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The 100 greatest songs of 1971 #1 “When the Levee Breaks” Led Zeppelin (2 Viewers)

10. David Bowie “Life On Mars?” (from Hunky Dory)

https://youtu.be/AZKcl4-tcuo

The link takes you to an actual video that was produced in 1973. That’s got to be one of the earliest videos, I would think. I’ll have to look that up. 

“Life On Mars?” Is Bowie’s masterpiece. I believe @Anarchy99 ranked it in his thread as the best song of the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era, and I would probably agree with this and more: IMO, it’s his best song ever. 

 
timschochet said:
10. David Bowie “Life On Mars?” (from Hunky Dory)

https://youtu.be/AZKcl4-tcuo

The link takes you to an actual video that was produced in 1973. That’s got to be one of the earliest videos, I would think. I’ll have to look that up. 

“Life On Mars?” Is Bowie’s masterpiece. I believe @Anarchy99 ranked it in his thread as the best song of the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era, and I would probably agree with this and more: IMO, it’s his best song ever. 
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Directed by Mick Rock. The man who shot the 70s. Ziggy Stardust, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocky Horror - has a ton of iconic still photos.

 
So I looked it up: “Life On Mars?” was one of 4 promotional films of Bowie songs made in 1973- the other 3 were “John, I’m Only Dancing”, “The Jean Genie”, and “Space Oddity”, all directed by Mick Rock, who went on to direct the famous “Bohemian Rhapsody” video. While the Bowie ones were not actually the first promotional videos (Tony Bennett back in the 50s seems to have a claim to this) they were pretty early for the genre and quite influential. 

 
timschochet said:
10. David Bowie “Life On Mars?” (from Hunky Dory)

https://youtu.be/AZKcl4-tcuo

The link takes you to an actual video that was produced in 1973. That’s got to be one of the earliest videos, I would think. I’ll have to look that up. 

“Life On Mars?” Is Bowie’s masterpiece. I believe @Anarchy99 ranked it in his thread as the best song of the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era, and I would probably agree with this and more: IMO, it’s his best song ever. 
Click to expand...
Yeah, after seeing this list it doesn't surprise me you would think that, but I digress...

FYI, videos were produced by record labels to promote artists since the early 60s. 

An example from 1965, Concrete and Clay by UK group Unit 4 plus 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zstZkoGyZS4

 
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squistion said:
Yeah, after seeing this list that doesn't surprise that you would think that, but I digress...

FYI. videos were produced by record labels to promote their artists since the early 60s. 

An example from 1965 Concrete and Clay by UK group Unit 4 plus 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zstZkoGyZS4
Click to expand...
Good stuff squistion.   

I knew vids came out prior to 73 but not as far back as early 60s other than videos I've seen directly tied to movies.

timschochet said:
“Life On Mars?” Is Bowie’s masterpiece.
Click to expand...
In the mid 80s I was oblivious to anything other than his popular singles till I met a GF who was on a huge Aladdin Sane binge.  

I don't see Life On Mars as a masterpiece.  Looks and feels like a derivative of Space Oddity and an over-produced over-theatrical transition towards Ziggy.  

He put out his video of Space Oddity in 72, a year prior to the one you shared.

David Bowie – Space Oddity (Official Video)

I consider that to be his signature tune and feel he was chasing that success with songs of similar themes.  My take but YMMV and that's fine.

 
timschochet said:
10. David Bowie “Life On Mars?” (from Hunky Dory)

https://youtu.be/AZKcl4-tcuo

The link takes you to an actual video that was produced in 1973. That’s got to be one of the earliest videos, I would think. I’ll have to look that up. 

“Life On Mars?” Is Bowie’s masterpiece. I believe @Anarchy99 ranked it in his thread as the best song of the Hunky Dory/Ziggy Stardust era, and I would probably agree with this and more: IMO, it’s his best song ever. 
Click to expand...
Seriously would have preferred listening and listening to this...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dc8OOLXVZU

 
Bracie Smathers said:
Good stuff squistion.   

I knew vids came out prior to 73 but not as far back as early 60s other than videos I've seen directly tied to movies.

In the mid 80s I was oblivious to anything other than his popular singles till I met a GF who was on a huge Aladdin Sane binge.  

I don't see Life On Mars as a masterpiece.  Looks and feels like a derivative of Space Oddity and an over-produced over-theatrical transition towards Ziggy.  

He put out his video of Space Oddity in 72, a year prior to the one you shared.

David Bowie – Space Oddity (Official Video)

I consider that to be his signature tune and feel he was chasing that success with songs of similar themes.  My take but YMMV and that's fine.
Click to expand...
It’s funny, I also see the two songs as linked (and I love Space Oddity) but while you see that as his signature and Life On Mars as derivative, I see Soace Oddity as a bit more raw and Life On Mars as a more complete achievement. I would guess more people agree with you on this, though I don’t know. 

 
I should clarify: when I wrote that the two songs are linked, I meant musically. They’re not linked lyrically, despite the space themes in the titles. Space Oddity is a narrative song about an astronaut, while Life On Mars? is a cultural commentary without any story. 

 
Thank you for doing this Tim.  While many won't agree with your rankings you're doing a great job.  I'm probably in the minority here but I seriously hope we're done with David Bowie, just not my cup of tea.  Keep up the good work.

 
Lost count of the tracks off Sticky Fingers, but I'm guessing I'd have 6-7 on my own list for 1971.

And there'd be at least 10 songs off Exile for 1972.  Probably my favorite album.

 
As far as videos go, I remember some Beatles ones in the mid 60s, and they were not the first. Sometimes instead of a cartoon,  movie theaters would place one in front of a movie.

 
9. Elton John “Tiny Dancer” (from Madman Across the Water) 

https://youtu.be/aqlGlaNlcWE

Turns out @wikkidpissah’s fear was correct; the top ten would indeed include an Almost Famous moment! 
Though it’s the first song on Elton’s 1971 album, “Tiny Dancer” wasn’t released as a single until 1972 and it did poorly (#41 Billboard), maybe because it’s 6 minute length was edited for radio play. Only in later years when AOR featured its full length did it become recognized as an all time classic. While the song is ostensibly about Taupin’s wife (who really was the band’s seamstress), it’s also about the 1970 tour of Los Angeles that made Elton John a star, and the women they met there. The song has a sweet endearing quality which Cameron Crowe recognized, even if Wikkid assures us that the legendary bus scene is pure fantasy. So what? The fantasy is often what matters. 

 
timschochet said:
9. Elton John “Tiny Dancer” (from Madman Across the Water) 

https://youtu.be/aqlGlaNlcWE

Turns out @wikkidpissah’s fear was correct; the top ten would indeed include an Almost Famous moment! 
Though it’s the first song on Elton’s 1971 album, “Tiny Dancer” wasn’t released as a single until 1972 and it did poorly (#41 Billboard), maybe because it’s 6 minute length was edited for radio play. Only in later years when AOR featured its full length did it become recognized as an all time classic. While the song is ostensibly about Taupin’s wife (who really was the band’s seamstress), it’s also about the 1970 tour of Los Angeles that made Elton John a star, and the women they met there. The song has a sweet endearing quality which Cameron Crowe recognized, even if Wikkid assures us that the legendary bus scene is pure fantasy. So what? The fantasy is often what matters. 
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I like the song. I've heard it too many times to ever proactively play it again.

 
yeah, '71 was the year i was held at knifepoint on a deserted road in western Wyoming while the driver who'd picked me up pulled his #### out. a lapse of his attention allowed me to get the metal mailbox flag from the outside pocket of my haversack, bring it across his nose, pound him to unconsciousness & slice his face to remind him not to do that anymore. i thereupon walked the last 85 miles to Utah, certain that the entire state was looking for my sobbing 16yo ###. had the "predatory hitchhiker" microfiche printout of the newspaper story on my fridge for years and the biggest party i ever threw was on the day the staute of limitations ran out on it. yeah, 1971 was a sweet, endearing year with a fantasy quality....

 
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wikkidpissah said:
yeah, '71 was the year i was held at knifepoint on a deserted road in western Wyoming while the driver who'd picked me up pulled his #### out. a lapse of his attention allowed me to get the metal mailbox flag from the outside pocket of my haversack, bring it across his nose, pound him to unconsciousness & slice his face to remind him not to do that anymore. i thereupon walked the last 85 miles to Utah, certain that the entire state was looking for my sobbing 16yo ###. had the "predatory hitchhiker" microfiche printout of the newspaper story on my fridge for years and the biggest party i ever threw was on the day the staute of limitations ran out on it. yeah, 1971 was a sweet, endearing year with a fantasy quality....
Click to expand...
wait a second...you had a haversack? 

 
wikkidpissah said:
yeah, '71 was the year i was held at knifepoint on a deserted road in western Wyoming while the driver who'd picked me up pulled his #### out. a lapse of his attention allowed me to get the metal mailbox flag from the outside pocket of my haversack, bring it across his nose, pound him to unconsciousness & slice his face to remind him not to do that anymore. i thereupon walked the last 85 miles to Utah, certain that the entire state was looking for my sobbing 16yo ###. had the "predatory hitchhiker" microfiche printout of the newspaper story on my fridge for years and the biggest party i ever threw was on the day the staute of limitations ran out on it. yeah, 1971 was a sweet, endearing year with a fantasy quality....
Click to expand...
Oh man that’s awful

 
wikkidpissah said:
yeah, '71 was the year i was held at knifepoint on a deserted road in western Wyoming while the driver who'd picked me up pulled his #### out. a lapse of his attention allowed me to get the metal mailbox flag from the outside pocket of my haversack, bring it across his nose, pound him to unconsciousness & slice his face to remind him not to do that anymore. i thereupon walked the last 85 miles to Utah, certain that the entire state was looking for my sobbing 16yo ###. had the "predatory hitchhiker" microfiche printout of the newspaper story on my fridge for years and the biggest party i ever threw was on the day the staute of limitations ran out on it. yeah, 1971 was a sweet, endearing year with a fantasy quality....
Click to expand...
Dude. 

Age 23, I Had a narrow escape in Western Wyoming at a deserted rest stop but got away without violence.  Huge guy in a wife beater was coming in while I was leaving the rest room.  Long story short, he kept following me back to my car which was loaded with camping gear and my bike as I was coming back from a bicycle tour of the Canadian Rockies.  

I stopped and looked him and he 'tentatively' looked into my vehicle and asked if I was alone.

Have no clue where it came from but I IMMEDIATELY said that my brother and friend were in the car and gestured for him to be quiet so as not to wake them up.

Got to my car and peeled out of there and drove for hundreds of miles before stopping even though before that adrenaline rush I was exhausted. 

 
Bracie Smathers said:
Dude. 

Age 23, I Had a narrow escape in Western Wyoming at a deserted rest stop but got away without violence.  Huge guy in a wife beater was coming in while I was leaving the rest room.  Long story short, he kept following me back to my car which was loaded with camping gear and my bike as I was coming back from a bicycle tour of the Canadian Rockies.  

I stopped and looked him and he 'tentatively' looked into my vehicle and asked if I was alone.

Have no clue where it came from but I IMMEDIATELY said that my brother and friend were in the car and gestured for him to be quiet so as not to wake them up.

Got to my car and peeled out of there and drove for hundreds of miles before stopping even though before that adrenaline rush I was exhausted. 
Click to expand...
let's write a rock opera together - the Deliverance West Motor Inn. we can call ourselves Little America

 
wikkidpissah said:
yeah, '71 was the year i was held at knifepoint on a deserted road in western Wyoming while the driver who'd picked me up pulled his #### out. a lapse of his attention allowed me to get the metal mailbox flag from the outside pocket of my haversack, bring it across his nose, pound him to unconsciousness & slice his face to remind him not to do that anymore. i thereupon walked the last 85 miles to Utah, certain that the entire state was looking for my sobbing 16yo ###. had the "predatory hitchhiker" microfiche printout of the newspaper story on my fridge for years and the biggest party i ever threw was on the day the staute of limitations ran out on it. yeah, 1971 was a sweet, endearing year with a fantasy quality....
Click to expand...
I'm having a hard time following this.  You're roadside with one dude holding you knife point and the driver you were riding with pulled his johnson out.  I assumed you pounded the guy with the knife, but it kinda of reads like you beat up the guy with his #### out.

 
wikkidpissah said:
let's write a rock opera together - the Deliverance West Motor Inn. we can call ourselves Little America
Click to expand...
You've definitely been by the landmarks noted.

I have to say even with that and an even more terrifying encounter with a 'creature' while camping in the back woods of a National Park that I love Wyoming and would have a trip planned out to head to my favorite camping spot if not for Covid.

 
BassNBrew said:
I'm having a hard time following this.  You're roadside with one dude holding you knife point and the driver you were riding with pulled his johnson out.  I assumed you pounded the guy with the knife, but it kinda of reads like you beat up the guy with his #### out.
Click to expand...
nice  youth-preacherish guy, non-Wyomingy vehicle (VW staion wagon) picks me up, asks me if i wanna go swimming. hot day, no shower in a wk(s), sure, he drives like 20+ miles, i'm kinda wtf, he pulls over, i still feel no danger, but then have a knife to my throat. he tells me what i'm gonna do as he pulls his joint out. my pack's at my knees. got the flag there just for this. i win. you wanna hear more, read the lyrics of Bracie & my rock opera

 
Bracie Smathers said:
You've definitely been by the landmarks noted.

I have to say even with that and an even more terrifying encounter with a 'creature' while camping in the back woods of a National Park that I love Wyoming and would have a trip planned out to head to my favorite camping spot if not for Covid.
Click to expand...
i'd been a construction flagman on I-80 near Evanston for a coupla weeks that spring. if i didnt know the territory a li'lbit, i probably would have walked myself to death by dead reckoning

 
wikkidpissah said:
i'd been a construction flagman on I-80 near Evanston for a coupla weeks that spring. if i didnt know the territory a li'lbit, i probably would have walked myself to death by dead reckoning
Click to expand...
That's three days walking high desert. 

Where did you get water and that had to be near Rock Springs.

 
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