海角大神

He insisted the future would be a bleak, blasted landscape, populated by panicky, gun-toting radicals and people whose only fleshly pleasures are as mechanical as an animated film about robots. Even our most promising rockers would be dead by one misadventure or another. But before this even happened, there would be a Third World War, one that would finish us off before this ugly, Orwellian existence could even begin.

That鈥檚 what he said. That鈥檚 what David Bowie said on his 1973 album, "Aladdin Sane." So how did he make The Apocalypse sound so groovy that we couldn鈥檛 wait for the world to end? Mostly it was the music, which was arguably, the most lyrical, indelibly melodic, and rockin鈥� stuff the man with the orange shag and unmatched eyes had yet made. In any case, on the occasion of "The Next Day," Bowie鈥檚 first new album in a decade, it鈥檚 time to celebrate the old. "Aladdin Sane" turns 40 in April and it still stimulates with an undimmed intensity.

When it was first released, the stakes were high. With his previous record, which introduced hubristic rocker, Ziggy Stardust, Bowie had finally broken through. After years of folky tunes and false starts, he found false eyelashes and blush worked better. In his glittering jumpsuit and stacked heels, Bowie鈥檚 identity may been ambiguous. As for those high stakes? Well, this is the guy who began "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" with a dicey proposition: that the world would end in five years. It was now a year later. What, we space cadets wondered, would he do for an encore?

Make good on his promise. That鈥檚 what David Bowie and his wonderfully poisonous Spiders did. What seems most in jeopardy in his brave, barren new world is rock 'n' roll itself. On two tracks, there are distinct references to the extinction of the music we loved. In the album鈥檚 opener, "Watch That Man," our humble narrator describes a party where 鈥渁n old-fashioned band of married men/Were looking up to me for encouragement.鈥� Everybody knew this had to be Bowie鈥檚 cheeky description of The Rolling Stones. Still, to hear those thirtyish thugs depicted that way was really depressing. The only ameliorating aspect, the thing that made the idea tolerable, was that Bowie and band were now rocking harder than the Stones. Led by first lieutenant and guitarist Mick Ronson, "Man," with its power chords and Chuck-Berry-screaming-like-Little-Richard vocal, made it clear who was now The World鈥檚 Greatest Rock And Roll Act.

Not five songs later, on "Time," Bowie mourns the overdose of drummer Billy Murcia, who鈥檇 been the driving backbeat of the New York Dolls, a band who hotwired rock and were driving it down the road at a merciless speed. But referencing Murcia proved Bowie didn鈥檛 shy away from the fact that music was falling apart, that perhaps there鈥檇 be no rock in years to come, even though his Spiders belied this with every crashing downbeat.
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If these deaths didn鈥檛 worry you about the future, listening to the record鈥檚 ominous title track made you wonder if there鈥檇 even be one. "Aladdin Sane," crowned by Mike Garson鈥檚 piano (sounding like Monk in a manic state), is not just the record鈥檚 showpiece but also its mission statement. Clearly, it鈥檚 about world war. Was a third one on its way? Who would we be fighting, anyway? One minute David鈥檚 referencing Japanese 鈥渟ake,鈥� the next he鈥檚 dithering on about 鈥淧aris or maybe hell.鈥� Did he know something we didn鈥檛?
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Garson says this about this epic song and his unforgettable playing on it: 鈥淔irst I played a blues solo. David said, 鈥楴o, that鈥檚 too common.鈥� Then I tried a Latin solo. Finally he said, 鈥榊ou played on the avant-garde scene in the 鈥�60s. Play something like that.鈥� So I did one take of that (atonal) solo and he was thrilled. I quoted from 'Tequila.' There鈥檚 some 'Rhapsody In Blue' and 'On Broadway' there, too. I didn鈥檛 understand the words. But the title led me to believe that鈥檚 where I should go.鈥� Although he didn鈥檛 hear the record 鈥渇or 20 years,鈥� Garson says plenty of others have 鈥� and they still call him because of it.
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鈥淭here鈥檚 something about that solo that keeps increasing people's interest," he said. "Gwen Stefani, Smashing Pumpkins, they all called me to work with them. All because of 鈥楢laddin.'鈥�

Listening to "Aladdin Sane" at the age of seventeen, when you鈥檙e already confused, might confuse you even more 鈥� gloriously so. There鈥檚 the futuristic, Philip K. Dick vibe of "Drive-In Saturday," where even in a darkened parking lot, you鈥檙e still in the dark. There鈥檚 "Panic In Detroit," where revolutionaries not only ran your city, but your school! Finally, Bowie covers "Let鈥檚 Spend The Night Together," so fast and crazy that if you put the Stones鈥� version on right after, Mick sounds as naughty as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Parents were right to fear this extremely open-minded alien.
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Eroticism slowly disappeared from Bowie鈥檚 songbook over the next few albums (with the glorious exception of "Rebel Rebel"), but the idea of existence as dystopia never has. Now sixty-six, having survived indifferent notices, Bowie remains resolute about the horrors of life on earth on the new album "The Next Day." It鈥檚 appropriate, if disquieting, to hear the man who once saw outer space as our only out call the stars 鈥渟exless and unaroused.鈥� Plus they peer down on us with awful indifference. He also moans about his 鈥渘ot quite dead鈥� body, which is 鈥渓eft to rot in a hollow tree.鈥� The disc鈥檚 final track, "You Feel So Lonely You Could Die," references the loneliest man in rock 'n' roll. Bowie sings, 鈥淥blivion shall own you/Death alone shall love you.鈥� It makes World War Three sound like a larf in comparison.
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Maybe I鈥檓 reading too much into this. After all, David Bowie has been a man of many masks since his career took flight. He may no more be this aging wretch than he was the rock and roll suicide on "Ziggy," the cleaned-up, crucifix-wearing kid singing "Heroes" or the mad prognosticator on "Aladdin Sane." And finally, does that matter?
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As we celebrate this record, forty years on, today鈥檚 kids will wonder why their favorite rockers seem so tame in comparison. The rest of us will smile and remember the twisted kicks this record gave us as we sat between the speakers in our bedrooms. We may even be tempted to paint lightning bolts on our faces and wonder about the wild exploits we missed out on. Artistically, that鈥檚 one cool accomplishment for the artist, for listeners to be able to claim that so long ago, David Bowie, with one record, so utterly expanded our horizons. It may be simple, but it鈥檚 true: you really have to love a guy for that.