Kategorie: Musik

  • David Bowie

    David Bowie

    Heute morgen habe ich zum ersten mal David Bowie’s erstes Album von 1967 gehört, um mich vor der Unterhaltung meiner Nachbarinnen im Coworking Space abzugrenzen. Das ist jetzt fast 60 jahre her und deutlich vor meiner Zeit. Bowies Debüt stammt aus einer Phase, in der er noch nicht der spätere Bowie war, den man meist mit Glam, Berlin-Trilogie oder dem grossen Pop der 80er verbindet – eher ein frühes Dokument eines Künstlers, der seine Form noch sucht.

    Krass, dass 2026 bereits sein 10. Todestag ist. Mein Lieblingsalbum ist The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – es erschien ein Jahr bevor ich geboren wurde. Ich höre es ab und zu von Anfang bis Ende. Auch deshalb, weil wirklich jeder Song gut ist – was bei einem Album selten der Fall ist.

    Ziggy ist dabei nicht einfach ein Look oder eine Phase, sondern eine Kunstfigur mit narrativer Logik. Bowie wird oft als «Chamäleon» beschrieben, weil er Sound und Ästhetik ständig verändert hat. Aber hinter diesen Wechseln steckt mehr als Stil: Rollenarbeit, Perspektiven, Inszenierung – und ein sehr bewusstes Spiel damit, wie Identität im Pop überhaupt konstruiert wird. In diesem Sinn war Bowie ein Storyteller, der nicht nur Texte schrieb, sondern ganze Welten baute.

    Ich habe mir vorgenommen alle seine Alben komplett durchhören – mal sehen, ob Ziggy Stardust mein Lieblingsalbum bleibt. Was ist deines?

  • Sleep Now in the Fire

    Sleep Now in the Fire

    The recording of this music video by one of my favorite bands of the 90s forced the New York Stock Exchange to close in 2000. It’s been almost 19 years since Rage Against The Machine teamed up with documentarian and political activist Michael Moore for this video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI

    The band – Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk – all climb the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial and begin to play.

    There’s a man walking around with a ‘Donald Trump For President 2000’ placard. Who, in their right mind, would elect him into office?

    Scene from the Rage Against the Machine music video

    The «funny» thing is that in 2000 also the Simpsons «predicted» Trump as president.

    The Simpsons Episode from the year 2000

    But back to Michael Moore: His latest political documentary  released in September 2018 is about the 2016 United States presidential election and the subsequent presidency of Donald Trump. The film had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

    Have you seen it? What do you think?

    (Main picture courtesy of Andreas Horstmann)

  • Dark Necessities

    Dark Necessities

    I still remember listening to Dani California from the album Stadium Arcadium at considerably high volume driving to my Zürich office at Klangwerk during spring 2006, two weeks before the album’s official release on May 9.  It became the second song in history (after R.E.M.’s 1994 hit What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?) to debut at number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, where it spent fourteen straight weeks topping the chart. The single also charted at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock charts.

    I also still remember how fans complained that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had deviated from their original style and became too main stream. It was obviously a different style, but they always stayed true to their roots and I loved the new album. John Frusciante’s one-minute guitar solo at the end of Dani California is an adaption of Jimi Hendrix‘ intro to Purple Haze, with the effects kept very close to the original.

    Picture courtesy of redhotchilipeppers.com
    Picture courtesy of redhotchilipeppers.com

    The music video was directed by Tony Kaye, director of American History X, the video is a quasi-chronology of the evolution of rock music. The band performs the song on a stage, but in a variety of outfits representing important figures and movements in the history of rock, with band members having transformed to famous musicians (in some countries you might need a VPN to watch the official video below).

    Today, it’s again two weeks before the official release of a new album on June 17, 2016: The Getaway. Yesterday night I listened to the official audio of The Getaway and Dark Necessities on the band’s YouTube channel for the first time, the latter of which I like most.

    According to an interview with lead singer Anthony Kiedis the little girl and the three animals on the cover picture above represent the four band members, Anthony being the crow.

    Red Hot Chili Peppers Holi
    Picture courtesy of redhotchilipeppers.com