"Blackout" is a song written and recorded by
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
in 1977 for the album ''
"Heroes"''. Author
Nicholas Pegg described the track as "typical of the darkly exhilarating sonic
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
of the ''"Heroes"'' album”,
[ Pegg, Nicholas (2016) ]000
Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to:
* 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number
* "Triple Zero", a song by AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes''
* Th ...
''The Complete David Bowie''. London: Titan Books, p. 40. while biographer David Buckley remarked on "a backing verging on
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
".
[Buckley, David (2016) ]999 999 or triple nine most often refers to:
* 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries
* 999 (number), an integer
* AD 999, a year
* 999 BC, a year
Books
* ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: T ...
''Strange Fascination. David Bowie: The Definitive Story''. London: Random House, p. 277. Regarding its lyrics and subject matter, Bowie himself said in 1999 that the song "did indeed refer to
power cuts
A power outage (also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, or a blackout) is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user.
There are many causes of power failures in an electricit ...
. I can't in all honesty say that it was the NY one
/nowiki>New_York_City_blackout_of_1977.html" ;"title="New_York_City_blackout_of_1977.html" ;"title="/nowiki>New York City blackout of 1977">/nowiki>New York City blackout of 1977">New_York_City_blackout_of_1977.html" ;"title="/nowiki>New York City blackout of 1977">/nowiki>New York City blackout of 1977/nowiki>, though it is entirely likely that that image locked itself in my head."
Reception
''NMEs Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray considered it to have "overtones of Bowie's personal blackout in Berlin (where he collapsed and was rushed to hospital)", noting the line "Get me to the doctor" and an atmosphere of "disorientation, fragmentation, panic".[ Carr, Roy and Murray, Charles Shaar (1981). ''Bowie: An Illustrated Record''. Plexus Publishing, p. 92. ]
According to music professor James E. Perrone, the "harrowing" song is the least accessible of the album, offering a prelude to the experimental songs of Bowie's next album, '' Lodger'' (1979). The lyrics are difficult to decipher, he writes, as a result of the reverberation Bowie and Visconti added. Nicholas Pegg surmised that the line "Someone's back in town, the chips are down" may have referred to Bowie's wife, Angela Bowie
Angela Bowie (born Mary Angela Barnett; September 25, 1949) is an American model, actress, and journalist. Alongside her ex-husband David Bowie, she influenced the glam rock culture and fashion of the 1970s. She was married to Bowie (whom she a ...
, who had just arrived in Berlin around the same time.Suffragette City
"Suffragette City" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released in April 1972 as the B-side of the single " Starman" and subsequently appeared on his fifth studio album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust a ...
" off ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...
'' and "Stay
Stay may refer to:
Places
* Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US
Law
* Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment
* Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...
" off ''Station to Station
''Station to Station'' is the tenth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 23 January 1976 through RCA Records. Regarded as one of his most significant works, the album was the vehicle for Bowie's performance person ...
''.
The cut-up lyrics of "Blackout" were one of the exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
exhibition David Bowie Is in 2013.["Career Cameleon". ''The National Post''. 16 March 2013, p. 67.]
Live versions
A performance recorded during Bowie's 1978 tour was released on his second live album, ''Stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
''.
Notes
{{authority control
1977 songs
David Bowie songs
Songs written by David Bowie
Song recordings produced by David Bowie
Song recordings produced by Tony Visconti