Frogtoon Music

The Jean Genie by David Bowie

Artist Biography For David Bowie

David Robert Jones 8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016 Known Professionally As David Bowie Was An English Singer-Songwriter And Actor. A Leading Figure In The Music Industry He Is Regarded As One Of The Most Influential Musicians Of The 20th Century. Bowie Was Acclaimed By Critics And Musicians Particularly For His Innovative Work During The 1970s. His Career Was Marked By Reinvention And Visual Presentation And His Music And Stagecraft Had A Significant Impact On Popular Music. Bowie Developed An Interest In Music From An Early Age. He Studied Art Music And Design Before Embarking On A Professional Career As A Musician In 1963. "Space Oddity" Released In 1969 Was His First Top-Five Entry On The UK Singles Chart. After A Period Of Experimentation He Re-Emerged In 1972 During The Glam Rock Era With His Flamboyant And Androgynous Alter Ego Ziggy Stardust. The Character Was Spearheaded By The Success Of Bowie's Single "Starman" And Album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars Which Won Him Widespread Popularity. In 1975 Bowie's Style Shifted Towards A Sound He Characterised As "plastic Soul" Initially Alienating Many Of His UK Fans But Garnering Him His First Major US Crossover Success With The Number-One Single "Fame" And The Album Young Americans. In 1976 Bowie Starred In The Cult Film The Man Who Fell To Earth And Released Station To Station. In 1977 He Again Changed Direction With The Electronic-Inflected Album Low The First Of Three Collaborations With Brian Eno That Came To Be Known As The "Berlin Trilogy". "Heroes" 1977 And Lodger 1979 Followed Each Album Reached The UK Top Five And Received Lasting Critical Praise. After Uneven Commercial Success In The Late 1970s Bowie Had Three Number-One Hits The 1980 Single "Ashes To Ashes" Its Album Scary Monsters And Super Creeps And "Under Pressure" A 1981 Collaboration With Queen . He Achieved Massive Commercial Success In The 1980s Starting With Let's Dance 1983 . Between 1988 And 1992 He Fronted The Hard Rock Band Tin Machine Before Resuming His Solo Career In 1993. Throughout The 1990s And 2000s Bowie Continued To Experiment With Musical Styles Including Industrial And Jungle. He Also Continued Acting His Roles Included Major Jack Celliers In Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 1983 Jareth The Goblin King In Labyrinth 1986 Pontius Pilate In The Last Temptation Of Christ 1988 And Nikola Tesla In The Prestige 2006 Among Other Film And Television Appearances And Cameos. He Stopped Touring After 2004 And His Last Live Performance Was At A Charity Event In 2006. In 2013 Bowie Returned From A Decade-Long Recording Hiatus With The Next Day. He Remained Musically Active Until His Death From Liver Cancer At His Home In New York City. He Died Two Days After Both His 69th Birthday And The Release Of His Final Album Blackstar 2016 . During His Lifetime His Record Sales Estimated At Over 100 Million Records Worldwide Made Him One Of The Best-Selling Musicians Of All Time. In The UK He Was Awarded Ten Platinum Eleven Gold And Eight Silver Album Certifications And Released 11 Number-One Albums. In The US He Received Five Platinum And Nine Gold Certifications. He Was Inducted Into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame In 1996. Rolling Stone Ranked Him Among The Greatest Artists In History. As Of 2022 Bowie Was The Best-Selling Vinyl Artist Of The 21st Century. Full Wikipedia Article Https //en.Wikipedia.Org/wiki/David_Bowie Studio Albums
David Bowie 1967 David Bowie/Space Oddity 1969 The Man Who Sold The World 1970 Hunky Dory 1971 The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars 1972 Aladdin Sane 1973 Pin Ups 1973 Diamond Dogs 1974 Young Americans 1975 Station To Station 1976 Low 1977 "Heroes" 1977 Lodger 1979 Scary Monsters And Super Creeps 1980 Let's Dance 1983 Tonight 1984 Never Let Me Down 1987 Black Tie White Noise 1993 The Buddha Of Suburbia 1993 Outside 1995 Earthling 1997 Hours 1999 Heathen 2002 Reality 2003 The Next Day 2013 Blackstar 2016

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: The Jean Genie

"The Jean Genie" Is A Song By English Singer-Songwriter David Bowie Originally Released In November 1972 As The Lead Single To His 1973 Album Aladdin Sane. Co-Produced By Ken Scott Bowie Recorded It With His Backing Band The Spiders From Mars − Comprising Mick Ronson Trevor Bolder And Mick Woodmansey. According To Bowie It Was "a Smorgasbord Of Imagined Americana" With A Protagonist Inspired By Iggy Pop And The Title Being An Allusion To Author Jean Genet. One Of Bowie's Most Famous Tracks It Was Promoted With A Film Clip Featuring Andy Warhol Associate Cyrinda Foxe And Peaked At No. 2 On The UK Singles Chart. Background And Recording
"The Jean Genie" Originated On The Ziggy Stardust Tour As An Impromptu Jam Titled "Bussin'" On The Tour Bus Between The First Two Concerts In Cleveland And Memphis When Mick Ronson Began Playing The Bo Diddley-Inspired Guitar Riff On His New Les Paul. It Subsequently Became The First Song Bowie Composed For Aladdin Sane In Autumn 1972 During His 1972 US Tour Completing The Song In New York City Where He Spent Time With The Warhol Set's Cyrinda Foxe. Bowie Later Asserted "I Wrote It For Her Amusement In Her Apartment. Sexy Girl." Bowie Later In The 1990s Described The Song As "a Smorgasbord Of Imagined America" And "my First New York Song." The Recording Took Place At New York's RCA Studios On 6 October 1972. "I Had A Really Great Conversation With Bassist Trevor Bolder " Recalled Def Leppard's Joe Elliott. "I Said 'You Remember When You Were Doing The Jean Genie?' He Said 'No. We Did It In An Hour And A Half.'" Mixing Occurred The Following Week At RCA Studio B In Nashville Tennessee The Original Single Mix Is In Narrow Stereo While The Stereo Soundscape Is Wider In The Album Mix. Music And Lyrics
The Song's Chugging R&B Riff Is Often Compared To The Yardbirds Especially Their Cover Of Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" But Was Most Probably Inspired By French Singer Jacques Dutronc's La Fille Du Père Noël 1966 While The Lyrics Have Been Likened To The "stylised Sleaze" Of The Velvet Underground. The Subject Matter Was Inspired In Part By Bowie's Friend Iggy Pop Or In Bowie's Own Words "an Iggy-Type Character... It Wasn't Actually Iggy." The Line "He's So Simple Minded He Can't Drive His Module" Later Gave The Band Simple Minds Their Name. The Title Has Long Been Taken As An Allusion To The Author Jean Genet. Bowie Was Once Quoted As Saying That This Was "subconscious... But It's Probably There Yes". In His 2005 Book Moonage Daydream He Stated This Less Equivocally "Starting Out As A Lightweight Riff Thing I Had Written One Evening In NY For Cyrinda's Enjoyment I Developed The Lyric To The Otherwise Wordless Pumper And It Ultimately Turned Into A Bit Of A Smorgasbord Of Imagined Americana ... Based On An Iggy-Type Persona ... The Title Of Course Was A Clumsy Pun Upon Jean Genet". Music Video
Mick Rock Directed A Film Clip To Promote The Song In October 1972 In San Francisco Mixing Concert And Studio Footage Of Bowie Performing With The Spiders From Mars Along With Location Shots Of The Singer Posing At The Mars Hotel With Cyrinda Foxe. Bowie Wanted The Video To Depict "Ziggy As A Kind Of Hollywood Street-Rat" With A "consort Of The Marilyn Brand". This Led To Foxe's Casting And She Flew From New York To San Francisco Especially For The Shoot. Bowie Also Recorded "The Jean Genie" For BBC's Top Of The Pops The Performance Being Broadcast On 4 January 1973. Unusually For The Era The Four-Piece Band Performed Live And Included An Extended Guitar Solo By Ronson. Tapes Of This Edition Of Top Of The Pops Were Subsequently Wiped But A Copy Was Made By BBC Cameraman John Henshall Who Had Utilised The Then New Fisheye Lens Camera Techniques For The Performance. Henshall Was Contacted To Share His Historic Material And Was Surprised To Find He Was The Only One With A Surviving Copy. The Film Has Since Been Preserved And Was Shown At The British Film Institute In December 2011. The BBC Re-Broadcast The Clip In Its Top Of The Pops 2 Christmas Special On 21 December 2011 For The First Time Since The Original Broadcast In January 1973.

50 Similar Tracks:

HOME DAVID BOWIE
POPULAR TRACKS MIXES ALBUMS
Video 1 : 50