blackguitaristz said:

yah - from what i understand, they did a cover of 'foot stompin'' on tour a few times, then the riff kinda mutated into 'fame'. i think bowie and the band even performed 'foot stompin'' on TV - on dick cavett or dinah shore around the time of the 'diamond dogs' tour...

Anxiety said:

Damn. That's cool. Would love to have that on tape. I have great Hendrix, Sly footage on Dick Cavett. U think it sounds like Fame? I definately hear James.

blackguitaristz said:

yeah, i hear a definite JB influence in it, for sure. have you seen the 'best of bowie' DVD anthology of his videos? there's a live performance from the dick cavett show circa 1975 with the 'young americans' band, complete with luther on backing vocals.

backup for David on something, but I can't remember what it was. It may have well been that. I know it was around that time period. Hey man, what do u think about David's Floor Show or his Saturday Night Live appearance doing "TVC15" with the toys dogs? That's one of the coolest performances ever on television.

blackguitaristz said:

i love that SNL appearance - his backup singers were joey arias and klaus nomi, who were really hot performance artists/drag queens in NYC at the time...klaus nomi released a few albums in the early '80s and left behind a bit of a cult following when he died. joey arias is still kickin', and usually shows up at wigstock or the 'night of 1,000 stevies' events in NYC. i thought it was SO cool when i recognized those two singing back-up for bowie on SNL. very campy, very new-wave, very fun.

Anxiety said:

I totally agree witcha. John Lennon got co-writing credit and well he should have. He was the one that came up the hook! I knew John was funky with shit like "I Am The Walrus" which is another one of my faves, but damn!

blackguitaristz said:

Yeah FUNKY JOHN!!! GREAT SONG!!

Ever heard the Duran Duran cover of this song (from 1981???) I like that one also!

Were u a "Bowie Kid"? U hip to them?

blackguitaristz said:

kinda sorta. i grew up listening to the copies of 'aladdin sane' and 'diamond dogs' in my mom's vinyl collection - i didn't really take any special notice of bowie until 'let's dance' came out, though - and i didn't become a rabid fan until i stumbled across a beat up copy of 'stage' at my local library and it thoroughly rocked my world on first listen...

Yeah. I got into Bowie really young. He is definately one of my favorite artists of all. He's in my top 5 and that's high considering I dig so much shit.
The Serious Moonlight Tour was the first time I had ever seen him live. Do u like on David Live, the Ziggy Stardust version?

Anxiety, have I ever told u that "Fame" is my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG BY ANYONE? EVER? Well, it is. The backward intro and the backward break, the bass WAAAY high up in the mix, Carlos Alomar's guitar riff, the speeded up, slowed down vocals at the end. It's just "in the pocket" funk. Period. Bowie's vocals are on target. The song is the shit. A bonafide crossover hit if there ever was one. Black AND white stations (r&b, rock) played the hell out of this. Bowie was the first ever white performer on Soul Train, and guess what song he performed? This bought Bowie his funk card and he's held on to it ever since, really. Who else here, people, likes this song?

Anxiety, have I ever told u that "Fame" is my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG BY ANYONE? EVER? Well, it is. The backward intro and the backward break, the bass WAAAY high up in the mix, Carlos Alomar's guitar riff, the speeded up, slowed down vocals at the end. It's just "in the pocket" funk. Period. Bowie's vocals are on target. The song is the shit. A bonafide crossover hit if there ever was one. Black AND white stations (r&b, rock) played the hell out of this. Bowie was the first ever white performer on Soul Train, and guess what song he performed? This bought Bowie his funk card and he's held on to it ever since, really. Who else here, people, likes this song?

GangstaFam said:

i wish i could remember where i remembered seeing the whole thing about bowie discussing 'fame' and the flares' song...i think it might have been on an MTV interview from waaaay back in '87, when he was promoting the 'glass spider tour'.

Anxiety, have I ever told u that "Fame" is my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG BY ANYONE? EVER? Well, it is. The backward intro and the backward break, the bass WAAAY high up in the mix, Carlos Alomar's guitar riff, the speeded up, slowed down vocals at the end. It's just "in the pocket" funk. Period. Bowie's vocals are on target. The song is the shit. A bonafide crossover hit if there ever was one. Black AND white stations (r&b, rock) played the hell out of this. Bowie was the first ever white performer on Soul Train, and guess what song he performed? This bought Bowie his funk card and he's held on to it ever since, really. Who else here, people, likes this song?

Anxiety, have I ever told u that "Fame" is my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG BY ANYONE? EVER? Well, it is. The backward intro and the backward break, the bass WAAAY high up in the mix, Carlos Alomar's guitar riff, the speeded up, slowed down vocals at the end. It's just "in the pocket" funk. Period. Bowie's vocals are on target. The song is the shit. A bonafide crossover hit if there ever was one. Black AND white stations (r&b, rock) played the hell out of this. Bowie was the first ever white performer on Soul Train, and guess what song he performed? This bought Bowie his funk card and he's held on to it ever since, really. Who else here, people, likes this song?

Anxiety said:

That was on a Rockumentary from 1990 with Kurt loder talking to Bowie about his entire career.
This interview was held because of the Sound & Vision Greatest Hits Tour, the show also featured bits from the Cher show and the Dinah Shore show (with Henry Winkler) and also the Dick Cavett Show where he performed Footstompin'.
I think it is on this rockumentary where Bowie talks about the james brown fame cover, he had heard the cover and said that he wanted to wait and see if it would become a hit before sueing James.
It never did and he never did.

He stole it from James Brown's Hot (I Need to be Loved, Loved, Loved)



But seriously, I'm in 100% agreement with you. It's definitely one of the funkiest songs of all time and it's my absolute favorite Bowie song.

SquarePeg said:

U listened to Walrus cuz of the post?

psykosoul said:

I thought it was the other way around.....

funkpill said:

It was. That's why I put the giggle emoticon. James Brown stole the song from Bowie.

psykosoul said:

Yeah....
Around that time,
the J.B. Express was
running out of fuel....
He did a tune call "Makin' Love" for the JB's,
which rip-off the whole "Skin Tight" groove
from The Ohio Players...
Then there's "(Its Not The Express)Its The JB's Monurail"...
The beginning groove came from The B.T. Express tune "Express"
[Edited 3/8/05 16:38pm]

blackguitaristz said:

BG, I glad you brought this jam up. This was always one of my favorite Bowie jams b/c it had that Bootsy like bassline going and was funky as hell. Bowie along w/ Elton he defintely earned his funk pass for sure.

Ms. Legs,... damn, baby. How u know it has that Bootsy touch on the bass? I feel like singing some David Cassidy to you! And I think u know the song too!

blackguitaristz said:

Nothing sexier than a funky woman....