I really don't like or get "Fashion." It's bothered me since I first heard it in 1979.
Now, the title of this post is "Real Bowie Fans Preferred" because, I am sure I am not the only one who doesn't like "Fashion." But I am not looking for the casual Bowie fan who is ready to proclaim his distaste for everything since "Ziggy Stardust," or the obligatory cheap shot from a Bowie hater. I am looking for the Bowie fan who has stuck around through "Never Let Me Down" and "Dancing In The Streets" and who, like me, can find the good in Tin Machine. If you are that person, tell me what you think of "Fashion?"
I don't like the production, or the lyrics---it lost me on the very first line, "there's a brand new dance." Even Bowie's phrasing is odder than usual--"Shouting on the-UH UH dance floor." Then, the clincher is that awful chant at the end-- "Ooh ah, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, fa-fa-fa-fa-Fashion, la-la-la-la-ooh."
How the hell was this a hit and fan favorite? I find it all so cringe-making.
27 comments:
I’ve always felt ‘Fashion’ to be the weakest track on ‘Scary Monsters’ (and by a large margin) and now thanks to technology I’m able to bypass it easily. And I recall listening to the first Tin Machine album quite a lot upon its release. Will have to give it a listen today.
"There's a brand new dance but I don't know its name..." you know he just had a riff or stole one, that's rock & roll,kiddies. This isn't my least favourite Bowie "hit" (I think the award goes to "Space Oddity"), but it IS waaay down there... but "cringe-making"? Nope!
It's got a good beat and you can dance to it (even though it's got a non-danceable guitar solo) and it has instructions "turn to the left! Right!) I give it an 85, Dick Clark.
It's always reminded me of the coked-up days of Studio 54 (not that I was part of it...)
Not my most favorite Bowie track on that album, certainly, but not terrible either.
Robert Fripp's guitar solo on Fashion is pretty cool. I like the song and the whole album.
Jeez, I forgot about the "beep beeps."
The guitar solo/break is about the best thing in it. I never came around to Scary Monsters as a whole. If there's one record where Bowie sounds forced, it's this one.
I'm been a Bowie fan since the mid-70s and have pretty much every note he ever released (and lots he didn't). "Fashion" is a fantastic single, a great song, and a great dance tune, for all the reasons quoted above as reasons why the op doesn't like it. I'm going to assume that the original dislike comes from a "disco sucks" mindset, though I could be wrong. The whole anti-disco movement now feels racist and homophobic. The real kicker for me, for the song, though, is how seamlessly it equates the dogmatism of "fashion" with that of politics, especially the right-wing kind (though that last could be my interpretation.... "fashion" and "fascism" are pretty similar-sounding words, after all. (And he doesn't say "shouting on the dance floor".) And it's clearly intended as a companion piece for "Fame".
At any rate, I don't know if it's in my top 10 Bowie tracks, but I love it (and it's video).
i like it, always have, and i have been listening to bowie since 74. i think the beep beeps and the chant at the end work very well with the song's purpose, which i have always thought was about the mindless, snobbish, vacuity of social scenes that turn on trendiness, posturing, and exclusion of those who can't afford or don't get to the new thing in time. the beep and the chants emphasize the robotic, unthinking forward movement of the trendoids; the beat suggests a steady unthinking movement forward to whatever is next and fripp's playing implies an industrial dystopian soundtrack that would serve as a warning if anyone listened. instead they give commands (listen/don't listen etc) and engage in inexplicable behavior (beep beep/chants) because that's what passes for thought and accomplishment.
i thought it particularly interesting when he played fashion and let's dance back to back on the serious moonlight tour.
not his best song, but i find it a thoughtful and enjoyable one.
Hi Naz,
Welcome. I don't recall you commenting before, but if you've been a reader, you'd know I am not of the "Disco Sucks" world. Not by a long shot. I don't hear disco at all in "Fashion," except for the repeated thud of the bass drum. But that aside, I'd be the first to admit, I am all about the record first and the song second. I hear the music and the sounds first. Subject matter tends to come later. The "sound" of "Fashion" always irked me, as did most of Scary Monsters, from Bowie's laughable over-enuciating on the Tom Verlaine cover, which ruins it to my ears, to the vocals on "Up The Hill Backwards," which again, seem to exist only to annoy. Even "Lodger," admittedly one of Bowie's strangest, feels organic. "Scary Monsters" feels synthetic. After The Beatles, Bowie is my favorite artist, so this isn't just me winding things up on a Monday. I was listening to "Scary Monsters" last night, and I surprised myself by how much of it left me cold.
To paraphrase Irving Berlin, "Popular music is popular because people like it." "Fashion" was a hit, so I may be alone in my thinking here. Won't be the last time.
I’ve always been a fan who dig through the dirt to find the gems in his later career although I never warmed up to any of the Tin Machine stuff. I always had positive feelings about Fashion. My second favorite after Ashes.... it may be attributed to dancing to it like a big idiot out of my mind on something or order. Ah. Good times.
Huh. I've never thought about it but like most critics I'm probably a song first/record second kind of guy. It all starts with the lyrics. Not that I've ever been lyrically obsessive or worried w figuring out what a song "means." In general, I can't remember lyrics for the life of me and just try to sense the vibe of a song. But undoubtedly the lyrics are first and foremost since it's a lot easier for me to understand why I like a song via the lyrics than parsing the 3/4 time or the arrangement and such. It took me a long time to fully appreciate Bowie but I always liked "Scary Monsters" as a whole and "Fashion" is a fine if lesser track that makes a pretty obvious point. Not a favorite tune but not one I actively avoid. Talk about a back-handed compliment! I'll certainly take "Fame" any day.
I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still
Da doo ron ron ron
Da doo ron ron
Somebody told me that his name was Bill
Da doo ron ron ron
Da doo ron ron
Yeah, my heart stood still
Yeah, his name was Bill
And when he walked me home
Da doo ron ron ron
Da doo ron ron
Yeah, he looked so fine
Yeah, I'll make him mine
And when he walked me home
Da doo ron ron ron
Da doo ron ron
Yeah da doo ron ron
Da doo ron ron ron
Da doo ron ron
Record making is a lost art. So is songwriting, if you ask me. But there is no way in hell any of the great 45s we listened to - 50s doo wop through 70’s pop and disco, would have made it on their lyrics alone.
I loved "Scary Monsters" at the time, but usually endured "Fashion", and looking at the track listing (it's been a while), It's really the first four songs I loved. Side Two, on retrospect is not as good. I also found "Because You're Young", and "Kingdom Come" fairly tedious.
I liked his minimalist Plastic Ono Band take on "Space Oddity", and "Alabama Song" single better than the filler on the album.
‘Fashion’ is the last appearance of Bowie’s Seventies rhythm section of George Murray and Dennis Davis. Also, Robert Fripp will never play on another Bowie record.
https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/category/scary-monsters-1980/
I never liked Fashion. I'm not a fan of Fame, but i can tolerate Golden Years on an otherwise great album
However, I was glad he was having hits.
I really like Fashion... it's part of the whole idea behind Scary Monsters: totalitarism, 1984, mass media, thought control (at least that's how I interpret it, I could be wrong or just looking too much into something). But it seems to be a recurring theme on the album, as you can see on songs like "Scream Like a Baby" and the opening track "It's No Game" and its so-relevant-nowadays line "to be insulted by these fascists is so degrading...". On Fashion, you have the robotic rhythm, people acting, dressing and dancing the same way (and being judged by all that) while at the same time losing their ability to communicate effectively. In the end, it's all incomprehensible, homogenic, dadaist talk (beep, beep, do-do-do-do FA-FA-FA FASHION - a word everybody understands among so much noise because it equalizes everything). Plus, Fripp's guitar work - always awesome - and the whole dancefloor vibe.... Scary Monsters is the portrait of a world we always feared, but that we are slowly letting become real. Just my opinion, though. I love this album. Great blog, by the way. I rarely comment on here, but love reading everybody's thoughts.
Thank you Steve Allen for the "Da Doo Ron Ron" posting! :)
I was responding to your comment: "I am all about the record first and the song second. I hear the music and the sounds first. Subject matter tends to come later." I feel like I'm the opposite. Subject matter tends to come first for me.
That suggested we might come at songs from opposite ends, but we still end up at the middle, where the record is. It's NEVER about lyrics as poetry. "Da doo ron ron" is a GREAT lyric, suggesting in all sorts of ways first love, an ongoing romance, the naive joys of youth, sheer joy, youthful exuberance and so on. It's not supposed to stand on its own; it's married to the music and more specifically the production of that particular record. So when I hear "Fashion" what I hear first is the subject matter, its rather obvious take-down of consumers responding to the latest fashion "craze" with robotic precision and how that extends to fascism and culture overall. You perhaps hear the rhythm section and how the record was arranged, produced. We both hear lesser Bowie, though I'm ok with it and you really don't like it.
"Yeah yeah yeah"? Also a great lyric.
Michael Giltz,
I have always hated Steve Allen for that shtick. Always thought it was a cheap shot. I posted those lyrics not as a Steve Allen cheap shot, but as an example of lyrics taken out of context, might not always be the way to judge. Of course, in hindsight, I agree with you 100%. Da Doo Ron Ron has great lyrics, but if handed those lyrics first, without the wall of sound, we might not feel the same.
To Leonardo,
I don't think in my 50 plus years of listening to music, I have ever dissected a song the way you just did with "Fashion." Reading your take makes the song feel like a completely different animal. Thank you for your comments.
I do stand by what I said, in terms of record vs. song. As a musician, I can't help but hear music first. And I can only imagine how wrong "Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" set to a reggae dancehall groove would be. "Fashion," still seems like an unlikely hit to me, and "Scary Monsters" as a whole feels like it tries too hard.
"Sal Nunziato said...
Record making is a lost art. So is songwriting, if you ask me. But there is no way in hell any of the great 45s we listened to - 50s doo wop through 70’s pop and disco, would have made it on their lyrics alone."
Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell,John Prine, Bruce Springsteen...
Story tellers, each and every one.
rob
Rob,
I really annoy you, don't I? How does saying "songwriting is a lost art" apply to five legends who have been around a combined 240 years? Obviously, OBVIOUSLY these are not the people I am talking about.
Being a big Bowie fan myself I never did like his song Fashion, period...thank you.
Like Naz I have everything he ever released and a whole lot of stuff he didn't. I think the idea of a Bowie top ten is a non starter, because he released so much in so many different styles. As to Fashion, well it is one of the gretat tracks in my opinion. I remember the reaction of friends was, "can this man do no wrong?"
I loved and still love the track, although it has a fair amount of nostalga attached to it now. I remember it and Crystal Japan from that era as a demonstration of how different Bowie could be. I would also add that here was a fair amount of irony in the lyrics that may have been lost in translation. It is very British humour, that Americans don't always get.
Record making is a lost art. So is songwriting. Hmm. For counter-examples, do I have to include only people under 30? Or do these count?
Maybe
Ron Sexsmith
Aimee Mann (since NPR just named her one of the greats)
The Tallest Man on Earth (I know Sal isn't much of a fan)
Courtney Barnett
Sufjan Stevens
Justin Bieber (lots of great records, whomever you credit for them)
Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco (Freddie would have loved him)
Ben Watt/Tracey Thorn (been around for decades but not in the pantheon yet)
Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout (ditto)
Stephen Merritt (then why doesn't anyone cover him, you say!!)
Chris Isaak (around since the 1980s but never mentioned as a great record maker, but he is; awesome singles)
Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton (just getting going)
Miranda Lambert
Drake (his greatest hits album will be a killer set of singles)
Steve Earle (again, not mentioned a lot like those bigger names)
Patrick Stump et al of Fall Out Boy
Sharon Jones (what a loss, great records)
Arctic Monkeys
Charlie Puth (barely started, but worth keeping an eye on)
Lorde (maybe, but boy "Royal" sure got covered)
Bruno Mars (no great albums, but developing a terrific greatest hits set; undeniable record maker of quality)
As for the argument I might make in response, if they're so good, how come their songs aren't being covered a lot? I'd say, we're in an era where covers of songs are perhaps less common. (Though they're more common on YouTube, just not by name artists.)
just some thoughts. I really do believe we're actually in a new good era of records and singles, now that the tyranny of only putting out a big album every two or three or four years is over. It's a lot more like the 1950s and early 1960s now with artists putting out a stream of singles and eps and then albums and that allows for a lot of one-off creativity. "Despacito" is an awesome groove and record, just like "La Bamba" back in the day.
Sorry Michael Giltz, but I just don't agree with you on more than half of your list.
I've always liked it. A big noisy dumb pop song. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Post a Comment