Popular musics and aftershocks…
Speaking of Kanye West, (06.12.2009 NEWS: VIDZONE LAUNCHES FOR THE PS3) there’s an article by Mark Asch that was posted last month over on the
In the piece Asch attempts to demonstrate that hip-hop is the dominant form of today?s American popular music by comparing the careers of aforementioned pop people.
Here’s a paragraph of Bowie history from the article…
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David Bowie was, and still probably is, rock?s great changeling, starting out as a folkie in a frock, getting psychedelic and stargazing, bringing in Mick Ronson for power chords, glamming up, delving into Brecht-and-Weill cabaret pop, and that?s just the early ?70s. But it was more than just the chameleonic role-playing?the Thin White Duke just kept ingesting music, making it a part of his discography, and thus, because of his rock star status, demanding that his influences be taken seriously as rock. (And demanding that a dramatic cycle?the ?rock opera??be taken for granted as a natural structure for three-minute pop songs.)
He revived a garage-rocker?s career, made some blue-eyed soul records, and then, when the coke caught up to him, listened to some Brian Eno, chilled out, and made the Berlin Trilogy. Hoo boy, the Berlin trilogy. Ambient or otherwise experimental music?s texture and krautrock?s inscrutable rigor?it?s still a head trip. And it cleared Bowie?s mindset so right that he spent most of the ?80s knocking out assured dance-pop hits, bringing aboard a rotating cast of comparatively short-lived (career-wise) stars to make the records glitter.
Those of us who grew up on ?90s alternative radio have strong memories of Bowie?s dalliance with Trent Reznor, but aside from his industrial buzz bin, he saw a lot of stuff coming, particularly the futuristic placelessness of dance music. (Not really surprising.) Now, aside from the occasional experimental one-off?no more planting a flag in a genre and claiming it for the rock canon?he mostly patronizes indie rockers like Arcade Fire and Secret Machines.
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You can read the full thing