# David Bowie: Too Cool / Not Cool for School? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280 "2005-10-14T20:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/21 "2005-10-15T12:06:36Z")
Graduated from high school in 1990, and was absoutely in awe of the man from about junior year 'til… well, he’s still among my all-time favorites. He didn’t seem to be on the radar of anyone else in my school. Another good Bowie movie is _Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence_, about British and American soldiers in a Japanese POW camp. Kind of interesting in that it has Bowie opposite another musician (composer Ryuichi Sakamoto) in completely non-musical roles. Also stars a much less famous “Beat” Takeshi Kitano. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/22 "2005-10-15T14:53:32Z")
He never shoulda left Mick Ronson. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/23 "2005-10-15T15:06:33Z")
_sigh_ No mention about his duet with Bing Crosby on “The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)”… ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/24 "2005-10-15T15:59:09Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > _sigh_ No mention about his duet with Bing Crosby on “The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)”… Who’s Bing Crosby? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/25 "2005-10-15T23:12:30Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Anyone like Bowie covers? Go to [this page](http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/index.html) and scroll down not quite halfway. There’s an _AMAZING_ live cover of “Space Oddity” there. Also “Ashes to Ashes.” I realize, disclaimer, that nothing will touch the originals, but if you’re going to have covers, those are two pretty darn good ones. > > The Space Oddity is an audience recording, so be kind to the sound quality. Just. wow. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/26 "2005-10-16T01:33:18Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Anyone like Bowie covers? Go to [this page](http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/index.html) and scroll down not quite halfway. There’s an _AMAZING_ live cover of “Space Oddity” there. Also “Ashes to Ashes.” I realize, disclaimer, that nothing will touch the originals, but if you’re going to have covers, those are two pretty darn good ones. > > The Space Oddity is an audience recording, so be kind to the sound quality. Gawd. I teared up. What a beautiful song/cover. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/27 "2005-10-16T01:35:17Z")
[link](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmajorto.html) ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/28 "2005-10-16T02:22:44Z")
Graduated in 1990 and with my small group of friends thought he was GOD-- was introduced to the good stuff by my very cool bio teacher. Wasn’t into the 80s stuff so much then, but very into albumns like Low, for some reason. Didn’t hear Ziggy Stardust until college (hey, I grew up on an island and we took what we could get). Ashes to Ashes was the tweakiest video any of us had ever seen at that time. In about 1996 a friend from college who lived in the same town was working at a country radio station (she’d been a mass comm major and got trapped at this place). Near the end of work, at my low-paying no fun crap job, she calls up and says “Hey, wanna go to the Bowie show.” “No way, I’m totally broke.” “But. . . I have FREE TICKETS!” Seems noone else at her radio station had any interest in the promotional tickets. Woot! So we went and it was swell and he did a couple of duets with Trent Reznor (NIN had opened-- Bowie’s take on Hurt was interesting-- a very nice duet). Bowie played Man who Sold the World and of course all the Nirvana-loving normal young people recognized it and went wild. “Thank you, thank you. . . I’m glad you liked that; that’s a song I wrote in 1970. . .” A hoot of a show. And of course we know the damn Bing Crosby thing. Most likely thing to make me cry in December as I channel-surf. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/29 "2005-10-16T04:57:27Z")
My senior year of college, 1980-1981, I lived alone and remember how when I would awake at 4:00 A.M., spark the weed, put on _The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars_, and listen to it all the way through, it was a profoundly mystical experience. _Oh no love, you’re not alone!_ (“Rock-‘n’-Roll Suicide”) Bowie was the ultimate rock romantic. He lifted that line directly from **Marlene Dietrich** as an _hommage_. He gender-bended just like her, in the complementary direction. The title of the album was a nod to **Kurt Weill** ’s musical play _The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny_. Bowie was already down with Weimar decadence years before he went to live in Berlin. The song “Heroes” was the full blooming of his German romantic side begun with Ziggy. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/30 "2005-10-16T06:10:28Z")
I just wanted to chime in here and state that “Ziggy” is one of my top 10 albums of all time. I’m not a huge Bowie fan, but this album is simply fantastic. “I could fall asleep at night as a rock and roll star…” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/31 "2005-10-16T21:36:06Z")
I love **Ziggy** , and a lot of Bowie’s songs, but I’m not really a huge fan. I did make a point of catching the _Glass Spider_ tour–but only because Peter Frampton was in the band. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/32 "2005-10-17T00:19:20Z")
Bowie was my hero as a teeny teen through mid-twenties. I was 11 when Ziggy Stardust came out, and was very taken with him. He wore those skinny-legged getups so wonderfully, and was the epitome of theatrical cool out-there rock! I remember glittering up some chunky-soled oxford saddle shoes popular back inna day; one withe David, other with Bowie, in glitter, on the toes. Most of the other kids thought that was Weird, but David Cassidy was the teeny bop of choice to most. Bleah… By the time I was of an age to get to Bowie concerts, it was the Scary Monsters era, and saw him play a couple times, with Adrian Belew doing some amazing guitar.Loved the reformed King Crimson of Belew/Fripp then, Eno, too. My experience was that there weren’t a whole lot of young gals into those musicians then, so most of my compadre fans were rather androgynous guys, and I was a rather androgynous girl. Still have just about every Bowie album made, and lots of collector stuff, but to tell the truth, haven’t listened to them in 15 years. He sure helped me stretch out my mind when young, though, and I really admire him for his chameleon theatrics. And them skinny legs. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/33 "2005-10-17T03:25:24Z")
Did anybody see Bowie as the musical guest on _Saturday Night Live_ back in 1979? He appeared with black-lipsticked Klaus Nomi as one of his backup singers. For his first song, “The Man Who Sold the World,” Bowie had to be carried up to the mike by his backup singers. He was encased in a stiff cylindrical costume that did not allow him to walk. By doing this he was emulating Hugo Ball, a poet who appeared at the original outburst of Dada at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich back in 1916. _BLAGO BOOM_ When he did “TVC15,” Bowie wore a severely cut dress that resembled a World War II British servicewoman’s uniform. Hey, I want the dress that Bowie wore on the cover of [_The Man Who Sold the World_](http://www.chez.com/cae/albums/0302.jpg)! It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ve told you about my artist friend Bill during my flaming, irresponsible youth. He did a series of drawings about “The Unusual Professor Siegfried,” a Eurotrash _débauché_ in a black leather trenchcoat, holding a cigarette over his palm, an oddly soft and inviting look in his eyes. “Professor Siegfried’s Mystic Red Ball” was a nude woman copied from a porno magazine, bound and gagged. “Professor Siegfried’s Wonderful Cosmic Guru” was a sensitively rendered portrait of Bowie copied directly from _Aladdin Sane._ I don’t know why I just told you that. At Disney World in the summer of 1976 they had a Bicentennial theatrical… uh… presentation that included android presidents of the U.S. and half-life-size puppets of Elton John at his toy piano and “Bowie” all in white, performing their songs. The Who joked about selling out; but Elton and Bowie… and Disney… _ugh_ ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/34 "2005-10-17T11:01:36Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Just. wow. > [@Operation Ripper](#): > > Gawd. I teared up. What a beautiful song/cover. Thank you both so much for listening to it. It means a lot to me that Bowie fans like it. I’m so glad we were there to record it. Bowie was a huge influence on her, so she dearly loves that song. She sang it as a fan, not as just a cover she felt like doing that night. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/35 "2005-10-17T14:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Did anybody see Bowie as the musical guest on _Saturday Night Live_ back in 1979? He appeared with black-lipsticked Klaus Nomi as one of his backup singers. For his first song, “The Man Who Sold the World,” Bowie had to be carried up to the mike by his backup singers. He was encased in a stiff cylindrical costume that did not allow him to walk. By doing this he was emulating Hugo Ball, a poet who appeared at the original outburst of Dada at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich back in 1916. _BLAGO BOOM_ Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I always wondered what the hell that was tickling the edges of my memory. I would have been 9 and saw this weird dude singing this song when I sneaked into the living room after bedtime to watch SNL. Years later I thought it was Bowie but nobody I talked to ever had the faintest idea of what I was talking about. Around 89 or 90 I went to see his tour alone. Not many of my friends were fans at the time. A nice tight show with minimum flash and glitter. The anti-glass spider tour I’m told by those who saw both. I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280/36 "2005-10-17T17:50:19Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > _Oh no love, you’re not alone!_ > (“Rock-‘n’-Roll Suicide”) Hey thats my favourite song! I consider Bowie to be the best singer of all time, I don’t have a rational reason - there are other singers that put out songs with equally good lyrics and music. But I was sitting in my dorm room once thinking that I needed a favourite singer, then Space Oddity came on and I knew music wasn’t gonna get too much more imagination capturing than that for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-bowie-too-cool-not-cool-for-school/326280.md?page=1)