Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: David Bowie's 'Scary Monsters'

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: David Bowie's "Scary Monsters"

By Henry Rollins Fri., Dec. 28 2012 at 3:30 AM

KCRW BROADCAST #196
12-29-12

See Also: Henry Rollins: Led Zeppelin, All Powerful

Fanatics! Tonight we bravely launch into our last week in December, the last installment of our David Bowie marathon and as well, the last show for 2012.

We are already gearing up for our first show of 2013. Always looking forward!

Hour one is a crazy mix that starts off with quite a roar. Hour one went through many versions and there was quite a lot of listening, swapping songs in and out and order changes before we finally boiled it down to what waits for you.

I do believe we have a few new additions to our ever broadening resource pool. The Paper Chase is a band I don't know anything about but they are really cool. The label that released this, at least this re-issued version of Cntrl-Alt-Delete-U, Gilead Media, sent me this a few years ago. It took me awhile to get to it but I eventually did and I thought it was really cool. I will check out some more of their records and if I think it's worth your time, I will report back to you with more of their work. Also, I don't think we have listened to any Fursaxa yet. Fursaxa is Tara Burke out of Philadelphia. I think I first heard her on a compilation CD. I don't much about her but I have a lot of her albums now and have been listening to them a lot in the last several weeks. Her material isn't all that easy to find, check Discogs, you might get lucky there.

Seeing that January 1 is Gail Zappa's birthday, I thought we better play some Frank to wish her a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Gail!

We end our first hour with more Minutemen. I know we played them last week but In late December, we make sure we keep the band's music on our minds.

In our second hour, David Bowie shows just how great he is with his 1980 album Scary Monsters. This is the last one before he made Let's Dance and took over America. For a lot of people, Let's Dance was their first Bowie album and for a lot of Bowie fans, it was their last.

Of all his many incredible records, Scary Monsters is my personal favorite. I remember when it came out. I remember being at the Ontario Theater, I think it was the Bad Brains / Stranglers show. I was talking with Chris Haskett and he suggested to me that I should check out Scary Monsters. At that time, I was too tough to buy a Bowie album. I think I kind of snorted at Chris, like he had offended my macho sensibilities. A couple of summers later, it was one of my favorite albums and it still is to this day. To me, it's the last really great Bowie album. There are certainly great moments on many of the others that came afterwards but as far as one album all the way through, it is Scary Monsters for me.

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losangelesdj

Agreed- "Scary Monsters" was THE last great bowie album. One thing that made Bowie records so much fun was their inaccessibility. Sure there were the hits. But then there was the deeper, often more creative or daring stuff that rarely made it to the radio. If you were into Bowie beyond the obvious hits, it was like you were in an exclusive, private club. Bowie lost that with "Let's Dance". Some good songs but no real surprises there.

That "Ashes To Ashes" and "Fashion" even made it to the mainstream seemed like a victory. I knew almost no one else that listened to the rest of the album. To me, it was like opening a secret door and finding something amazing inside.

"It's No Game" featured guitarist Fripp joyfully careening out of control at the end. "Because You're Young", after starting off ominously, becomes the most hopeful, uplifting Bowie song in years. Certainly, Bowie's voice is more expressive here than on his previous two albums. "SM" has many more musical and vocal layers than the stark "Low" or "Heroes" with lots of interplay between the musicians. It seemed the depressive, dark cloud had been lifted and Bowie was free again.