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Rating:
An Ironic and Electric Pierrot
or "David what should I do? They're waiting for me at the entrance!" "Don't ask me, I know no entrances"
"... a kind of purge. It was me rooting out the feelings from within myself with which I felt uncomfortable. You have to deal with yourself. You have to understand why certain things have happened. You can't just ignore them or push them out of your mind, or pretend they didn't happen, or just say "Oh, I was so different back then". It's very important to face and understand them. It helps to reflect on where you are now."
Yes, but where are we now? To find out, we need to take a step back and confront the past. I'll try to be as brief as possible. In '69, the young David Bowie, mime artist, painter, and singer, achieved success with the single "Space Oddity," from an album of new, slightly orchestral folk. He fell into obscurity for a few years during which he produced the story of a prog asylum entitled "The Man Who Sold The World" ('70) and "Hunky Dory" ('71), a mix of English and Lou Reed-esque decadence with a touch of cabaret. With "The Rise And The Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" ('72), "Aladdin Sane," and "Pin Ups" ('73), he analyzed every nuance of glam, from the symphonic to the hard rock, achieving sudden worldwide success thanks to the saga of his character Ziggy Stardust, a decadent alien descended to save the world but fails due to his sick and excessive costumes; he began various collaborations including a significant one with Lou Reed for "Transformer". In '73 Ziggy dies and transforms into an impressive apocalyptic freak named "Diamond Dogs" ('74), then converts to the plastic soul of "Young Americans" ('75), in the meantime, problems related to drugs and his image paranoia become interesting material for any psychiatrist. In '76 with the transition of "Station To Station," a mania for the occult and totalitarianism is added, and after acting in the reflective "The man who fell to Earth" in total madness in '77 he flees to France and finally to Berlin, whose bleak atmosphere influences the three electronic masterpieces "Low," "Heroes," and "Lodger" ('79), born thanks to the collaboration with Brian Eno and inspired by minimalism, oblique strategies, the thought of Nothingness and Death. During this detoxification process, Bowie subverts the rules of music, the business tied to the cult of image and the expectation from fans.
Now we're in 1980, a new decade is about to begin, yet another decade of musical and cultural changes and follies. Our protagonist is 33 years old, the age of Christ! A symbolic moment, not only because of the turning point and the achieved maturity, but also because, unknowingly, he's at the last important album of a career almost always on the rise, made, as we have just seen, of fundamental albums and boundless experiences. Do you know Hegel's triadic movement (or was it Kant?), roughly summarized as thesis-antithesis-synthesis? Well, this album is like that. If the thesis is Ziggy and the antithesis is the Berlin production, "Scary Monsters" is the synthesis. Didn't understand? Well, neither did I! But how can we fail to understand when we turn on the stereo, hear the pounding of the guitar, and the voice of a Japanese actress saying "Shiruetto ya kage ga kakumei o miteiru mo tengoku no giyu no kaidan wa nai"? How can we fail to understand when Bowie screams like never before and mocks himself right from the start, using once again that fantastic weapon to face the past called irony? These are extraordinary monsters, these silhouettes, and shadows at the end of the decade. This procession of super chills offers us all the previous ten years in ten songs, in a renewed, revolutionary guise, not rusty but frightfully aggressive and original! For the first time in a long time, we hear a David who with naturalness and a satirical approach enjoys himself with his band. There are no ghosts, no fears, no nightmares. The beginning with "It's No Game Part 1" is blazing and violent, then the glam of "Up To The Hill Backwards" and the claustrophobic title track are fought with electric sword strokes. Among other songs, there's "Ashes To Ashes," which is not only the return of "Space Oddity" in the form of futuristic funk that mocks Major Tom, but is also one of my girlfriend's favorite songs, and you can't ask for more than that! We have material to dance to with the new romantic "Fashion," a chart-breaking single, but Bowie mocks and criticizes the new wave generation, as we understand from the dramatic "Teenage Wildlife," a "Heroes" for the new millennium, an intelligent and delirious criticism (it says "one of the New Wave boys," but maybe it doesn't say "one of the No Wave boys"?), equipped with one of the best lyrics and melodies ever written by the ex-White Duke. "Scream Like A Baby," particularly with the sound find of "no athletic program, no discipline, no book...," will make us startle and amaze every time, and after the muted and choral tones of the cover of Tom Verlaine's "Kingdome Come," Bowie resumes an apocalyptic intro and variable rhythms in "Because You're Young." Like in a post-modern frame, this whole game closes in a circle with "It's No Game Part 2," a croonistic and calmer reprise of the first track.
Do you want to know more about the fundamental scope of the work? Perhaps it isn't enough for you to know that from "1.Outside" ('95) onwards all the "graduated critics" claim that each new release is the best since 1980, except for "...hours" and "Reality", the latter isn't even worthy of being on the same shelf (for me, any occasion is good to speak badly of "Reality").
Perhaps you also want to know that Bowie's new look resembles that of a glamorous and wobbly Pierrot (our dear one falls back into the image makeup, luckily this is deliberately comical), the famous video of "Ashes To Ashes" offers a futuristic visual support to the new wave and futuristic interweavings of the album, and thanks to the precious collaborations with Robert Fripp and Pete Townshend we can dive with greater involvement into this ocean of sounds and images, ironic criticisms, and satirical glances at the past... and let's absorb it and enjoy this dive well, because for the next thirteen/fourteen years we won't hear anything so significant again: a more than fertile musical and cultural era has ended, I would say perfect. It is a definitive goodbye to the '70s, to dreams, games, masks, turning points, strokes of genius, sound tricks, music made just for making music. If we look back, we see sun machines, supermen, whore queens, spaceships, and aliens armed with guitars and makeup, hell cities, coke stripes, thin white stations, crazy keyboards, and finally a Pierrot listening to a shoe... but it's time to look ahead, even if "the rest is boredom," as the poet said.
"Teenage Wildlife" translation taken from velvet goldmine
"Well, how do you explain that you only want tomorrow
With its promise
Of something hard to do
A real-life adventure
Is worth more than gold
Blue skies above you,
Sun on your arms
And the strength in your stride
And hope in those clear screaming eyes of yours
You'll receive a cold reception
Wherever you go
Blinded by desire
- I guess the season is open
So you practice fighting shadows, seeking the truth
But it's all, but it's all consumed
You've destroyed
Your million-dollar weapon
And still, you abuse, still you abuse,
still you abuse your luck
You're a magnate with a broken nose
One of the new wave boys
The same old story in a new disguise
Pushing itself forward, oh - ooh
Ugly as a millionaire kid
Pretending
It's a world of prodigy kids
You'll take me aside and say
"Well, David, what should I do?
They're waiting for me at the entrance"
I'll say, "Don't ask me, I know no entrances"
But they move en masse and corner me
I feel like I'm going against the flow, no-no
They can't do this to me
I'm not part
of that herd of juveniles
Those midwives of the past wear bloody robes
The password is that the prey is out there alone
You're alone maybe for the last time
And you breathe deeply
Then howl like a trapped wolf
And you do not dare look back
You fall to the ground
like a leaf from a tree
And you look one last time
towards the vast blue sky
You scream loudly as they take you down
No no, I'm not part
of this herd of juveniles
I'm not part
of this herd of juveniles
And no one will have seen
and no one will confess
The footprints will prove
that you wouldn't have made it
There will be others in line
to archive the past,
Whispering softly
I miss you, he just had to go
Well everyone for themselves, he was
Another piece of the herd of juveniles"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Up the Hill Backwards (03:15)
The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom
And the possibilities it seems to offer
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
A series of shocks - sneakers fall apart
Earth keeps on rolling - witnesses falling
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
Yea, yea, yea - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright ooo-ooo
While we sleep they go to work
We're legally crippled it's the death of love
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
More idols than realities ooo-ooo
I'm OK, you're so-so ooo-ooo
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
Yea, yea, yea - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright ooo-ooo
03 Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (05:12)
She had an horror of rooms she was tired you can't hide beat
When I looked in her eyes they were blue but nobody home
She could've been a killer if she didn't walk the way she do, and she do
She opened strange doors that we'd never close again
She began to wail jealousies scream
Waiting at the light know what I mean
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
She asked me to stay and I stole her room
She asked for my love and I gave her a dangerous mind
Now she's stupid in the street and she can't socialise
Well I love the little girl and I'll love her till the day she dies
She wails
Jimmy's guitar sound jealousies scream
Waiting at the light know what I mean
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Scary monsters, super creeps
Keep me running, running scared
Oh oh woh-oh
Oh, oh-oh-oh oh
Oh oh oh, oh oh
04 Ashes to Ashes (04:25)
Do you remember a guy that's been
In such an early song
I've heard a rumour from Ground Control
Oh no, don't say it's true
They got a message from the Action Man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too
I've loved all I've needed to love
Sordid details following"
The shrieking of nothing is killing
Just pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light but no smoking pistol
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
My mother said to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom
05 Fashion (04:49)
There's a brand new dance
But I don't know it's name
That people from bad homes
Do again and again
It's big and it's bland
Full of tension and fear
They do it over there
But we don't do it here
Fashion - Turn to the left
Fashion - Turn to the right
Ooh Fashion
We are the goon squad
And we're coming to town
Beep-beep - Beep-beep
Listen to me - Don't listen to me
Talk to me - Don't talk to me
Dance with me - Don't dance with me
No - Beep-beep
There's a brand new talk
But it's not very clear
Ooh bop
That people from good homes
Are talking this year
Ooh bop - Fashion
It's loud and it's tasteless
I've not heard it before
Ooh bop
Shout it while you're dancing
On the -er dance floor
Ooh bop Fashion
Fashion - Turn to the left
Fashion - Right
Fashion
We are the goon squad
And we're coming to town
Beep-beep
Listen to me - Don't listen to me
Talk to me - Don't talk to me
Dance with me - Don't dance with me
No - Beep-beep - Beep-beep
Oop bop - do do do do do do do do
Fa fa fa fa fashion
la la la la la la la
06 Teenage Wildlife (06:56)
Well, how come you only want tomorrow
With its promise of something hard to do
A real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold
Blue skies above, sun on your arms strength in your stride
And hope in those squeaky clean eyes
You'll get chilly receptions everywhere you go
Blinded with desire - I guess the season is on
So you trade by shadow boxing, search for the truth
But it's all, but it's all used up
Break open your million dollar weapon
And push your luck, still you push, still you push your luck
A broken nosed mogul are you
One of the new wave boys
Same old thing in brand new drag
Comes sweeping into view, oh-ooh
As ugly as a teenage millionaire
Pretending it's a whizz kid world
You'll take me aside, and say
"Well, David, what shall, shall I do?
They wait for me in the hallway"
I'll say "Don't ask me, I don't know any hallways"
But they move in numbers and they've got me in a corner
And I feel like a group of one, no-no
They can't do this to me
I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife
Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes
And the word is that the hunted one is out there on his own
And you're alone for maybe the last time
And you breathe for a long time
Then you howl like a wolf in a trap
And you daren't look behind
You fall to the ground like a leaf from the tree
And look up one time at that vast blue sky
Scream out aloud as they shoot you down
No no, I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
And no one will have seen and no one will confess
The fingerprints will prove that you couldn't pass the test
There'll be others on the line filing past, who'll whisper low
'I miss you he had to go'
Well each to his own, he was
Another piece of teenage wildlife, oh-oh-oh-ohh
Another piece of teenage wildlife, oh-oh-oh-ohh
Another piece of teenage wild...
Life
Wild - Life
Wild - Life
Wild - Life
08 Kingdom Come (03:45)
Well I walked in the pouring rain
And I heard a voice that cries "It's all in vain"
The voice of doom was shining in my room
I just need one day somewhere far away
Lord I just need one day
Well I'll be breaking these rocks
And cutting this hay
Yes I'll be breaking these rocks
What's my price to pay
Well the river's so muddy, but it may come clear
And I know too well what's keeping me here
I'm just the slave of a burning ray
Oh give me the night, I can't take another sight
Please, please give me the night
Well I'll be breaking these rocks
And cutting this hay
Yes I'll be breaking these rocks
What's my price to pay
Sun keeps beating down on me, wall's a mile high
Up in the tower they're watching me hoping I'm gonna die
I won't be breaking no rocks
I said I wont be breaking no rocks
(I won't be breaking no rocks) Oh-oh-oh
(I won't be breaking no rocks) Oh-oh-oh
(I won't be breaking no rocks)
When the kingdom comes
When the kingdom comes
When the kingdom comes
When the kingdom comes
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Other reviews
By Mr_Iko
"Scary Monster represents a fundamental step in the Duke’s artistic career."
"Listening to it even today, it resounds fresh, lively, and sharper than ever."
By bogusman
Bowie says goodbye forever to his characters; for the catharsis to work, it’s necessary to bring them all back to life together.
Nothing to criticize about the conceptual/sonic depth of the work, too bad that the songwriting, although varied, doesn’t always meet the expectations.
