David Bowie
Pop
With the meteoric rise of jungle in the UK over the last two years, Anglophiles have finally found something tangible to hitch their wagons to. This highly aggressive and charismatic (as far as electronic music goes) hybrid of dub, hip-hop, and techno, also known as drum ‘n’ bass, has influenced disparate artists on both sides of the pond, from Tortoise to Nine Inch Nails, and from Everything but the Girl to Derek Bailey. And it seems to have thrown open the gates for the broader genre of electronic dance music within the pop arena; popular music magazines cite a short list of prominent artists, including the Future Sound of London, Goldie, Orbital, L.T.J Bukem, Alex Reece, Underworld, the Chemical Brothers, and more dubious outfits like Prodigy as proof of electronic music’s popular arrival.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Many of these artists have garnered press and radio play as a result of some well-timed collisions with rock ‘n’ roll. Underworld’s “Born Slippy [Nuxx]” benefited from its proximity to Iggy Pop on the much touted Trainspotting sound track; the Chemical Brothers’ “Setting Sun” boasts the vocals of Oasis’s Noel Gallagher; Prodigy gets by on its repellent “Firestarter” video, which reveals that electronic acts have no trouble being as obnoxious as traditional rock stars. Goldie–the closest we’ve come to an actual name jungle star–hooked up with Bjork in more ways than one. But even with the tremendous amount of attention generated by his record Timeless (released in 1995 and anything but), the album has sold just under 30,000 copies in the U.S.–a more than respectable figure by some standards but hardly the trumpets of revolution.
This year’s model is the flashy Earthling, a fearless leap into the cliquey world of drum ‘n’ bass. Already it’s being touted as Bowie’s best album in a decade–try 17 years, friends. It’s his strongest offering since 1980’s Scary Monsters; it’s also his most challenging. New tracks like “Battle for Britain (The Letter),” the high-energy “Dead Man Walking,” and “Telling Lies” all show there’s life in the old lizard yet.
Rather than rely on their own devices to interpret the latest trend, as Bowie did, U2 brought in a ringer: Howie B. (ne Bernstein), one of the mad geniuses behind Skylab and a bright light on the Mo’Wax roster, has replaced Brian Eno as the band’s stylistic guru. He’s credited with things like “additional production” and “inspirational decks and loops” in the liner notes to Pop, U2’s tenth album, but it’s his presence that ultimately saves this uneven endeavor.
