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A bit sad nobody did Five Years though...
posted by louche mustachio at 4:10 AM on September 2, 2013
posted by louche mustachio at 4:10 AM on September 2, 2013
A bit sad nobody did Five Years though...
Might be coming up soon, though:
Mixing 5 Years, and as long as I have this mic set up, I'll make a bookend vocal for Rock'n'roll Suicide. May have both posted as early as midnight tonight.
posted by Ardiril at 18:03 on September 1 [+] [!]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:16 AM on September 2, 2013
Might be coming up soon, though:
Mixing 5 Years, and as long as I have this mic set up, I'll make a bookend vocal for Rock'n'roll Suicide. May have both posted as early as midnight tonight.
posted by Ardiril at 18:03 on September 1 [+] [!]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:16 AM on September 2, 2013
A bit sad nobody did Five Years though...
No one did When I am 5 either.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:41 AM on September 2, 2013
No one did When I am 5 either.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:41 AM on September 2, 2013
I've been listening to a lot of Bowie recently, so great timing!
posted by arcticseal at 7:43 AM on September 2, 2013
posted by arcticseal at 7:43 AM on September 2, 2013
I have not been listening to nearly enough Bowie lately, so great timing!
posted by carsonb at 7:53 AM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by carsonb at 7:53 AM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I can theoretically understand the concept of " too much Bowie ", but like the concept of infinity, I can't really grasp it in any meaningful way.
posted by The Whelk at 7:56 AM on September 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:56 AM on September 2, 2013 [6 favorites]
The World Famous: 0:38-0:43 is a little crack rock of joy.
Everyone: these are awesome.
posted by kengraham at 9:29 AM on September 2, 2013
Everyone: these are awesome.
posted by kengraham at 9:29 AM on September 2, 2013
When I was in college I had a radio show called "The Bad Bowie Half Hour" 30 minutes of the worst of David Bowie. My tagline was "Even bad Bowie is better than no Bowie." Mostly I played stuff from when he was known as Davie Jones or the songs of "Let's Dance" and "Never Let Me Down" (I know these are fighting words). These were the dark days when those two discs were all you could get in the US (even imports were difficult). Then Ryko picked him up and the Sound+Vision box set came out and they reissued Ziggy, and all was right with the world again.
You would think you would run out of material, but I ran that show for years. Please Mr. Grave Digger and The Laughing Gnome were staples of my show. I also had a lot of bootlegs and occasionally I played some horrible cover, but generally I tried to keep it to just Bowie. There was an official Bowie "single" where a bunch of bands/producers all remixed Sound and Vision. Now I love that song, but well, you see how far you make it: Sound and Vision vs. 808 State. Anyway, one wekk I played that whole CD and wanted to kill myself.
It's difficult to explain how much people hated this show. I would get tons of calls begging me to stop. We'd get complaints. Bowie fans hated it because I was playing the worst of Bowie. People that already hated Bowie just wanted me to stop and play Beck or something. The hatred stopped just short of death threats.
For the record I hated the show, hated doing it, but it was an obligation. It was a public service. I regret nothing. I'd do it again and in the event the Bowie catalog once again ever becomes unavailable I will!
I don't know why I am sharing this story. Maybe because, well, Bowie.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:50 AM on September 2, 2013 [14 favorites]
You would think you would run out of material, but I ran that show for years. Please Mr. Grave Digger and The Laughing Gnome were staples of my show. I also had a lot of bootlegs and occasionally I played some horrible cover, but generally I tried to keep it to just Bowie. There was an official Bowie "single" where a bunch of bands/producers all remixed Sound and Vision. Now I love that song, but well, you see how far you make it: Sound and Vision vs. 808 State. Anyway, one wekk I played that whole CD and wanted to kill myself.
It's difficult to explain how much people hated this show. I would get tons of calls begging me to stop. We'd get complaints. Bowie fans hated it because I was playing the worst of Bowie. People that already hated Bowie just wanted me to stop and play Beck or something. The hatred stopped just short of death threats.
For the record I hated the show, hated doing it, but it was an obligation. It was a public service. I regret nothing. I'd do it again and in the event the Bowie catalog once again ever becomes unavailable I will!
I don't know why I am sharing this story. Maybe because, well, Bowie.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:50 AM on September 2, 2013 [14 favorites]
I know some people who need to check this out even more than I do.
posted by immlass at 12:04 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by immlass at 12:04 PM on September 2, 2013
These were the dark days when those two discs were all you could get in the US (even imports were difficult).
cjorgensen: so no turntables when you were DJ'ing in college? (Just curious, because I think we're about the same age, and when I DJ'd in college I don't think we even had a CD player in the studio till my senior year.)
the songs of "Let's Dance" and "Never Let Me Down" (I know these are fighting words)
I'll totally fight you over Let's Dance. But Never Let Me Down... well, yeah. An ironically titled album if ever there was one.
posted by scody at 12:37 PM on September 2, 2013
cjorgensen: so no turntables when you were DJ'ing in college? (Just curious, because I think we're about the same age, and when I DJ'd in college I don't think we even had a CD player in the studio till my senior year.)
the songs of "Let's Dance" and "Never Let Me Down" (I know these are fighting words)
I'll totally fight you over Let's Dance. But Never Let Me Down... well, yeah. An ironically titled album if ever there was one.
posted by scody at 12:37 PM on September 2, 2013
I'm just glad that Ziggy Bathtub has been unseated in my heart as "favorite bowie cover".
posted by dubold at 1:32 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by dubold at 1:32 PM on September 2, 2013
We had tun tables and an amazing record collection. I also did an all vinyl Pink Floyd hour. There was a song on Animals that was my go to for when I needed to hit the bathroom during a show. I forget which, since while I played it a lot I seldom heard it.
I did resort to vinyl a lot for the bad Bowie. Point was once there was CD reissues most people no longer needed me for their Bowie fix.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:43 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I did resort to vinyl a lot for the bad Bowie. Point was once there was CD reissues most people no longer needed me for their Bowie fix.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:43 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
When I was in college I had a radio show called "The Bad Bowie Half Hour" 30 minutes of the worst of David Bowie. My tagline was "Even bad Bowie is better than no Bowie." Mostly I played stuff from when he was known as Davie Jones or the songs of "Let's Dance" and "Never Let Me Down" (I know these are fighting words). These were the dark days when those two discs were all you could get in the US (even imports were difficult). Then Ryko picked him up and the Sound+Vision box set came out and they reissued Ziggy, and all was right with the world again.
On behalf of humanity, thank you for trying (albeit in vain) to prepare us for Tin Machine.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
On behalf of humanity, thank you for trying (albeit in vain) to prepare us for Tin Machine.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
And Tin Machine 2 and that serial killer trilogy that only one came out and some would say Black Tie White Noise, but those people are crazy.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:14 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by cjorgensen at 3:14 PM on September 2, 2013
Heretic! 1. Outside is, while not particularly conceptually groundbreaking - it's basically Bowie discovering Stellarc and Marina Abramovic - has some really good songs.
Big Bowie fan, always interested by covers, really looking forward to listening to these.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:24 PM on September 2, 2013
Big Bowie fan, always interested by covers, really looking forward to listening to these.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:24 PM on September 2, 2013
The first Tin Machine record is great.
posted by mintcake! at 3:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mintcake! at 3:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Here's 5 Years. I don't think I'm going to get to RnR Suicide, though. My heart hasn't been at its best these last few months.
posted by Ardiril at 5:25 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by Ardiril at 5:25 PM on September 2, 2013
I think your cover is fine. One of the things I really like about the original is when he seems to start getting bent out of shape and carried away and angry. Your cover take it in another direction. It almost seems like a lecture. "Dude, make the best of it. You've got five years."
I spent about $800 in audio equipment yesterday. I bought a $300 audio interface (Tascam stopped making drivers for mine), a pair of $200 headphones, Logic, and a bunch of cables. I am finally setting my recording studio back up (actually I am building a full on sound stage green screen room in the basement, so I can do puppet shows, but I'll still have access to only audio recording).
I'm not a musician by any means, but I am looking forward to doing more spoke word stuff and perhaps some collaborations.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:50 PM on September 2, 2013
I spent about $800 in audio equipment yesterday. I bought a $300 audio interface (Tascam stopped making drivers for mine), a pair of $200 headphones, Logic, and a bunch of cables. I am finally setting my recording studio back up (actually I am building a full on sound stage green screen room in the basement, so I can do puppet shows, but I'll still have access to only audio recording).
I'm not a musician by any means, but I am looking forward to doing more spoke word stuff and perhaps some collaborations.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:50 PM on September 2, 2013
Also, if you have an Apple TV the most recent update gives you access to Vevo. 55 Bowie videos. I spent the day yesterday watching my childhood.
Another Bowie Story (this one is shorter): My cousin used to throw theme parties, like on had an invite that said, "When the toons are over you go home," and we watched Loony Toons and got drunk. I think we watched the final Road Runner that night or something. My memory is hazy.
Anyway, some part he had was "Come as your favorite Bowie." We had Ziggys, Thin White Dukes, crazy assed silver clown, Aladdin Sanes, etc. Bowies drank free. All others paid. Mostly this was an excuse to have Halloween birthday parties that didn't suck (he was born in October).
posted by cjorgensen at 6:16 PM on September 2, 2013
Another Bowie Story (this one is shorter): My cousin used to throw theme parties, like on had an invite that said, "When the toons are over you go home," and we watched Loony Toons and got drunk. I think we watched the final Road Runner that night or something. My memory is hazy.
Anyway, some part he had was "Come as your favorite Bowie." We had Ziggys, Thin White Dukes, crazy assed silver clown, Aladdin Sanes, etc. Bowies drank free. All others paid. Mostly this was an excuse to have Halloween birthday parties that didn't suck (he was born in October).
posted by cjorgensen at 6:16 PM on September 2, 2013
Huh - I went to the challenge playlist, for the convenience, and nothing's showing up there. I think they're all missing the "mefimusicchallenge" tag.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:40 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by Pronoiac at 10:40 PM on September 2, 2013
Huh - I went to the challenge playlist, for the convenience, and nothing's showing up there.
Hmm, that's weird. Somehow I thought that was automatic: if you added the "mefimusicchallenge" tag, it'd just show up there. That's not how it works? Paging cortex and/or pb!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:28 AM on September 3, 2013
Hmm, that's weird. Somehow I thought that was automatic: if you added the "mefimusicchallenge" tag, it'd just show up there. That's not how it works? Paging cortex and/or pb!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:28 AM on September 3, 2013
Huh, I took a look but I can't tell what's going on. Sorry about that. I emailed pb and cortex.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 4:45 AM on September 3, 2013
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 4:45 AM on September 3, 2013
Woah. Kaboomer's version of Moonage Daydream sure blew the cobwebs away this morning. Stonking.
posted by Decani at 6:25 AM on September 3, 2013
posted by Decani at 6:25 AM on September 3, 2013
Hmm, that's weird. Somehow I thought that was automatic: if you added the "mefimusicchallenge" tag, it'd just show up there. That's not how it works?
It's funny, I just started thinking through this in an "oh, man, I bet that's a problem" way out of the blue this weekend while out for a walk with my wife somewhere. It's an artifact of our original assumptions about challenges—that they're one month long and that people would post entries specifically during that month—that in retrospect are a little silly.
So right now the playlist populator just looks for things tagged mefimusicchallenge within the calendar month of the start of the challenge. Fits those assumptions fine, not so much reality now that it's clear that (a) we sometimes formally have longer challenges and (b) stragglers (and even occasional coincidental/prescient I Already Posted Something Like That Last Year folks) will post/tag challenge tracks outside any given window anyway.
I think our easiest fix is to add a new field to the backend for this where we can add the challenge-specific tag as the basis for inclusion in the playlist; if for a given challenge we say tag your song with "mefimusicchallenge" and "foobarbaz", on the admin side we'd add "foobarbaz" as the challenge tag filter and any song tagged with both those tags would show up in the playlist, regardless of when it was posted.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:15 AM on September 3, 2013
It's funny, I just started thinking through this in an "oh, man, I bet that's a problem" way out of the blue this weekend while out for a walk with my wife somewhere. It's an artifact of our original assumptions about challenges—that they're one month long and that people would post entries specifically during that month—that in retrospect are a little silly.
So right now the playlist populator just looks for things tagged mefimusicchallenge within the calendar month of the start of the challenge. Fits those assumptions fine, not so much reality now that it's clear that (a) we sometimes formally have longer challenges and (b) stragglers (and even occasional coincidental/prescient I Already Posted Something Like That Last Year folks) will post/tag challenge tracks outside any given window anyway.
I think our easiest fix is to add a new field to the backend for this where we can add the challenge-specific tag as the basis for inclusion in the playlist; if for a given challenge we say tag your song with "mefimusicchallenge" and "foobarbaz", on the admin side we'd add "foobarbaz" as the challenge tag filter and any song tagged with both those tags would show up in the playlist, regardless of when it was posted.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:15 AM on September 3, 2013
Aaaaand fixed. Because pb's great. Bowie playlist has actual contents now, and I'll go back and amend older challenges in the next little while to make sure stragglers for those aren't being excluded as well.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:27 PM on September 3, 2013
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:27 PM on September 3, 2013
I started listening to these a couple of days ago and they are fantastic. Great job everyone!
posted by bookdragoness at 8:15 AM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by bookdragoness at 8:15 AM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
so cortex, does that mean that each challenge needs a specific tag, and ALL entries need to include that tag, regardless of when they're sent in? I don't know if we've explicitly stated that with every challenge - some months have, some months haven't, depending on the Challengemeister. I don't think I specified one for Ziggy, for example.
posted by dubold at 8:17 AM on September 5, 2013
posted by dubold at 8:17 AM on September 5, 2013
And now I suddenly remember that I actually OWNED Black Tie White Noise. And maybe even that I liked it? I either lost it to the Day-Before-Xmas house robbery or the big break-up with my college BF. hm.
In the meantime, going to check out some of these tunes. :)
posted by epersonae at 4:34 PM on September 6, 2013
In the meantime, going to check out some of these tunes. :)
posted by epersonae at 4:34 PM on September 6, 2013
I used to listen to Bowie albums over and over again until I found things to like about even the weak tracks. Musical Stockholm syndrome? I thought "Jump, They Say" was actually properly good, and "Miracle Goodnight" charming. Some of the others did take a lot of listens... although I would say it was a nice sign as an album that Bowie was getting comfortable with being weird and by his standards unpopular again, after "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down", and then the awkward Tin Machine phase...
I may be a bit of a fanboy
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:07 PM on September 6, 2013
I may be a bit of a fanboy
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:07 PM on September 6, 2013
Now I have another pony. I'm listening to them, and I'm struck by how I have to go through the wrap-up page to add songs to playlists, add favorites, or leave comments. Could we have a clickable list of songs on the singular Challenge pages, like we do on our playlists, or maybe even descriptions, like on members' Music contribution pages?
posted by Pronoiac at 6:12 PM on September 7, 2013
posted by Pronoiac at 6:12 PM on September 7, 2013
FYI: There's a small "link" icon in the player on the Challenge page, between the song length and the volume. It opens up the page for the currently playing song, in a new tab.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:23 PM on September 7, 2013
posted by Pronoiac at 6:23 PM on September 7, 2013
Next year...
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:56 AM on September 18, 2013
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:56 AM on September 18, 2013
Finally finished my cover of Star.
Just absolutely no time to complete it after an early attempt at recording piano like 2 months ago.
It's amazing, albeit a bit scary, how hard it is to spare a few moments for music once life gets in the way.
Now I can finally listen to all the other Bowie challenge songs; it was killing me but I didn't want to spoil it.
posted by chococat at 10:53 PM on September 27, 2013
Just absolutely no time to complete it after an early attempt at recording piano like 2 months ago.
It's amazing, albeit a bit scary, how hard it is to spare a few moments for music once life gets in the way.
Now I can finally listen to all the other Bowie challenge songs; it was killing me but I didn't want to spoil it.
posted by chococat at 10:53 PM on September 27, 2013
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posted by louche mustachio at 4:09 AM on September 2, 2013