Essays David Bowie's Berlin | Page 38

influence even in 90's music - in artists and bands such as Björk, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem who continue to fuse the avant-garde with elements of mainstream music. Bowie’s influence can also be seen rather prominently with regards to the structuring of an album and the power of a strong structure within an album. The defining structural feature of Low and “Heroes” are their contrasting A and B sides, which constitutes the drastic change in the mood of each album. Side 1 is fragmented, nervous, experimental and artsy almost; there’s not a lot of "speaking" but the album speaks of isolation when it does. Thus, giving the listener a very limited insight into what could perhaps have been Bowie's own anxieties that he had embedded into the surroundings in order to incorporate it into his music. Side 2 – reveals how the true beauty is in the texture of each piece. Each piece is a totally separate, looming, slow piece whereby Bowie speaks through such silences. This may have inspired post-punk albums like Joy Division's Closer or Suede's Dog Man Star for example. Neither is a concept album but rather, deal with the interlinking set of themes of isolation and desire. Structurally speaking, the albums draw in many similarities in the sense that the hectic nature of the first side leads us to a dark, desolate place on the second side. For example, the first side of Suede's Dog Man Star is more fragmented has a genuine feeling of disdain which Butler and Anderson reflect through their competing jolting guitar parts and venomous lyricism. Whereas the second side appears to be a reflection of one's actions and reactions to the first side. The reflective elements of albums such as Dog Man Star and Closer , which of course are born of albums like Low , are what lead us into this darker musical space that exists in popular music.