Sound Thinking - Episode 6 (New Wave)

This radio series, that originally aired on Flirt.FM a licensed student radio station for NUIG, takes one particular type of music, subculture, sub-genre, or moment in time each week and examines it in detail. Listening to some of the best or underrated music of that time and looking at the history behind it.

Episode 6 was all about new wave music in the late 1970s and early 80s.

Listen: Here (Originally aired 18/01/21)

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David Bowie (1967)

The Bowie Project #1 – David Bowie (1967) Click here to listen to an audio version of this review on Spotify The David Bowie we find on his 1967 debut album is not quite the Bowie so many would later come to know and love. The pieces are there, the ambition, the creativity, the lyricism but it never quite manages to come together as a cohesive whole. There’s a strange mix of genres on display here, ranging from baroque to music hall to psychedelic rock with Bowie himself stating that the album “seemed to have its roots all over the place, in rock and vaudeville and music hall. I didn't know if I was Max Miller or Elvis Presley ". But in a way, that’s part of its charm. Bowie is finding his feet and personally I find that rather enjoyable. It’s nice to know that his artistic vision didn’t arrive fully formed, that there was a couple of false starts before the real good stuff, that even if we’re not fully satisfied with the things we create, we can go back to the drawing ...

David Bowie (1969)

The Bowie Project #2 - David Bowie aka Space Oddity aka Man of Words/Man of Music (1969) Click here to listen to an audio version of this review on Spotify Many call this the first true David Bowie album. After the commercial failure of his first record two years earlier (also called David Bowie ), the future Ziggy Stardust sought to reinvent himself and shed his jaunty music hall vaudeville past, and what better way to erase everyone’s memory of the first album than by giving the next one the exact same name? The origins of this album begin with the promotional movie Love You till Tuesday which Kenneth Pitt, Bowie’s new manager, hoped would showcase his talents and introduce him to a larger audience. The film ended up being shelved and was not released until 1984 when it finally appeared on VHS. The half-hour promo was originally planned to include seven previously released Bowie songs and one mime performance, but before shooting began Bowie wrote a new song for the fi...

Blackstar ★ (2016)

The Bowie Project #31 - Blackstar (2016) After an intensive career that saw incredibly highs and desperate lows, going from an alternative cult act to stadium superstar, through ambient dreamscape and drum and bass freakouts. You can call him Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Halloween Jack, Thin White Duke, the Man Who Fell to Earth just to name a few. His career is one of the most long lasting, influential, and interesting in the entire music industry. When taken as a whole the work that he did adds up to a complete body of work that was consistently pushing the boundaries and daring to push pop culture past the point of what was considered appropriate or acceptable. This kid who was born in Brixton just two years after the end of World War II grew up with an innate need for success, a drive that saw him become on of the most recognizable figures on the planet, and a sense of showmanship and theatrically that would bleed through right up until the moment of his death. Da...

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