Bowie Video Premiered On Canada's MuchMusic

Bowie Video Premiered On Canada's MusicMuch

ATN Toronto correspondent Peter Howell reports: Canada's MuchMusic presented the world premiere of the video for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," the first single off David Bowie's Outside album. It's clear Bowie is back in the saddle with Brian Eno, evoking the soundscapes of his mid-`70s work. And he's equally at home with the industrial grind of Nine Inch Nails, as this video shows. Directed by Sam Bayer, who directed Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video, the piece is one of Bowie's most disturbing videos yet. It shows him in some kind of mausoleum, cavorting with cadavers and zombies, as images flash to a strong tribal beat. One of the more ghastly scenes shows the zombies sawing a body in half. It's similar in effect to NIN's "Happiness Is Slavery" video, which showed a man being ground up into bloody pulp. The NIN video was banned by MTV, I believe, and I expect Bowie might face the same fate from the grannies of America's video empire. Great video, though. You've got to look at it a few times to really absorb it. No question Mr. Bowie has been paying attention to Mr. Reznor. The two should have fun this fall.

In other Bowie news, the Thin White Duke has accepted the slot as the guest of honor at the fifteenth annual international CMJ Music Marathon on September 5. More than 6,000 people are expected to attend the festivities which include than 45 seminars, and 400 musical groups performing at various venues in and around NYC during the extravaganza, including former Talking Head head, David Byrne, and Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

(From Addicted To Noise, August 27, 1995)