For the month of January, I’m selecting some of the most memorable and influential songs of the 60’s. While they all hail from the same decade, these are some of my favorite songs of any era. They remind me that the 60’s were so much more than just Woodstock and psychedelic rock. It was a flourishing period for blues, folk, progressive and straight-ahead rock. #31DaysOf60sSongs
Songwriter. Performer. Artist. Cultural icon. Like his characters, David Bowie has taken on many different forms through his career. One of my deepest regrets is not seeing him live. I read somewhere that when his debut album bombed, he redid everything. Found a new manager and found new ways to create, promote and perform. One of the ways Bowie has distinguished himself from his rock & roll peers is by expanding beyond music and exploring different art forms, most notably fashion and film. A perfect example of this is “Space Oddity”, a song that I’m featuring for the second time on Mental Jukebox.
Bowie was always a master at creating characters – even embodying them at times – from Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust. On “Space Oddity”, we met Major Tom, a fictional astronaut who launched into space with much promise, but ultimately faced his own demise by the end of the five minute song. “Space Oddity” was an imaginative story that pointed us to a universe where electric guitar rock can co-exist with a string symphony. It’s also a song that extended beyond sound wave through a promotional film, an unusual approach at the time. It was Bowie constantly innovating even as a relatively new artist.
“Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.”