''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' is a 21-minute short film featuring

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 ...

and directed by

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

. It was created to promote Bowie's single " Blue Jean" in 1984David Bowie: Best of Bowie (2002)
/ref> and released as a

video single A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

. The film won the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for " Best Video, Short form" (Later renamed "Best Music Video"), which proved to be Bowie's only competitive Grammy Award during his lifetime.

Background

''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' was shot in August 1984 and features Bowie in dual roles: as Vic, a man with his eye on a girl and as Screaming' Lord Byron, a flamboyant rock star whose forthcoming gig provides the man with a date. Bowie performs "Blue Jean" as Byron towards the end of the film; a shorter music video for "Blue Jean" was shot a few days later. ''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' led Bowie and Temple to work together for the movie '' Absolute Beginners'' (1986).

Plot

The film depicts the adventures of the socially incompetent Vic (played by Bowie) as he tries to win the affections of a beautiful girl by claiming to personally know her favourite rock star, Screaming Lord Byron (also played by Bowie). Rightfully disbelieving him, she challenges Vic to introduce her to him. They make a date for a Screaming Lord Byron show, where Vic attempts to sneak backstage to convince a cowering, paranoid Mr. Screaming to come say hello to him and the girl after the show. Screaming does come to Vic's table after the show and says hello to him and the girl, but the girl and Screaming Lord Byron have already met (in Peru), and she leaves with the rock star instead of Vic. As they drive off, Bowie breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

and asks the director why the story changed from his concept.

Track listing

* "Don't Look Down" (from ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'') oundtrack only* "

Warszawa Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

" (from '' Low'') oundtrack only* " Blue Jean" (from ''Tonight'') usic video

Cast and crew

The main cast and crew of the film:

Cast

* Screaming Lord Byron / Vic - David Bowie, with Screaming Lord Byron being a dual-allusion and parody of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

and

Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), who had his name legally changed from David Edward Sutch, was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party an ...

. * "The Dream" - Louise Scott * Screaming's Band - Paul Ridgeley,

Richard Fairbrass Richard Peter John Fairbrass (born 22 September 1953) is an English singer, bassist and television presenter, best known as lead singer of the pop group Right Said Fred, which achieved two hits in the early 1990s with the singles "I'm Too Sexy" a ...

, Daryl Humpries * Bowie's stand-in - Ian Ellis

Crew

* Director -

* Conceived by - David Bowie * Screenplay - Terry Johnson * Choreographer -

David Toguri David Toguri (25 October 1933, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – 15 November 1997, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was an award-winning Japanese-Canadian choreographer, director and actor, based for most of his career in the UK. He died of cance ...

Production notes

Three different Bowie songs are played during the video, namely "Don't Look Down," (from ''

''), "

" (from '' Low'') and "Blue Jean" (also from ''Tonight''). The video footage playing in the pub is from the performance in the club at the conclusion of the film. Bowie takes the opportunity at several points in this film to poke fun at himself and his career – particularly his history of drug abuse, his relationships with groupies, and the commercialization of his music ("You conniving, randy, bogus-Oriental old queen! Your record sleeves are better than your songs!"). Kinder self-references are also present, such as the song "Warszawa" being played backstage to soothe Mr. Screaming while he's applying his makeup.

Releases

The film was released on home video on VHS and Betamax formats by Sony Home Video in North America, EMI/Picture Music International in the UK, and on Laserdisc by Pioneer Artists in Japan (12" and 8", with analog stereo sound) and North America (12", digital and analog sound). The home video version was first converted to PAL for the UK, with the speed increased from 24 frames per second to 25fps, giving it a run time of 20 minutes. The NTSC (North America, Japan) version, converted from PAL, maintains the 20 minute run time. The video later appears as an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

hidden on the '' Best of Bowie'' DVDs. It is slightly modified: in the club where the girl is watching a Screaming Lord Byron video, the screen originally showed footage of the very same concert she and Vic would later attend. On the DVD version, a different promotional video for the song is overlaid on the screen – this is also the trigger for another easter egg, which is itself that alternate video. The portion of the movie where Screaming Lord Byron performs the song "Blue Jean" in front of the crowd was used as the standard-length music video and clocks in at just over three minutes. This short music video is a straight edit out of ''Jazzin' For Blue Jean'' and later appeared on 1993's '' David Bowie - The Video Collection''.

References

External links

* {{David Bowie David Bowie video albums 1984 short films 1984 films Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video Music videos directed by Julien Temple 1980s English-language films