David Bowie: As a new album arrives

David Bowie: As a new album arrives, a celebration of the 40th anniversary of 'Aladdin Sane'

He insisted the future would be a bleak, blasted landscape, populated by panicky, gun-toting radicals and people whose only fleshly pleasures are as mechanical as an animated film about robots. Even our most promising rockers would be dead by one misadventure or another. But before this even happened, there would be a Third World War, one that would finish us off before this ugly, Orwellian existence could even begin.

That’s what he said. That’s what David Bowie said on his 1973 album, "Aladdin Sane." So how did he make The Apocalypse sound so groovy that we couldn’t wait for the world to end? Mostly it was the music, which was arguably, the most lyrical, indelibly melodic, and rockin’ stuff the man with the orange shag and unmatched eyes had yet made. In any case, on the occasion of "The Next Day," Bowie’s first new album in a decade, it’s time to celebrate the old. "Aladdin Sane" turns 40 in April and it still stimulates with an undimmed intensity.

When it was first released, the stakes were high. With his previous record, which introduced hubristic rocker, Ziggy Stardust, Bowie had finally broken through. After years of folky tunes and false starts, he found false eyelashes and blush worked better. In his glittering jumpsuit and stacked heels, Bowie’s identity may been ambiguous. As for those high stakes? Well, this is the guy who began "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" with a dicey proposition: that the world would end in five years. It was now a year later. What, we space cadets wondered, would he do for an encore?

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Make good on his promise. That’s what David Bowie and his wonderfully poisonous Spiders did. What seems most in jeopardy in his brave, barren new world is rock 'n' roll itself. On two tracks, there are distinct references to the extinction of the music we loved. In the album’s opener, "Watch That Man," our humble narrator describes a party where “an old-fashioned band of married men/Were looking up to me for encouragement.” Everybody knew this had to be Bowie’s cheeky description of The Rolling Stones. Still, to hear those thirtyish thugs depicted that way was really depressing. The only ameliorating aspect, the thing that made the idea tolerable, was that Bowie and band were now rocking harder than the Stones. Led by first lieutenant and guitarist Mick Ronson, "Man," with its power chords and Chuck-Berry-screaming-like-Little-Richard vocal, made it clear who was now The World’s Greatest Rock And Roll Act.

David Bowie's success holds lessons for Britain

David Bowie's success holds lessons for Britain, Foreign Office economist says

He has received plaudits for his remarkable surprise comeback, his critically-acclaimed song writing and his longevity, but it appears David Bowie’s appeal may have reached a new high.
For his successful career could also be the key to saving the British economy, according to an economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Writing on the department’s official website, the Counsellor for Economics based at the British Embassy in Washington D.C. said Bowie’s “phenomenal” career held important “lessons” for success.

Peter Matheson, who is head of the economics team at the embassy and writes regular blogs for the FCO, said he could identify” at least three” key lessons from Bowie to improve Britain’s “broader economic performance”.

In a light-hearted post, he cited the artist’s international appeal, constant evolution and ability to learn from past mistakes as integral to success.

Writing of Bowie’s career and recent comeback at the age of 66, Mr Matheson added: “That degree of accomplishment has to offer wider lessons and, as an economist, I found myself reflecting on that issue while enjoying the new Bowie album.”

The economics counsellor, who has previously worked for the Treasury, said the “list of economic principles” embodied by Bowie “goes on and on”.
Even his surprise recent song release could be considered in light of the British economy, Mr Matheson argued.
“And [at] a time of economic challenges, it’s worth remembering the spirit of the latest chapter in Bowie’s long story,” he wrote. “Never count out, or underestimate, a true living legend.”
Mr Matheson identified three areas of lessons to be drawn from Bowie’s life and work.
He is a senior member of the British Embassy, based in Washington D.C, and writes on the FCO website alongside Ambassador Sir Peter Westmacott and deputy head of mission Philip Barton.
The “number one” lesson, he said, was that of global recognition, with Bowie “the quintessential internationalist” and a “superb manifestation of transatlantic team work”.
From his example, he claimed, economists should learn to “think internationally and grow internationally”.
Mr Matheson’s second lesson is that of constant evolution and diversity, keeping one step ahead of his rivals by “never putting his eggs in one basket.”
“So lesson number two is diversity: modern economies need to be sufficiently diversified in terms of the industries and sectors on which they are based,” he said.
In the UK, he explained, this translates to recognising the economy was too dependent on financial services, and working to build a wider range of strengths.
The third lesson, according to Mr Matheson, is to learn from past mistakes and strive never to repeat them, either in Bowie’s “woeful” songs of the 1980s onwards or global failed economic policies.
The positive blog will be a welcome change of fortunes for Bowie in terms of his impact on the British economy.
In 2009, he was bizarrely blamed for the credit crunch after an economist pointed out he had offered fans a chance to buy bonds in the 1990s.
Evan Davis, from the BBC, said banks then “caught on to the idea”.
He wrote: “They thought, 'We have billions out there in mortgages which are going to pay us back very slowly. Why don’t we sell those and get the money now?'
“So the banks started doing what Bowie had done – in a big way.”