David Bowie's 1. Outside: the Creation of a Liminoid Space As a Metaphor for Pre-Millennial Society
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BOWIE'S I._OUTSIDE AS A CONSTRUCTION OF ALIMINOID SPACE DAVID BOWIE'S 1. OUTSIDE: THE CREATION OF A LIMINOID SPACE AS A METAPHOR FOR PRE-MILLENNIAL SOCIETY By: NICHOLAS P. GRECO, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University Copyright © 2000 by Nicholas P. Greco IIcMASIER UNI'lfi.R!::itI'l LIBBAto MASTER OF ARTS (2000) McMaster University (Music Criticism) Hamilton, Ontario Title: David Bowie's 1. Outside: The Creation of a Liminoid Space as a Metaphor for Pre-Millennial Society Author: Nicholas P. Greco, B.A. (University of Ottawa) Supervisor: Dr Susan Fast Number of Pages: xi, 166. 111 ABSTRACT The majority of writings on David Bowie have focussed on his early work. Many feel that Bowie's early work has much merit, as has been made clear by the vast pool of both academic and popular writings regarding his work in the early 1970s, his collaborations with Brian Eno in the late 1970s, and his most commercially accepted works in the early 1980s. However, much of the academic writing on Bowie has chosen to focus only on these works and ignores his more recent material. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the more recent work of David Bowie. In 1995, Bowie released the album 1. Outside. Through its music and lyrics, album art, accompanying narrative, music video and live performance, Bowie presents a world of the absurd and violent. He engages with the notions of murder as art, body modification as ritual, and the state of society at the end of the twentieth century. Bowie, in his comments to Ian Penman in Esquire magazine, suggests that the proliferation of body modification in late twentieth century Western society acts as a replacement for the Judeao-Christian ethic. By applying Victor Tumer's theory ofliminality, it is argued that, through 1. Outside, Bowie is constructing a representation of a space which is analogous to society at the end of the millennium. For Tumer, the liminal stage embodies an v VI optimistic "storehouse of possibilities," not unlike a gestation period which precedes new life. Rather than creating a space which fits Turner's model of the liminal exactly, Bowie suggests a space which is liminoid, not exhibiting the full potential of the liminal. Bowie presents themes of nihilism and the alienation of technology, as well as many juxtapositions in visual performance, which serve to give the album a sense of ambiguity contributing to its ambivalent, and thus liminoid, character. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the people who helped me accomplish the work necessary to complete my thesis. Foremost on my list is my supervisor Dr Susan Fast, without whom this thesis would not have been possible. Her support and advice is sincerely appreciated. I would also like to express my appreciation for my second reader, Dr Ken McLeod, for providing very useful feedback and for helping me to further refine my ideas. I am also grateful for Dr Fred Hall, for his insight and comments in regards to this thesis. Critical to my development as a young scholar was the guidance of the faculty in the Department of Music at McMaster. In particular, I would like to thank Dr James Deaville for his help and guidance in the world of Critical Theory, as well as Dr Hugh Hartwell for his support and encouragement through this process. I would be remiss if I were to not mention my fellow colleagues in the Music Criticism programme, without whom none of these ideas would have left my head. I would particularly like to thank Jennifer de Boer for listening and her insight. Also, many thanks to Simon de Boer for taking a photograph of Robert, the dead rodent, under the table that fateful night in the Cave. Vll V11l I must thank Chris McDonald, who willingly provided the framework for the segmental approach to lyric analysis which I present in the second chapter of this work. Furthennore, I am grateful for the correspondence with Bowie's guitarist on 1. Outside, Reeves Gabrels, who was kind enough to respond to emails from a fan, and to respond in detail! My utmost love and thanks go to Antonella Bilich for her friendship throughout the process of writing this paper. Without her, I could not have done this. Most of all, I must acknowledge the sacrifice which my parents, Nick and Mary Greco, had to make to allow me to continue in my studies. I am forever indebted to them for their emotional and financial support. It is to them that this work is dedicated. Finally, this thesis marks an end to my sister's phone calls early on Saturday mornings. While expressing to her my love, I would also like to thank her in advance for stopping such thoughtless behaviour so early in the morning. CONTENTS ABSTRACT v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................. Vll LIST OF FIGURES Xl INTRODUCTION 1 1. THE CULTURE OF BODY MODIFICATION 19 Mutilation in Religion and Society .................. 25 Types of Body Modification ........................ 34 Body Play 48 Towards an Understanding of Body Modification 51 Body Modification as Alternative Spirituality . 61 2. AN ANALYSIS OF 1. OUTSIDE . 67 The Diary of Nathan Adler 68 Victor Turner and Liminality . 79 A Segmental Approach to Lyric Analysis 88 "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" 91 "Strangers When We Meet" 99 A Brief Discussion of Album Art 103 IX x Musical Analysis: "The Motel" 107 3. BOWIE'S VIDEO AND LNE PERFORMANCE 115 Video Analysis: "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" 116 Juxtapositions 122 Iconic Images 127 Transgression 134 Carnivalesque Images 139 Bowie in Live Performance 145 "A Small Plot of Land" 147 CONCLUDING REMARKS 153 APPENDIX: THE DIARY OF NATHAN ADLER ............ 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 161 Discography c ............................................................ " .. .. 165 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1.1 Annibale Carracci's The Dead Christ (c. 1582). 29 2.1 Paulus Potter's The Young Bull (1647). 70 2.2 Mark Tansey's The Innocent Eye Test. 70 2.3 Lyrics for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson." 93 2.4 Lyrics for "Strangers When We Meet." 98 2.5 Ramona A. Stone. 104 2.6 "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" lyrics. 105 2.7 "Strangers When We Meet" lyrics. 105 2.8 Lyrics for "The Motel." 108 2.9 Fonnal analysis of "The Motel." 110 3.1 Visual account of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson"; arranged according to corresponding musical sections. 118 3.2 Bowie with mannequin in "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" video. 120 3.3 Bowie in live perfonnance. 149 Xl INTRODUCTION Students will be writing college dissertations about it very soon. - Stuart Bailie, in a review of 1. Outside, in Vox magazine. 1 In 1995, David Bowie released 1. Outside, an album which engages with issues such as murder as art, body modification as ritual, and the state of late twentieth century Western society. This brief introduction will serve to provide some context for the issue of body modification and violence in the music of David Bowie. It is no surprise that David Bowie engages with themes of body modification and violence in 1. Outside. As early as 1993, with the release of Black Tie White Noise, Bowie was already presenting the listener with word images that bring attention to the modification of the body, violence and nihilism. In a cover of singer-songwriter Scott Walker's "Nite Flights," he sings: There's no hold The moving has come through The danger passing you Turns its face into the heat and runs the tunnels It's so cold The dark dug up by dogs The stitches tom and broke IStuart Bailie, Vox magazine (November 1995), "Outside: Reviews"; http://www.algonet.se/~bassmanJarticles/rev/o.html; Internet; accessed 24 July 2000. 1 2 The raw meat fist you choke Has hit the bloodlite2 The lyrics are suggestive of the physical and the violent, and although it was not originally written by Bowie, his choice of this particular song shows that he was interested in conveying this subject matter at this time. Also, although the song does not directly refer to the behaviour of body modification, it can be argued that it does foreshadow the grotesque details of "murder as art" in 1. Outside. The later album's themes of nihilism and violence are foreshadowed by phrases such as "the stitches tom and broke" and "the raw meat fist you choke." These lyrics are suggestive of violence and destruction (doubly, with the image of stitches, which serve to close a wound, being destroyed themselves), while also being suggestive of death, with a reference to raw meat, and choking, which can often lead to death. Later that same year, Bowie released The Buddha ofSuburbia, a soundtrack for the BBC2 miniseries of the same name. In the CD liner notes, Bowie states: A major chief [sic] obstacle to the evolution of music has been the almost redundant narrative form. To rely upon this old war-horse can only continue the spiral into the British constraint of insularity. Maybe we could finally relegate the straightforward narrative to the past. On the other hand, modem circumstances having had a dysfunctioning capacity upon pure chronological perspective, my writing has often relied too arbitrarily on violence and chaos as a 2Scott Engel (aka. Walker), "Nite Flights," lyrics reprinted from http://www.teenagewildlife.comlAlbumsIBTWNINF.html; Internet; accessed 8 May 2000. 3 soft option to acknowledging spiritual and emotional starvation. I know I'm not alone with this dilemma.3 Bowie is admitting his own shortcomings in his commentary of society, even though his comments are in the context of a critique or wake-up call for British music.