Drummer reacts to "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie

Thank you to our patron Scott for yet again blowing my mind with one of his picks. What the hell did I just watch. Bowie does it again man... What a great piece of art. And I totally related to a lot of what he was talking about addiction and such... this is a good video. Thank you Scott for giving me this opportunity.
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• David Bowie - Ashes To...
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#davidbowie

[@mangasky7]

44 years later, and this remains the greatest music video of all time.

[@HT-io1eg]

We shouldn’t have been amazed by anything Bowie did, but when this came out….. just shellshocked!!

[@smithpm81]

this video was cutting edge in 1980

[@Moz1011]

One of his best songs.

[@nancysmith38]

His pupil was blown when he was in a fight as a teen.

[@P.Galore]

Bowie is a genius and the epitome of "cool"

[@L33Reacts]

I totally agree. He was a master of his craft.

[@blanetalk]

One of my favorite Bowie songs, especially in that it really rewards multiple listenings.

[@scottyhotty1003]

The closing refrain of this song, "My mama said to get things done, you'd better not mess with Major Tom," suggests that in order to make the best of the future, one should not dwell on the past. It has also been suggested that "Space Oddity" was a thinly veiled reference to a drug trip, and that "Ashes to Ashes" is hinting that in order to move on, Bowie must kick these drug habits. ❤

[@mattleppard1964]

The Bowie motherlode ❤ “Time and again I tell myself: I’ll stay clean tonight.” A lyrical and musical tour de force. And the clown costume in the video freaked me out aged 10 when it was a UK hit. It was the most expensive music vid ever made at the time ❤

[@scottyhotty1003]

The scene at the end on the beach with what supposedly is his mother trying to explain something to him is just so surreal it blows me away every time I see it...❤😮😳💯🎶🔥

[@louise_rose]

Yep, it is surreal (and no, it's not his r/l mother, Mrs Peggy Jones, but no doubt it was meant to look that way). The video has a deliberately overloaded, baroque look, like it's really bursting at the picture frames, the colours are very saturated so it appears as if taking place in some kind of late-afternoon -to-dusk setting with lots of strange people. I think if it had been shot six or seven years later it wouldn't have looked quite as crowded and strange, by then, the video film tech had matured a bit more, but this is from 1980 and it has that compressed look. :)

[@scottyhotty1003]

I always wonder what she was trying to tell him as he looks so serious and her so animated

[@louise_rose]

@@scottyhotty1003 "You better not mess with Major Tom, my dear"? ;)

[@scottyhotty1003]

@@louise_rose lmaooo maybe..lol 😂

[@mattleppard1964]

Thanks, Scott, Lee. Such an amazing song. Missed the premiere ❤ The legend is that an old geezer was watching the video shoot at some beach in England and when asked if he knew who the star of the shoot was, “Some c**t in a clown suit,” was the reply. David loved that quote. One eye permanently dilated pupil - same color (blue). Fripp all over this album ❤

[@alrivers2297]

80's trippyness. Love it!

[@L33Reacts]

So trippy… I love it. Bowie loved his art it seems. Beautiful video and song.

[@mana3735]

This was the first I ever saw of Bowie when they showed this vid on Top of the Pops in 1980. I was just turning 13 and remember the moment to this day.

[@tonys2899]

Ashes to ashes was also the name of a British scifi series with this song as its intro. It was a sequel to the series Life on Mars, another Bowie song. Both good shows. And the American version of life on Mars, which only lasted 1 season was also cool, it was about time traveling back 1973. Ashes to ashes time traveled to the 80s.

[@nickprince8611]

Saw him in Milton Keynes when I was 9. This album and Lets Dance basically, plus older stuff. One of the best times of my life. Cried when he played Space Oddity. The world went bad after he died.

[@Joshualuv13]

So cool, and when u think, especially for the times it was made ..I'm now 62 but have fond memories of my early 20's coming home after a night on the town and listening to this on my head sets.Just loved it.❤

[@grahamheffer6535]

Most expensive video made when released fantastic track never tire of it

[@marysweeney7370]

This was a massive video on MTV back in the day. The video was cutting edge, the song was brilliant. it did so much for Bowie's career and the new wave music movement that was really starting to take off in the early 80s.

[@scottyhotty1003]

The music video for "Ashes to Ashes" features Bowie dressed as Pierrot in a variety of bizarre situations. Steve Strange of the New Wave band, Visage, cameos. Bowie has said the shot of himself and other characters marching towards the camera in front of a bulldozer symbolizes "oncoming violence." During this scene, the characters behind Bowie are not bowing, but simply trying to pull their gowns away from the bulldozer so they don't get stuck! This, and many other images in the video suggest that Bowie may be trying to bury the various personas he developed. The video, which Bowie directed with David Mallet, cost £250,000 to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever made at the time. It was released a year before MTV went on the air.

[@John-et9yl]

Filmed at Pett Level beach, East Sussex

[@andrewbradley6941]

The best song EVER

[@glass2467]

Surely someone has already commented about Bowie's eyes. But just in case... he was punched in the eye by a friend when he was young, and it resulted in an injury that ultimately made one eye different than the other. He's had that all his professional life, and of course has added to his very unique appearance.

[@RogerCaruso-dp6zp]

R.I.P🙏🙏🙏

[@peterbreughel4440]

This was the first time many of us who don't live in London saw the 'New Romantic' Blitz Club fashions that were worn by the cool kids who hung out at the newly established club in Convent Garden. Steve Strange who was a DJ at the Blitz Club, and performed in the band 'Visage', appears as one of the backing singers in this video.

[@gillwaugh7212]

“… sordid details following…” 😍

[@Reno_Slim]

This is my all time favorite video.

[@ColeenU]

This was quite imaginative as Bowie is always.

[@fan123casual8]

Congrats on the sobriety. 5 years for me. It’s nice when people can talk about addiction in an accessible, matter-of-fact way. Maybe it’ll help someone. So many people either deal with it themselves or have someone close to them who’s going through it. It’s hard for people to understand what addiction is like, but you pretty much covered the highlights, so to speak. 😁

[@jonathanmurphy3141]

My favorite Bowie song, and video - this made me a fan. His music from 1976-'80 is a favorite of mine!

[@thereunionparty]

I'd forgotten quite how "out there" this video was. There's some seriously good stuff on this album too.

[@LSMSusan]

I remember the exact moment I first saw/heard this it was on Saturday morning kids tv in the UK. I can see myself stood still in front of the tv in awe. The 4 people walking on the beach were from an iconic London new wave club called the Blitz. One of them was called Steve Strange who had his own band called Visage who had a hit with a song called Fade to Grey, maybe check that out sometime.

[@smithpm81]

one of his very best, bought this single 45rpm in 1980

[@lauraallen55]

I can cross this one off my list to request. Thanks, Scott! I still have China Girl on it though, Changes, Oh You Pretty Things, and a couple other Bowie.

[@annakermode6646]

LOOOOOOVE oh you pretty things

[@lauraallen55]

@@annakermode6646 Me too - so much!

[@nelerhabarber5602]

One of the greatest, legend, love him!

[@juneseghni]

I was 15 when this came out. Still love it.

[@markjohnson4217]

Scary Monsters is one of his greatest albums, it ranks with Low, Heroes and Ziggy Stardust. I really love Robert Fripp's guitar work on this album, it is so savage and dissonant. This same year Robert collaborated with Peter Gabriel on tbe 'Melt' sessions, also a groundbreaking release. King Crimson's comeback masterwork, 'Discpline' immediately followed. It seems like 1980 was a tumultuous year for pop/rock, it was as though the beginning of the music video era, forced artists to take a new approach, there was pressure to embrace new technologies and project the role of rock into a future that was digital, electronic, and framed within a synthetic approach. Some artists adapted very well, some tried too hard, and some just didn't bother embracing tbe new era and didn't survive. Even Bowie started to diminish by the mid-eighties with Tonight, Lets Dance, and Never Let me Down, probably his worst album. But tbis song and album was something from the beginning of that decade that we can look back at with fondness.

[@L33Reacts]

Wow that was a great read mark thank you 🙏 change doesn’t happen often in art but when it does, it’s earth shattering. Some can survive and others thrive and then some just… die. Metaphorically.

[@rodneygriffin7666]

Incredible Album!

[@ppauly]

Oh man. I wish he was still around.

[@GP-mw8ce]

the second installment of the Major Tom trilogy: Space Oddity/Ashes to Ashes/Blackstar

[@AntonyFleck]

Well, different coloured eyes! The sign of a sorcerer/wizard/man of power!! That sums up Bowie pretty concisely!!!...

[@debjorgo]

My favorite from Bowie. I always recommend Space Oddity first. Apparently, the US wasn't ready for it. It didn't even hit the Hot 100. It seemed like it was popular at the time to me.

[@intothesunset3]

The 1972 reissue of Space Oddity hit #15 in the U.S.

[@debjorgo]

@@intothesunset3 Okay. I guess that's why I remember it being a hit! Thanks for the correction!

[@santiagoalvareztabares3598]

This is one of the first video clips ever, as we know them today when we hear the term "videoclip". Before that the bands did make visual promos ( some of them even did movies) but the concept we see here was completely new. I don't think this one was the very first but nearly so, and it had a huge impact and influence

[@mattleppard1964]

Most expensive one ever made at the time. Brilliant.

[@louise_rose]

There were some earlier ones, like "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (famously the opening video at the launch of MTV in the summer of 1981), "Pop Muzik" by M (aka Robin Scott), some by Pink Floyd and ABBA - and of course "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen in 1976 - but this one was likely the most ambitious rock video clip to date, and the most expensive.

[@louise_rose]

Brilliant song, the lyrics feel like he's both looking back at his past and towards the future, the whole song has the vibe of someone who has lived through an epic, hot and glamorous nightmare but survived. I think in Bowie's mind, just like with "Ziggy Stardust", there would have been the shadows of people who had "fallen by the wayside", dropped out, OD'd, dead or crazy, hanging around this song - he had known and met some of them, seen others on stage, and he could have joined their ranks himself around the mid-seventies...

[@FireMunki63]

Lovely, you have Tull, Broadsword & the Beast behind you :) Super Nice, what a great cover.

[@Lwize]

The groove is infectious. That pop of the bass.

[@L33Reacts]

Absolutely infectious! It’s been stuck in my head since last night lol

[@Lwize]

@@L33Reacts Its been stuck with me for over forty years. It was a sign of life, after his dark Berlin period of the late 70's. And the video predates MTV.

[@robabiera733]

Early video by David Mallet, would go on to make a lot of videos for MTV.

[@ednicholson7839]

The song "Fashion" from the same album is even more bizarre -- as is the music video. Awesome tune on a great album called Scary Monsters. There's another song on that album called "Up the Hill Backwards", which is unlike any other Bowie song I've heard. Great pop tune.

[@DrStrangelove3891]

Bowie has 2 different eyes, but not because of heterochromia. One pupil is dilated since a teenage Bowie got punched in the eye when he fought with a friend over a girl.

[@scottyhotty1003]

wow I never knew that!!!

[@bobcorbin3294]

His name is George Underwood and they stayed friends for a long time George even accompanied Bowie on the 1984/Floor Show tour (which was performed in 1974) singing background vocals.

[@scottyhotty1003]

@@bobcorbin3294 that's crazy 🤪

[@docvega5465]

Definitely ahead of his time even now with all the studio controlled gutless music of today

[@trappenweisseguy27]

A funky masterpiece .

[@carlomercorio1250]

Remember being incredibly emotional the day that I heard about his death in 2016 - he meant so much to teenagers in the 1970s and beyond - and a far wider audience

[@dcg4mn]

There are at least two great live performances of this song, around 2000, that MUST be seen.

[@scottyhotty1003]

Watching the video again and just watching you I see 12 times you're actually startled or shocked at what you're seeing LOL I told you this video is insane😅🎉💯🔥🎶 #songsgreat2

[@stevedahlberg8680]

If for some reason you haven't already reacted to Space Oddity with protagonist Major Tom, wow, you really should go back and check it out because that's what this song is a sequel to, but moreover, that was his first really big hit. It's what put him on the map. It still sounds great today, all these decades later.

[@scottyhotty1003]

absolutely

[@thunderspike1892]

The video cost £250.000. Filmed over three days at Beachy Head and Hastings by David Mallet. Bowie storyboarded the script himself. Ashes To Ashes had Chuck Hammer on a Roland GR500 synth guitar, Carlos Alomar on rhythm guitar, Dennis Davis drums, George Murray bass, Roy Bittan flanged piano, Andy Clark Moog, synths and producer Tony Visconti shaker and other percussion. When you get to it you must simply go through Scarry Monsters And Super Creeps. One of Bowies best albums. The Berlin period Low, Heroes and Lodger are also worth checking out. Major Tom was mentioned in the remixed version of Hello Space Boy with Pet Shop Boys from the 1995 album Outside. There was an astronaut in the Slow Burn video from the 2002 album Heathen and a dead astronaut in Blackstar video from 2015.

[@John-et9yl]

Filmed at Pett Level beach not Beachy Head 👍

[@thunderspike1892]

@@John-et9yl I that case the wiki info around the video are faulty 😎

[@John-et9yl]

@@thunderspike1892 Google images of Pett Level beach and you'll recognise it straight away 👍

[@joelliebler5690]

Weird, wild, and great! I agree with you Lee. Most videos are distracting and a waste though this one worked!

[@jkirtleyheacting]

Great honest reaction.

[@scottyhotty1003]

Lee Rocks!!❤💯🎶🔥

[@j.jennings1722]

This is such a bizarre song (and video), but it's also one of my favorite Bowie songs. Interesting tidbit about Bowie, L33; his real name is David Jones, and he would have used his given name onstage but the popular singer for The Monkees was called Davy Jones; therefore, he took the last name of the guy who invented the Bowie knife, because he thought it sounded cool ...and, he was right. I still miss David Bowie.

[@Driecnk]

Genius Song

[@stephenstrudwick8095]

In 1980 Bowie said the following about "Ashes To Ashes"…it’s an ode to childhood, if you like, a popular nursery rhyme … about spacemen becoming junkies!” He cited the lyric “I’ve never done good things, I’ve never done bad things, I never did anything out of the blue” as representing “a continuing, returning feeling of inadequacy over what I’ve done.”

[@djanga166]

The Berlin trilogy was groundbreaking. Scary Monsters influenced a lot the new romantics. Another great song from scary monsters is Teenage Wildlife. One of my favourite songs. Thank you for your great reaction.

[@davida.j.berner776]

Scary Monsters was a real return to form for Bowie. Not that any of his albums are bad (obviously!), but this one really hit the heights, managing to blend creativity with commercial appeal, in a way that was accessible to fans from every one of his earlier periods, rock, soul, industrial and experimental. So many great tracks for you still to discover on this one!

[@captainsatellite2112]

Love Space Oddity but this sequel is even better, describing how Major Tom crashed and burned. BTW, Roy Bittan of Bruce's E Street band played "flanged" piano on this. Saw Bowie perform this on his Serious Moonlight tour.

[@RalphSpoiledsport]

I've never seen that incredible video. Reminiscent of the Bauhaus movement.

[@uma.n2680]

The 2000 live (bbc radio theatre) of this song, is so good, i find it better than the original, with slightly different instrumentations

[@nancysmith38]

Do Scary Monsters!!

[@markferrett700]

Genius work.....especially the video......at that time it was groundbreaking 👏👏....his eye changed colour after being stabbed in it at school with a pencil!@!

[@L33Reacts]

Well that’ll do it… thank you for the info! 🤩

[@shelleys9603]

​@@L33ReactsHit by a friend wearing a ring, but same idea.

[@grahamthompson2594]

A huge album for Bowie, hit after hit. Used to love playing this in the pubs, but the bass and low vocal was a tricky combo. Major Tom from his first big hit, Spaceoddity, turned out to be smack.

[@vegdagol2843]

Carlos Alomar (rhythm guitar) Dennis Davis (drums) and George Murray (bass) was as important for the albums Bowie did 1975-1980 as the Spiders/Mick Ronson was for the 1969-1973 albums.

[@rogerhennie8939]

Hevn out the whole album! From start.

[@glenndespres5317]

I have liked this song for a long time. I never saw any video. Not sure I needed this one in my head for the next time I hear it? 😅

[@lynnieiapichino1121]

☮️💙💙💙🔥🔥his drug period.

[@andrewcole3736]

Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson were the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. 🕊❤️🎼

[@LornaDay-gt9po]

First album I bought was David. Bowie

[@robrob7400]

You’ve got to checkout his ‘75 performance on snl

[@redjack9999]

I'm not sure if Bowie's involvement with "The Man Who Fell To Earth" had any influence on the look of this video, but it always gave me those vibes. You definitely need to check out that film. It is very a strange and trippy Sci-Fi movie.

[@YellowJello57]

One of Bowie's best imho. Great job, Lee. I'm fond of Bowie's song Cat People if you're looking for suggestions.

[@scottyhotty1003]

My mama said to get things done you better not mess with Major Tom❤

[@christinebainbridge2354]

Don’t skip over the Diamond Dogs album!

[@christinebainbridge2354]

His eyes are the same color. His left pupil is fixed in a dilated position because of an injury to his eye when he was a teenager. The mismatched pupils make it look like his eyes are different colors. It also gives him that distinctive alien look.

[@michaelzzzzzzzzzzzz]

You should try Gary Newman... Are Friends Electric for some before its time 70s. Something different

[@janewells5970]

Scary monsters is always in my top five BOWIE albums, probably in the top three! The art that he adds to his music is phenomenal during this phase

[@brianvernon249]

This album is the end of the fantastic period that started with Station to Station.

[@newodkin]

Bowie totally embraced the music video format in the '80s. Check out Bowie's JAZZIN' FOR BLUE JEAN. It's actually a 20 minute short film with Bowie acting 2 roles.

[@L33Reacts]

Interesting, I’ve never heard of that! I will check it out

[@paulocunha357]

Bowie had an eye condition called anisocoria from a punch in the eye during a fight over a girl when he was 15yrs old.

[@jamespopeko9557]

This song is part two to his song “space oddity”. Please listen to “Space Oddity” first and then this song.

[@corawheeler9355]

What a strange video .. even for Bowie .. but I liked it.

[@lathedauphinot6820]

Notice the tablet he’s holding in the video? It’s 1980. The first tablet computer wasn’t released until 1989!

[@farmersteve661]

You should go do the entire “Space Oddity” LP (1969) next . 🎸😎✌️

[@bobcorbin3294]

The little green wheels he sings about are Quaaludes.

[@scottyhotty1003]

quaaludes I remember Lemmon 714 were white

[@stephenstrudwick8095]

Some people may not know this, but the elderly woman lecturing Bowie at the end of the video was not his real mother. This has been interpreted by some as a reaction to the publicity surrounding Bowie’s relationship with his mother Peggy, which was highlighted in 1975 in an interview she gave where she stated that Bowie never visited her. Given Bowie’s drug addition and state of mind at the time it was hardly surprising, and during the intervening years the relationship had been repaired.

[@suz5862]

It was well known the lady was not Bowie’s mother.

[@laurencaulton103]

"Scary Monsters" is great. Pagliacci, Major Tom and some new Mods. And Mom? Bowie rules.

[@roncarnes5724]

Please do Teenage Wildlife from this album too - amazing song

[@thomasmcintosh390]

Go Live- Michael Shrieve, Steve Winwood, Stomu Yamashta, Al Di Meola, Need I say more?

[@timcoombe]

Major Tom referred to a drug known as MT. Don’t mess with Major Tom!

[@vincentvancraig]

This video HIGHLY resembles paintings from pablo picasso's "rose period" a few yesrs worth of red , & pink & soft orange themed paintings picasso did of circus performers....now, i couod write a damn thesis paper on how into art david bowie was....he painted his entire life, thru every musical phase, he ended up in the late 90's & 2000's being the editor & chief of a modern art magazine/publication....but yeah, anyway, it explains the weirdness of the vid

[@sharondavid-melly1498]

Just came in for the waitscape but this is trippier

[@jasonfrodoman1316]

I think Scary Monsters was Bowies last great album release.

[@jamesdevine1822]

David Jones (Bowie) had a rich vein of mental disorder in his family. he was terrified of becoming scyophrenic like some of his family members. this is a long running theme in most of his work.

[@TombHermance]

Great video but I prefer the album version which is longer & builds tension better. Nice job. Cheers!

[@vincentvancraig]

The more normal looking bowie began to look in the late 70's & early 80's the weirder the music got....& this is by FAR the most "normal" song on scary monsters, lmao....great album tho, he got really sober (eventually, by 1980, 1981 for sure), & REALLY experimental starting with the berlin trilogy