not having read this issue since 1972, I just googled it. Interesting to compare what I vaguely recall 40 years later and what happened? My memory is not perfect!)
Like Charlie I had the Changes One Bowie lp. Got it mainly for "Golden Years". Played it quite a bit, though.
KD- yes, I also liked Lunatik. But then I also loved the Bozos, the Elf, and the rest of Gerber's imaginings.
As for the subject of Sgt. Fury: haven't read many, and wasn't all that impressed by them. Must give DC the advantage in the war books. Kanigher and Kubert did some truly awesome stuff. Over the last few years I've been reading some Enemy Ace, Unknown Soldier and The Losers. Some fine artwork...
Red - Congrats on your new grandchild!
I had that record too! Back in high school. It got heavy rotation. Thinking about it kinda makes me wish I still had a record player. With an LP you'd really get the sense of the deep rich sound on a track like Golden Years.
K.D.--as much as I loved David Kraft's run on the Defenders, I just couldn't dig Lunatik. I never saw the appeal. Just a loon with a metal bar...plenty of them around in the U.S.
I kept hoping he would get killed.
Didn't he turn out to be an alien or something?
Now, Dollar Bill, on the other hand, that was a cool character. We've all known a few hustlers like Dollar Bill in our time. Steve Bannon is sorta like an evil, malevolent version of the character.
M.P.
What I don't understand M.P. is how come Bannon could scam money in the US from donations for this border wall - weren't the Mexicans supposed to pay for it?
-sean
Sean - we don;t really dwell much on bone-spur and his menagerie, any longer.
Clearly if bone-spur was as criminal, he would be the Ringmaster. And his entourage the Circus of Crime.
Only a few more months and this nightmare will be over.
MP - the recently divorced Charlie set up his "record player" in his bachelor pad this weekend. He was enjoying Revolver by the Beatles on vinyl just minutes ago! Charlie is convinced that Side B of that album is the greatest in rock history. Also, Charlie went on ebay and found out that the Klipsch Heresy II speakers he schlepped around for the last 35 years are going for around $750 a pair. Charlie was just seconds away from taking them to the Goodwill and thought... check ebay! Why the hell anyone would pay $750 for speakers I paid $150 for, 35 years ago, is bewildering!
Well, the U.S. government is supposed to pay for the stupid thing, if anybody is.
This whole thing is moronic. A private organization can't just go around building walls on somebody else's property, unless they buy it first. Maybe that's what happened.
These guys were using it as a personal slush fund, and they were plum dumb if they didn't figure the Feds weren't gonna take an interest.
Even that Barr, corrupt as he is, apparently thought twice before trying (or at least trying very hard) before shutting down that investigation. The FBI hates Barr, and they oughtta.
Bannon is a cheap hustler who thinks he's a lot smarter than he actually is.
I'm sure in federal prison he'll be the guy selling oxy and cigarettes.
M.P.
The really hilarious part M.P. is that he was nicked on a Chinese billionaire's yacht!
Obviously a man of the people like his "anti-establishment" pal Dominic Cummings who got caught out running away to mummy and daddy's castle up north during lockdown. You've got to laugh.
-sean
Yeah, might as well laugh. Either that or cry, I guess.
M.P.
The Howling Commandos or Easy Co? Sounds like a possible SteveDoesComics poll, except its obvious Sgt Rock would beat Fury.
Or would he? Votes are hard to predict these days.
(Charlie, no doubt you know better whats happening in the US than me, but all the same... I wouldn't put money on Trump not getting a second term).
-sean
We are all living in hope, Sean.
What else is there?
M.P.
Charlie, I am sorry to read about your recent divorce but at the same time, I'm happy to read that you upgraded your stereo system.
Ah, the pleasure of hearing music on vinyl. That by itself might seal the deal, should you decide to invite a lady into your bachelor pad.
Might I suggest a little Marvin Gaye? That and a little wine, maybe.
I hate wine myself, to me it tastes likes turpentine, but chicks dig it for some reason.
M.P., the love expert
Yes, best to be positive M.P.
Sad to hear about Charlie, but on the plus side it does sound like with your advice his ex's loss could be the single women of Chicago's gain.
-sean
Gents - In my hood, some folks posted on "nextdoor.com" (which I highly recommend joining) that they are selling off their dad's collection of 45s. (Records! Not pistols!)
So I emailed the lady and she said, "Sure I'll set aside all the Beatles ones for you. They are $1 each."
At 11:00 AM this Sunday morning, we'll see if Charlie and Charlie's son will be in vinyl heaven!!!
I did ask her to PLEASE include one of those little discs you put in the 45 so that it can center on the spindle of my record players and she said she would! Whew!
Thanks for the well wishes Sean, MP. Ending 30 years of marriage, at 59 years old has allowed me to understand the expression "emotional roller coaster." The simplest interaction can send me way up high or to the depths of despair. Fortunately it flattens out over time... sort of like the Corona infection rate.
Best with Charlie, through all your ups and downs. Good luck with the 45s. Maybe there will be some of those elusive Picture Sleeves? Let us know what comes from your excursion.
And yes, Sean, I fear the prospect of four more years under the Orange Oaf. But I'm hopeful also that enough of the American public have Had Enough. At any rate U.S. politics is never boring...
Arrgh, that should be best wishes, of course...
Good luck with everything, Charlie.
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