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1978 Station To Station Tour:
On this tour Bowie resurrected Ziggy Stardust for the first time since 1973 by devoting a
large segment of the "Stage" show to songs from Ziggy Stardust. The crowds
were ecstatic and cheered loudly during the playing of these songs. Also a
possible year and tour for when the Spiders from Mars reformed and played
with Bowie, but which Mick Ronson declined to partipate in.
1980 Floor Show, The: A
spectacular Bowie stage production that was filmed over 3 days at The Marquee, London for
the NBC TV show The Midnight Special.
"1984"(Bowie):
Song that Bowie previewed at The 1980 Floor Show in embryonic form
as "You Didn't Hear it From Me (Dodo)" and which was eventually recorded for
DIAMOND DOGS (1974). The song was inspired by George Orwell's novel 1984. Originally
Bowie intended to make a stage production of 1984 but Orwell's widow
denied him the rights resulting in the DIAMOND DOGS (1974) album instead.
"I was stuck with a partially written
musical. And I converted it into something more Borroughsian. That was when I really
started playing around with cut-up techniques, and that really opened up a whole new
avenue of songwriting to me, a whole approach creating different atmospheres. Because that
was the crux of what rock was to me. It wasn't so much what rock said. It was just the
attitude and the atmosphere that it created. I was trying to define my version of
rock-personally, in the way that I felt it, as a more stage oriented, theatrical kind of
artist." - Bowie
"1984/Dodo"(Bowie):
Previously unreleased 1973 song (a studio combination of "1984" and
"Dodo") which can be heard on the SOUND + VISION II (1989) CD.
2001- A
SPACE ODYSSEY: Stanley Kubrick 1968 science-fiction film that Bowie
said partly inspired him to write "Space Oddity." Two other Bowie songs which
show 2001 influence are "Life on Mars?" and "The Width of A Circle".
Both have similar endings to the famous drum coda on "Also sprach Zarathustra"
by Richard Strauss which was one of the classical themes in the movie. Bowie also used
2001-like film of galaxies rushing toward the audience as part of his Ziggy Stardust
concerts.