WHAT KIND OF DAVID BOWIE ARE YOU?
ArttMann believes it's very important to know where one stands in the great cosmic scheme of things. While it does make one feel exceedingly decrepit (and I'm speaking for myself here, not for Mr. Bowie) to be able to look back on one's misspent youth and realize that one has literally "grown up with" a particular artist– and that there's at least one song for every major period of drama in one's life in the same artists repertoire – it's also exceedingly kewl as well. It gives one a sense of time and place, no?

Once upon a time it was the mind-warping echoes of "Fame" that pushed the young ArttBoyy from casual muzack listener to hard-core museek fanatic. Yes, folks, not just for Bowie, but for music in general, and rock'n'roll in particular!* Period. It can happen that quickly. Oh, and the mind-expanding wonder of "Space Oddity." Yeah! Better than drugs. Well... Ahem! Parents, shield them young'ins before it's too late (like it sadly is now for Arttmann)! So lemme see here, this would be, uh... junior high school. Yikes. A long time ago. And along came Low. Then Heroes. From which ArttBoyy came to know and love Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, both together and seperately. Albums which further accelerated the innocent ArttBoyy's wide-eyed slide into debauchery and moral turpitude.

Jump ahead to high school. 1980. Scary Monsters. OMG. One of the few "pop" albums to ever find a place of honor (much less a place at all) in ArttBoyy's ever -expanding collection of odd and outre museek. Danceable. Singalong-able. Rockin'. Incredible guitar work from the intestimable Carlos Alomar and peripetetic Robert Fripp. Just one great pop song after another, but pop songs with guts. With verve. With depth.

* Actually, there were a few other artists also responsible for this transformation... but alas, most do not merit mention here.

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Later amazing albums include Black Tie White Noise, Outside (which surely ranks among the great concept albums of all time and gave us that unforgettable song made (in)famous in the film Seven, "Hearts Filthy Lesson"), Earthling ("I'm afraid of Americans..."), hours, Heathen and the spectacular Reality. It used to be typical of me that I'd like every second or third DB album. Recently, its been every single one. How is it that Mr. Bowie keeps getting better and better? Did he really make the rumored deal with the Devil?

For ArttMann and all his fans, Bowie truly is the Thin White Duke – the closest thing to royalty and nobility we have in this fast-food, throw-away, gimme-gimme-gimme-what's-next world-wide culture of trash. Which leads me to the test I'm proud to say I took and passed. Well, saying "passed" isn't exactly right. Anyone who takes it passes. But what I'm most pleased about is the result. If there's one David Bowie I'd most like to be like, it's gotta be Berlin-era Bowie!



Find out what kind of David Bowie YOU are!

If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.

– Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826).

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