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aasplund's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
This was a fun read overall, but I had a few problems with it.
One of the main issues is that it doesn't feature nearly enough David Bowie. I didn't learn many new things about Bowie (though, to be fair, I've already read several Bowie biographies...) and he was mostly mentioned in the first and last chapters. Bowie functions as a bookend for 1970's sci-fi music - and that's an interesting way to look at things, but it also makes for a misleading cover and title.
Along the same lines, there is a LOT of information in this book that doesn't involve Bowie. Each year of the 1970's has a chapter dedicated to it and these chapters are filled with information about important sci-fi music released that year. But there's SO MUCH MUSIC that's mentioned - it's difficult to follow along or care too much about each artist or album when you know a completely different artist will be focused on in the next paragraph. I think I might've appreciated this book more if there was a focus on a few of the most important or influential song/albums of each year and it was connected to Bowie.
That being said, there were a few artists that were mentioned quite a bit in this book and I enjoyed learning more about them. I gained new appreciation for Jefferson Airplane, P-Funk, and X-Ray Spex - bands that I previously haven't given much thought to. This book helped me understand their connections to sci-fi music and how they influenced later groups.
Overall, this is an interesting read if you want a larger context in which to appreciate David Bowie's work (and to learn about contemporary artists). However, the scope of it is too big to really have an overarching thesis or theme - beyond the fact that David Bowie released popular sci-fi songs in 1969 and 1980. I'd love to read more focused work on David Bowie's connections with science fiction - but this book didn't provide that sufficiently.
One of the main issues is that it doesn't feature nearly enough David Bowie. I didn't learn many new things about Bowie (though, to be fair, I've already read several Bowie biographies...) and he was mostly mentioned in the first and last chapters. Bowie functions as a bookend for 1970's sci-fi music - and that's an interesting way to look at things, but it also makes for a misleading cover and title.
Along the same lines, there is a LOT of information in this book that doesn't involve Bowie. Each year of the 1970's has a chapter dedicated to it and these chapters are filled with information about important sci-fi music released that year. But there's SO MUCH MUSIC that's mentioned - it's difficult to follow along or care too much about each artist or album when you know a completely different artist will be focused on in the next paragraph. I think I might've appreciated this book more if there was a focus on a few of the most important or influential song/albums of each year and it was connected to Bowie.
That being said, there were a few artists that were mentioned quite a bit in this book and I enjoyed learning more about them. I gained new appreciation for Jefferson Airplane, P-Funk, and X-Ray Spex - bands that I previously haven't given much thought to. This book helped me understand their connections to sci-fi music and how they influenced later groups.
Overall, this is an interesting read if you want a larger context in which to appreciate David Bowie's work (and to learn about contemporary artists). However, the scope of it is too big to really have an overarching thesis or theme - beyond the fact that David Bowie released popular sci-fi songs in 1969 and 1980. I'd love to read more focused work on David Bowie's connections with science fiction - but this book didn't provide that sufficiently.
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