Posts Tagged ‘Peter Schilling’

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 77

feeders52

So I’ve been mentioning this to my wife, and I’m going to mention it here: lately on Popdose, and for all of eternity on the majority of sites that share opinions, there’s been a ton of the “What have you done for me lately?” comments if someone doesn’t talk fondly about something.

It rarely happens at Bottom Feeders, but I attribute that to the fact that even though I rag on various artists, this series is less about writing and more about entertaining. Well, that and the fact that there aren’t quite as many fanatical fans of bands who only had one hit a quarter-century ago.

All over the place, though, when a a piece of media is reviewed by someone and their opinion differs from the fanatic’s point of view, all of a sudden it’s a jealousy thing. I’ve never been able to figure out the “Are you jealous because you can’t sing as well?” comments. If I’m saying an artist sucks, why would I be jealous of them? If I was jealous at all, wouldn’t I be jealous of the artists who are my favorites? I hate Nickelback with a white-hot fury, but that’s not because I’m jealous that they have money and fame and I don’t.

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Song-Off: Major Tom

David Bowie – “Space Oddity”

Peter Schilling – “Major Tom (Coming Home)”

DwDunphy: It almost seems unfair that Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” should go up against David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” “Major Tom” is a pleasant enough piece of ’80s fiddle-dee-dee, but come on! Let’s review the facts here. First, Bowie’s song is about an astronaut as metaphor for a smack junkie. Schilling’s song is about an astronaut. Sure, it’s an astronaut lost in space, but so what? All kinds of crap gets lost out there. Second, Bowie is starting to get his freak on as this song arrived just before the Ziggy Stardust juggernaut. Schilling’s delivery makes Kraftwerk sound like Disco Tex and the Sexolettes. Third, Schilling’s keys sound like a Casio on sale at Wal-Mart. “Space Oddity’s” mellotron part? Rick goddamn Wakeman.

Zack: Sheesh, you aren’t going to make this easy, are you? Obviously there would be no Schilling song without Bowie’s original concept (or would there? The story of Major Tom bears a surprising similarity to the plot of the Asimov short story “Does a Bee Care?”), and “Major Tom (Coming Home)” only reached #14 on the American singles chart. That’s way worse than “Space Oddity,” right? Actually, no, it’s not. Even after Bowie’s record label attempted to buoy “Space Oddity’s” popularity by releasing it to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, the original release, failed to chart in the U.S. Yeah, but who cares about the U.S.? How much did the hometown fans in the U.K. like it? The original version only reached #5 in the U.K. It wasn’t until 1975, six years later, that a third release of Bowie’s song managed to reach the top of his home market, something that Schilling accomplished in about six minutes when he released “Major Tom” in 1980 in his native Germany.

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