so yes, then, look you see. for the second month in a row after "finishing" doing a monthly post on Bowie, here's one on Bowie. or just a strange incident or episode, i suppose. perhaps it is one that has never really had as much attention as it should placed on it, or indeed has benefited from far more consideration than was really required.
the specific incident is the song Loving The Alien. no, that is not quite right. about 3, maybe 5, perhaps 7 but probably no more than 10 seconds of the original video for the song. some of this was likely to be referenced in the post i did on the Tonight album, but you would have to check on that, no way do i read what i write. surprised that anyone does, in truth. if they do......
even those who do dismiss the entirety of the Tonight album as "rubbish" do not actually dismiss the album entire. in fact, those who do expect the Spanish Inquisition, etc. beyond the poetic pop perfection and charm of Blue Jean, there is Loving The Alien. a song, even in its outrageously overproduced 1984 original release state, which is hard to argue with the vaguely impenetrable genius of.
in terms of the song itself, what is unknown and what is known are intriguing. for certain, there was absolutely nothing at all like it in 1984, certainly not in "mainstream" music or even on the edges. somewhere close to two decades before Dan Brown made such footnotes of history his retirement fund, here's Bowie referencing the Knights Templar and all associated with it.
this was a rare instance of Bowie talking in detail about one of his songs, but as you would expect he revealed quite little. other than he considered it "deeply personal", perhaps one of his most personal songs ever (ahem, certainly pre Blackstar). whilst some see it as a very linear critique (attack, perhaps) on organized religion (it was known that Bowie wrestled with faith, the opponent to his belief being the frustrations, the corruption and the hypocrisy of organized religion), i am not sure. other comments note that mostly it plunges into how our ideas, notions, understanding or common assumptions of history can, and often are, be radically altered by the next find.
Bowie was a prolific reader. knowing this, considering this song and noting that Holy Blood & Holy Grail was published just two years prior seems to make a connection. whilst i am not sure how much i wish to delve into the actual song itself, what has fascinated me for quite some time is the "self censorship" Bowie introduced to the lavish, very expensive, quite difficult to work out exactly what is going on video.
above is a still from the scene which "caused all the trouble". yes, below is a brief clip from the original video, showing it all. depicted is, indeed, David Bowie having an unexplained nose bleed as he sings the song.
this special effect, showing a swelling nose rather than just blood trickling down, would have been both difficult and expensive with 1984 technology. compliments to the team that pulled it off. then. leaving that aside, i don't rightly know why such an expensive scene would be in the video in the first instance, why out of all the imagery and lyrical content of Loving The Alien the BBC and several other broadcasters objected to it, or why Bowie felt that the edited version would be the only one ever to be made available again.
indeed i did promise you a video, and here it is. of course i would suggest you rather watch the whole video somewhere online, and certainly play the song entire on a decent stereo, but since you are here, this is the offending bit. but, be warned, when it was briefly available on video (the Day In Day Out "video EP"), it carried an "18" certificate, presumably purely for this scene alone.
with regards to the "edit", makes kind of sense from Bowie's perspective with the threat of a ban off the BBC, and also presumably things like ITV's The Chart Show. sure, it was 1984, and it was known that a banned video usually led to an increase in sales. consider, if you will, Relax, or even Girls On Film. but those bans came about because of that thing which must never ever be spoken of in England, or shown on screen, you know, thingy (sex for readers in countries where the government trusts them more than they do us). a ban for a bloody nose would be unlikely to send sales soaring, and as much as he was on a commercial pressure drive at the time, it genuinely seemed Bowie's wish was for this particular song to be heard by as wide an audience as possible.
but why this scene? sure, the "out of the blue", unexplained nature of it can be considered "unsettling" if you think of it for long enough. there are, however, no implications of violence or harm to it, a cause-effect thing which one would reasonably consider fair concern.
the thing is, right, if Loving The Alien were to come out today, then it is probable that the last thing anyone would be worried or concerned about is this now ever so slightly infamous "nosebleed" scene. daring to depict any sort of religion is ill advised as someone will kick off somewhere. the not so much implication as direct showing of an english gentleman marrying a muslim lady would undoubtedly cause some distress somewhere. why, i know not, i just live in this world.
also, if you made a video today where you reasonably in the context of the song projected an image of you as a Knight, possibly Knight Templar, carrying the shield of Richard The Lionheart, apparently engaged in the crusades, and had a muslim lady stood in support of you, it's probably not going to get heavy rotation on whatever shows have music videos on them these days. yes, would take a "you tube ban" as a given, i suppose.
lately i have found myself singing and humming Loving The Alien as i potter around. that is probably, in all likelihood, what brought back memories of the fuss around this scene, and the apparent fuss free resolution to it. no one, so far as i am aware is demanding the full video be made available again. although yes, i dare say there were expressions of disappointment when DVD releases of Bowie's videos came out, all featuring the edited (censored) version.
will we ever know what Bowie truly meant with Loving The Alien, or why he was so keen for all of us to hear it? probably not, no. but we can surely play the song and appreciate the magnificence of it.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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