It is with heavy hearts that FANdemoniumNetwork brings you this week’s Music Monday post. The world awoke this morning to news that The Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie, had passed away after an 18 month battle with cancer.
Bowie, born David Jones, lived an iconic life with a career in music and film that spanned nearly 5 decades, over 2 dozen studio albums and multiple film and TV appearances. That’s not even taking into account the myriad movies and shows which have used his music or his likeness, while I was thinking about this post I remembered the Family Guy episode where Peter is home-schooling Meg and Chris and for some inexplicable reason it cuts away to the ENTIRE video for Dancing in the Streets with Mick Jagger, or the Flight of the Conchords episode where various incarnations of Bowie over the years appear to Bret to try and encourage him out of a depressed patch. Of course there were also the UK shows Life on Mars (which also got a US remake) and Ashes to Ashes that heavily featured Bowie’s music.
For this post I want to focus on some of the ways you may have heard the music of this musical legend, even if you didn’t know who you were listening to at the time, and of course things like his memorable appearance as Jareth, the Goblin King, in 80s classic Labyrinth.
One of my personal favourite uses of Bowie’s music was in 2001’s A Knight’s Tale, starring Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon. Remember this?
That’s right, the dance that Ledger’s “Sir Ulrich” taught to the assembled lords and ladies at a post-tournament feast was to Golden Years. I just love the way it changes from what appears to be a mediaeval song to a funky disco track.
In that same year we got treated to Baz Luhrman’s star studded Moulin Rouge. Not only did the so-called Elephant Love Medley use a snippet of Heroes but Beck’s cover of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs was used during the Can Can scene, not to mention being the name given to the Can Can dancers themselves.
More recently we had Moonage Daydream popping up in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and introducing a whole new generation to the joys of the Starman,
Director (and music nut) James Gunn paid a moving tribute to David Bowie on his Facebook page a short while ago in which he revealed that he had been considering a cameo role for the star in the forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, and that he is looking for a way to feature another song in the sequel, making Bowie the only person to feature on Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and 2.
Now I can’t pay tribute to David Bowie without mentioning the movie that introduced him into my life and that of many others. Of course I mean Labyrinth, the 1986 cult classic in which he played Jareth, The Goblin King who steals away a baby boy from his resentful older sister who then must try to get him back, “Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen.”
There are a hundred moments I could use from Labyrinth as Jareth attempts to dominate young Sarah and keep the child, but the one I have seen referenced over and over today across social media as people paid tribute, the one it had to be, was this. Magic Dance.
I hope that this post has maybe reminded you of some gems you had forgotten, or introduced you to some new music that will energize your life.
The Star Man is waiting in the sky, the man who fell to earth has returned home, Ziggy Stardust is playing with the Spiders from Mars. Farewell David Bowie. You’ll be missed.
