David Bowie Page 2

It's thirty years ago this week that MTV banned Madonna's Justify My Love video. Back in 1990 it was deemed that chicly shot, arty portrayals of men and women enjoying a bit of casual BDSM in the luxury of a hotel room were all a bit too much for Joe Public to appreciate. Fast forward three decades and we're post Fifty Shades, still amidst a pandemic of none too subtle, highly suggestive twerking in almost every Hip-Hop video and nearly every new gritty drama worth it's weight seems to feel the need to throw in a vivid sex scene, full frontal nudity or even self-abuse. Obviously there is an issue of age ratings and watershed times to be considered when certain platforms make their decisions but we thought it high time we took a look back at five of our favourite, once banned videos. 

David Bowie

David Bowie - The Next Day.

Continue reading: Banned Music Videos: What's All The Fuss About?

Poetry and music have always gone hand in hand, and some of the greatest musicians in the world can also be called fantastic poets. But time and time again artists are inspired by iconic poems; either in fleeting lines, entire verses or the subject matter itself. Here are just a few of our favourite songs which have been influenced by universally adored poetry. 

1. The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie

While the title track from his 1970 album reflects Bowie's struggle with self-identity, the opening verse of the track is based on the opening verse of the 1899 poem Antigonish by Hugh Mearns, from his play The Psycho-ed. The poem is about a ghost that wanders a haunted house, which makes for a startlingly profound thematic comparison between the poem and Bowie's song.

Continue reading: Our Favourite Songs Inspired By The Words Of Poets [Playlist]

The 90s feels like a hundred years ago now, but the movies and music of the decade still stick in our minds, and we still revisit them year after year with a stronger and stronger sense of nostalgia. We're celebrating seven of the most memorable soundtracks of 90s cinema.

1. Lost Highway (1997)

David Lynch movies have never disappointed with their accompanying soundtracks, but Lost Highway has got to be the best. Produced by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, the tracklist features some great alternative tunes as well as original music by Reznor, Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson. Highlights such as David Bowie's I'm Deranged and a unique rendition of I Put a Spell on You by Marilyn Manson make it one of the heaviest and most haunting soundtracks on our list.

Continue reading: Seven Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of The 90s

The truth is out there... and what better way to get your nerd on than by getting in the alien mood with our World UFO Day playlist? Artists have been singing about space and other worlds for decades, and these are just seven of our favourite interstellar tunes.

Credit: Pixabay

E.T. - Katy Perry ft. Kanye West

Continue reading: World UFO Day: The Alien Soundtrack To Your Life

This Friday marks four years since the death of a legend, and the music world is still feeling the terrible loss. Today (January 8th 2020) though, we celebrate what would have been David Bowie's 73rd birthday by putting together a playlist of the greatest songs he's ever released. It's by no means exhaustive, but there are plenty of favourites.

1. Life on Mars?

It's one of his most iconic songs of all time, and we're still not entirely sure what some of the lyrics even mean. Still, it's a masterpiece of songwriting and by far one of the greatest pieces of music to come out of the 70s. It featured on his 1971 fourth album 'Hunky Dory', but was later released as a single to huge popularity.

Continue reading: The Legend Of David Bowie: The Birthday Playlist

We celebrate 45 years since the release of the late David Bowie's masterpiece eighth studio album Diamond Dogs through RCA Records; a record that may be old, but it's artistically and thematically timeless, particularly amid the uncertainty and prejudice that surrounds the current political climate.

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

There isn't a single album by David Bowie that isn't an iconic piece of art, but Diamond Dogs was special in that it was a politically-charged piece of visual theatre - without the visual. Though it wasn't for lack of trying...

Continue reading: Album Of The Week: The 45th Anniversary Of David Bowie's Diamond Dogs

Janelle Monae CONFIRMED FOR Glastonbury

Excitement ahead of Glastonbury 2019 later this summer has increased with the announcement that R&B star Janelle Monáe has been added to the line-up.

Speaking on BBC Radio 6 Music’s breakfast show, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis told host Lauren Laverne that the American singer had been booked to headline the West Holts Stage at the festival, on a night yet to be confirmed.

Continue reading: Music News Round-Up: Janelle Monae To Play Glastonbury; New Foals And James Blake Albums; David Bowie Box Set

To mark what would have been the late pop music icon’s 72nd birthday, Parlophone has revealed details of a new box-set of David Bowie’s rare early recordings, dating from the late Sixties, that have never been released on any physical format.

Bowie’s record label Parlophone announced on Tuesday (January 8th) that it would release a box-set of nine 7” vinyl singles featuring previously unreleased demos dating from the ‘Space Oddity’ era around 1969, some of which eventually appeared on his second self-titled studio album that year. The set, titled Spying Through a Keyhole, will be released on an as-yet-unspecified date this spring.

Although all nine songs were briefly made available on streaming services in December, this will be the first time they’ve ever been released on any physical format.

Continue reading: New Box Set Of David Bowie Rarities Announced

Coachella 2019 LINE-UP REVEALED

The line-up for the 2019 edition of Coachella Festival has been revealed, with the headliners named as Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Ariana Grande.

Coachella is held annually in the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on consecutive weekends in mid-April. In 2019, it’s set to take place on the weekends of April 12th-14th and April 19th-21st, with the three days of acts identical over each weekend.

Continue reading: Music News Round-Up: Coachella 2019 Line-Up Announced, Gary Oldman To Voice Bowie App, UK's Best-Selling Vinyl Revealed

A controversial statue in the town of Aylesbury of the late pop icon David Bowie has been vandalised for the second time in six months.

A 29 year old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage after the statue was defaced with blue paint last Thursday (October 11th). This happened just hours after it had been professionally cleaned and wax, a clean-up job necessitated when the statue was vandalised just 48 hours after it was unveiled back in May this year, with a vandal writing “feed the homeless first” in front of it.

The statue had been the brainchild of music promoter David Stopps, who raised £100,000 for the statue via crowdfunding on top of various grants. Speaking to the BBC, Stopps said the latest vandalism was “so upsetting”.

Continue reading: David Bowie Statue Vandalised For Second Time In Six Months

Westlife REUNION ANNOUNCED

Irish boyband Westlife have called an end to their six-year hiatus and decided to reunite to mark the 20th anniversary of the band’s foundation in 1998.

The quartet will be getting back together for a massive stadium tour of the UK in 2019, and not only that, they’ll be returning with new music too. The group’s manager, Louis Walsh, suggested that they had brought Ed Sheeran on board to write songs for a new Westlife album.

Continue reading: Music News Round-Up: Westlife Reunite, David Bowie's Glastonbury, Grammys Voting Overhaul

David Bowie’s iconic headline set from 2000’s Glastonbury Festival is to be released in full for the first time later this year, as both a live album and DVD.

It’s a performance that went down in history almost instantaneously, but Bowie’s Sunday night closing headline set at Glasto has never before been available.

However, on November 30th, David Bowie Glastonbury 2000 will be released on double CD, DVD, and a triple LP vinyl set, a collaboration between Parlophone Records, BBC Studios, and Glastonbury Festivals Ltd.

Continue reading: David Bowie's 2000 Glastonbury Set Being Released As Live Album

The first known studio recording of the late David Bowie has fetched nearly four times what was estimated at auction this week, selling for nearly £40,000.

The 1963 demo tape of what is believed to be a teenage Bowie singing ‘I Never Dreamed’ with his first band The Konrads, and which was rejected by Decca, was sold by Omega Auctions in north-west England for a total of £39,360 after a “bidding frenzy” between two overseas bidders over the phone on Tuesday (September 11th).

The 18-minute tape was discovered by the band’s drummer, David Hadfield, earlier this year in an old bread basket in his loft. When news of the auction was announced back in July, it had been expected to fetch around £10,000.

Continue reading: First Ever David Bowie Recording Sells At Auction For Nearly £40k

What is thought to be the first ever documented recording by David Bowie, created during his time with a band called the Konrads, is going up for auction this Fall and it's expected to go for thousands. The tape was found by the band's drummer and manager David Hadfield along with a host of other memorabilia.

David Bowie

A studio recording featuring David Bowie (then 16-year-old David Jones) singing a song titled 'I Never Dreamed' was discovered in Hadfield's garage loft in his grandfather's old bread basket back in the 1990s while he was moving house. He now plans to flog the 1963 demo tape for an expected £10,000 at Omega Auctions in September.

Continue reading: David Bowie's First Band Demo To Fetch Thousands At Music Auction

The fourth in a series of career-spanning David Bowie box sets has been revealed by Parlophone, this time taking in the years 1983 to 1988 and titled Loving The Alien, which will include previously unreleased music.

Set to be released on October 21st, the new 15xLP / 11xCD collection, Loving The Alien oversees Bowie’s most commercially successful period and gives Bowie fans the chance to hear previously unreleased live albums and outtakes.

On top of remastered versions of the three studio albums from this era – 1983’s Let’s Dance, 1984’s Tonight and 1987’s Never Let Me Down – there is a previously unheard live album from the well-received Serious Moonlight tour, recorded at Montreal in July 1983.

Continue reading: New David Bowie Box Set 'Loving The Alien' Announced, Featuring Unreleased Music

It's been 41 years exactly since the release of David Bowie's self-titled debut album; an album that no-one realised at the time would be the start of an important evolution in music. It bore no clues of the legendary star's later alter-egos, and is almost unrecognisable next to his later works.

David Bowie 1967

He'd been in six bands when he was a teenager before setting out as a soloist. His first single from his 1967 debut album was 'Rubber Band', to be followed by the novelty single 'The Laughing Gnome' and the album's other single 'Love You till Tuesday'.

Continue reading: Album Of The Week: The Birth Of 'David Bowie'

Billy Corgan is working on 26 new songs as he rediscovers his love for guitar-based music.

The Smashing Pumpkins rocker - whose 2017 solo album 'Ogilala' heavily feature piano, strings and a more acoustic sound - has opened up on his time in the studio as he continues to leave fans in the dark about whether it will be another solo project or a reunion of the 'Tonight, Tonight' group.

Taking to social media over the weekend, he wrote: ''Ok, I misspoke. Today wasn't the last day in studio. More work ahead (lyrics, vocals, strings).

Continue reading: Billy Corgan Working On 26 New Songs

BRIAN MOLKO and Marilyn Manson used to be ''very badly behaved''.

The Placebo frontman may be ''clean and happy'' these days but he admits he used to enjoy wild nights out with the 'Rock is Dead' hitmaker in the 1990s at the height of their success.

He told Kerrang magazine: ''I remember reading 'The Long Road Out Of Hell' [Marilyn Manson's autobiography], and thinking 'This book makes you feel like you want to go out and do very rock n' roll things', but that wasn't a particular inspiration for my lifestyle.

Continue reading: Brian Molko And Marilyn Manson Were 'badly Behaved'

David Bowie has been named as the most popular recording artist of 2016, beating the multi-million selling likes of Adele and Drake, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Following the shocking news of the music icon’s death, which broke in early January 2016, the official body governing the music industry in Britain reports that 1.6 million Bowie albums were either bought or streamed by British listeners in the 12 months of last year, more than any other single artist.

The rediscovery of Bowie’s massive back catalogue, combined with his final album Blackstar that was released just two days before his passing, meant that his sales figures were higher than anybody else.

Continue reading: David Bowie Named As The Most Popular Recording Artist Of 2016 In Britain

After releasing his last album 'Blackstar' in January 2016, and therefore too late to make an impact on the subsequent Grammy Awards, David Bowie is revisited more than a year after his death to smash through this year's music celebrations with a total of five posthumous awards.

David Bowie wins five Grammy Awards

The rock pioneer's number one album landed him Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package and Best Engineered Album at the 59th annual Grammy Awards last night (February 12th 2017), with the title track also winning Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.

Continue reading: David Bowie Is The Posthumous King Of The 2017 Grammys