David Bowie (#24) | Queen (#25) — Evan’s 111 Artists

Some of my earliest music memories include going to summer day camp, stomping, clapping and singing along to “We Will Rock You” on a packed school bus, skating to “Another One Bites the Dust” at our roller rink, and “We Are the Champions” blasting at sold-out Cosmos soccer games with 70,000+ fans singing along.

These anthems seemed to be known and loved by absolutely everyone.

Later, The Game came out with “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and really, every other track was also amazing.

By ’85, WPLJ was the backbone of my music experience, complemented by MTV and record stores. The problem with MTV was I didn’t really like more than half of the videos they played by this point.

New York’s 95.5 WPLJ though was consistent, they were the authoritative music voice for me. Always playing the new songs that mattered, plus specialty shows that went deep. We also had WNEW and WMMR in Philly to turn to. And sometimes we’d catch a syndicated live music show called the King Biscuit Flower Hour.

Funny memory, a few decades later they contacted me for a live Foo Fighters recording, and I laughed when I received a special thanks and producer credit (oh, so that’s how producer credits work??).

What really spoke to me about WPLJ at that time: the DJs truly loved the music, you felt it. That’s why I loved going to record stores, then later working at stores and finally, working with them as a Rep for BMG.. the industry was filled with people who truly did it for the love of music.

Jim Kerr, one of the voices I grew up listening to on 95.5 WPLJ. Decades later, he worked down the hall from me at iHeart. Great guy and it felt amazing knowing we still had true music fans in the building.

MTV brought us ALL something HUGE in the summer of ’85 … a live broadcast of Live Aid from Wembley Stadium London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Matt went to Philly with his mom and got to experience the show live, how cool is that!?!

But being at home wasn’t all that bad. It was a jam-packed day filled with live music performances by seemingly all of the greatest artists still alive. MTV coverage rotated between stages and continents all day.

They really did an amazing job capturing more than just the performances on stage. You also felt the excitement, the vibe, like you were a part of it. MTV VJs had a big moment here.

In some ways, this was our generation’s Woodstock.  The message to raise funds and help end famine in Ethiopia felt distant, yet, it did feel somewhat communal, with so many of the artists that mattered most to me participating.

This was a massive worldwide event with the live broadcast spanning 150 countries reaching more than 1 Billion people. Unheard of at the time, the artists knew that, and the music fans felt it.

My favorite performances were:

U2 Bad , This performance catapulted them. I had just seen them live for the first time at MSG a few months earlier which was huge, yet this seemed even bigger.

Neil Young Powderfinger, I never saw him play live at this point it’s peak 80’s and dude is wearing a sleeveless white tee and jeans—this was the first time I realized he was possessed, in an amazing way.

QUEEN WAS THE ‘HOLY FUCK’ MOMENT for me with We Are The Champions.  

I have a vague recollection of an interview in which Taylor and Dave from Foo Fighters are talking about how silly lead singer looks when they dance (unless you are Freddie). I was annoyed they didn’t mention Mick, cmon!

As a front-man, when it comes to commanding the audience, Freddie is top five for me, along with Prince, Bono, Joey Ramone and Bruce Springsteen.

Me somewhere around summer of ‘85, when Live Aid and live music was really grabbing me.

With Bowie, for me it started on rock radio, with staples like “Changes,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Rebel Rebel” and “Heroes.”

But then MTV brought us “Let's Dance” and “Modern Love,” which turned me off.

I DID like “China Girl,” which many years later I learned was a co-write with Iggy Pop, whose version was much more raw and fun.

In high school, “Suffragette City” became a Battle of the Bands Quest song. We changed some of the lyrics to make fun of Matt over a hook-up. The look on Carl’s face when he sang that was too good.

While I never met Bowie through work, Birdy and I would occasionally see him with his wife, Iman, walking around the Village.

On October 20, 2001, 5 weeks after the devastating attacks of September 11, I’ll never forget the feeling when Bowie performed Heroes at the Concert For New York at Madison Square Garden.

And even more fitting for this story was his performance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Later at that same show he performed Under Pressure with Annie Lennox.

Birdy and I, married in NYC, July 14, 2001. Our West Village days.

In ‘04 we got to see Bowie at an invite-only event at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a small room. Unreal.

When I left Jersey and went to ASU, I'd barely known anyone from California. I became friends with a guy we called Crazy. Not sure who came up with the nickname, but he was a total LA kid... modest trust fund and a Mustang 5.0 convertible.

One day we were pulling out of his apartment complex. He hits the button to drop the top, and that bass line hit hard, and he cranked it.

NICE. “Under Pressure.”

Crazy goes, “What? It’s Vanilla Ice.”

__________

“Dad, you always say this song is a F*CKING MASTERPIECE… make a list.”

Find Queen and Bowie masterpieces on my 1k+ song Spotify Playlist — Evan’s 111 Artists