Music Video #32 (Day 2 of 2008)

Today's video marks the return of David Bowie. It's called Fashion and is three and a half minutes long.


Huh. That's my initial reaction to the video, which is really weird. The video states that it was made in 1980, and I can believe that. The fashions, if you will, seemed to be in state of confusion. Everybody is trying to get away from the seventies, but no one has quite figured out what the eighties will be about, and they're trying to hard to pick something.

After the title fades out, we see a feminine looking Bowie pulling his sleave up and starting to sing his song. At least it was his arm and not his leg like I first thought. We see the rest of the band while Bowie smells something terrible. One of the members of his band is a skinny Andre the Giant and the drummer is pounding on a foot peddle that doesn't do anything.

The music starts and Bowie sings about a brand new, no name dance. It's done by people from bad homes and so forth. The crowd at the place where Bowie's band is isn't very big. Bowie tries a weird animal gesture when describing fear, and then seems embarrassed by it and puts his hands down.

We get to the chorus as the video gets weird. We see a soup line with people wearing masks or costumes. I'm not sure I want to know what they'll do afterwards. Then we see people working out doing aerobics. Because it was the eighties, you know. The band declares that they're the goon squad. I can't put my finger on it but there's something awful about that. Are they going to troll the internet now? While the band sings "beep beep", we see a commercial spoof where a woman takes a cup of tea and a giant gel capsule. The gel capsule is circled. The Tork is confused.





Bowie doesn't help, because now he sings a bunch of commands, only to cancel out each command immediately afterwards. "Listen to me, don't listen to me." Ok, whatever. Another commercial spoof with a dog being circled while a grandpa talks to a child. I guess that could fit a the recent lyrics but I don't know what that has to do with fashion. Or fashions. Or goon squads. Or dances.

Next we see a few people doing this strange new dance. Or maybe not. One person is having a seizure, one woman is walking forward stiffly, and some guy is writhing on the ground. I guess that's why they do the dance over there and not here.

Ack, more people in fetish masks! The people listening to Bowie now look out a window and these two groups lock eyes. Spooky. Tea lady dips her capsule into the tea. More aerobics. Bowie does a cool move where he stands still and turns his elbows to the left and the right as he sings. Well, I thought that was cool.

We're at a pool. A couple is drinking milkshakes. A circle helpfully poins out that the woman has a lemon in her milkshake. I have to agree at this poin. Beep beep.

Many of the themes we've seen before repeat as the song winds down.


What a weird video. I'm not sure what to make of it. The song is rather vague. What's the new dance? Let me give you just enough info for you to fill in the blanks. Beep beep. The song itself is ok, I guess.

The awesome thing is the pool, of course. I love pools. But if I had to pick something else, it's the elbow twists Bowie does when he sings about turning to the left and the right.