by Hayley Charlesworth
David Bowie has always been an inventor: his numerous stage personas are rivalled by no-one and he left an indelible mark on the musical landscape. He is also no stranger to cinema, starring in films as diverse as Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Last Temptation of Christ, by way of an amazing Zoolander cameo. But the marrying of these two skills is best seen in his consistently inventive music videos, so innovative and cinematic that they could be considered short films in their own right.
The Classics
There are many, many videos that could be considered for this, due to Bowie’s constantly inventive music career, but in the interests of length, we are only selecting four from his pre-2013 career. Which always leaves us open to revisit Bowie, and who doesn’t want that!
David Bowie has always been an inventor: his numerous stage personas are rivalled by no-one and he left an indelible mark on the musical landscape. He is also no stranger to cinema, starring in films as diverse as Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Last Temptation of Christ, by way of an amazing Zoolander cameo. But the marrying of these two skills is best seen in his consistently inventive music videos, so innovative and cinematic that they could be considered short films in their own right.
The Classics
There are many, many videos that could be considered for this, due to Bowie’s constantly inventive music career, but in the interests of length, we are only selecting four from his pre-2013 career. Which always leaves us open to revisit Bowie, and who doesn’t want that!
Jazzin’ for Blue Jean
The four minute video for Blue Jean actually comes from the 20 minute short Jazzin’ For Blue Jean, so in this instance we are actually looking at a short film. Directed by Julien Temple, Jazzin For Blue Jean is the story of hapless Vic (Bowie), as he tries to win over a girl by claiming to know her favourite rock star Screaming Lord Byron (also Bowie), combining romantic poet Lord Byron with legendary punk rocker Screaming Lord Sutch. But the best bit of the whole video is when Bowie as Vic breaks character to ask the director why he changed his story concept. The full length video also plays Don’t Look Down (which along with Blue Jean, is on the album Tonight) and Warsawa, from the album Low, while the dialogue pokes fun at Bowie’s drug abuse, the growing commercialisation of his music, and most blatantly, groupies.
The four minute video for Blue Jean actually comes from the 20 minute short Jazzin’ For Blue Jean, so in this instance we are actually looking at a short film. Directed by Julien Temple, Jazzin For Blue Jean is the story of hapless Vic (Bowie), as he tries to win over a girl by claiming to know her favourite rock star Screaming Lord Byron (also Bowie), combining romantic poet Lord Byron with legendary punk rocker Screaming Lord Sutch. But the best bit of the whole video is when Bowie as Vic breaks character to ask the director why he changed his story concept. The full length video also plays Don’t Look Down (which along with Blue Jean, is on the album Tonight) and Warsawa, from the album Low, while the dialogue pokes fun at Bowie’s drug abuse, the growing commercialisation of his music, and most blatantly, groupies.
Space Oddity (Original 1969 Video)
While the re-release of Space Oddity on the album of the same title is the one that launched Bowie onto the world stage, it is the video for the original 1969 version, from the promotional film Love You ‘Til Tuesday, that is spectacular. This epic interstellar story came just a year after the masterpiece of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but is more in keeping with B-movie sci-fis, with its use of vintage, practical special effects and a big-haired woman, to name but a few. Made at a point before Bowie had really become Bowie, it nevertheless displays his talent for invention and innovation.
While the re-release of Space Oddity on the album of the same title is the one that launched Bowie onto the world stage, it is the video for the original 1969 version, from the promotional film Love You ‘Til Tuesday, that is spectacular. This epic interstellar story came just a year after the masterpiece of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but is more in keeping with B-movie sci-fis, with its use of vintage, practical special effects and a big-haired woman, to name but a few. Made at a point before Bowie had really become Bowie, it nevertheless displays his talent for invention and innovation.
Life on Mars
According to legendary Bowie photographer (and director of this video) Mick Rock, David absolutely hated his make-up in what is his greatest ever song. You could argue with me that other songs are better, but you would be wrong. The video is on the surface a standard performance video, with Bowie singing directly into camera in a delightfully 70s turquoise suit. But the white background, high contrast lighting, and cinematographic choices, particularly the framing of shots, lend a more surreal edge to the scene that is in keeping with the lyrics.
According to legendary Bowie photographer (and director of this video) Mick Rock, David absolutely hated his make-up in what is his greatest ever song. You could argue with me that other songs are better, but you would be wrong. The video is on the surface a standard performance video, with Bowie singing directly into camera in a delightfully 70s turquoise suit. But the white background, high contrast lighting, and cinematographic choices, particularly the framing of shots, lend a more surreal edge to the scene that is in keeping with the lyrics.
Ashes to Ashes
While the song serves as a sequel of sorts to Space Oddity, the video introduces us to Bowie’s Pierrot the Clown character, one so iconic that it actually became a character in the first series of the TV show of the same name. The madness of Major Tom is emphasised by sequences set in a large, padded room, while the clown wanders Mars surrounded by a clan of women dressed in mournful, almost religious black outfits. He later enters further recognisable typical science-fiction settings, playing with the tropes of the genre to an even greater extent than Space Oddity did, with the negative exposure setting on the Mars scenes in a stark contrast to the realism of the asylum.
While the song serves as a sequel of sorts to Space Oddity, the video introduces us to Bowie’s Pierrot the Clown character, one so iconic that it actually became a character in the first series of the TV show of the same name. The madness of Major Tom is emphasised by sequences set in a large, padded room, while the clown wanders Mars surrounded by a clan of women dressed in mournful, almost religious black outfits. He later enters further recognisable typical science-fiction settings, playing with the tropes of the genre to an even greater extent than Space Oddity did, with the negative exposure setting on the Mars scenes in a stark contrast to the realism of the asylum.
The New Stuff
The renaissance of David Bowie has been a joy for the ears, but not only that, he has hit a new creative peak in terms of his music video output. His every release from the album The Next Day (and remix album The Next Day Extra) has featured a diverse narrative and cinematic technique. For the purposes of length, we are leaving off the videos for Where Are We Now? and I’d Rather Be High.
The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Another of the music videos, like Jazzin for Blue Jean, that can actually be considered a short film is that for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), which also settles the long held mystery of “are David Bowie and Tilda Swinton the same person?” The Stars (Are Out Tonight) sees Bowie and Swinton play a late-middle-aged domestic couple, at odds with and lured into the seduction of youth, epitomised by a young female singer stylised to resemble Bowie’s Thin White Duke, and also two strange, Jabberwocky-esque creatures who can control the couple like puppets. Both effortlessly cool and unnerving, The Stars (Are Out Tonight) makes full use of jerky editing to create it’s unsettling atmosphere.
The renaissance of David Bowie has been a joy for the ears, but not only that, he has hit a new creative peak in terms of his music video output. His every release from the album The Next Day (and remix album The Next Day Extra) has featured a diverse narrative and cinematic technique. For the purposes of length, we are leaving off the videos for Where Are We Now? and I’d Rather Be High.
The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Another of the music videos, like Jazzin for Blue Jean, that can actually be considered a short film is that for The Stars (Are Out Tonight), which also settles the long held mystery of “are David Bowie and Tilda Swinton the same person?” The Stars (Are Out Tonight) sees Bowie and Swinton play a late-middle-aged domestic couple, at odds with and lured into the seduction of youth, epitomised by a young female singer stylised to resemble Bowie’s Thin White Duke, and also two strange, Jabberwocky-esque creatures who can control the couple like puppets. Both effortlessly cool and unnerving, The Stars (Are Out Tonight) makes full use of jerky editing to create it’s unsettling atmosphere.
The Next Day
Bowie was known for controversy in his early career, and he has not lost the knack now. Receiving a mixed reception, The Next Day is a blatant and star-studded take on blasphemy. With Gary Oldman as a violent preacher, Marion Cotillard as a prostitute with stigmata, and Bowie cast as a prophet (perhaps even Jesus himself), the video is bound to have its detractors. But even so, the video has a narrative arc, and its filmic choices reflect how seedy and controversial the subject matter is intended to be.
Bowie was known for controversy in his early career, and he has not lost the knack now. Receiving a mixed reception, The Next Day is a blatant and star-studded take on blasphemy. With Gary Oldman as a violent preacher, Marion Cotillard as a prostitute with stigmata, and Bowie cast as a prophet (perhaps even Jesus himself), the video is bound to have its detractors. But even so, the video has a narrative arc, and its filmic choices reflect how seedy and controversial the subject matter is intended to be.
Valentine’s Day
Overblown and star-studded as The Next Day is, Valentine’s Day is possibly the most subtle thing Bowie has ever created. On the surface, it looks like a standard performance video. Bowie is alone in an abandoned warehouse with his guitar, singing to the camera. But pay careful attention to both the lyrics and the split-second flashes of something different, and you get something altogether more effective, and violent. Valentine’s Day is a song detailing a school shooting, and if you pay careful attention, you can pick out moments such as the shadow of a rifle, Bowie briefly holding his guitar like a gun, a bullet leaving the chamber and other flashes of implied, but never overt, violent imagery. It is a stunning exercise in subtext, combined brilliantly with Bowie’s increasingly angry delivery.
Overblown and star-studded as The Next Day is, Valentine’s Day is possibly the most subtle thing Bowie has ever created. On the surface, it looks like a standard performance video. Bowie is alone in an abandoned warehouse with his guitar, singing to the camera. But pay careful attention to both the lyrics and the split-second flashes of something different, and you get something altogether more effective, and violent. Valentine’s Day is a song detailing a school shooting, and if you pay careful attention, you can pick out moments such as the shadow of a rifle, Bowie briefly holding his guitar like a gun, a bullet leaving the chamber and other flashes of implied, but never overt, violent imagery. It is a stunning exercise in subtext, combined brilliantly with Bowie’s increasingly angry delivery.
Love is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix)
There are two videos for this track from The Next Day Extra, the first for the full 10 minute remix, and the second for a cut down, more radio-friendly track. The first video is a technical marvel, and also incredibly sexy. It displays in a painstaking process the animation of two figures, a man and a woman, from the initial vectors that make up their bodies, to their basic computer generated figures, to them looking completely human. Naked, the two figures have sex, and as they lose themselves in the throes of passion, the animation begins to disintegrate, until eventually the two are dissolved back into their vector lines, the footage interspersed with flashes of Bowie’s face. The whole video is gorgeous, if a bit adult, and displays true technical skill.
There are two videos for this track from The Next Day Extra, the first for the full 10 minute remix, and the second for a cut down, more radio-friendly track. The first video is a technical marvel, and also incredibly sexy. It displays in a painstaking process the animation of two figures, a man and a woman, from the initial vectors that make up their bodies, to their basic computer generated figures, to them looking completely human. Naked, the two figures have sex, and as they lose themselves in the throes of passion, the animation begins to disintegrate, until eventually the two are dissolved back into their vector lines, the footage interspersed with flashes of Bowie’s face. The whole video is gorgeous, if a bit adult, and displays true technical skill.
The second video for the cut down remix is incredibly low budget in comparison, but is nevertheless effective due to its immense atmosphere. The video, created by Bowie himself, is utterly terrifying. Taking place almost entirely in the dark, we see three Bowies: the current Bowie, constantly washing his hands in an obsessive motion, Bowie’s face projected onto a doll of Pierrot the Clown from Ashes to Ashes (made even more brilliant when the riff of that song works its way into the remix.) This doll, frozen in place apart from its expression, hands, and tapping feet, is stalked, slowly and sinisterly, by a wooden carving of Bowie’s Thin White Duke character. The effect is quietly, subtly frightening, making the repeated phrase of “what have you done?” in the song a haunting refrain.
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