David Bowie - Low

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK:

David Bowie - Low

This week’s Recommendation of the Week is an album that influenced an entire musical movement. Low by David Bowie was the first part of his “Berlin” trilogy that he did with Brian Eno. It was a huge shift from his “Young Americans” era. This saw Bowie get much more experimental in sound, darker and more cynical. The trilogy of "Low", "Heroes", and "Lodger" would not just inspire the next generation of music to come… its Dadaist imagery would fuel it.

After working with Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and others throughout the mid-70s, Bowie was feeling very down and disillusioned with it. With the success of “Ziggy Stardust” and “Young Americans”, he was now Rock royalty and a Superstar, ushering in the Glam era and shattering industry “masculinity norms” and unthinkable “gender” boundaries and possibilities.

Bowie still longed for more and wanted change.

Bowie and Iggy Pop moved to France in 1976 to “cure” their drug addictions. During this time, Bowie help Iggy produce “The Idiot”, and later “Lust For Life”, his solo masterpieces, which with chaotic dance and electronic influence shifted Iggy Pop’s music away from The Stooges era into his own. 

Bowie left France, and teamed with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, being heavily enchanted and influenced by Krautrock such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can and Neu!. These new influences and sound helped them create an ambient, colder, darker avant-garde soundscape for the “new” David Bowie. His label thought that these sessions would be a failure, but upon release, they immediately resonated with a new generation.

“Low” was the favorite of Ian Curtis (Joy Division), his musical muse. The Brutalist and Dadaist Cold War imagery were instrumental in the founding of Joy Division. Their first band name, Warsaw, was in homage to Bowie’s “Warszawa”, found on this album. Siouxsie Sioux and The Banshees cited “Low” as a key influence on the chaotic nature of their music. Bauhaus, along with so many others, found profound influence in the ambient dissonance of “Low”, really connecting with its drab imagery of a decaying, dystopian Europe.

With this influence and the rise of Punk, Post-Punk would develop through angry punk attitude, but would be rooted in thoughtful self-reflection, disillusionment, and hopeless disenfranchisement. This mood would be the theme as these kids were growing up in a Post War, Cold War hell, with little to no hope of the future coming. Nuclear fears, crumbling economies, and decaying infrastructure fueled these dark attitudes, tensely escalating through the anger and frustration over the failed Brutalist architecture and grim scenery of the industrial cities of the UK, East Germany, Eastern Europe, and New York City, which was rapidly falling into the depths of hell. Crime rates rose, but unemployment rates grew faster, fueled by the wealthy exploiting the poor at levels not seen before. 

If not destruction and chaos, then art and music were the only outlets for this frustration, as society was on the brink. From these conditions, we would see the development of Post-Punk, Post Rock, No Wave and Goth Music… all a complete backlash to the norms of a failing society.

“Low” would go on to become a landmark masterpiece, and one of Bowie’s finest. “Sound and Vision” would become a minor hit, with its danceable pop themes, layered with cold dissonant chaos. This album is a concept, a dark ambient story of a decaying world, and should be listened to that way, from start to finish. It is such a great album and really gives you a sense and feel of the tension, particularly as it reaches its close, of the nature of Cold War West vs Cold War East. It feels like it rides right on top of the Berlin Wall, dipping in and out of two worlds.

The influence, or should I say chaos, which came from Cold War Europe in the aftermath of World War II, is something that still lives with us today. So many of the storylines of our World’s corruption, division and chaos finds its roots embed in the construction and eventual destruction of The Berlin Wall. 

David Bowie was very much on to this... he saw and felt something… a mood, a disillusionment, a tension filling and choking out the decaying cities of Europe. He was well ahead of his time every step of the way. Few have influenced more that Bowie. The “Berlin” Trilogy, and in particular, “Low”, may be his greatest achievement and influence… and certainly one that continues to resonate deeply with us today.

Essential Track: "Warszawa"