So I assume when they say Mick's old friend was due to make an appearance they meant the lookalike? Cause obviously its been filmed for awhile now. They would have known whether Bowie could be on or not. Just from first read it sounded like they meant Bowie was due to be on, but he died so now they're reworking it, when I guess it means someone PLAYING Bowie was due to be on, and now they're still keeping that in but reworking the episode to feature a more explicit tribute.

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RollingFreak
So I assume when they say Mick's old friend was due to make an appearance they meant the lookalike?

That's what I understand too - that the character David Bowie is in one episode,
not that David Bowie himself was going to be.

not a fan of awards shows in general-but may have to catch the Lady Gaga tribute tonight at the grammy awards. Supposedly one of the longest sets tonight.

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mgguy
not a fan of awards shows in general-but may have to catch the Lady Gaga tribute tonight at the grammy awards. Supposedly one of the longest sets tonight.

Same here. Think Gaga was an excellent choice to salute Bowie. I hear Nile Rodgers will be involved, also. Also interested in Hollywood Vampires & the Jackson Browne/Eagles salute.

Like a bad Broadway musical. Not that anyone can sing like Bowie. But maybe a variety of folks or just clips of Bowie himself would've been a much more deserving tribute.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 05:37 by kovach.

From Ultimate classic Rock:

Lady Gaga Steers Her David Bowie Grammy Tribute Into Cruise Ship Hell

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

People either love or hate the Gaga. I didn't see the tribute because I got tired of the show and kept tuning out. She is overexposed and overused, especially for someone who had not had a hit in a very long time, unless you count her duets with Tony Bennett, which was hardly a big smash. Yes, it would have been better to show Bowie clips or use some musicians who are actually influenced by David.

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Hairball
From Ultimate classic Rock:

Lady Gaga Steers Her David Bowie Grammy Tribute Into Cruise Ship Hell

Exactly what I thought. It was like "Starman: The Musical!" FAIL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 07:41 by TornAndFried.

The problem is there's no way to hate it without people saying "its just cause you hate her and you don't understand what she was going for!" One of the worst aspects of our modern society.

Yes, on a whole I hated it, although as I said to my parents when it happened I at least know she means well. I don't think she always does with her music, and I'm not a fan by any stretch, but I'm sure Bowie was a big influence, I'm sure she meant it as a nice tribute and I'm sure it was heartfelt. It wasn't like putting Taylor Swift out there and doing something that felt completely manufactured.

But yeah, taking all of that aside, I didn't think it was good. Too many songs, almost no images of Bowie, seemed to be cut and paste like a musical as has been said. I also didn't like her voice, until she got to the later era stuff which actually wasn't terrible. Didn't like the execution, but she certainly had the voice nailed for that later 70s/early 80s stuff. I agree, they would have just been better running a clip reel. That would have made me cry, this just made me wish he was alive so she wasn't doing it.

Gaga sucks. Wow what a horror show.

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RollingFreak
The problem is there's no way to hate it without people saying "its just cause you hate her and you don't understand what she was going for!" One of the worst aspects of our modern society.

Yes, on a whole I hated it, although as I said to my parents when it happened I at least know she means well. I don't think she always does with her music, and I'm not a fan by any stretch, but I'm sure Bowie was a big influence, I'm sure she meant it as a nice tribute and I'm sure it was heartfelt. It wasn't like putting Taylor Swift out there and doing something that felt completely manufactured.

But yeah, taking all of that aside, I didn't think it was good. Too many songs, almost no images of Bowie, seemed to be cut and paste like a musical as has been said. I also didn't like her voice, until she got to the later era stuff which actually wasn't terrible. Didn't like the execution, but she certainly had the voice nailed for that later 70s/early 80s stuff. I agree, they would have just been better running a clip reel. That would have made me cry, this just made me wish he was alive so she wasn't doing it.

Good intentions aside, the act was a rushed melange of song snippets, bad choreography and strange outfits with no clear images of Bowie himself. A question to ask would be "How would David Bowie have felt about it if he watched it?" I think he would have either cringed or chuckled to see his music presented like this. It was a disaster.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 19:56 by TornAndFried.

I bet Bowie would have loved the spectacle. You guys seem to be under the impression that Bowie liked decorum, convention..
Gaga's tribute was just over the top and out there enough to make sense in a Bowie tribute. What would you have preferred? Someone solemnly standing under a white light center stage singing Rebel, Rebel?
I bet that would have bored him to tears and would have been rolling his eyes. Bowie was a rock and roll iconoclast, eternal outsider and appealed to the freak in all of us. When older rock fans mock Gaga for being out there, I just have to laugh.
Another time, another era, and like her, hate her or dismiss her but she embodies his ethos in a way not many artists do these days - and so I think she was the perfect performer to pay tribute. A lot of people didn't get Bowie either.. Either hated or loved him. It was appropriate.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 08:19 by stupidguy2.

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stupidguy2
I bet Bowie would have loved the spectacle. You guys seem to be under the impression that Bowie liked decorum, convention..
Gaga's tribute was just over the top and out there enough to make sense in a Bowie tribute. What would you have preferred? Someone solemnly standing under a white light center stage singing Rebel, Rebel?
I bet that would have bored him to tears.

Oh no, I'm sure he would have loved it. Whether he meant it or not we'd never know, but I highly doubt he was say to a younger very popular star that meant this out of admiration that it sucked. He wasn't an ass, at least not in his later years. If he said it privately we would have never known.

And no, I don't think standing under the spotlight would have been good, but I think a more focused tribute would have been better. I guess the point was to maybe show how many great songs he had, but we all know that. Select like 3 and really kill them, instead of running around doing musical theatre. I think a great tribute would have been opening with Life On Mars, into an uptempo rocker like Rebel Rebel, into something kind of timeless like Heroes. 6 minutes, 2 minutes for each, I think personally would have worked better. And more images of Bowie. It felt a little too much like the Lady Gaga show, which is one think when you're covering but another when you're paying tribute.

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RollingFreak

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stupidguy2
I bet Bowie would have loved the spectacle. You guys seem to be under the impression that Bowie liked decorum, convention..
Gaga's tribute was just over the top and out there enough to make sense in a Bowie tribute. What would you have preferred? Someone solemnly standing under a white light center stage singing Rebel, Rebel?
I bet that would have bored him to tears.

Oh no, I'm sure he would have loved it. Whether he meant it or not we'd never know, but I highly doubt he was say to a younger very popular star that meant this out of admiration that it sucked. He wasn't an ass, at least not in his later years. If he said it privately we would have never known.

And no, I don't think standing under the spotlight would have been good, but I think a more focused tribute would have been better. I guess the point was to maybe show how many great songs he had, but we all know that. Select like 3 and really kill them, instead of running around doing musical theatre. I think a great tribute would have been opening with Life On Mars, into an uptempo rocker like Rebel Rebel, into something kind of timeless like Heroes. 6 minutes, 2 minutes for each, I think personally would have worked better. And more images of Bowie. It felt a little too much like the Lady Gaga show, which is one think when you're covering but another when you're paying tribute.

That's fair. I just think it fit Bowie. He was a pretty sarcastic guy, sneering at convention.. I really believe he would have gotten a kick out of this.

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stupidguy2
I bet Bowie would have loved the spectacle. You guys seem to be under the impression that Bowie liked decorum, convention..
Gaga's tribute was just over the top and out there enough to make sense in a Bowie tribute. What would you have preferred? Someone solemnly standing under a white light center stage singing Rebel, Rebel?
I bet that would have bored him to tears. Bowie was a rock and roll iconoclast, eternal outsider and appealed to the freak in all of us. When older rock fans mock Gaga for being out there, I just have to laugh.
Another time, another era, but she embodies his ethos - and she was the perfect performer to pay tribute. A lot of people didn't get Bowie either.. Either hated or loved him. It was appropriate.

It wasn't "unconventional" in a positive sense. It was ill-conceived and poorly executed. Why would any great artist want to see their music presented in such a cheesy fashion? (pun intended) To each their own, but you must be in the 1% of people who think this was a good performance. I thought it was an embarrassment.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 08:30 by TornAndFried.

I watched it. Not too good. It wasn't entirely Gaga's fault. The song segments were too snippet-y. It was cornball and cheesy. It would have been tough to pull off no matter who performed it. I doubt LG designed and choreographed it herself.

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marianna
I watched it. Not too good. It wasn't entirely Gaga's fault. The song segments were too snippet-y. It was cornball and cheesy. It would have been tough to pull off no matter who performed it. I doubt LG designed and choreographed it herself.

Agreed.

Love her or hate her - it was pretty bad.
Perhaps one full length song performance would have been sufficient.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Lady Gaga is like One Direction...yesterday's news...Bowie made music for all times..

2 1 2 0

'Life On Mars' sung by Lady Gaga, perhaps accompanying herself on piano, to a video montage of Bowie clips and images would have been a tasteful and emotional trubute. She could have done a full version of 'Fame' as well. Another artist doing a second or third song such as 'Rebel Rebel' or 'Heroes' would have worked too.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-02-16 10:31 by TornAndFried.

I liked it (& I'm a huge Bowie fan). Gaga took his source material & did her own thing with it. She is a very original artist & hugely talented. Really varied. Evidence: the duets record with Tony Bennett & her performance of the "Banner" at Super Bowl. She nailed it. I'm liking her stuff more all the time.

I sort of liked it ...in a cruise ship kind of way... but 1 or 2 songs at the most would have been better and would mean Lady Gaga could perhaps do the material justice. Perhaps Madonnas performance of Rebel Rebel at her concert the night after he died is actually the more heartfelt - more genuine - tribute? Its on youtube if you've not seen it.

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TornAndFried
'Life On Mars' sung by Lady Gaga, perhaps accompanying herself on piano, to a video montage of Bowie clips and images would have been a tasteful and emotional trubute. She could have done a full version of 'Fame' as well. Another artist doing a second or third song such as 'Rebel Rebel' or 'Heroes' would have worked too.

Nice ideas, especially Life on Mars. If a bunch of 12-year-old kids learned about Bowie for the first time last night, and then went and sought out his music then it was probably worth it.

I think Bowie would have got some perverse pleasure out of the whole thing. He hated awards shows with a passion. This would allow him to say, "See, I told you so!"

Gaga sure makes you guy talk, though

Maybe this one is not the best hommage that could have been done.

Have you watched Tony Bennett / Gaga show ? it was a fantastic performance by Gaga with a great voice.

"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

Fan of lady Gaga, but wish she didn't do a melody. 2 or 3 whole songs would of worked better.

Loved the outfits. Really cool thing at the beginning, with here face.

Actually, just Lady Gaga under a spotlight would have been an unexpected change-up that I bet you Bowie would have liked. Just two songs, Life on Mars going into Five Years. Five Years would have been poignant and a reminder to all of us Baby Boomers that the ultimate end is coming for us all.

Other impressions from the Grammy's: really liked Kendrick Lamar. Not something I'd listen to all the time but definitely interesting. The Eagles were low key but nice. Stevie Wonder still rules. I luv that he still has that playful side. Hollywood Vampires were fun. Bruno Mars looked confused during Ace of Spades, haha. Bonnie Raitt was great, as usual. I think the sound man is as sick of Adele as the rest of us, haha. Best new artist was criminal. Courtney Barnett should've won. Think she is going to be with us in a big way for a long time.

Gaga is usually great...her Super Bowl performance 2 weeks ago was surreal...the Bowie tribute not her best...

A straight-up cover of one or two classic Bowie songs, sung in the bare-bone-style Gaga has done with her own Pokerface (piano/vocal), would have been better, in my opinion.

The Grammy tribute was no doubt done with the best intentions, but it was once again focused on the 'chameleon-syndrome'. Love it or hate it, when push comes to shove, it was Bowie's songwriting that made him what he became. The styles and fashion was only work-tools.

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exhpart
I sort of liked it ...in a cruise ship kind of way... but 1 or 2 songs at the most would have been better and would mean Lady Gaga could perhaps do the material justice. Perhaps Madonnas performance of Rebel Rebel at her concert the night after he died is actually the more heartfelt - more genuine - tribute? Its on youtube if you've not seen it.

I thought Madonna's performance was pretty bad mainly because of the singing, to be honest. She can sing well live but she didn't on that song. I agree about it being heartfelt though - actually the best bit for me was afterwards when she was singing his praises verbally, then said "God, I'm getting really emotional here" and then sort of threw a glance at the audience, shrugged and said "You don't understand" and moved on to the next song. Without a doubt she was a massive Bowie fan.