Well, that was a surprise. People woke up today expecting there to be little news (it is, after all, a dull Tuesday in January), and BAM! there it was. David Bowie, 65 years old today, is making music again.
You might think that being 65 discounts Bowie from being able to return back to the world of music and climb up the charts. He might require a Stenna stairlift for them rather than being able to climb that ladder of his own volition, but then again we’re in a post-reunion world.
If cherubic boyband Take That can come back and steal the hearts of the female population, and if the Rolling Stones can still (somehow) manage to sell out gigs despite half of them needing assistance on and off the stage, then there’s no reason why the madness of David Bowie can’t somehow stick. It’ll be glorious to see whether he decides to go the whole hog and try out the Ziggy Stardust crossdressing again at his age.
Bowie’s become a doyen of the British cultural world. He’s widely respected and well thought of, so you’d have to think that he’s not just coming back for the money or the fame. He must have something he feels important to present to the world, and though his new single, ‘Where Are We Now?’ is a little bit…meh, fans are rightly excited to see more from him when the album, The Next Day, drops in March.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FOyDTy9DtHQ
But while we’re all salivating over the adrogynous one, spare a thought for poor Suede, another ageing British icon (albeit of lesser repute).
They chose today to try and relaunch their stale careers. This was their big comeback. It’d been planned for months, and they hoped that the usual Tuesday vaccuum of worthwhile news might allow them to propel themselves towards fame, fortune and a successful return to the music world.
They hadn’t accounted for Bowie gazumping them.
If you’re psyched about Bowie coming back, then maybe while you pre-order Bowie’s album off Amazon today, also put Suede’s new one in your basket too. Otherwise they’ll go through the rest of their lives being nothing more than a historical footnote: the band that made a big bluster about returning and played to deaf ears because behind them the musical equivalent of a bunch of raging hot lesbians were making out and getting naked.