Ashes to Ashes (song)

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Ashes to Ashes
David Bowie
publication August 8, 1980
length 3:35 min.
Genre (s) Art pop , new wave
Author (s) David Bowie
album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

Ashes to Ashes is a 1980 song by David Bowie . The song was released as a single and on Bowie's album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) . The single and the album heralded another change of style Bowie. The musician separated from part of the cast of his band and from producer Tony Visconti . With Ashes to Ashes achieved by Bowie Space Oddity second number-one hit in the UK .

background

The song is considered a sequel to Bowie's hit Space Oddity . The story of the fictional spaceman Major Tom , who disappeared somewhere in space, is now explicitly interpreted in Ashes to Ashes as a metaphor for a drug addict who gets lost on a trip: "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky. We know Major Tom's a junkie , strung out in heaven's high, hitting an all time low. "

Shortly after the single was released, Bowie claimed in an interview with New Musical Express magazine with a laugh that it was an ode to childhood, a modern nursery rhyme; it's about space travelers who become drug addicts: "It really is an ode to childhood, if you like, a popular nursery rhyme. It's about space men becoming junkies" (laughs).

Publication and chart success

The single produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti was released on August 8, 1980 on RCA Records . The single version has been shortened by almost one minute to 3:35 minutes compared to the album version. The British Phonographic Association, the British Phonographic Industry, certified a silver record in August 1980 . In Germany the single reached number 9, in Austria number 6 and in Switzerland number 11 in the charts.

Music video

What is remarkable to this day is the elaborate design of the music video, which is why it is still one of the milestones in music video art. David Mallet kept it largely in an overexposed aesthetic typical of the time, and takes up Bowie's versatility through which he became famous. Among other things, he appears as a sad clown and as a diver. His colleagues come from the London scene, later known as the New Romantics . One of the actors is Steve Strange , who appeared in November 1980 with Fade to Gray in a similar style-defining music video.

Ashes to Ashes is the quintessence of 1970s Bowie, before it underwent another transformation to the dandy image of 1980s Bowie with the next single Fashion , which manifested itself in Let's Dance and China Girl .

reception

Dave Thompson reviewed the song for the music database Allmusic : The song is simply a continuation of Major Tom's adventures . The music video for Ashes to Ashes was a very conscious recognition of the emerging new romantic scene.

Dave Rimmer, author of Like Punk Never Happened , says in his illustrated book The Look - New Romantics , Ashes to Ashes can be interpreted as an autobiographical trawl through Bowie's career, in which he deliberately shed past roles and lowered the blinds to yesterday. Rimmer is referring to both text passages from the song and scenes from the music video.

The British crime series Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s (2007-2010), developed by Matthew Graham and Heather Pharoah, was named after this song and made several references to the Pierrot from the music video in the first season .

swell

  1. ↑ ChartArchive - David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes. In: chartarchive.org. Retrieved November 28, 2012 .
  2. ^ Angus MacKinnon: "The Future Isn't What It Used to Be", New Musical Express , September 13, 1980 edition, p. 37
  3. ↑ CertifiedAwardsSearch. In: bpi.co.uk. Retrieved November 28, 2012 (English, Search: Ashes to Ashes, Search by: Title).
  4. ^ David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes - hitparade.ch. In: hitparade.ch. Retrieved November 28, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Craig Marks, Rob Tannenbaum: I Want my MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Muisic Video Revolution . Dutton, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-525-95230-5 . , P. 33.
  6. ↑ Dave Thompson: Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie: Listen, Appearances, Song Review: AllMusic. In: allmusic.com. Rovi Corp., accessed November 28, 2012 .
  7. ↑ Dave Rimmer: The Look - New Romantics . Omnibus Press, London 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9396-3 . , P. 17f.

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