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1-1-2000

David Bowie's 1. Outside: The Creation of a

Liminoid Space as a Metaphor for Pre-Millennial
Society
Nicholas P. Greco

Recommended Citation
Greco, Nicholas P., "David Bowie's 1. Outside: The Creation of a Liminoid Space as a Metaphor for Pre-Millennial Society" (2000).
Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6493.
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BOWIE'S I._OUTSIDE AS A CONSTRUCTION OF ALIMINOID SPACE
 DAVID BOWIE'S 1. OUTSIDE:

THE CREATION OF A LIMINOID SPACE AS A METAPHOR

FOR PRE-MILLENNIAL SOCIETY

By:

NICHOLAS P. GRECO, B.A.

A Thesis

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies

in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

for the Degree

Master of Arts

McMaster University

Copyright © 2000 by Nicholas P. Greco

IIcMASIER UNI'lfi.R!::itI'l LIBBAto
MASTER OF ARTS (2000) McMaster University
(Music Criticism) Hamilton, Ontario

Title: David Bowie's 1. Outside: The Creation of a Liminoid Space as a Metaphor

for Pre-Millennial Society

Author: Nicholas P. Greco, B.A. (University of Ottawa)

Supervisor: Dr Susan Fast

Number of Pages: xi, 166.

111
 ABSTRACT

The majority of writings on David Bowie have focussed on his early work.

Many feel that Bowie's early work has much merit, as has been made clear by the

vast pool of both academic and popular writings regarding his work in the early

1970s, his collaborations with Brian Eno in the late 1970s, and his most

commercially accepted works in the early 1980s. However, much of the academic

writing on Bowie has chosen to focus only on these works and ignores his more

recent material. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the

more recent work of David Bowie.

In 1995, Bowie released the album 1. Outside. Through its music and

lyrics, album art, accompanying narrative, music video and live performance,

Bowie presents a world of the absurd and violent. He engages with the notions of

murder as art, body modification as ritual, and the state of society at the end of the

twentieth century. Bowie, in his comments to Ian Penman in Esquire magazine,

suggests that the proliferation of body modification in late twentieth century

Western society acts as a replacement for the Judeao-Christian ethic.

By applying Victor Tumer's theory ofliminality, it is argued that, through

1. Outside, Bowie is constructing a representation of a space which is analogous

to society at the end of the millennium. For Tumer, the liminal stage embodies an

v
 VI

optimistic "storehouse of possibilities," not unlike a gestation period which

precedes new life. Rather than creating a space which fits Turner's model of the

liminal exactly, Bowie suggests a space which is liminoid, not exhibiting the full

potential of the liminal. Bowie presents themes of nihilism and the alienation of

technology, as well as many juxtapositions in visual performance, which serve to

give the album a sense of ambiguity contributing to its ambivalent, and thus

liminoid, character.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the people who helped me

accomplish the work necessary to complete my thesis.

Foremost on my list is my supervisor Dr Susan Fast, without whom this

thesis would not have been possible. Her support and advice is sincerely

appreciated. I would also like to express my appreciation for my second reader,

Dr Ken McLeod, for providing very useful feedback and for helping me to further

refine my ideas. I am also grateful for Dr Fred Hall, for his insight and comments

in regards to this thesis.

Critical to my development as a young scholar was the guidance of the

faculty in the Department of Music at McMaster. In particular, I would like to

thank Dr James Deaville for his help and guidance in the world of Critical Theory,

as well as Dr Hugh Hartwell for his support and encouragement through this

process.

I would be remiss if I were to not mention my fellow colleagues in the

Music Criticism programme, without whom none of these ideas would have left

my head. I would particularly like to thank Jennifer de Boer for listening and her

insight. Also, many thanks to Simon de Boer for taking a photograph of Robert,

the dead rodent, under the table that fateful night in the Cave.

Vll
 V11l

I must thank Chris McDonald, who willingly provided the framework for

the segmental approach to lyric analysis which I present in the second chapter of

this work. Furthennore, I am grateful for the correspondence with Bowie's

guitarist on 1. Outside, Reeves Gabrels, who was kind enough to respond to

emails from a fan, and to respond in detail!

My utmost love and thanks go to Antonella Bilich for her friendship

throughout the process of writing this paper. Without her, I could not have done

this.

Most of all, I must acknowledge the sacrifice which my parents, Nick and

Mary Greco, had to make to allow me to continue in my studies. I am forever

indebted to them for their emotional and financial support. It is to them that this

work is dedicated.

Finally, this thesis marks an end to my sister's phone calls early on

Saturday mornings. While expressing to her my love, I would also like to thank

her in advance for stopping such thoughtless behaviour so early in the morning.
 CONTENTS

ABSTRACT v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................. Vll

LIST OF FIGURES Xl

INTRODUCTION 1

1. THE CULTURE OF BODY MODIFICATION 19

Mutilation in Religion and Society .................. 25

Types of Body Modification ........................ 34

Body Play 48

Towards an Understanding of
Body Modification 51

Body Modification as Alternative

Spirituality .............................. 61

2. AN ANALYSIS OF 1. OUTSIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

The Diary of Nathan Adler 68

Victor Turner and Liminality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

A Segmental Approach to
Lyric Analysis 88

"The Heart's Filthy Lesson" 91

"Strangers When We Meet" 99

A Brief Discussion of Album Art 103

IX
 x

Musical Analysis: "The Motel" 107

3. BOWIE'S VIDEO AND LNE PERFORMANCE 115

Video Analysis: "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" 116

Juxtapositions 122

Iconic Images 127

Transgression 134

Carnivalesque Images 139

Bowie in Live Performance 145

"A Small Plot of Land" 147

CONCLUDING REMARKS 153

APPENDIX: THE DIARY OF NATHAN ADLER ............ 157

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................... 161

Discography c ............................................................ " .. .. 165

 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE

1.1 Annibale Carracci's The Dead Christ (c. 1582). 29

2.1 Paulus Potter's The Young Bull (1647). 70

2.2 Mark Tansey's The Innocent Eye Test. 70

2.3 Lyrics for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson." 93

2.4 Lyrics for "Strangers When We Meet." 98

2.5 Ramona A. Stone. 104

2.6 "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" lyrics. 105

2.7 "Strangers When We Meet" lyrics. 105

2.8 Lyrics for "The Motel." 108

2.9 Fonnal analysis of "The Motel." 110

3.1 Visual account of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson";

arranged according to corresponding musical
sections. .................................... 118

3.2 Bowie with mannequin in "The Heart's Filthy

Lesson" video. .............................. 120

3.3 Bowie in live perfonnance. 149

Xl
 INTRODUCTION

Students will be writing college dissertations about it very soon.

- Stuart Bailie, in a review of 1. Outside, in Vox magazine. 1

In 1995, David Bowie released 1. Outside, an album which engages with

issues such as murder as art, body modification as ritual, and the state of late

twentieth century Western society. This brief introduction will serve to provide

some context for the issue of body modification and violence in the music of

David Bowie.

It is no surprise that David Bowie engages with themes of body

modification and violence in 1. Outside. As early as 1993, with the release of

Black Tie White Noise, Bowie was already presenting the listener with word

images that bring attention to the modification of the body, violence and nihilism.

In a cover of singer-songwriter Scott Walker's "Nite Flights," he sings:

There's no hold
The moving has come through
The danger passing you
Turns its face into the heat and runs the tunnels
It's so cold
The dark dug up by dogs
The stitches tom and broke

IStuart Bailie, Vox magazine (November 1995), "Outside: Reviews";

ｨｴｰＺＯｷＮ｡ｬｧｯｮ･ｳｾ｢ｭｊｲｩ｣ｶ［＠ Internet; accessed 24 July 2000.

1
 2

The raw meat fist you choke

Has hit the bloodlite2

The lyrics are suggestive of the physical and the violent, and although it was not

originally written by Bowie, his choice of this particular song shows that he was

interested in conveying this subject matter at this time. Also, although the song

does not directly refer to the behaviour of body modification, it can be argued that

it does foreshadow the grotesque details of "murder as art" in 1. Outside. The

later album's themes of nihilism and violence are foreshadowed by phrases such

as "the stitches tom and broke" and "the raw meat fist you choke." These lyrics

are suggestive of violence and destruction (doubly, with the image of stitches,

which serve to close a wound, being destroyed themselves), while also being

suggestive of death, with a reference to raw meat, and choking, which can often

lead to death.

Later that same year, Bowie released The Buddha ofSuburbia, a

soundtrack for the BBC2 miniseries of the same name. In the CD liner notes,

Bowie states:

A major chief [sic] obstacle to the evolution of music has

been the almost redundant narrative form. To rely upon this old
war-horse can only continue the spiral into the British constraint of
insularity. Maybe we could finally relegate the straightforward
narrative to the past.
On the other hand, modem circumstances having had a
dysfunctioning capacity upon pure chronological perspective, my
writing has often relied too arbitrarily on violence and chaos as a

2S cott Engel (aka. Walker), "Nite Flights," lyrics reprinted from

http://www.teenagewildlife.comlAlbumsIBTWNINF.html; Internet; accessed 8 May 2000.
 3

soft option to acknowledging spiritual and emotional starvation. I

know I'm not alone with this dilemma. 3

Bowie is admitting his own shortcomings in his commentary of society, even

though his comments are in the context of a critique or wake-up call for British

music. Nevertheless, Bowie turns to this "soft option" two years later with 1.

Outside. Bowie's comment regarding "modem circumstances" and their

"dysfunctioning capacity upon pure chronological perspective" shows that he was

at least thinking about the state and perceived speed of late twentieth century

society. It is interesting that he mentions a link between "violence and chaos" and

"spiritual and emotional starvation" two years prior to releasing 1. Outside in

which he engages with these very issues.

Christopher Sandford, in his book Bowie: Loving the Alien, suggests that

the road that led to 1. Outside began with Bowie's 1974 album, Diamond Dogs.

He states: "Diamond Dogs was also the beginning of Bowie's post-modem

outlook, in which life was not a coherent story of biography, but merely a

succession of moments, each unconnected to the last or the next.,,4 Diamond

Dogs is similar to 1. Outside in subject matter as well. First suggested as a

musical based on George Orwell's novel 1984, the album presents a dystopian

future within which society lives in a state of limbo, without hope for the future.

3David Bowie, liner notes of The Buddha ofSuburbia, BMG IntemationallArista 74321
170042, 1993. n.p.
4Christopher Sandford, Bowie: Loving the Alien (London: Warner Books, 1997), 125.
 4

Often coupled with the theme of hopelessness is that of nihilism, or the rejection

of all philosophy and ethics. Many presentations of possible dystopian futures

feature the alienating and destructive effect oftechnology on humanity. Nihilism

and alienation of technology are themes which are common in the genre of

Industrial music. From purely Industrial bands such as Ministry, to more eclectic

groups such as Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, nihilism has been a

predominant theme.

In 1992, the industrial band Ministry released Psalm 69: The Way to

Succeed and to Suck Eggs. The cover features an etched drawing or photo of an

angelic figure seen from behind, framed by various items including an eyeball,

razorblade, glove and various mechanical parts. The two most obvious

characteristics of this album are the extremely harsh sound of the music and the

blatantly critical lyrics ofthe songs. Musically, Ministry employs drum machines

to produce very rapid rhythms, often stressing all four beats with the emphatic

bass drum beat. This beat is then combined with extremely distorted guitars

which are placed at the front of the mix, and also very rough sounding vocals,

treated with distortion effects until they are hardly recognized as human. This

results in music which is extremely confrontational and aggressive. Lyrically,

songs like "Scarecrow" and "Psalm 69" seem to mock traditional Western

spirituality.
 5

"Scarecrow" invokes an image of Christ, "crucified and left in isolation,

pictures of our lost morality.,,5 While these lyrics might be suggestive of a

criticism of worldliness and a recognition of the tragedy of Christ's death, because

of "lost morality," Ministry labels Jesus simply as a "scarecrow," hanging to scare

the birds away. "Psalm 69" is much more blatant in its attack against traditional

Christianity. The song begins with a stereotypical minister in a high British

accent saying, "Congregation, please be seated and open your prayer guides to the

book of Revelations, Psalm 69." The music begins with a choir backing up grand

guitar power chords, with various samples including a man saying "Praise Jesus,"

before the guitars begin with full force. They establish a faster pace to the song,

and the vocals enter sounding almost demonic with their guttural and rough

" delivery. The lyrics are violent while also invoking images of ritual: "Drinking

the blood of Jesus, drinking it right from his veins. Learning to swim in the

ocean, learning to prowl in his name."

Continuing in this vein, Marilyn Manson released Antichrist Superstar in

1996. The first single from this release was entitled "The Beautiful People,"

featuring many of the same musical characteristics as Ministry's earlier release.

Lyrically, Manson deals with violence, the image of beauty and the notion of

infection. With lyrics like, "There's no time to discriminate, hate every

motherfucker that's in your way," and "Capitalism has made it this way, old

SA. Jourgensen & P. Barker, "Scarecrow," lyrics reprinted from http://www.prongs.org/

ministry/albums/alice.php3; Internet; accessed 11 June 2000.
 6

fashioned fascism will take it away," many felt that Manson was encouraging

violence and hatred. 6 Manson also suggests that beauty is relative, but the

prospects oflife are dim: "The worm will live in every host. It's hard to pick

which one they eat the most." The music is confrontational, although it does not

rely on electronics as heavily as is the case with Ministry. Because of the more

acoustic nature of Manson's music, it could be perceived as more human. For

instance, the vocal distortion is not produced electronically, but rather by

perceived rage on the part of the vocalist. The result is not music produced by an

emotionless machine, but rather by an extremely expressive human.

Very human in expression is Nine Inch Nails' album, The Downward

Spiral, released in 1994. The album is technologically-themed, with songs such

as "The Becoming" describing the alienation of technology and its dehumanizing

effects. The lyrics are generally nihilistic throughout the album, dealing with

violence, sexuality and suffering:

Bamboo punctures this skin

and nothing comes bleeding out of me just like a waterfall I'm
drowning in
2 feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face
and if i could reach you maybe i could leave this place7

The Downward Spiral liner notes feature close-up photos of what appears to be a

painting or sculpture which consists of an assembly of dirt or sand, bits of string

6Marilyn Manson, "The Beautiful People," lyrics reprinted from http://www.cfnweb.com/

mansonlacss.htm; Internet; accessed 11 June 2000.
7Trent Reznor, "I Do Not Want This," lyrics from liner notes of Nine Inch Nails, The
Downward Spiral, Interscope, INTSD92346, 1994. n.p.
 7

and twigs, bird feathers and a liquid which resembles blood. These photos, which

are placed throughout the lyrics booklet, contribute to a sense of destruction and

decay. For the tour ofthis album, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails joined with

David Bowie and the 1. Outside tour, during which the two perfonned some songs

together.

1. Outside could be considered as coming from or being a part of this

musical milieu, drawing from this atmosphere of nihilism, the alienation of

humanity through technology and the criticism of traditional Western spirituality.

While Ministry and Manson seem to criticise institutional Christianity directly,

Bowie does so indirectly, without being personally invested in such criticism. It is

through the comments or actions of others (in 1. Outside, the actions of the

various characters) that these criticisms come. Bowie himself does not

necessarily possess a nihilistic world view or believe that technology alienates

humanity-in fact, Bowie would probably feel that the opposite is true,

considering his recent interest in the Internet and its creation of community-but

he explores these themes through characters which conveniently serve to distance

himself from any implications or responsibility. This paper will explore two

issues which present themselves with Bowie's 1. Outside. The first is Bowie's

engagement with the culture of body modification. In his comments to the press,

and in particular, those to Ian Penman of Esquire magazine, Bowie suggests that

the acts of body modification serve as a substitute for the Judeao-Christian ethic.

Bowie also mentions various manifestations of body modification in the written

 8

narrative which accompanies the album, such as the "body play" or performance

art of Ron Athey and Chris Burden, and the physical transformation of the

fictional "Ramona A. Stone," all while describing the investigation into the

murder of a young girl, whose mutilated body is found on "artistic" display at the

entrance to a museum. For many, the act of body modification in its various

forms, including piercing and tattooing, is an act of transformation not only of the

body, but also of the spirit. In other words, for some, the act of body modification

is a transformative ritual, replacing the traditional role of Judeao-Christianity in

Western society.

Victor Turner, in his theory ofliminality, draws from anthropological

studies of non-Western rite of passage rituals to create a model for transformative

ritual. From these studies, he theorizes that a rite of passage as a transformative

ritual consists of three phases: a pre-liminal phase, a liminal phase, and a post-

liminal phase. In the pre-liminal phase, an initiate is a regular member of some

socio-cultural state, although it can be extrapolated from a need for a rite of

passage that an initiate in a pre-liminal phase is somehow incomplete, needing the

transition of a liminal phase. The transition is followed by a post-liminal phase,

into which, through some transformative event, the initiate enters as a complete

member of society, or considered a member of an exclusive group. Turner defines

the liminal phase as follows:

Liminality can perhaps be described as fructile chaos, a fertile

nothingness, a storehouse of possibilities, not by any means a
random assemblage but a striving after new forms and structure, a
 9

gestation process, a fetation of modes appropriate to and

anticipating postliminal existence. It is what goes on in nature in
the fertilized egg, in the chrysalis, and even more richly and
complexly in their cultural homologues. 8

Turner's definition ofliminality suggests a positive outcome among the

"storehouse of possibilities," with the resulting phase being compared to the

rebirth of a butterfly, or the emergence of life from the egg. Turner identifies

liminal activity in industrial societies as liminoid, as opposed to the liminal which

"predominate in tribal and early agrarian societies.,,9 He labels contemporary

activity which resembles the rite of passage model of transformation as liminoid

because it "resembles without being identical with 'liminal.",lo In this study, an

activity which resembles Turner's model of transformation, even if it occurs in the

present day, will be referred to as liminal. Furthermore, if the transformative state

does not fit into Turner's model ofliminality, then it will be referred to as

liminoid because of its lack of a positive "storehouse of possibilities" as a result

of the transformation, or even its lack of anticipation of positive transformation.

In other words, although Turner discusses contemporary examples of

transformative events as liminoid, these will instead be referred to as liminal

because of their agreement with the definition of the preindustrial liminal model

supplied by Turner. While it might be desirable to determine whether

8Yictor Turner, "Are There Universals of Performance in Myth, Ritual, and Drama?", By
Means afPerformance: Intercultural Studies of Theatre and Ritual, eds. W. Schechner & W.
Appels (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 12.
9Yictor Turner, "Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, and Ritual," From Ritual to Theatre:
The Human Seriousness ofPlay (New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982),53.
IOTurner, "Liminal to Liminoid," 32.
 10

contemporary rite of passage rituals actually result in positive transformation, this

is a difficult task. Not all who employ body manipulation do so for the sake of

personal transformation, and certainly the results would be different in various

cases. What Turner's model of the liminal does provide is a basis upon which to

build a model of the liminoid, where infinite optomistic possibilities are not

present after a transformative event.

The liminoid model could then be applied to a greater scope than simply a

Western subculture. This liminoid model, it will be argued, is applicable to late

twentieth century society as illustrated through David Bowie's 1. Outside album.

Bowie himself, in constructing 1. Outside, suggests that the album should be read

as a kind of account of the period before the dawning of a new millennium. As

such, 1. Outside represents a liminoid phase or space through lyrics, album art,

music video and Bowie's live performance. As a liminoid space, it presents

characteristics similar to the liminal phase, such as a recombination of familiar

elements (including the carnivalesque, which is considered liminal in itself) and a

kind of limbo state. Substituting for a liminal phase, the liminoid phase changes

the teleological progression leading to transformation as outlined by Turner. The

multitude of optimistic possibilities and positive transformation suggested by

Turner's liminal theory is not a result of Bowie's liminoid phase. Rather, the

result is pessimism and fear, and ultimately, the unknown. This unknown

corresponds to the state of society upon the dawning ofthe twenty-first century,
 11

with the "transformative experience" being the actual turning ofthe clock on 31

December 1999.

This thesis will refer to Victor Turner's theory ofliminality for its

definition of a liminal phase, from which it will in turn draw its definition for a

liminoid phase. An analysis of some of the music featured on 1. Outside will

utilize Chris McDonald's method of segmental lyric analysis. In the discussion of

music video, the works of AlfBjomberg, Mikhail Bakhtin and Catherine Bell will

be utilized. This thesis will ultimately attempt to read 1. Outside as a reflection of

societal anxiety toward the end of the millennium, through its construction of a

liminoid space.

It should be noted that this study began with the thought that there would

be a simple way to determine that those involved in the subculture of body

manipulation, or perhaps youth culture as understood by this author, were engaged

in a liminoid model of tranformation. If, in fact, a particular group did enter a

liminoid experience, was it because they forsook traditional Christianity for less

traditional paths of spirituality? This kind of reasoning is problematic because it

bears the notion of condescension toward other religious practices, and

furthermore judges the behaviour because of its apparent "failure."

Certainly, this thesis reveals the complexity of Bowie's album. A simple

definition of Turner's liminality has been chosen for application, which serves as

only one possible analysis of what is accomplished with 1. Outside. This thesis

offers much opportunity for further study of Bowie and this work, as well as his
 12

other recent work, particularly within the five year span between and including

1993 's Black Tie White Noise and Earthling, released in 1997. Finally, this

project has not explored the musical contributions made by guitarist Reeves

Gabrels and pianist Mike Garson, as well as those made by producer Brian Eno, in

particular.

Before embarking on the main body of this thesis, it is important to make

note of the reception of Bowie's album in the latter half of 1995. This

information reveals that Bowie was able to maintain a high level of exposure

through his association with Nine Inch Nails and Brian Eno. Although the album

did not break any chart records, it was not a dismal financial failure; Bowie's

name on any album would certainly ensure a decent sales figure. As for concert

attendance, many came out to the American shows to see the co-headliner Nine

Inch Nails, while those in Britain were treated to an opening concert by Morrissey,

the lead singer of the extremely popular 1980s British band, The Smiths.

Unfortunately, many seemed to find the first single, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson,"

not to mention the entire album, too noisy and dense for radio, as is made clear by

its performance on the charts.

1. Outside entered the Billboard British Albums chart at #8 for the week

ending on October 7, 1995, and subsequently fell to #19 and #36 in the following

weeks, disappearing from the chart soon after. In the United States, the album

entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #21 for the week ending on
 13

October 14, 1995, and fell sharply to #51 the following week (the album remained

on the Top 200 for a total of five weeks).

The first single from 1. Outside was "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," which

went to #32 and #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United Kingdom and

the United States respectively for the week ending on October 14, 1995. The

single spent only three weeks on the chart in the United Kingdom. "Strangers

When We Meet" remained on the U.K. chart for three weeks and peaked at #37 (it

did not chart in the United States). The third single, "Hallo Spaceboy," remixed

by the British electronica band Pet Shop Boys, was on the U.K. chart for five

weeks and peaked at #12, making it the most successful of all three singles. ll

In a review of the album in Q magazine, Tom Doyle comments, "A bold

and fascinating trip to offer his devoted listenership, Outside is undoubtedly

David Bowie's most dense and uncompromising work since Scary Monsters, and,

as suggested in Black Tie White Noise, it's clear that he is once again

imaginatively sparking with life.,,12 Doyle points out these positive aspects of the

album while mentioning that "those legions who came in on Let's Dance will

most certainly be left completely and utterly bewildered."J3 MTV's Robert

Conroy calls the album "good but not great" due to its conceptional backdrop. 14

Many of the critics consider 1. Outside as a sign of Bowie's return to creativity,

liThe chart infonnation is culled primarily from Billboard magazine as well as "Teenage
Wildlife"; http://www.teenagewildlife.com; Internet; accessed 25 September 1999.
12Tom Doyle, Q magazine (1995), "Outside: Reviews."
I3Ibid.
14Robert Conroy, MTV (1995), "Outside: Reviews."
 14

from his creatively stagnant '80s; Conroy states, "In short, not an unqualified

success, but compared to Tonight and Never Let Me Down [both released in the

late 1980s], a record of near genius.")5 Rick Moodie, writing in the New York

Times, suggests that the album could be compared to Bowie's "finest albums of

the '70S."16 Perhaps speaking against Bowie's more radio-friendly albums of the

1980s, People magazine's Jeremy Helligar, regarding the single, "Hallo

Spaceboy," comments that "such outbursts may be a bit rough on the ears, but

then Bowie was never easy listening.,,)7 Stuart Bailie, in Vox magazine, finds that

the album does nothing to "shake your emotions" and that Bowie "sounds rather

removed. ,,18 In a rather scathing review, Gareth Grundy comments:

If [Bowie] thinks high art is a cunning way to illustrate end-of-

century angst, he's clearly so far up his own behind he can nibble
his lower intestine.... Outside is the sound of a superstar
discovering Blade Runner, Neuromancer and the Apple Mac a
decade after us plebs. 19

Interestingly, while suggesting that the album will not be embraced by the general

population, David Fricke, in the Rolling Stone review, comments that "Outside

has irresistible charms.,,20

Although many of the critics praise the work for its creativity, many also

think that it is too pretentious to be embraced by a large audience. Their

15Ibid.
16Rick Iv:1oodie, lle-riJ YOik Times (10 September 1995), "Outside: F,..eviews."
17Jeremy Helligar, People magazine (16 October 1995), "Outside: Reviews."
18Bailie, "Outside: Reviews."
19Gareth Grundy, Select magazine (October 1995), "Outside: Reviews."
2°David Fricke, Rolling Stone magazine (19 October 1995), "Outside: Reviews."
 15

convictions may have been proved correct by the meagre showing the album made

on the charts in both the United States and Britain. In concert, much of the same

critical spirit prevailed, although many fans attended because of Bowie's choice of

the popular techno/industrial band, Nine Inch Nails.

In chapter 3, much is made of Sanford's description of Bowie's striking

clothing and somewhat aggressive disposition during his appearance on David

Letterman's television programme. Many of the 1. Outside concert reviews fail to

mention Bowie's appearance at alL Instead, many focus on the co-headliner for

the North American tour, Nine Inch Nails. In a review ofthe concert in Mountain

View, California, on October 21, 1995, Barry Walters of the San Francisco

Examiner dedicates a paragraph to the band, commenting that lead singer Trent

Reznor "stalked the stage, threw around his mike stand, tackled his musicians,

knocked over the equipment and pounded on his instruments.,,21 Walters

suggests that most of the crowd came to see Reznor and Nine Inch Nails.

Although he speaks somewhat negatively about Reznor's violent and "bratty"

behaviour, and Bowie's cold delivery of the unfamiliar material from 1. Outside,

he comments that "it was oddly moving to see these icons of alienation uniting

together, riding each other's stylistic coattails. Their inspired union justified the

indulgence of the rest.'m

21Barry Walters, "David Bowie," The San Francisco Examiner (October 23, 1995);
http://www.sfgate.com/ealwalters/1023.html; Internet; accessed 9 July 1999.
22Ibid.
 16

Unlike Sanford, Eric Lipton, in the Internet magazine Addict, had a more

positive take on Bowie's new appearance:

Bowie's taken the stage. The Thin White Duke was wearing,
surprise, white. And he's huge. I don't mean in size, although he
is considerably taller than Reznor. But there's something more:
style. While Reznor throws things around and screams for
presence, Bowie strides. He raises his arm. He croons into the
mike. He commands the stage, and the audience. His voice, deep
and resounding, reduces everything else to a whine. Even the
drums are put into place. The man is pure sex.23

For Lipton, the "new" i.Outside atmosphere, if unfamiliar, is still created by

Bowie and is, therefore, good. It would seem that Bowie's long time fans were

not turned away by the album or the concerts. If anything, many were left longing

for more of the same.

Generally, this information reveals that Bowie was successful not

necessarily in the album itself, but rather with its presentation, particularly in his

choices of who he surrounded himself with. His choice of Brian Eno as producer

must have pleased the critics, allowing them to reflect on the much respected

collaborations of the late 1970s. Furthermore, Bowie's choice of co-headlining

band was a superb one: at this point, Nine Inch Nails'album The Downward

Spiral had long reached number 2 on the Top 200 charts and had also been

certified double-platinum (shipping 2 million units).24 Although its place on the

23Eric Lipton, "Ziggy Strikes Again! Bowie and Reznor never 'Hurt' so good ... ," Addict
1.11 (November 1995); http://www.addict.com/issues/l.ll1SectionsiLiveiBowie-
Reznor/index.html; Internet; accessed 9 July 1999.
24As of the 9 September 1995 Billboard Top 200 chart, Nine Inch Nails' The Downward
Spiral was at nwnber 92, falling from nwnber 88 the previous week. The next week, 16
September 1995, the albwn was relegated to the lower half of the chart, no longer in the top 100.
 17

charts in September was not very high, the fact that the album remained in the

Top 200 and was already deemed multi-platinum made the group a perfect choice

to boost attendance at Bowie concerts, which began a couple of weeks before 1.

Outside was released. By aligning with those who would give him the most

exposure, Bowie was able to get the most exposure for his work. Although highly

speculative, one wonders whether Bowie's choice of Nine Inch Nails was also

motivated by his apparent interest in body modification and the widespread

manifestation of piercing and tattooing and the like, a behaviour which is arguably

more common among their particular audience.

Finally, it should be noted that the audience that enjoys Nine Inch Nails is

generally not the same audience that enjoys David Bowie. Many of the reviewers

comment that those who came to see Trent Reznor left when Bowie began to

perform. In a sense, Bowie was simply an observer during his concerts, singing to

an audience that was not necessarily his own. Since many who attended the

concert to see David Bowie were confronted by unfamiliar material, perhaps they

could also be considered as observers of an "Other." As will be explored in

chapter 3 of this thesis, the idea of Bowie performing for an audience while

apparently alienating them is an example of juxtaposition which, in combination

with other examples, creates ambiguity contributing to a sense of unease.

 CHAPTER 1

THE CULTURE OF BODY MODIFICATION

I hurt myself today to see if I still feel,

Ifocus on the pain, the only thing that's real
- Trent Reznor, "Hurt."1

In "The Diary of Nathan Adler," a narrative printed as part of the liner

notes to 1. Outside, David Bowie writes about the blood-rituals ofthe Viennese

castrationists in the 1970s and the perfonnance art, or "body play," of Chris

Burden and Ron Athey. Bowie calls this "ritual art":

My input revolved around the idea of ritual art-what options were

there open to that kind of quasi-sacrificial blood-obsessed sort of
art fonn? And the idea ofneo-paganism developing---especially in
America-with the advent of the new cults of tattooing and
scarification and piercings and all that. I think people have a real
need for some spiritual life and I think there's great spiritual
starving going on. There's a hole that's been vacated by an
authoritative religious body-the Judeao-Christian ethic doesn't
seem to embrace all the things that people actually need to have
dealt with in that way-and it's sort of been left to popular culture
to soak up the leftover bits like violence and sex?

Bowie suggests that the increase of piercing and tattooing that took place in the

1990s, from the common piercing of ears ranging to the more macabre fonns of

"body art," such as public displays of bloody self-mutilation, are an indicator of a

tReznor, "Hurt," The Downward Spiral, n.p.

2Jan Penman, "The Resurrection of Saint Dave," Esquire Magazine (October 1995);
http://www.algonet.se/-bassmanlarticles/95/e.html; Internet; accessed 9 July 1999.

19
 20

new spirituality. Bowie is referring to the behaviour of self-mutilation as a

substitute for the ludeao-Christian ethic in satisfying a deep spiritual longing in

society. By also discussing the "ritual art" of Burden and Athey, Bowie is asking

if there is a discemable line between pathological self-mutilation and culturally

sanctioned body modification and public "artistic" displays. Bowie is also

exploring the ritual nature of these activities and how they define and contribute to

the spirituality of those who take part in them. Because ritual is often thought of

as particularly removed from everyday activities, it could be considered as an act

which connects a participant to something other than the everyday, generally

considered the spiritual.

In the narrative, Bowie presents a fictional story of the investigation of a

gruesome murder. The body i.s that of a young girl, her dismembered parts put on

"artistic" display at the entrance to a museum. The investigator's primary task is

to detennine whether this murder could be considered art. Bowie, in the guise of

narrator and investigator Nathan Adler, suggests that a precedent for this display

of "murder as art" could be found in the violent and bloody performance art of

Ron Athey and Chris Burden, as well as in the art of Damien Hirst, in which dead

and preserved animals are put on display. In his comments to Ian Penman in

Esquire, Bowie suggests that these "quasi-sacrificial blood-obsessed" art forms

could be an embodiment of the "neo-paganism" associated with the culture of

body modification. Specifically, Bowie says that body modification as a form of

neo-paganism has helped people to deal with certain issues in their lives that have
 21

not been appropriately addressed by the Judeao-Christian ethic. The behaviour of

body modification is often considered transformative not only in the physical

sense, but also spiritually. Body modification can be considered a statement

·against the Judeao-Christian ethic, and also against the notion of the split between

the mind and the body.

Through an analysis of various forms of body modification and their

motivations, Bowie's critique ofthe Judeao-Christian ethic will be evaluated.

Bowie, while engaging with the notion of body modification as a replacement for

Western religion, seems to suggest that an atmosphere of fear and limbo in

regards to the future has emerged with the popularity of various manifestations of

body modification in the 1990s. Bowie does not propose that this pessimistic

atmosphere is directly linked to the activities of body modification, but rather that

fear in society is a manifestation of the unknown state of the world after the

change of the calender to the year 2000 (in short, millenial angst). In an interview

in Musician magazine, Bowie states, "There is almost an unconscious, collective

paranoia about hitting a brick wall at the end of every hundred years.... An

intoxicating swirl of paranoia! It was hard enough ending a hundred years-how

do you end a millennium?,,3 Through his album, Bowie creates a liminoid space,

a space which denies known outcomes, as a metaphor for societal anxiety at the

end of the twentieth century. In an attempt to come to an understanding ofthe

3Mark Rowland, "The Outside Story," MUsician 204 (November 1995), 39.
 22

behaviour of body modification, this chapter will begin by briefly looking at its

histories and various manifestations. Also, this discussion will turn toward the

exploration of the phenomenon of "body play," as proposed by Jean-Chris Miller,

Rufus C. Camphausen and Marilee Strong, and will address Bowie's claim

regarding the ritual nature of body modification as a return to spirituality.

Various writers on the subject of cultural body modification use differing

terms to describe it. For this discussion, the term "modification" will be primarily

used, as per Kim Hewitt's discussion of terminology in the introduction to her

book, Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. She comments that some

might object to her use of the term "mutilation" rather than "adornment," because

of the somewhat pejorative connotations of the former, often used to refer to

violent destruction so as to render an object imperfect. 4 Here, "modification" will

refer to the action of removal or alteration of a body part. This discussion will

begin with the comments of social anthropologist Ted Polhemus in his book, The

Customized Body, where he explores the general motivations for the behaviour of

body modification.

Polhemus suggests that humans are the only creatures who choose to

manipulate their appearance, and whose appearance has never been dictated only

by genetics, a claim which is difficult to prove, and Polhemus makes no attempt to

4Kim Hewitt, Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink (Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997), 1.
 23

do so. He suggests that a most likely reason for such modification is self-

expression, but that it also marks group membership. Polhemus continues:

Because colour, pattern, adornments and so on all tap into and

express deeper meanings-that is, because redlblue, stripes/dots,
etc. are a kind of language-a tribe can use the customized body as
a means of expressing complex values, beliefs and ideals. In this
the customized body is the medium within which tribal customs
are most succinctly and powerfully expressed. 5

Polhemus suggests that in the Western world, a person has a choice as to which

tribe they would like to be associated with at any given time, resulting in a

"perpetual motion machine of different, constantly changing ways of altering the

appearance of the human form.,,6 Polhemus is ignoring the fact that the ability to

choose one's associations can be limited by socio-economic factors, such as race,

class, religion, etc. Nevertheless, against this notion of constant change are the

forms of permanent body modification such as piercing and tattooing, offering a

kind of stability and continuity to the self. Without this stability and continuity, a

person can feel absolutely powerless and lost in an environment of continual

change. By gaining control over the body, one can take ownership of the self, and

is more able not to allow anything to happen that is not sanctioned by the self.

While control can never be absolutely attained, a person is no longer completely at

the whim of constant changes in society; rather, a person is now able to control

her own appearance in the face of these changes.

5Ted Polhemus and Housk Randall, The Customized Body (London: Serpent's Tail,
1996), 7-8. Polhemus' text is supplemented by Randall's photographs, which make up a
significant portion of this book.
6Ibid.,9.
 24

Of course, changing the outward appearance does not necessarily mean

absolute control of the self. Physical modification, although certainly linked to

thought processes, does not necessarily change them. Furthermore, there is no

constancy in the physical in itself. No matter how much control one takes in

affecting change in the body, there is always the chance of sudden unexpected

change. For instance, various health issues can unpredictably arise. The sense of

the physical body as a tangiable and controllable element in a constantly changing

society is not totally accurate. The physical body is just as susceptible to change,

even with the appliance of body modification as a source of stability and

continuity, as is the rest of society.

In discussing the culture of body modification in his book, Customizing

the Body: The Art and Culture a/Tattooing, Clinton Sanders presents another

possible underlying motivation for the behaviour:

Deviation from and conformity to the societal norms surrounding

attractiveness are ... at the core of discussions of appearance and
alterations of the physical self. Those who choose to modify their
bodies in ways that violate appearance norms--or who reject
culturally prescribed alterations-risk being defined as socially or
morally inferior. Choosing to be a physical deviant symbolically
demonstrates one's disregard for the prevailing norms. 7

The modification of the body is, according to Sanders, a rebellion against the

appearance norms of society. By rejecting these norms, a body modifier becomes

a symbol of individuality gaining power to determine one's identity. The problem

7Clinton R. Sanders, Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989),2.
 25

with this kind of reasoning is that the appearance norms of society are always

changing. What was considered deviant a few years ago is now an apparent norm.

For instance, since the late 1990s, various forms of piercing have become

common among young people, as have tattoos. Although these modifications may

be characteristic of young people rebelling against the appearance norms of their

parents, these young people will eventually become parents themselves. The

types of body modification will have to change to remain relevant as signs of

rebellion against the appearance norms of society. Also, tattoos and piercings as

symbols of individuality are increasingly less effective as these physical

modifications become norms.

But where' do the roots of body modification lie? Examples of body

modification through mutilation have been located in various aspects of both

Western and non-Western cultures. By exploring these possible origins of body

modification, as well as through a discussion of the various types and their

motivations, one may move closer to an understanding of the behaviour. With

this understanding, a critique of Bowie's comments regarding the spiritual nature

of body modification will follow.

Mutilation in Religion and Society

In Bodies Under Siege: Self-Mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry,

Armando Favazza explores both the clinical behaviour of self-mutilation-for

example, "cutting," or the pathological behaviour of slashing the skin-as well as

 26

the culturally accepted forms of the practice, such as tattooing, piercing and

scarification. 8 He outlines mutilative images in both Western and non-Western

religions and in sacred art and secular literature, and then continues to outline

specific mutilations in which people engage.

Laying a foundation for the practice of body modification, Favazza

explores the role of blood and mutilation in religion, beginning with Tibetan

Tantrism. The Tibetan Book of the Dead outlines a series of meditations on death

and birth experienced in various psychological states. Throughout these various

states, the meditator experiences the visitation of various peaceful divinities, but

these make way for terrifying deities of violence and mutilation. For the

meditator, enlightenment occurs when she realizes that these images are being

projected from within herself. 9

In North American Indian mysticism, and particularly in the Sun Dance of

the Plains Indians and other buffalo hunting tribes, the mutilation is not limited to

a psychological experience, as in the case of Tibetan meditation. 10 The Sun Dance

g"Cutting" is often resorted to as a means of remedying the sensation of

"depersonalization." A "cutter" will slash the skin, often on his arms or legs, with a razor blade or
another sharp object. This activity will continue until blood appears, which gives the "cutter" a
renewed sense of self. This behaviour will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
Scarification-the deliberate cutting of the skin for the formation of scar tissue-is a widely
accepted practice in non-Western cultures, but is becoming increasingly popular in Western
culture.
9Armando R. Favazza, M.D. & Barbara Favazza, M.D., Bodies Under Siege: Self-
Mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), 10.
Favazzadoes not describe the appearance of the "deities of mutilation" beyond their identification
as "wrathful" and ''terrifying.''
IOFavazza cites H.B. Alexander, The World's Rim: Great Mysteries of the North
American Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967).
 27

is an eight day ritual and culminates in the Gazing-At-The-Sun dance, which

portrays the dangers of warrior life, capture, torture and release. In the ritual, the

dancers are "captured" and incisions are made in their backs and chests. Pieces of

wood are attached to leather thongs which are then inserted under the cut muscles,

and the thongs are attached to a tall pole. The participants dance trying to break

free from their bonds, some struggling so violently that the wooden pieces rip

through their flesh. The pure in heart should be able to withstand the pain of the

ritual and are expected to receive a vision that would make clear the meaning and

course of their lives. 11

Throughout its history, Christianity has included mutilation at its very

core, namely in the passion of Christ. Favazza comments that the most powerful

images of Christ and His suffering were developed in paintings between the

fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Art historians have categorized the various

images, which fmd their origins in the Biblical account of Jesus' crucifixion.

These image categories include the flagellation of Christ, the wounded Christ

displayed (Ecco Homo, or "Behold the Man"), Christ nailed to the cross and

crucified, Christ mourned, Mary's grief (Pieta), Christ's sufferings exemplified

(Jesus as Man of Sorrows), and Arma Christi focussing on Christ's

suffering-Arma referring to the tools of suffering, such as the spear, nails, the

crown of thoms, etc. Christian art has also associated instruments of torture with

Jllbid., 11.
 28

biblical figures (the inverted crucifixion of Peter, for instance), and devotional

books often vividly depict the gruesome fate of martyrs in both words and

drawings. 12

Other examples of sacred art thatrefer to acts of mutilation include

Hieronymus Bosch's Triptych ofthe Garden ofDelights and The Last Judgement

(from the sixteenth century). Bosch's paintings exhibit various punishments for

sin, including being gnawed by animals and having limbs removed. References to

mutilation in a religious context also appear in secular literature. In Flannery

O'Conner's book, Wise Blood, the author presents a character who puts rocks into

his shoes before placing them on his feet and wears strands of barbed wire under

his shirt, because he isn't "clean" without Christ.13 By identifying in such a

material way with Christ's suffering, O'Conner's character perhaps endeavours to

cleanse himself of his iniquities. Through pain-something that can be felt-he is

able to empathize with and thus come closer to Christ. Often stressed in

evangelical Protestant Christianity, salvation is attained by faith and through

belief in Christ alone. The lack of tangible or physical evidence of salvation, a

trend perceived when observing evangelical Protestant Christianity, is resolved in

this case by a definite feeling of pain and a resulting permanent mark-proof of an

12Ibid., 13-16. Favazza also mentions apocryphal images such as the pierced sacred heart,
surrounded by a crown ofthoms below a cross. (p. 16)
!3Ibid., 18-20.
 29

Figure 1.1. Annibale Carracci's The Dead Christ

(c. 1582).

event of seeking salvation. The marking of the body for the purpose of salvation

is a move away from the idea of salvation by faith and towards the idea of

salvation through the body and the self. O'Conner thus presents a character who

strives to reach Christ through his own self-mutilation and not through any other

religious means.

As a particularly potent example of sacred art which focuses on Christ

Richard Leppert explores Annibale Carracci's painting, The Dead Christ

(c.1582), through which the observer is invited to survey the mutilated body of

Christ (see Figure l.1):

The angle of view gives us access to the multiple penetrations of

Christ's body and the principle means by which his body was
wounded: the crown of thorns and, especially stiletto-like nails,
their irregularly flattened heads visually reverberating with the
force of the invisible hammer strikes used to drive them home ....
Christ's hand is grotesquely misshapen in stiffened reaction to the
 30

iron nail; and its greenish cast, the shade even more evident on the
ghastly profiled face, indicates the onset of decomposition. 14

The painting draws attention to various physical mutilations, and brings to light

some of the more gruesome aspects of the execution, such as the force necessary

to drive nails through a body part. By so doing, the painting makes the event

more real; the Crucifixion is no longer a romanticized event or fable. The

grotesque details, such as the stiffness of the hand or the onset of decomposition,

serve to emphasize the terrible experience of Christ's sacrificial death. The notion

of sacrifice as the only means by which to achieve salvation underlies much of

Western thought due to the vast influence of the Christian Church. From the

perspective of evangelical Protestant Christianity, the idea of salvation through

personal suffering would be discouraged, because in such an action salvation is

arrived at through the self rather than through Christ. Therefore, the examples of

attaining salvation through some physical action, whether by empathizing with

Christ or by some analogous sacrifice to that of Christ, represent alternatives to

the Christian method of salvation. Salvation through faith alone, a tenet held by

most Protestant Christians, would deny a route to salvation through the physical.

Through the cultural saturation of Christian images of mutilation, spilling also

into secular literature in the case of O'Connor, the idea of salvation through

'4Richard Leppert, Art and the Committed Eye: The Cultural Functions of 1m agel}'
(Boulder: Westview/HarperCollins, 1996). 115-6.
 31

physical means may be a motivation for the act of body modification as a

transformative action.

Images of mutilation are also present in various myths of creation-in

particular, in the Rigueda (India), Greater Bundahisn (Iran) and Prose Edda

(Scandanavia) religions-where creation is the result of the sacrifice and

mutilation of the primordial hermaphroditic being. Favazza explains,

The first sacrifice of the Primordial Being was the origin of the
world, and from the mutilation of this being society and social
order were established. Over the millennia this myth in its various
elaborations has been, and continues to be, reenacted in countless
religious rituals. With each reenactment the world and social order
are recreated. Participants in these rituals experience the suffering
and terror that come with sacrifice and mutilation, but they are
rewarded for their participation in this mythic process by feelings
of security, solace, well-being, and personal order. IS

Finally, Favazza discusses examples from disparate traditions which

suggest that "bodily mutilation is a stepping stone to wisdom, special capacities

for healing oneself and others, and a higher level of existence."I6 He attempts to

explain the importance of sacrifice and suffering in the context of religion,

suggesting that there is a link between sacrifice and prayer. For example, a person

offers a valuable sacrificial gift to a deity anticipating a favourable response in

return; the blood and flesh of sacrificial victims serve to rejuvenate the deities

themselves. Also, there is a communion which is established between a people

and their deity as a result of their partaking of the sacrificial animal. Furthermore,

15Pavazza, Bodies Under Siege, 24-5.

16Ibid., 27.
 32

a sacrifice is an act which, through the consecration of a victim, the moral state of

the sacrificer is changed, and the act establishes a communion between the sacred

world and the present one. 17 As with O'Connor's protagonist, a relationship with

the divine is facilitated through physical sacrifice.

Some may view the behaviour of self-mortification or body modification

in a religious context as pathologicaL To differentiate between clinical self-

mutilators and those involved in activities mentioned above (for instance, self-

flagellating monks in ascetic orders), Favazza comments that the acts of mentally

ill self-mutilators have no transcendency: "They have little meaning for the

universe or the world or the community at large but rather affect only the self-

mutilators and occasionally the members of their small social networks.,,18

The obvious question is whether the activities of culturally sanctioned

body modifiers have meaning for the community at large as welL The community

at large, or the mainstream, is defined in opposition to marginalized segments

within it. The culture of body manipulation as ritual is marginal, or "outside of

what is central and therefore dominant. ,,19 Those who are involved in body

modification are simply a segment of a greater population in Western society.

17Ibid., 31. Favazza cites anthropologists: Tylor (no information given); J.G. Frazer, "The
Origin of Circumcision," Independent Review 4 (1904), 204-218; The Golden Bough (New York:
Macmillan, 1958); G.E. Smith & W.R. Dawson, Egyptian Mummies (London: Allen and Unwin,
1924); and H. Hubert and M. Mauss, Essai sur la nature et lafonction du sacrifice. L'Annee
sociologique 2 (1899), published in English as Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function (London: Cohen
and West, 1964).
18Ibid., 44.
19Joseph Childers and Gary Hentzi, eds., "MarginallMarginalization," The Columbia
Dictionary ofModern Literary and Cultural Criticism (New York: Columbia University Press,
1995),174.
 33

The larger group, referred to here as the community at large, does not perfonn

body modification as ritual. Body modification is often seen by mainstream

culture as deviant, and thus the actions of body modifiers only affect themselves

and their relatively small social network, in relation to the mainstream. This is not

to say that the practices of subcultures are unimportant. Rather, the meanings of

their actions are not recognized by the larger community, and are often recognized

as deviant or abhorent. Some of the lesser practices of body modification, such as

various ear, facial and navel piercings, have seeped into mainstream culture, and

in so doing, have lost much of their association with ritual and transformation.

Although in one sense, the actions of body modifiers are aimed directly at the

community at large as an act of rebellion against the mainstream aesthetic, in

another sense, the belief of the transformative nature of the action to which some

body modifiers subscribe is lost to mainstream culture. In the mainstream, the

modifications have become adornments which serve an aesthetic purpose or as a

means by which an individual follows a particular trend. The actions of body

modifiers, who recognize the acts as transformative, therefore have little meaning

for the community at large. Favazza's statement regarding clinical self-mutilators

can equally be applied to body modifiers. Unfortunately, his statement does

nothing to help to differentiate between the two groups. The line between

pathological self-mutilation and culturally sanctioned body modification is still

difficult to determine.
 34

Types of Body Modification

In order to more easily grasp a variety of types of mutilation, it is

worthwhile to attempt to compartmentalize them. Rufus C. Camphausen divides

the techniques into ｦｾｵｲ＠ types: noninvasive, invasive, temporary and permanent.

Noninvasive practices refer to those methods which are only applied onto the

surface ofthe body and do not involve any structural change of it. Such

decoration includes body paint and hair styles. Invasive practices refer to

techniques which modify any part of the body-temporarily or permanently-by

cutting, piercing or changing its surface, introducing foreign substances, or

changing the body's bone structure. Temporary decorations can be further

classified as short-term or long-term, depending on how long they last after their

application. Permanent changes refer to invasive modification of soft-tissue (the

elongation of an earlobe piercing, for instance) as well as hard-tissue alterations

(such as bone changes and amputation).20

An ancient permanent and invasive modification was that of head

moulding. In ancient Egypt, constricting bandages were wrapped around the

heads of infants to produce a slope similar to that of the king. This activity

continued in Europe until the middle of the 19th century (greatly influenced by

phrenology)?! An example oftemporary mutilation of the head occurs among

2<Rufus C. Camp hausen, Return ofthe Tribal: A Celebration ofBody Adornment

(Rochester: Park Street Press, 1997), 18-22.
21Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 61-3.
 35

the Hamadsha of Morro co, a lower class healing brotherhood, where head

slashing is practiced in a healing ritua1. 22

Favazza mentions the mutilation ofthe eyes as rare and not culturally

accepted (except in biblical references). The piercing of ears for wearing

jewellery is an ancient tradition, as is the piercing ofthe nose in Indian culture.

Major modification of the nose is generally only performed for cosmetic reasons,

although piercing of the nose and mouth are increasingly common in the West.

Piercing is the most widespread form of body manipulation, with the earlobe

being the most popular site. Polhemus points out that simple piercing is not the

only possibility as some insert plugs into the holes to stretch them, adding larger

plugs or heavier jewellery over time. The choice of which body part is pierced

often reflects a certain privileging of that part:

the enormous lip plugs of the Amazon tend to be found amongst

those tribes where the art of oratory is highly developed and
respected while the most startling examples of nose piercing found
in New Guinea tend to occur in societies where smell is accorded
great significance and where breath is equated with the life-force. 23

It is interesting to note that the modifications in this case have a direct relationship

with the spiritual life of the society. These body modifications are not only

aesthetic adornments but also have a ritual significance.

22Ibid.,66-7. Favazza notes that the Hamadsha's ritual is considered extreme by most
other Muslim healing groups.
23Polhemus, The Customized Body, 37.
 36

Less popular among both Western and non-Western culturally sanctioned

body modification is the amputation of fmgers. Favazza states that unnamed

African tribes perform this activity as a sign of engagement and marriage, as a

sacrifice at funerals, to heal a sick person, or to protect them from disease. The

mutilation of hands and arms is often performed in Middle Eastern countries as

punishment for crimes such as stealing, and the hands are often associated with

special powers (Favazza uses the example of the Western occult belief in the

"hand of glory," a severed hand of a hanged man said to possess healing

powers).24 The most common form of modification of the feet was foot binding in

China, where young girls had their feet tightly bound to force the toes back toward

the heel for many years, resulting in a tiny foot measuring three or four inches,

making walking very difficult. The foot, referred to as a "Lotus Foot," had

extremely erotic connotations in Imperial China, and those girls who underwent

the process were highly sought after as courtesans or wives by wealthy men. 25

Modification of the skin is significant, as the skin is often perceived as "a

border between the outer world and the inner world, the environment and the

personal self.,,26 In clinical cases, Favazza comments that "cutting" often occurs

during an experience of "depersonalization":

Certain psychopathological conditions such as acute psychosis or

hallucinogenic drug intoxication may cause the skin-self border to

24Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, lO6-9.

25Polhemus, The Customized Body, 59.
26Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 123.
 37

rupture, with the result being an inability to perceive where the

body ends and the outside world begins. During the experience of
a phenomenon known as depersonalization, persons may retain a
grip on reality yet feel that something strange is happening to their
sense of self. To terminate this frightening and numbing feeling
they may deliberately slice open their skin.... The cutting causes
blood to appear and stimulate the nerve endings in the skin. When
this occurs cutters first are able to verify that they are alive, and
then are able to focus attention on their skin border and to perceive
the limits of their bodies. 27

A common practice of modification of the skin in the West is the tattoo.

The word "tattoo" was first recorded by Captain James Cook, derived from the

Polynesian word ta, for knocking or striking?8 Sanders explains:

The dominant function of tattooing in all tribal societies was to

denote the bearer's status or social identity. Commonly, the
painful tattoo process was part of the rite of passage to adult status.
By stoically undergoing the tattoo ritual, recipients could
demonstrate their bravery to the other members of the groUp.29

Tattooing also served to identify the bearer in the afterlife, and to provide luck,

protection and good health in the present one. 30 In Western culture, the tattoo is

historically connected to deviance and disvalued social groupS.31 Many people,

especially those in nonconformist groups, get tattoos to demonstrate their defiance

27Ibid.
28Sanders, Customizing the Body, 14. Sanders quotes the diary of Captain James Cook
during his exploration of the South Pacific in July, 1769: "Men and women [of Tahiti] paint their
bodies. In their language, this is known as ta-tu. They inject a black colour under their skin,
leaving a permanent trace."
29Ibid., 10.
30Ibid., 11.
31lbid.,3. Sanders suggests that this connection to deviance also gives significant power
"to separate 'us' from 'them.'"
 38

of traditional authority while providing a sense of identity and belonging to a

certain groUp.32

Scarification (also called cicatrization) refers to the process of cutting the

skin in order to produce scars, and is prevalent among those with darkly

pigmented skin which is not as suitable for tattooing. Scars are often produced for

beauty and to indicate social status. Favazza comments,

it seems likely that the scars resulting from self-mutilation may

themselves have a symbolic significance related to the notions of
rebirth, the continuity of the life process, and the stability of
relationships. The presence of scar tissue is a physiological
indication of wound healing. In cases of deviant self-cutting, the
formation of scar tissue may sometimes symbolize psychological
healing. 33

Another form of scarification is branding, where a hot piece of metal comes into

contact with the skin. Jean-Chris Miller suggests that there may also be a physical

reason for this painful modification: "People who have been branded speak about

the incredible endorphin rush they get (sometimes they go into a low level of

shock!)-and the incredible pain they feel once the endorphins wear off.,,34

Through the processes of scarification and branding, the skin becomes textured

due to the formation of scar tissue. Lamenting the disappearance of traditional

scarification in African countries where it has been banned, and its lack of strong

32Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 125-7. See pp. 18-9 of Sanders' book for a brief history
of tattooing in Western culture, which suggests the roots of the association of tattooing with the
defiance of authority.
33Ibid., 130.
34Jean-Chris Miller, The Body Art Book: A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos,
Piercings, and Other Body Modifications (New York: Berkley Books, 1997), 117.
 39

following in Western culture, Polhemus says, "the customized body will become a

more purely visible [rather than textural] phenomenon, its tactile possibilities lost

forever. ,,35

Castration is a form of genital mutilation which is employed for

punishment and prevention of sexual misconduct, enhanced religious spirituality,

and heightened social status in institutionalized eunichisrn.36 Favazza comments

that male genital mutilation is performed for many reasons:

sanitation, substitution for human sacrifice, symbolic castration,

desire to be like women, elevation of the status of manhood, sexual
differentiation, enhanced fertility, contraception, resolution of
identity conflict, permanent incorporation into a social group,
control of sexual urges, a mark of caste, a test of endurance, a
covenant with God, and so on. 37

Male circumcision is one of the most common and culturally accepted forms of

body modification in the West, fmding its roots in ancient Judaism. In the

account of God's covenant with the Patriarch Abraham in Genesis 17, God

commands him and his descendants to confirm their covenant with the sign of

circumcision, or the removal of the foreskin of the penis. Theologian Allen P.

Ross comments:

By this symbol God impressed them with the impurity of nature

and with dependence on God for the production of all life. They

35Polhemus, The Customized Body, 24. As evidenced by various television news

segments on the behaviour of self-mutilation, such as CITYPulse's string of reports (Toronto, early
2000) and a feature on ABC's 20120 Downtown programme (October, 1999), the act of
Scarification continues to be a major part of the culture, and participation in this form of
modification may be growing.
36Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 146.
37Ibid., 153.
 40

would recognize and remember: (a) that native impurity must be

laid aside, especially in marriage, and (b) that human nature is
unable to generate the promised seed [referring to the nation of
Israel]. ... Any Israelite who refused to be cut physically in this
way would be cut off (separated) from his people (v. 14) because
of his disobedience to God's commands. 38

With the advent of Christianity, circumcision became a symbol of separation,

purity and loyalty to the covenant: "[Saint] Paul wrote that 'circumcision of the

heart' (i.e., being inwardly set apart 'by the [Holy] Spirit') evidences salvation and

fellowship with God (Rom. 2:28-29; cf. Rom. 4:11).,,39 The physical act of

circumcision survives to this day both as a physical sign of obedience to the

Abrahamic Covenant and as an apparently hygienic modification.

Male infibulation refers to the practice of putting a clasp (fibula) or string

through the foreskin, making erection either painful or impossible. 40 The various

forms of female genital circumcision are all considered an attempt to regulate

female morality, and are strongly discouraged in Western culture. Camphausen

adds:

With all due respect for people's individual choices and all
celebrations of one's body, I believe there are certain borders it is
better not to cross in order to remain an accepted member of
whatever group, and certain practices it is better not to follow or
encourage, such as forced clitoridectomy, circumcision, or
castration. Those latter practices do not result in the dazzling

38Allen P. Ross, "Genesis," The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition ofthe

Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty," eds. John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL:
Victor Books, 1985),58. The bold typescript indicates the quotation of Scriptures in Ross'
commentary. Also, it should be noted that Ross does not clearly specify what "native impurity"
implies.
ＳｾｏｓＬ＠ "Genesis," 58.
4°Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 158-9.
 41

works of art produced by men and women of the world's remaining

tribal cultures. 41

Here, Camphausen draws the line of acceptable mutilations when the subject is

not making the choice, or given the choice to be modified. Unfortunately,

Camphausen overlooks the fact that male circumcision is generally performed

without the subject's consent. Conversely, Fakir Musafar, an American pioneer in

body modification, suggests that the view of female genital mutilation, such as a

clitoridectomy, as sexual domination or slavery is a Western idea:

The only time we run into possession of human beings by other

human beings is in societies which have begun to accept Western
"civilized" ideas and which get a cash economy.... The idea of
possession, the idea of slavery, the idea of using in bondage one
person by another is strictly as civilized idea. It does not exist in
the primitive world. I've researched this deeply.42

Such a view is not characteristic of what has been called the Modem Primitive

movement, as is made clear by V. Vale and Andrea Juno in their introduction to

Modern Primitives, the book from which Musafar's comments come. They

suggest that many of the non-Western cultures from which the movement derives

its inspiration have been "dubiously idealized and only partially understood."

They comment that activities such as clitoridectomy are simply forms of

repression and coercionY Although Musafar is regarded as an expert in the area

of ritual body modification, his comments here provide evidence of his own

41Camphausen, Return ofthe Tribal, 23.

42y. Yale & Andrea Juno, eds. "Fakir Musafar," Modern Primitives: An Investigation of
Contemporary Adornment & Ritual (San Fransisco: Re/Search Publications, 1989), 21.
43Yale & Juno, "Introduction," Modern Primitives, 4.
 42

ignorance. Vale and Juno's statement that these activities constitute "repression

and coercion" is a common view held in Western culture, and Musafar's lack of

tangible research to back up his claims does nothing to disprove this view.

A recent physical modification in Western culture would be aesthetic

dentistry, where holes can be drilled through the teeth, metal caps are inserted

onto the teeth, or the teeth are filed into points like those of an animal. 44 More

extensive body modifications are, from the most common, weight training or

plastic surgery, to the more rare, corset or waist training to remould the waist (this

is a practice which could prove to be damaging to the bones and internal organs).

Polhemus mentions Musafar and another "Modem Primitive," Orlan, as examples

ofthose pushing the envelope of "body art," displaying extreme plastic surgery

modifications and other changes, such as muscle restriction (to produce a bulge

above and below the restricting band) and penis stretching. 45 Some may even

implant foreign matter beneath the skin, creating a distinctive contour on the

surface.46 These artists are pushing the boundary of the definition of art, asking

what is appropriate to be considered as such. Similarly, in the accompanying

narrative to 1. Outside, Bowie presents the case of a murder in which the

investigator must establish whether the reSUlting mutilation should be considered

as a work of art. It could be extrapolated that Bowie is asking the same question

44Miller, The Body Art Book, 118.

45Polhemus, The Customized Body, 93-4.
46Miller, The Body Art Book, 120.
 43

regarding the more common manifestations of body modification prevalent in

present society, but uses a spectacular example in doing so.

Miller uses the term "body art" rather than body modification when

discussing the various manifestations of modifying the body. She also discusses

non-permanent adornments such as Mehndi and body paint. Mehndi comes from

the Indian tradition of decorating a woman's hands and feet with complex patterns

with henna dye (originally done to celebrate her wedding). The dye lasts from ten

days to six weeks, and body paint is immediately removable using water. 47

Polhemus suggests that the temporary nature of body paint can serve to underline

the significance of certain rituals or events, setting the events apart from the

everyday. Also, body paint can function as a marker of personal development

(defining age groups among the Nuba of Sudan, for instance) or as a transforming

agent in the form of war paint.48 Camphausen comments that henna is regarded as

magical, making the wearer "more receptive to the invisible yet omnipresent fields

of energy in which we live.,,49 Sanders mentions clothing and hair styling as

important physical alterations as well; Polhemus suggests that clothing tends to

focus attention to body parts that remain uncovered. 50 He also suggests that

hairstyle works in similar ways as the more permanent modifications discussed

previously, citing the hairstyles of the males of the Nuba tribes of Sudan and

47Ibid., 114-6.
48Polhemus, The Customized Body, 11.
49Camphausen, Return ofthe Tribal, 47.
50Sanders, Customizing the Body, 4; also Polhemus, The Customized Body, 11. Polhemus
also discusses clothing as "second skins" in detail (pp. 79-80).
 44

young Masai warriors. 51 Various acts of hygiene, including shaving, along with

wearing wigs and manicuring nails, as well as clothing accessories (such as shoes

and masks) and, as a less common phenomenon, gender modification, come under

the rubric of body modification.

In many of the cases listed above, the boundary between body

modification as "art" or as aesthetic adornment and as ritual is being blurred. This

blurring of the boundaries can perhaps be attributed to the place that ritual

inhabits in these non-Western societies, as suggested by Victor Turner. Through

his discussions of the notion of liminality, which will be further explored in the

next chapter, Turner suggests that the idea of everyday life, or the banal, separate

from ritual is a Western postindustrial one. In these non-Western tribal societies,

Turner suggests that the everyday is permeated with ritua1. 52 The idea that a

Western subculture may exhibit this same blurring of boundaries could be an

example of the movement of these cultures towards non-Western world views.

Camphausen calls this a "return to the tribal," embodied in those that refer to

themselves as "Modem Primitives."

Piercing is a rapidly increasing phenomenon in Western culture, with

"Modem Primitives" creating new piercing possibilities. The term "Modem

Primitive" is attributed to Fakir Musafar, who was one ofthe first Americans to

publicly practice body modification as ritual and is considered a pioneer in the

51Polhemus, The Customized Body, 50.

52Turner, "Are There Universals ofPerfonnance," 12-13.
 45

teaching of proper piercing and ritual techniques. Musafar, born Roland Loomis

in 1930, states, "We used the term to describe a non-tribal person who responds to

primal urges and does something with the body. ,,53 He suggests that the

"primitive urge" works by someone performing a modification spontaneously, not

necessarily being connected with any group. Vale and Juno point out that the

term "primitive" in this context is used to connote "original" and "primary" rather

than "less advanced" or "less civilized." They state, "Obviously, it is impossible

to return to an authentic 'primitive' society.... What is implied by the revival of

'modem primitive' activities is the desire for, and the dream of, a more ideal

society.,,54

This desire for a better society finds its most powerful recent expression in

the countercultural movement of the 1960s. Youth culture's dissatisfaction with

Western ideology resulted in their appropriation of non-Western practices and

ways of thinking as an alternative. With the advent of the 1970s, the

counterculture fragmented in various directions. John Clark, Stuart Hall, Tony

Jefferson and Brian Roberts, in their overview of subcultural theory, suggest that

from among this fragmentation emerged two distinctive strands:

one way, via drugs, mysticism, the "revolution in life-style" into a

Utopian alternative culture; or, the other way, via community

53Yale & Juno, "Fakir Musafar," 13.

54Yale & Juno, "Introduction," 4. The emphasis is that of the authors.
 46

action, protest action and libertarian goals, into a more activist

politics. 55

Although these authors are primarily speaking of British subcultural movements,

their insight sheds light on the origins of the "revolution in life-style" to which

many "Modem Primitives" hold. Rather than being overly activist in their desire

for a better culture, the "Modem Primitives" look to other means to achieve their

goals. The subversion of society in an effort toward its transformation occurs

through the transformation of individuals within that society, achieved through

body modification rituals.

Recognizing the increase of "Modem Primitive" behaviour in late

twentieth century society, Polhemus suggests that body piercing has become very

popular because of the lack of ritual and rites of passage in industrial societies.

He explains:

Here, perhaps more than in any other area of body customizing, we

see the extent of the "Modern Primitive" revolution-the
rediscovery of ritual, of body arts previously condemned as
"barbaric" and, most importantly of all, of the fact that it is our
bodies and what we do to them which define us as human beings.
In an age which increasingly shows signs of being out of control,
the most fundamental sphere of control is re-employed: mastery
over one's own body.56

The fact, though, is that ritual has long been present in religious contexts,

particularly in Catholic Christianity. It is true that various forms of body art have

55John Clark, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson and Brian Roberts, "Subcultures, Cultures and
Class: A Theoretical Overview," Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War
Britain, S. Hall & T. Jefferson, eds. (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1976), 61-2.
56Polhemus, The Customized Body, 38.
 47

been condemned, probably attributed to Western society's split of the mind and

the body, where attention on the body is considered indulgent. Furthermore, it is

true that the body defmes the self. In the past, and even in the present, there are

those that strive to define themselves by how they adorn the body, without using

permanent or semi-permanent modification (for instance, through clothing, hair

style, etc.), and they do so successfully. Even so, Polhemus shares these views

with Favazza, Camphausen, and other writers on the subject of body modification.

They would seem to blame societal control for the repression of this behaviour.

Also, Polhemus' comments suggest the privileging of the body over the mind.

The idea of reclaiming control of the body comes about as a result of the split

between the mind and the body which has been prevalent in Western philosophy

and culture since Rene Descartes' (1596-1650) statement, "I think, therefore 1

am.,,57 From this statement, his followers deduced that the human mind should be

privileged above the human body and even God. With the increasingly fast pace

oflate 20th Century society, the tangible control of the body is often seen as a

viable option for a sense of stability, rather than the traditional emphasis on the

mind. These views will be further explored later in this discussion.

57Rene Descartes developed these thoughts in his books, A Discourse on Method. trans.
John Veitch (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1949) and Meditations on First Philosophy. ed. and trans.
George Heffernan. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 1990).
 48

Body Play

Among the most extreme forms of body modification is the notion of

"body play." Although the term often refers to acts of body modification, the

emphasis is on the event of being modified. The act of modification is focussed

upon as a ritual and as a transformative experience. An example of this is found

in the Native Sun Dance ritual as described earlier in this chapter. Jean-Chris

Miller explains:

Body play takes many forms. It can be temporary piercings or

cuttings that are done for a specific event and then removed. It can
be more intense, like body suspensions, where piercings are made
in key points in your body, chains are attached to the jewellery, and
you are then lifted off the ground, suspended by your piercings....
People who partake in these extreme forms of body play usually do
so for their own spiritual or sexual reasons. 58

Camphausen also talks about the popularity of "body play":

Today, more and more urban and neotribal people have discovered
new and old uses of pain, even beyond the SIM scene, both gay and
straight, that have sprung up during the last years in most greater
cities. In many of the recent publications concerning piercing and
tattooing, modifying, or even customizing the human body, one
finds statements concerning the conscious and mainly positive use
of pain. In recent years, more and more people have attended the
"ball dances" organized in various cities across the United States
[where] ... the more daring participants have balls hooked into
their flesh and then dance until, as they say, the "flesh rips." Most
who have undergone this new ritual of the "modern primitives
movement" enthusiastically report on the liberating and
transforming effects of the pain thus created and transcended. 59

58Miller, The Body Art Book, 12l.

59Camphausen, Return o/the Tribal, 86-9.
 49

Marilee Strong discusses blood play or blood sport (yet another tenn for "body

play"), which grew out of sadomasochism, in which partners slash and pierce each

other for sexual excitement. Strong recounts the comments of a young participant

in such activities, discovering her motivations as "overcoming the fear and shame

she has been conditioned to feel about the blood in her body, marveling at the

sight and touch ofit.,,60 Raelyn Gallina, a piercer from the San Francisco area,

suggests that when one gets pierced or scarred, a sacrifice is made with blood and

pain, opening a door for transfonnation or healing to take placeY This is yet

another instance of the line between ritual and art being blurred, where the ritual

nature of body modification is seeping into the act of body adornment. This

blurring of lines is also evident in Strong's account of the life and performances of

Bob Flanagan, a perfonnance artist and self-proclaimed "super-masochist."

Flanagan was born with cystic fibrosis and grew up with the cloud of death

hanging above his head; he maintained that he wanted to experience as much

sensation as he possibly could before his death. Strong elaborates:

Flanagan linked his fascination with bondage to his life as a

prisoner of a disease beyond his control. "In order not to be
terrified of it, I sexualized it," he said. Aware of how out of
control his life really was, he craved surrender-"but I detennine
the surrender and who I surrender to" he declared. 62

6°Marilee Strong, A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language ofPain (New
York: Viking Penguin, 1998), 144-5. This book deals mainly with the pathological behaviour of
cutting, although Strong dedicates a chapter to the practices of piercing and body play.
61Ibid., 146.
62Ibid., 155.
 50

Flanagan subscribed to the belief that "little deaths," in the form of his various

performances, would prepare him for ultimate death. Strong quotes Flanagan:

That's what a lot of [S&M] activity is: these planned-out scenarios

that are like dying .... But it's only for five or ten minutes; it's
only experiential and then it's over and you walk around and live
out your day, relieved. ... Especially in the early days, these
feelings would build and build until 1'd have to do it, but once I'd
had enough sensation and gone far enough, there was an immediate
release afterwards, and I felt peaceful, calm and sharp-like I could
do anything. ,,63

Bowie appropriates the notion of "body play" in the accompanying narrative to 1.

Outside, in the form of graphic descriptions of the work of artists such as Damien

Hirst, Ron Athey and others. In a particular performance described by the writer

of the narrative, American performance artist Ron Athey repeatedly pokes a

knitting needle into his forehead until blood appears, and then blots his head with

the paper towels, creating HN positive "inkblot" patterns with his blood. Like

the actions of Flanagan and others, Bowie suggests that Athey's performance acts

as a means of therapy or transformation. The question also asked is, if this can be

considered art, why not murder? Bowie, like the detective in the narrative, does

not seem to present a solution to this question. The narrative will be further

explored in chapter 2.

63Ibid.
 51

Towards an Understanding of Body Modification

It is very difficult to come to a single conclusion regarding the motivations

behind the behaviours being explored here. As is evident in the following

discussion, there are many, often disparate, reasons for body modification.

Favazza suggests a general motivation for such behaviour:

Culturally sanctioned self-mutilative practices [in non-Western

cultures] are traditional and reflect the history, symbolism, and
beliefs of a society. They affect the individual, but since they are
woven into the fabric of social life they also frequently affect the
entire community.... [Culturally sanctioned and deviant self-
mutilation] serve an identical purpose, namely, an attempt to
correct or prevent a pathological, destabilizing condition that
threatens the community, the individual, or both. 64

Favazza's equating of deviant self-mutilation with body modification in terms of

purpose could be read as supporting the idea of body modification as

transformative ritual, acting as a correction or prevention of some problem. His

comment also suggests that a participant in culturally sanctioned actions is needful

of the act of modification for their general health. Furthermore, these practices

often require the participation of a group of persons, acting in a social way as

well, thus fostering group solidarity. They prevent social disorder by clearly, and

often permanently, defining statuses and differences between sexes and

generations. 65 Body modification seems also to act as a relief of tension and

aggression, offering a sense of control to the participant in a chaotic environment.

64Favazza, Bodies Under Siege, 191.

6sIbid., 191-2.
 52

Specific modifications are often brought about for specific purposes.

Regarding scarification, Favazza suggests:

the cutter, in effect, performs a primitive sort of self-surgery

complete with tangible evidence of healing. Scarring serves an
additional purpose in that it can 'mark' a hurtful occasion.... The
sensation of pain and the presence of blood not only interrupt the
monotony of depersonalization but also indicate that the cutter is,
indeed, alive and that the body's border of skin is intact and in
place. 66

Such acts can also serve as an alternative to suicide (a substitution of the

destruction of the whole with the destruction of a part), an indication of

desperation, a manipulative ploy for attention, a remedy for perceived internal or

external flaws, and as an act of creation: the production of a wound is then cared

for and nurtured to health. 67

Jean-Chris Miller suggests that body manipulation is a form of self-

expression. Miller explains:

These permanent marks are what define us as human beings. They

are a means of self-expression and a vehicle of self-awareness, two
qualities that separate us from other living things on this planet. ...
Tattooing, piercing and other adornments have been used for
centuries in rites of passage, in religious rituals, or as a form of
tribal identification-in all cultures.... [they are] a permanent
souvenir of a life-changing moment. 68

Miller suggests that body art is used by some to reclaim an ancestral custom, or to

symbolize an important event or transition in their lives. She comments that the

66Ibid., 195-6.
67Ibid., 196-8.
68Miller, The Body Art Book, 1.
 53

various forms of body art are important for two reasons: "They give us control

over our bodies and they express things about our inner selves that words alone

often cannot articulate.,,69 Miller gives a different reason than Favazza for

engaging in such corporeal modification:

Because we have few rites and rituals that mark life transitions or
prove our devotion to a particular group or idea, body art often fills
that void. Whether to signal a life passage or to enforce a belief,
the ritual and permanency of body art fulfills some basic need we
have as sentient beings. 70

Some might argue that Western institutionalized religion, primarily Christianity,

provides rites and rituals, and affords the opportunity for a participant to be

devoted to a particular group. With Western society's move away from

institutionalized religion, body art seems to fill that void in some cases. Also,

Miller suggests that body art serves as a way to recognize and celebrate the

physical body, often increasing sexual stimulation (in the case of certain nipple

and genital piercings). 71 What is most interesting to Camphausen is the fact that

the invisible self is becoming more visible; many choose to have genital piercings

and even tattoos done in semipublic settings. Camphausen explains:

Often recreating a sense of ritual, such people lay bare to the group
not only their skin but also their experience of both intense pain
and intense pleasure. Whether or not the onlookers chant during
the operation or welcome the newly adorned with applause and
hugs afterwards, what we see in essence is a new member joining

69Ibid., 4-5.
7°Ibid., 29.
7lIbid., 29-30.
 54

the tribe in a bond that is beyond family or nation or race or

gender. 72

This description of community membership could also be applied to religious

communities. The Christian community, in particular, has often prided itself in its

unqualified acceptance of all and any who subscribe to a belief in Christ and His

teachings. Thus, the culture of body modification might parallel Christianity more

than some might suggest.

Building on Musafar's definition, Miller also uses the term "Modem

Primitives" to describe some of those who modify their bodies:

Modern Primitives incorporate the traditions of other cultures with

futuristic visions of the human race. They embrace not only the
old world of magic and mystery, but the new world of cybernetics
and virtual reality. They take body modification to new heights by
using the latest surgical and chemical technology to recreate
themselves according to their own wishes. 73

Miller agrees with Favazza, and others, that there is a political element involved

in body modification, where one is asserting control over their own physical

being.74

Sanders argues that group membership is the underlying reasoning behind

all types of physical modification:

No matter what the overt purpose of the alteration-protection

from supernatural forces, communication of sexual availability,
demonstration of courage, symbolization of membership, or
whatever-all types of body modification have a decorative

72Camphausen, Return of the Tribal, 79.

73Miller, The Body Art Book, 3l.
74Ibid.
 55

function. The transformation makes the body aesthetically

pleasing to the individual and the relevant reference group. 75

Sanders also suggests that less frequent forms of piercing (of the nose, cheeks,

nipples, genitals, etc.) are commonly viewed with disfavour, therefore "eminently

suited for symbolizing disaffection from mainstream values.,,76 In apparent

contradiction to Sanders, Camphausen suggests that many types of body

adornment and modification have little to do with attaining a "look" or

conforming to a social vision of beauty.

Rather, many of these techniques are aimed at awakening

potentials of consciousness that are fully human and natural, rather
than extrasensory or paranormal, but that need to be trained and
activated in order to function at their very best.77

Camphausen does not provide any concrete examples of these "potentials of

consciousness" awakened with body modification, suggesting simply that the acts

are facilitators in revealing human potentiaL Elsewhere, he seems to provide a

more spiritual motivation for body adornments, and tattooing in particular:

it becomes clear that the contemporary return to the tribal

represents a swing of the pendulum of history, another loop in the
continuous flow of time. Humanity, on reaching the end of one
cycle and entering a new one, is more open to change at such
crucial moments and seems to become sensitive yet again....
What we currently witness is a reemergence of the tribal spirit from
within the human psyche: genetic memory manifesting itself.
Amid the concrete and silicon with which we've fashioned our
world, the mythical serpent of the dreamtime is once again arising,
reminding and recalling us to roots almost forgotten. 78

75Sanders, Customizing the Body, 6.

76Ibid.,8.
77Camphausen, Return of the Tribal, 55.
78Ibid., 65.
 56

According to Camphausen, the "return to the tribal" is caused by the reemergence

of instinctual behaviour, due to a "genetic memory." His evoking of the idea of

genetic memory being "awakened" at the end of one cycle and at the beginning of

another is interesting, and corresponds with Bowie's idea of the increase of the

behaviour of body modification (and a new spirituality) at the end of the

millennium. He continues by suggesting that this popularity of body modification

is also accompanied by a return to tribal activities and ways of looking at the

world. He supports this by pointing to the increasing number of youth and adults

experimenting with altered states of consciousness, which Camphausen associates

with tribal shamanism. The profile of tribalism is also raised through the

ecological movement and herbal rediscovery. Camphausen suggests that the

expression of the tribal impulse is evident in forms of dance music that come

close to being trance inducing. 79 In fact, the phenomenon of "Rave" culture

revolves around the notion of a formation of community and a communal

experience of spiritual transcendence. 8o He explains:

One ofthe subdivisions of house [music] has been given the name
"Trance." In addition, it is not simply the style of dancing that
approaches or revives the nature of tribal dancing, but also another
dimension. In those places and at those moments where all the
elements are just right-the crowd, the music, the ambience, the
moon-something happens that goes beyond the merely individual
experience. Suddenly, in the way of synergy, the participating
individuals actually disappear and a concerted, coherent, and

79Ibid., 96-99.
8°For an excellent discussion of spirituality at the end of the 20th Century, which mentions
"Rave" culture, see http://www.altculture.com/aentries/s/spiritux.html; Internet; accessed 25 March
2000.
 57

merged group is born, for however short a time. In those very

moments, the tribal spirit is truly manifest and, just as in tribal
societies, the dance becomes a release and a catharsis for an entire
community.81

Elsewhere, Camphausen suggests that the increase of sexual freedom in the

1990s, which finds its roots in the 1960s Counterculture, is a move toward the

tribal. 82 Such a comment is difficult to support because, although the author

mentions the resurgence of Tantra workshops and events occurring in dark corners

of nightclubs, there are also many people, particularly teenagers, moving in the

opposite direction, choosing sexual abstinence. The evidence for this lies in youth

campaigns such as "True Love Waits," which claims to have over one million

adherents, and other primarily Christian youth abstinence movements. 83 Whether

this move to a more strict sexual conduct is a response to the supposed tribal

tendencies of society is hard to determine; the abstinence movements, fueled by

the support of public figures such as Alison Gertz, a heterosexual woman who

contracted AIDS after a one-time sexual encounter, also stressed a move towards

"safest sex" as a response to the threat of the AIDS virus. 84

Camphausen continues by discussing the presence of pain in modification

and its relative absence in everyday life:

81Camphausen, Return o/the Tribal, 99.

82Ibid., 100.
83See http://www.truelovewaits.com/endorse.htm for an extensive listing of Christian
denominations, youth groups and individuals who support abstinence until marriage.
84Author Unknown, "Gertz, Alison"; http://www.altculture.com/.indexiaentries/a/
axgertz.html; Internet; accessed 7 April 2000.
 58

As has been done with the realities of birth, sex, and death-the
other "wet" and "dirty" truths that belong to human life-pain has
been banned from discussion and experimentation and from
everyday discourse. It is seen almost exclusively as something
unwanted, as something to get rid of by all means and as soon as
possible. 85

The thought of the banishment of pain seems to be reasonable. After all, pain is

generally a signal to the body that something is wrong with it. This author finds

no pleasure in pain and recognizes the role that it has played as a means of control

and oppression in society. Also, pain is often associated with death and loss,

which is, in tum, associated with sadness. These emotions and sensations are

inevitably present in human life, but are not necessarily desired. Camphausen

does not provide a convincing argument for the reinsertion of pain into

"discussion," "experimentation" and "everyday discourse." His claims that the

experience of pain reveals human potential is vague without concrete examples.

Nevertheless, Marilee Strong also links pain with personal enlightenment.

She suggests that the popularity of various forms of body manipulation roughly

parallels the rise of clinical cutting. She explains,

Young people in the 1960s began searching for ways to free their
minds and their bodies from cultural norms, rejecting conventional
standards of dress and adornment and exploring a number of
ancient traditions-from Eastern mysticism to Native American
rites to Satanic rituals-in a quest for personal, spiritual, and
political enlightenment. 86

85Camphausen, Return of the Tribai, 83. The stressing of elements of the body, bodily
functions or fluids, is a part of Mikhail Bakhtin's carnivalesque. The carnivalesque will be
discussed in more detail in Chapter 3, in relation to Bowie's music video for "The Heart's Filthy
Lesson."
S6Strong, Bright Red Scream, 141.
 59

Like Camphausen, Strong also traces the popularity of body piercing in Western

society through the 1960s and the exploration of Eastern mysticism during that

time. Strong mentions Fakir Musafar's views toward body manipulation as a

transformative experience hearkening back to primitive ritual:

Musafar sees modem primitivism as a way of reclaiming the body

from god, parents, government, churches, doctors-all the figures
and institutions to which people have ceded control in Western
society. He insists that what he does to himself is not self-
mutilation but physical enhancement, not sickness but a search for
a state of grace. 87

Like Favazza, Strong is attempting to provide a clinical view of the behaviour,

which she makes clear throughout her chapter, and suggests that many people who

engage in piercing or scarring, although not all, are motivated by some of the

same reasons as those with pathological problems-for instance, reclaiming their

body from abuse.

An elaborate ritual or rationale does not necessarily make a

behaviour healthy. It's hard to argue that someone whose entire
lifestyle and identity is built around cutting their flesh, spilling
their blood, or reconfiguring their body is not acting out deep-
seated needs and conflicts. For both groups [pathological and
cultural], however they choose to view themselves, cutting the skin
is a powerful ritual of transformation and transcendence, faith and
salvation-a reconnection with something primal. 88

Psychologist Mark Schwartz adds:

The basic syndrome of self-cutting is that ifl pierce my body I'm

alive, I can feel. ... Has there ever been a culture that is more
spiritually confused and numb than ours from overstimulation? ...

87Ibid., 143.
88Ibid., 146.
 60

Whether it be heroin or bingeing [sic] and purging or slicing on

your body ... these are all syndromes of giving yourself an
injection of adrenaline to run away from the emptiness and the
numbness of alienation and disconnection. 89

Schwartz's comments echo those expressed in Reznor's quote, with which this

chapter began. The singer must hurt himself in order to feel; with pain comes an

awareness of the self. In the case of "Body Play," pain is often used to find relief

from guilt, or to atone for some debt. Pain can also be a means to transcendence

of ordinary consciousness, and as a sign of strength, discipline and endurance. 9o

Finally, in an interview with a man who performed his own penis

bisection, the interviewer asked how the modification fit into the man's

transcendentaVspirituallife:

At a most basic level, this modification transcends the physical

body in terms of modifying it and also in terms of overcoming the
physical pain and possibly danger which accompany the cutting
itself. At a symbolic level it represents overcoming fear of death of
the physical body, and fear of what may await on the other side.
For me, it represents victory in the moral struggle that let me put
these fears aside. 91

This man's comments echo those of Bob Flanagan, and point to a spirituality

attained through the modification of the body.

As Polhemus and others have suggested, the act of modification is also an

act of rejecting the notion of the split between the body and mind. The body

89Ibid., 149-50.
9OCamphausen, Return of the Tribal, 86.
91Author Unknown, "Splitcock!," BME; available from
http://www.bme.freeq.comJpeople/splitlindex.html; Internet; accessed 28 January 2000. BME is an
excellent resource for those interested in body modification. However, the site is extremely
graphic. Therefore, please take caution when viewing.
 61

becomes the focus of attention and the subject of adornment, mutilation and

modification. In this man's case, the fear of death was encompassed in his

physical body, and thus by addressing it through its modification, he is able to

transcend his fear. The mind is relieved of fear through a change of the body; the

split between mind and body is transcended through modification. In the other

examples of body modification, there is a constant emphasis on the body and a

return to the awareness of the body and its sensations, including pain and pleasure.

The culture of modification does not only act as a replacement for the Judeao-

Christian Church, as per Bowie's suggestion, but also as a rejection of the

mind/body split. In this particular case, through his actions the man not only

privileges his own body but also reinforces his spirituality outside of the

traditional Christian context.

Body Modification as Alternative Spirituality

The idea of the various manifestations of body modification as ritual as

rebellion against the Judeao-Christian ethic is but one possible motivation for the

behaviour. As mentioned in the opening of this discussion, the narrative that

accompanies 1. Outside refers to artists such as Chris Burden and Ron Athey, who

are well known for their forays into the more macabre realms of performance art.

Dominic Wells, in an interview for Time Out magazine, asked Bowie about his

apparent morbid fascination regarding body modification, wondering if it was an

expression of the old myth that art could only result from suffering. Bowie
 62

responded, "Also it has something to do with the fact that the complexity of

modem systems is so intense that a lot of artists are going back literally into

themselves in a physical way, and it has produced a dialogue between the flesh

and the mind. ,,92 Bowie suggests a few things in his comments regarding the

concepts and themes he is addressing in the album, with which this chapter

opened: the increase of tattooing and piercing-and the extremes of such

behaviour often manifesting themselves in works of art-is a sign of society

turning to a new form of spirituality as an alternative to the one presented by the

institutionalized Christian Church; and that in an increasingly chaotic world, the

body is the last bastion of control for the individual.

From within the Christian institution, there have also been criticisms

which suggest the return of ritual in those factions of Christianity which have laid

them aside. In a study of the state of Christian liturgy in postmodern culture,

Frank Senn supplies an explanation for the downfall of traditional liturgical forms

of Christian religion from the viewpoint of someone inside the Church. He

suggests that Western culture at the end of the twentieth century has no coherent

sense of history: "Their sense of living [is] only for the moment with no

meaningful tradition on which to build and no destiny of promise toward which to

move.,,93 He continues:

92Dominic Wells, "Boys Keep Swinging," Time Out 48 (August 23-30, 1995);
http://members.tripod.comJ-dbfanJarticles/timeout.html; Internet; accessed 1 February 1998.
93Frank C. Senn, "Epilogue: Postmodern Liturgy," Christian Liturgy: Catholic and
Evangelical (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997),696.
 63

This puts historical Christianity in an untenable cultural

situation because it proclaims a salvation event that happened in
history. There is a minimum historical awareness that is required
to tell the story of salvation and to proclaim the promised destiny
of the people of God. The church's mission is to tell the biblical
story to the world and to enact it before God in worship. How does
the church pursue this mission in a world that lacks narrative
coherence?

Senn suggests that the introduction of the lament in liturgy may provide a balance

to an escapist church experience. The author states:

Greater exposure to the element of lament in psalms, hymns, and

prayer might provide optimistic worshippers with a more realistic
assessment of the human situation and offer those who have
experienced personal defeat in a success-ridden society an
opportunity to "cry out for the resurrection of their lives. ,,94

Furthermore, Senn suggests that the fears of society, such as loss of time, natural

decay and so forth, could be combatted by "attention to the sacramental life, the

historical liturgy, and traditional ecclesiastical polity.,,95 Senn is suggesting a

greater emphasis on the sacraments and ritual of the Christian Church to better

serve postmodern society.

Through his own non-Christian blood-rituals, in which cattle are

slaughtered and displayed, Hermann Nitsche provides another critique of

traditional Christianity from outside of the Church:

94Ibid.,967-8. The author suggests for the reader to refer to David Power, "Liturgy,
Memory and the Absence of God," Worship 57 (1983), 326-9
95Senn, "Epilogue: Postmodem Liturgy," 968. For further reading, Senn suggests Philip
J. Lee, Against the Protestant Gnostics (Oxford University Press, 1987).
 64

Christianity has, through radicalizing the, already in antiquity,

important division of life into the one on this side and one beyond,
... not only separated but suppressed the dionystic. 96

Nitsche's complaint is that the Church has destroyed the instinctual and festive

element of human nature. His purpose is to try to recapture a sense of the

dionystic through non-Christian ritual and pagan-like sacrifice.

It is possible that the increase of body modification in Western society

points to the failure of the institutionalized religious establishment. The Christian

Church has long been the legislator of moral laws and the regulator of cultural

behaviour to a certain point-Western society has often had a subculture that has

rebelled against what they perceived as the Church's repression. With the

propensity of piercing and other forms of body modification, there has been a

reclaiming of the body, which could be read also as a move against the adage that

the body is untouchable because it is formed in the image of God. Bowie suggests

that the Church has not dealt with sex or violence in an adequate manner, which

has thus encouraged culture to take the initiative in creating new rituals and

transformative experiences. As has been suggested by this discussion, many of

these cultural "concerns" have been addressed by Eastern mystical and tribal

religions (or some piecemeal appropriation of them by Western culture).

Remembering Camphausen's comment regarding the banning of "wet" and

"dirty" truths from the everyday, it is probable that he is also blaming the Church

96Wolfgang Wunderlich, "Zum Konzept Des Buches," On the Concept ofthis Book,"
trans. Andrew Clegg Littler, Hermann Nitsche: The o.M Theatre 8(Jh Action (Miinchen: Verlag
Fred Jahn, 1988), 31.
 65

for the ban. Perhaps it is too easy to blame a single (although powerful)

institution for society's ills, or for the difficulty some have in living in such a

society. Nevertheless, there is a move away from the Christian Church by a

segment of Westem society, as is clear by the discussions in this chapter. 97 But

where does this leave this segment of society? The next chapter will argue that

Bowie perceives a segment of society as caught in a kind of rite of passage before

the "transformation" of the twenty-first century. The 1990s constitute a sort of

liminal phase at the end of the twentieth century, a notion that will be explored in

the next chapter. Camphausen suggests that this "return of the tribal" is a

historical phenomenon-the time is right-while others have concluded that the

behaviour is a response against the seemingly chaotic aspects of late twentieth

century society. The only possibility for consistency and control lies in that

achieved on or over one's own body. As was suggested by the lyric appearing at

the beginning of the chapter, perhaps it is only through pain that one can truly feel

in a society out of control; and it is through this pain that a better state of being is

attained.

970f course, there are those who genuinely ascribe to Christianity who also have tattoos
and piercings. The appropriation of the ritual nature of these non-Western forms of body
modification is generally undertaken by those not ascribing to Western Christianity, or by those
who would not traditionally be considered followers of Christ for reasons briefly discussed earlier
in this chapter.
 CHAPTER 2

AN ANALYSIS OF 1. OUTSIDE

Narratives (stories) traditionally come to a definite end (unlike

life); that's why we like movies and literature-for that sense of
closure-because they end.
- Douglas Coupland, Microserfs.l

In chapter 1, 1. Outside has been discussed in relation to Bowie's

statement concerning its engagement with the culture of body modification and its

critique of the ludeao-Christian ethic. Because the act of body modification has

often been viewed as a transformative experience, one possibility is that it has

moved in to replace what is not being supplied by institutional Christianity; as an

element of non-Western culture, body modification, while also serving other

purposes, can act as an alternative to the Western belief system.

1. Outside can also be thought of as a reflection of an element of society at

the end of the millennium, particularly those involved in the "new cults of

tattooing and scarification and piercings," as Bowie says. This reflection is

created by the various elements that make up the album. These include the lyrics,

and a narrative in the liner notes which presents a strange world of the absurd and

violent. The lyrics are generally pessimistic, addressing themes of hopelessness

IDouglas Coupland, Microserfs (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 139.

67
 68

and the alienation of technology, while much of the music sounds improvised,

without traditional teleological tonal movement and closure. Reprinted in the

liner notes, the lyrics are practically illegible, transformed and blurred into masses

of letters and shadows. The album art contains digitally manipulated photos of

Bowie as the various characters in the narrative, including Nathan Adler, Baby

Grace Blue and Ramona A. Stone. This chapter will explore the 1. Outside album

and its accompanying narrative, with a discussion of the album art, lyrics and

music, with the view that these various elements contribute to the formation of a

space in between two states. The fIrst state, or pre-liminal state, is one of

incompletion, in anticipation of some form of transformation. The fInal state, or

post-liminal state, is an unknown, analogous to the state of society following the

arrival of the new millennium. In Victor Turner's notion of the liminal, this

resulting state consists of the reintegration of a participant of a rite of passage into

society as a complete or new element. Bowie constructs a space that is liminoid,

before a transformative event, or the turning oftime to a new millennium, in

which the participants are unaware of a positive outcome after the transformative

event. To begin, the diary will be examined to determine how it contributes to the

formation of this space.

The Diary of Nathan Adler

The CD liner notes open with the title, "The Diary of Nathan Adler; or The

Art-Ritual Murder of Baby Grace Blue." The narrative is additionally titled, "A
 69

non-linear Gothic Drama Hyper-cycle," and it recounts the investigation of the

murder of a 14 year-old girl named Baby Grace Blue. Assigned to the

investigation is Detective Professor Nathan Adler, an officer of the Arts

Protectorate of London, who works in their Art-Crime division. His job is not to

fmd the murderer, as one would expect, but rather to determine whether the act of

murder constitutes art.

The first section of text acts as an introduction to the crime scene and the

investigators. What is first graphically described is the rather grotesque

appearance of the victim, found in the Oxford Town Museum of Modem Parts,

New Jersey. And it is here that the question is asked, "It was definitely

murder-but was it art?"2 The firm for which Professor Adler works is described

as a corporation funded by the Arts Protectorate of London, "it being felt that the

investigation of art-crimes was in itself inseparable from other forms of

expression and therefore worthy of support from this significant body.,,3 Adler

then notes that the Art-Crime people were given the opportunity to exhibit three

rooms of evidence and comparative study work at the 1994 Biennale in Venice.

The object of study for the exhibition was Mark Tansey's "The Innocent Eye

Test" (see Figures 2.1 and 2.2).

2David Bowie, "The Diary of Nathan Adler," liner notes of 1. Outside, Virgin 72438
4071127, 1995. n.p.
3Ibid.
 70

Figure 2.1. Paulus Potter's The Young Bull (1647).

Figure 2.2. Mark Tansey's The Innocent Eye Test.

 71

Arthur C. Danto, in his book Mark Tansey: Visions and Revisions,

comments:

The painting is a comical masterpiece: a cow has been led into a

picture gallery in which two paintings are hung-Paulus Potter's
The Young Bull of 1647, ... and one of Monet's grainstack
paintings ofthe 1880s or '90s, ... and the question is whether the
artist has attained a degree of realism in depicting one of them-a
young bull-that would dupe an innocent animal into responding
as if it were confronting reality rather than representation-bull
rather than a painting of one.4

What is truly remarkable about Tansey's painting is its ability to convince the

observer that the event actually occurred in history. Danto suggests that the

painting is presented in "serviceable realism, flatly illustrational, that vouches

through the absence of artifice to the veracity of what is shown," similar to the

illustrations in a children's science encyclopedia of some sort depicting various

moments in science history.s Danto continues:

Potter may fool an animal, but Tansey may fool you or me, if we
believe that he is recording an actual event. ... The realism of
Tansey, ... belongs to our age by not belonging to it except as an
archaism, but not so archaic that it falls outside remembered
experiences of living personas .... The Innocent Eye Test is not
itself, really, an experiment, but rather a demonstration of the truth
that painting, even when realistic, is about more than what meets
the eye, and hence the "test" for whether we understand a painting
has less to do with our spontaneous, so to speak, "animal"
responses, than our ability to reconstruct the meaning of the
painting, construed as a kind of visual text. 6

4Arthur C. Danto, "Mark Tansey: The Picture Within the Picture," Mark Tansey: Visions
and Revisions (New York: HarryN. Abrams, 1992), 16-17.
5Ibid., 17.
6Ibid., 17-18.
 72

This reference to a reproduction of apparent reality evokes the notion of

hyperreality. Hyperreality, a term coined by French theorist Jean Baudrillard,

refers to the idea that one cannot differentiate between the "real" and

reproductions of the real. Hyperrealism occurs when reproductions of something

seem more authentic or powerful than the thing being reproduced. 7 The study of

The Innocent Eye Test as the depiction of reality is an example ofhyperreality.

Baudrillard would suggest that this participation in new "orders of simulation"

leads to the disappearance ofmeaning. 8 With the study of Tansey's painting in

Bowie's narrative, the Art-Crime people have decided that their spontaneous, or

"animal," responses are most important; in other words, Art-Crime has made no

attempt to truly understand the meaning of the painting. The three rooms of

evidence and comparative study work "proved that the cow in Mark Tansey's

"The Innocent Eye Test" could not differentiate between Paulus Potter's "The

Young Bull" of 1647 ... and one of Monet's grain stack paintings of the 1890s.,,9

Not only is this a conclusion arising out of a presumed event-the extrapolated

end of a fictional event-but it could also serve as a rather strict judgement of the

skill of an artist. Are the "daubers" (as the Art-Crime people call themselves later

in the Diary) simply supplying an educated guess as to the result of the test, or are

they suggesting that Potter's cow was ultimately not convincing? Or perhaps the

7Childers and Hentzi, eds., "Hyperreal," Columbia Dictionary, 142.

8Childers and Hentzi, eds., "Simulation," Columbia Dictionary, 280.
9Bowie, "The Diary," n.p.
 73

most probable answer would be that they are suggesting that the cow does not

have the intellect to tell the difference between simple paintings, which, although

realistic, are not actually real. The point of this discussion is to try to understand

the kind of corporation Adler works for. The role of Art-Crime Inc. is an

interesting one; it serves to ask questions and answer queries which would seem

absurd in the real world. It is probable that few would want to know the result of

"The Innocent Eye Test," except perhaps as a fleeting curiosity certainly not

worthy of a grand investigation. The idea that such a preposterous notion, the

recognition between Potter's and Tansey's cows, would be explored sheds light

on Adler's present investigation. It is also seemingly absurd that he would be in

charge of determining whether the murder of Baby Grace Blue is art.

As has been established in the first chapter, the subculture of body

modification, of which body play and performance art are a part, is certainly

visible in Western society. If some of the performances of Bob Flanagan, which

he referred to as "little deaths," can be called art, then why not a more extreme

case of violence resulting in actual death? While presenting Adler as a detective

trying to sort out this particular case, Bowie asks larger questions of present day

society regarding the age old question of the definition and nature of art, and

where and whether limits should be placed.

Adler claims that the precedent for art-murder (worked up through to

"concept muggings" of '98-'99) was laid with the Viennese castrationists and

Hermann Nitsche in the '70s, among whom one performer, Schwarzkogler, is

 74

believed to have died mutilating his penis in performance in 1969. The next

precedent comes in the form of Chris Burden, who actually crucified himself on

the top of a Volkswagen. The piece was entitled "Transfixed" from 1974, and

featured the artist on top of the Volkswagen, arms outstretched and palms nailed

to the roof of the car, being seen only for a few moments, with the car emerging

from a garage and then returning to it. 10 After a reference by Adler to Bowie

himself (remarking about bar frequenters fully robed in surgery regalia in the

'70s), Damien Hirst is mentioned, with his "Shark-Cow-Sheep thing." Hirst's

claim to fame in the realm ofthe macabre included his response to Jeff Koons'

parody of the art world consisting of a basketball suspended in a fish tank. Hirst

suspended a dead sheep in a tank of formaldehyde (entitled "Away From the

Flock"); the sheep was joined by a group of works which included a 14-foot tiger

shark also in formaldehyde as well as cow and calf combinations, dead and

preserved for all to see. 11 Bowie is no longer referring to the fictional events

described previously, but is now recounting actual events as precedents to the

fictional. Perhaps it is here that Bowie is sincerely showing his concern regarding

which direction the behaviour of body modification, or more specifically

performance art, could go. From the presentation of dead animals preserved in

lOAudio Interview, "The Last Beetle," From "An Interview with Chris Burden" at the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, February 5, 1999, by Daniel Birnbaum;
http://www.artnode.seiburdeni; Internet; accessed on 19 July 1999.
llPlease see http://www.altculture.com/aentries/d/darnxhirst.html; Internet; accessed on 19
July 1999.
 75

formaldehyde, perhaps the next possibility could be the display of a mutilated

human much like the one Adler found at the entrance to the museum.

The narrative jumps to Thursday, October 27, 1994 and Manhattan, to a

performance by Ron Athey entitled "Four Scenes in a Harsh Life." In the

performance, Athey continuously pokes a knitting needle into his forehead until

he begins to bleed. Bowie writes, "Athey says he is dealing with issues of self-

loathing, suffering, healing and redemption."12 The narrative returns to the

"present," December 31, 1999, with Adler returning to his office which used to be

artist Mark Rothko' s studio, where the painter also committed suicide. By

searching a Databank, Adler links Baby Grace with three others: Ramona A.

Stone, Leon Blank and Algeria Touchshriek. He feeds their combined vital

information into a computer program designed to output a randomized melange of

text: "[it] re-strings real life facts as im-probable [sic] virtual-fact."!3

Here Bowie is hinting at his hypothesis regarding performance art and

body modification in general. Athey's comments serve to fuel Bowie's

suggestion as conveyed in the quote that began chapter 1: through these activities,

the participants deal with issues such as healing and redemption, which would

traditionally be dealt with through Western institutionalized religion. Athey's act

of repeatedly poking a needle into his forehead constitutes a spiritual experience

as well as a public spectacle. Mark Rothko may have been an artist who did not

12Bowie, "Diary," n.p.

13Ibid.
 76

deal with his issues properly, or perhaps felt that the ultimate sacrifice of his own

life would be his only redemption. Bowie gives an account of one who was not

able to find what he was desperately needing from this world, and who resorted to

death rather than to continue the search.

From the swirl of random phrases the narrative jumps yet again to Berlin,

June 15, 1977. Bowie provides some context for one of the characters, Ramona

A. Stone: she is a "no-future priestess ... vomiting her doctrine of death-as-

eternal-party into the empty vessel of Berlin youth.,,14 The tongue-in-cheek tone

of the diary is most apparent in this section, in which death and suicide are treated

as simply ways to "check-out" with Ramona as some master manipulator rather

than a murderer. Perhaps Bowie is portraying Adler as one who has seen too

much, who must resort to humour to carry on in his line of work, much like a

seasoned television detective. In another sense, Nathan Adler is as his name

suggests; he is literally addled, or confused. By presenting the macabre topic of

the diary in this tone, Bowie softens the emotional blow of the event-the murder

of a young girl. But he also brings a kind of order to a chaotic situation. It is a

detective's role to provide a neutral perspective to a crime scene, detached from

the horror of the event. By using humour and the absurd, Bowie is able to provide

a narrative that is marked off from the real, making the reader able to reflect on

14Ibid.
 77

the events. In his essay, "Toward a Poetics of Performance," Richard Schechner

suggests that this "theatrical frame" is necessary in contemplating events:

Theater, to be effective, must maintain its double or incomplete

presence, as a here-and-now performance of there-and-then events.
The gap between "here and now" and "there and then" allows an
audience to contemplate the action, and to entertain alternatives. 15

Through the creation of a fictional account which, through the study of cows and

so forth, contains elements of humour and the absurd, Bowie is able to cope with

the horror of murder. He is dealing with the possibility ofthe real events by

distancing himself from them in this way. This type of presentation also allows

those who read it to contemplate the events which take place.

In the following section, from within this fictional account, Bowie again

directly references the real world. He refers to an issue of The New Yorker

magazine, featuring fashion photos by Guy Bourdin, a French photographer

apparently very interested in the macabre. 16 Bourdin was known for a photo

spread in which he placed flies on pale-faced models, giving the appearance that

the models were dead, and in another shoot gave models flesh "hats" made of

flanks of cows. Adler says, "We're mystified by blood. It's our enemy now. We

don't understand it. Can't live with it."17 The article from The New Yorker

describes Bourdin's photography as morbid but fascinating.

15Richard Schechner, "Toward a Poetics ofPerforrnance," Performance Theory (New

York: Routledge, 1988), 169. Schechner condemns the actions of violent performance artists as a
stimulant to more violence.
16Bowie is referring to an article by Anthony Haden-Guest, "The Return of Guy Bourdin,"
The New Yorker 70 (November 7, 1994), 136-46.
17Bowie, "Diary," n.p.
 78

Masochism and narcissism pervade the fashion world, and from

them Guy Bourdin, toting his own psychological burdens, distilled
images of unsettling beauty. "What Guy did," Serge Lutens says,
"was conduct his own psychoanalysis in Vogue.,,18

Bourdin is a example of one who needed to search for other means to deal with

issues within himself. Bowie gives yet another instance of a person who is

dealing with inner conflicts in a very different way than would be expected in

Western society. Bourdin is somehow dealing with his "psychological burdens"

through death and blood.

The final section of the narrative is back in the "present," rather

humourously recounting Ramona's business endeavors including a body-parts

jewellery store in London, Canada. Some of the customers were known to

disappear and one rather recognizable celebrity did so after a visit to purchase a

gift to celebrate her pregnancy. The text ends with a grand revelation: the child of

that pregnancy would now be the same age as Baby Grace. The fmal words are,

"To be continued... ," suggesting the lack of closure to the narrative. From the

beginning, though, the Diary was not constructed as a complete narrative, with a

firm beginning and end. Reeves Gabrels, lead guitarist on the album, elaborates

on the details of its conception:

david was aware of those aspects ofthe subject matter but after
becoming aware of what the lyric content implied he looked into it
further and revised and rewrote. the whole plot outline unfolded
out of a spontaneous freeform improv that happened on the last day
of full band recording [in] march 94. the spoken word pieces

18Haden-Guest, "Guy Bourdin," 143.

 79

between tracks are the best examples of that as it happened. those

tracks are the band and david improvising live [with] no overdubs.
the order and plot were imposed/invented by david after the fact. 19

Bowie suggests that the story of 1. Outside is much like life, "an ongoing saga

with no beginning and no end."20 As with the theme of the narrative of murder as

art, the style of the narrative as disjunctive stream-of-consciousness also points to

the notion of boundary. Where is the division between improvised narrative and

formal narrative? These questions also apply to the music of the album, much of

which was created through improvisation. Through these many elements which

make up the album, Bowie is questioning the idea of boundary and the crossing of

lines. In addition to this, Bowie is constructing a space between these lines. This

idea of space may be explored through Victor Turner's concept of liminality.

Victor Turner and Liminality

The questioning of boundaries is a thread which runs through the entire

album, including the music, lyrics and narrative. The narrative was conceived

from improvisation and is written without closure of any kind. Also, the music on

the album was, for the most part, initially improvised, and the questioning of

boundary exists here as well. Where is the boundary between improvised music

and formally structured music? One example, entitled "The Motel," suggests a

l'>R.eeves Gabrels, Personal email to author, dated 25 January 2000. The original
punctuation and capitalization has been preserved.
20Penman, "Saint Dave," n.p.
 80

move across the boundary from improvisation, or limbo, to formal in terms of

harmony, which will be explored in more detail later. The video for "The Heart's

Filthy Lesson" also contains many images of juxtaposition which suggest the

difficulty in determining boundary. For instance, in the video, images of a plaster

cast being sawed in half are juxtaposed with images of a real person actually being

pierced. In the one case, an inanimate object is adorned and modified as a work

of art. In the case of the actual person, the suggestion that he is being adorned and

modified as a work of art is a more difficult claim to make. Bowie is asking what

the difference is between piercing as art and the more extensive forms of body

modification. What is the difference between sawing a mannequin in two and

doing the same to a person in the name of art? These issues are not easily

resolved, and Bowie makes no moves toward that end. His refusal to give

concrete resolutions to these issues, which may stem from his own confusion

regarding the culture of body modification, is evident through his video and live

performance.

Juxtapositions also abound in the other elements of the album. The

narrative structure consists of references to reality-the performances of Ron

Athey and others-wi1h the description of a brutal murder and an absurd

investigation. Through this juxtaposition, the narrative deals with the idea of the

boundary between murder and art. What is the boundary between form and non-

form, both in written narrative and in musical structure? The question of

 81

liminality is at the core of this discussion: this album plays with the liminal-or

the "in between"-jumping in and out of it, from one side to the other.

Victor Turner addresses social and structural conflicts as motivations for

ritual rather than psychological motivations from within individuals. Thus, he

focuses on an individual as an entity controlled by group processes. Catherine

Bell suggests that his work has been used as a starting point for other scholars to

explore the relationship between the individual psyche and society, and has been

expanded upon to be applied to ritual not only in the social arena but also within

each person. She comments that those drawing on Turner are concerned with how

ritual integrates the social and the individual, both externally and internally.21

In his article, entitled "Are there Universals of Performance in Myth,

Ritual, and Drama?", Victor Turner introduces the concept of the liminal phase in

rites of passage, "a no-man's-land betwixt-and-between the structural past and the

structural future as anticipated by the society's normative control of biological

development.,,22 Turner is suggesting a phase that leads to a post-liminal,

transformed state of being. His liminal is like a cocoon for a caterpillar, resulting

in a butterfly-a new form of life at the end of the experience. Turner refers to

many forms of expression drawn from rituals from non-industrial societies,

among them theatre and body marking and modification, as "liminal

21Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (New York: Oxford University Press,
1992),172-3.
22Victor Turner, "Are There Universals of Performance," 11.
 82

configuration[s]."23 Turner echoes Bowie's views on society, stating, "there are

today signs that the amputated specialized genres [such as theatre, body art, etc.]

are seeking to rejoin and to recover something of the numinosity lost in their ...

dismembennent.,,24 He refers to theatre, body art and so forth, as "amputated"

and "dismembered" because these genres have been removed from the centre of

society and confined to leisure time. Turner explains:

Rapid advances in the scale and complexity of society, particularly

after industrialization, have passed this unified liminal
configuration through the analytical prism of the division of labor,
with its specialization and professionalization, reducing each of
these sensory domains to a set of entertainment genres flourishing
in the leisure time of society, no longer in a central, driving place.
The pronounced numinous supernatural character of archaic ritual
has been greatly attenuated.... One source of this excessive
"meta-" power is, clearly, the liberated and disciplined body itself,
with its many untapped resources for pleasure, pain, and
expression. 25

This comment echoes Bowie's suggestion that body modification is marker of a

search for a new spirituality, different from Western Judeao-Christianity. Here,

Turner is suggesting that industrialization is to blame, not the Judeao-Christian

ethic. It is because of industrialization that societal ritual, possibly in the context

of Western institutionalized religion, has been lost. Turner suggests that the body,

as a source of pleasure and pain, is also a source of the supernatural through

23Ibid.
24Ibid.
25Ibid.
 83

rituals involving the body. These rituals contribute to Turner's "liminal

configuration," which lead to a transformed state of being for the participants.

He further expands his explanation of the liminal (and what he calls the

liminoid) in his essay, "Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, and Ritual." Turner

introduces the concept of the liminal phase of a rite of passage rituaL For this,

Turner refers to Arnold van Gennep's book Rites de Passage (1908), in which,

according to Turner, it was van Gennep's intention "that his tenn 'rite of passage'

should be used both for rituals accompanying an individual's or a cohort of

individuals' changes in social status, and for those associated with seasonal

changes for an entire society.,,26 Van Gennep outlines three phases in a rite of

passage: separation, transition and incorporation. Separation refers to the

demarcation of what Turner calls "sacred space and time" from the everyday, and

consists of initiands entering into the rite of passage, and moving "beyond or

outside the time which mentions secular processes and routines.'>27 The

intervening phase is referred to by van Gennep as "margin" or "limen," in which

the initiands move through a period of ambiguity and a kind of social limbo.

Turner refers to this phase as liminal in his further discussions, which will be

outlined in more detail later. The final phase in the rite of passage is the

"incorporation" which returns the initiand to total society in their "new, relatively

26Tumer, "Liminal to Liminoid," 24.

27Ibid.
 84

stable, well-defined" position within it. 28 Turner acknowledges that the three

phases vary in length and complexity in different kinds of rites of passage, as well

as among different regions and peoples and so forth. Nevertheless, Turner

maintains that "it is rare to find no trace of the three-part schema in 'tribal' and

'agrarian' rituals.,,29

In van Gennep's model, an initiand in the liminal phase is frequently

marked by physical separation from the rest of society. Furthermore, they are

stripped of name and clothing:

[they] undergo a "leveling" process, in which signs of their

preliminal status are destroyed and signs of their liminal non-status
applied.... In mid-transition the initiands are pushed as far toward
unifonnity, structural invisibility, and anonymity as possible. 30

The initiands are weakened by their loss of definition, but are also liberated from

social obligations. Furthermore, they are considered enlightened, as students

presented with sacred and secret information. Turner explains:

In liminality, profane social relations may be discontinued, former

rights and obligations are suspended, the social order may seem to
have been turned upside down, but by way of compensation,
cosmological systems ... may become of central importance for
the novices, who are confronted by the elders, in rite, myth genres,
such as dancing, painting, clay-molding, wood-carving, masking,
etc., with symbolic patterns and structures which amount to
teaching about the structure of the cosmos and their culture as a
part and product of it, in so far as these are defined and
comprehended, whether implicitly or explicitly.31

28Ibid.
29Ibid.,25.
30Ibid., 26.
31Ibid., 27.
 85

Also, a characteristic of the liminal phase is the recombination of familiar

elements, often in grotesque combinations, in order to defamiliarize them.

Turner then states:

It is to ... [relatively stable, cyclical, and repetative] kinds of

systems that the term "liminality" properly belongs. When used of
processes, phenomena, and persons in large-scale complex
societies, its use must in the main be metaphorical. That is, the
word "liminality," used primarily of a phase in the processual
structure of a rite de passage, is applied to other aspects of
culture-here in societies of far greater scale and complexity.32

Turner suggests that the term "liminal" cannot be used in postindustrial rites of

passage, but rather the term should be "liminoid." A main reason for this revolves

around the idea of leisure. He comments that, in agrarian cultures, work and play

are indistinguishable. 33

Work is now organized by industry so as to be separated from "free

time," which includes, in addition to leisure, attendance to such
personal needs as eating, sleeping, and caring for one's health and
appearance, as well as familial, social, civic, political, and religious
obligations (which would have fallen within the domain of the
work-play continuum in tribal society).34

In postindustrial society, leisure and "free time" can be conceived as a "betwixt-

and-between, a neither-this-nor-that domain between two spells of work or

between occupational and familial and civic activity.,,35 Leisure has become the

new liminal phase, a place where popular culture is allowed to play with the status

quo.

32Ibid., 29-30.
33Ibid., 34.
34Ibid., 36.
35Ibid., 40.
 86

Turner's model drawn from van Gennep describes a rite of passage ritual

in agrarian and tribal cultures as consisting of three phases. For various reasons,

Turner suggests that the liminal phase does not occur in post-industrial society,

but rather that something like it, a liminoid phases, occurs in its place. What this

thesis suggests is that the liminal phase, as suggested by van Gennep' s original

model, and implied by Turner's description of liminality presented in the

introduction of this paper, occurs in contemporary society. The extent of the

accuracy of the present behaviour with that of agrarian and triballiminality is

difficult to determine. Does body modification in its various forms, as a liminal

activity, lead to positive transformation of some kind? This question is difficult to

answer. Turner does suggests that this sort of behaviour might constitute the

liminal:

Just as when tribesmen make masks, disguise themselves as

monsters, heap up disparate ritual symbols, invert or parody
profane reality in myths and folk-tales, so do the genres of
industrial leisure ... play with the factors of culture, sometimes
assembling them in random, grotesque, improbably, surprising,
shocking, usually experimental combinations. But they do this in a
more complicated way than in the liminality of tribal initiations,
multiplying specialized genres of artistic and popular
entertainments, mass culture, pop culture, [etc.]. 36

Turner further distinguishes the liminal in tribal cultures a..lld the li!l1inoid in

Western culture: "In the so-called 'high culture' of complex societies, liminoid is

not only removed from a rite ofpassage context, it is also 'individualized. ",37 In

36Ibid.
37Ibid., 52.
 87

this study, the individual action of body modification, whether manifesting itself

as simple piercing or as bloody mass amputation in a public performance setting,

are observed as little rites of passage, each consisting of van Gennep's three

phases. The notion of body modification as a liminal phase and ultimately a

transformative event has been suggested by Fakir Musafar and others cited in the

first chapter. Bowie seems to support such a connection through his comments

regarding the "neo-paganism" of body modification and its reestablishment of the

numinous.

The liminal model could then be used to understand pre-millennial

Western society. With 1. Outside, Bowie suggests a modification in Turner's

transformative phase. Bowie presents a space that does not fully match the

characteristics of a liminal phase, and will thus be referred to as liminoid. One

way that Bowie achieves this is through themes presented in the lyrics of the

album. Through the lyrics, Bowie is suggesting an environment that calls for the

transformative result of a liminal phase, but the environment does not fully

achieve this. He presents a world which cries for the endless opportunities of new

life offered by the liminal, but the lyrics, through their themes of nihilism and the

inhumanity of technology, contribute to this liminoid phase: a place where one

loses one's individuality, as in the liminal phase, but is not set apart or revered as

enlightened. The hope of transfonnation is clouded by a fear of the unknown,

perpetuated by the liminoid phase's ambiguous character, in which boundaries are

blurred and absolutes are difficult to determine. In Bowie's 1. Outside, the

 88

endless possibilities of transfonnation and new life are not available because they

are not recognized. Rather, the resulting state after this phase is an unknown one,

analogous to the change of the calender at the end of the millennium. Bowie

presents themes of nihilism and darkness, which, coupled with themes of the

inhuman progress of technology, serve to reinforce a pessimistic attitude

regarding the result of this phase. These themes are particularly clear in the lyrics

of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," and "Strangers When We Meet."

A Segmental Approach to Lyric Analysis

Bowie explains how many of the lyrics were conceived:

I'd been writing in a style that I copped from Brion Gysin and
William Burroughs, the cut-up/cutting-into sections of prose and
then sort of resorting them and recombining them in different
ways .... So at the start, when the band started improvising, I'd put
all the paper allover the table and just sort of read. 38

The presentation of the lyrics, constructed through random "cut-up" techniques,

lends itself to a thematic reading through the tool of segmental analysis. Although

lyrics presented in a narrative fashion may also be consumed thematically by the

listener, lyrics which are constructed as "segments" may be more easily analyzed

by using a thematic segmental approach. In an unpublished paper in which this

analytical technique is presented, Chris McDonald discusses the need for a new

kind of analysis that takes into account "some of the ways in which sung lyrics

38Moon Zappa, "David Bowie," Raygun 30 (October 1995), n.p.

 89

differ from written or spoken poetry and prose.,,39 In his paper, McDonald

suggests that lyrical analyses are generally either "content analyses," which treat

lyrical meaning as self-explanatory, or "privileged interpretive reading," which

treat a song as a complete narrative. McDonald suggests that songs are not

generally "integrated wholes," citing the work of Simon Frith, Dave Laing and

Mark W. Booth, among others.

Simon Frith criticizes lyric analyses which attempt to delineate those lyrics

that are "real" from those that are "fairy tale." He suggests that this distinction is

arbitrary to the listener. Also, content analyses assume that the "content" (or

"meaning") of song lyrics are the same for all listeners. Frith suggests that "song

words are not about ideas ('content') but about their expression.,,40 In his book,

The Experience a/Songs, Booth cites Edward Doughtie regarding the tendency of

song lyrics to contain images which may be related to a central theme, but tend to

be isolated from each other: "they accumulate rather than develop.,,41 McDonald

comes to the following conclusion:

rather than being the poet's art of the motjuste, the popular
songwriter's or lyricist's art is often one of selecting an appropriate
phrase or segment from the cultural field, placing it into a context,
and juxtaposing it with other segments. In other words, Booth and
Frith suggest that popular song is less concerned with an "original

39Chris McDonald, "Toward a Segmental Approach to Lyric Analysis," (Unpublished

paper, Presented at IASPM Canada, St. Catharines, Ontario, 1999), l.
40Simon Frith, Performing Rites: On the Value ofPopular Music (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1996), 163-4.
41Edward Doughtie, "Simplicity and Complexity in the Elizabethan Air," Rice University
Studies 51 (1965),4-6; quoted in Mark W. Booth, The Experience ofSongs (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1981), 24.
 90

phrase" so much as an original, novel or appropriate use of a

"familiar phrase.,,42

McDonald also draws from Dave Laing's approach to analysis, which in turn

draws from the principle of"intertextuality" from literary criticism. Terry

Eagleton explains:

All literary texts are woven out of other literary texts, not in the
conventional sense that they bear the traces of "influence" but in
the more radical sense that every word, phrase or segment is a
reworking of other writings which precede or surround the original
work. There is no such thing as literary "originality," no such thing
as the "first" literary work: all literature is "intertextual. ,>43

Childers and Hentzi state that "no text can be read outside its relations to other,

already extant texts." There is an "intertextual web of relationships" from which

the reader cannot escape.44 Laing approaches the analysis of lyrics by exploring

"networks of connotations" rather than autonomous narratives. 45 Agreeing with

Laing's approach, McDonald suggests that "many song lyrics will frustrate the

attempt to fmd a unifying narrative thread or conceptual linearity within [them]. It

may be more useful to seek out what sense or senses accumulate through the

segments and phrases used in a song.,,46 He continues by defending his analytical

technique, preferring the conception of "people selectively taking from music

42McDonald, "Lyric Analysis," 4. McDonald is referring to Simon Frith, "Why Do Songs

Have Words?", Musicfor Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology ofPop (London: Methuen, 1981).
43Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: The University
of Minnesota Press, 1996), 119.
44Childers and Hentzi, eds., "Intertextuality," Columbia Dictionary, 159.
45Dave Laing, One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock (London: Open
University Press, 1985),74.
46McDonald, "Lyric Analysis," 5.
 91

whatever fits most relevantly into their lives, even if this results in an incomplete

lyrical reading. ,,47

In this discussion, a segmental approach to lyric analysis will be

attempted. Unlike McDonald's analysis ofthe lyrics of Rush, which takes into

account "a combination of keyword internet searches, indexed books of

quotations, my knowledge of Rush's influences and common ancillary interests of

Rush fans, and discussions with friends and colleagues to collect intertextual

examples," this analysis will look at broader associations of certain words and

themes which recur or are stressed, by "lyrical address, tone, dialect and vocal

delivery-which may colour the meaning of a song's segments.,,48 This lyric

analysis will focus on the first two singles released, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson,"

and "Strangers When We Meet."

"The Heart's Filthy Lesson"

Reeves Gabrels provides some context as to how the song came to be as it

is on the album:

during march the band would spend a couple of hours improvising

every day based on a manifesto/providing atmosphere for a spoken
word piece/or simple inspiration generated by the desire to play. it
was from one of these free improv sessions that "hearts" arrived (in
slightly different form) on tape. it was pretty much left alone until
david, dave richards and i listened to it again and did some editing
of the piece which gave it slightly more conventional fonn. i

47Ibid.,7.
48Ibid.,6.
 92

added a rhythm guitar and david did a vocal [with] redone lyrics
about english landscape painting (as the original lyrics were
incomplete). i objected and eventually david salvaged the original
lyrics and completed them in a darker vein that was true to the
original spontaneous version. we moved some of the instrumental
hooks around a bit to make them more "hook like."49

The song is set up as a kind of disjointed conversation: the lyrics are "To

be sung by Detective Nathan Adler," and include personal reflection, one-sided

conversation directed to Ramona (probably Ramona A. Stone) and pleading with

another character called Paddy (see Figure 2.3). The first section, what will be

called Adler's "personal reflection," is a rather ambiguous passage of four short

lines. It is unclear as to what "the Diamond" refers, although it could refer to a

person, as is perhaps revealed by the pronoun "her" in the last line, also pointing

to "the Heart's Filthy lesson.,,5o Vocally, this section features Bowie with a

closed, almost sneering, voice as opposed to his more open voice used on tracks

such as "The Motel." The most stressed word of this section would be "hell,"

which is sung with much air being released, giving the delivery a sense of

growling. Coupled with this delivery, the word is liberally treated with reverb,

and is faded out while the "Oh" from the next line is faded in, creating an elision

between the two lines.

The next section will be referred to as a one-sided conversation with

Ramona. As mentioned above, the "Oh" comes in as an extension of the previous

49Gabrels, Personal email, dated 23 January 2000.

50The word "Motel" is a mistake; "Hotel" is sung on the album version as well as in live
versions.
 93

Figure 2.3. Lyrics for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson."

(Bowie/Eno/GarsoniCampbelllKizilcay/GabrelsY

Intro Heart's filthy lesson

Heart's filthy lesson
Heart's filthy lesson

Adler's Personal There's always the diamond friendly

Reflection Sitting in the Laugh Hotel
The heart's filthy lesson
With her hundred miles to hell

One-Sided Oh, Ramona, if there was only something between us

Conversation with If there was only something between us
Ramona Other than our clothes
Something in our skies
Something in our skies
Something in our blood
Something in our skies

Paddy/Chorus Paddy
(Personal Reflection) Paddy, who's been wearing Miranda's clothes?

It's the heart's filthy lesson

Heart's filthy lesson
Heart's filthy lesson
Falls upon deaf ears
It's the heart's filthy lesson
Heart's filthy lesson
Heart's filthy lesson
Falls upon deaf ears
Falls upon dead years

"Lyrics: Bowie. Publisher: North America - Tintoretto Music (BMI) administered by

RZO Music, Inc., Rest of World - Tintoretto MusiclRZO Music Ltd. Lyrics reprinted from
http://www.davidbowie.comlfreebowielbowie/chronology/albums/950/lyrics/hearts.html; Internet;
accessed I April 2000. In the lyric sheet of the Japanese double CD version of the album, the
various characters are listed above the lyrics of particular songs which they are to sing.
 94

Figure 2.3. (Cont'd)

One-Sided Oh Ramona, if there was only some kind offuture

Conversation with Oh Ramona, if there was only some kind of future
Ramona And these cerulean skies

Something in our skies

Something in our skies
Something in our blood
Something in our skies
Climactic Portion Paddy,Paddy?
Paddy will you carry me, I think I've lost my way
I'm already five years older I'm already in my grave

I'm already
I'm already
I'm already
Will you carry me?
Oh Paddy, I think I've lost my way
Conclusion Paddy
What a fantastic death abyss
Paddy
What a fantastic death abyss
It's the hearts filthy lesson
Tell the others
It's the hearts filthy lesson
What a fantastic death abyss
Tell the others
It's the hearts filthy lesson
Paddy
What a fantastic death abyss
It's the hearts filthy lesson
Tell the others
 95

line, leading to this conversation. The phrase to Ramona, "ifthere was only

something between us other than our clothes" is a reference to absence and

suggestive of longing. The following four lines, "something in our skies ...

blood," carries with it a sense of violation and pollution. If there is something in

the blood, there is often an infection ofthe bloodstream or some other medical

problem. This phrase could also be thought of as a reference to ingrained cultural

ideas or an instinctual urging; for instance, one may have "flying in their blood"

and decide to become a pilot. Also, blood is often thought of as the most intimate

thing that can be shared (as in "blood brothers," for instance, where a pact is

sealed by the mingling of their blood). Kim Hewitt, in her book Mutilating the

Body, Identity in Blood and Ink, adds:

The act of shedding blood is perhaps the most universally powerful

example of crossing the barrier between the external and internal
body. Although different cultures have different levels of alarm at
seeing blood shed, all recognize bleeding as precious fluid leaving
the body.... Fear of AIDS has caused blood and other body fluids
to be thought of even more frequently as sources of possibly fatal
contamination. 51

Something in the blood is, first of all, pervasive of a person, as the blood flows

throughout the body. Blood is an essential part of a living person; without it one

dies. The idea that there is an infection throughout the body, or that this intimate

fluid is permeated with "something," coupled with the tone of the music, suggests

longing for some kind of healing or resolution of this "infection." In another

51Hewitt, Mutilating the Body, 16-7.

 96

sense, the term "something" is suggestive of the unknown, which evokes Adler's

confusion. The tone of the music is very dark and dense, with various voices and

disparate unnatural sounds coming to the listener from various aural directions.

These various elements contribute to an atmosphere of confusion and fear. They

also suggests longing and depression-the inability to change the present

situation.

In the lyrics, a question to Paddy follows, "Who's been wearing Miranda's

clothes." The concept of the wearing of another's clothes is linked with deception

and again, violation. Bowie continues singing that the Heart's Filthy Lesson:

"Falls upon deaf earslFalls upon dead years." If one cannot hear an important

message, then one is doomed to live without it; in this context, those who are

"deaf' are without hope, fated to meet whatever doom may come. "Dead years"

can carry with it both connotations of nihilism and of regret, that those years past

have been wasted and are gone.

Bowie then returns to the one-sided conversation. The fIrst lines of this

section suggest nihilism and extreme pessimism. Interestingly, "cerulean" refers

to a dark blue like the colour ofthe sky. This term is rather ambivalent, although

it is interesting that its connotation is not pessimistic, as it would be if it were

referring to a grey or dirty sky, for instance. But juxtaposed with this suggestion

of a deep blue sky is the proclamation of something invading the skies

("something in our skies") and the blood, a cry of violation and infection.
 97

Directly following an aurally striking moment in the song, a moment when

all the music stops and all that is heard is a sigh, Adler pleads to Paddy: "Paddy

will you carry me-I think I've lost my way." Bowie presents a speaker who has

lost all his strength and bearings, pleading with a partner to help him continue on

his way; time has lost its meaning as well. 52 He then sings, "I'm already five years

older, I'm already in my grave." The idea of time passing too quickly is a

common one at the end of the twentieth century, where time no longer seems to be

in abundance. Even with the advent of computers and other supposedly time-

saving appliances, many would concede that there seems to be less time. The loss

of time suggests the loss of opportunity, again contributing to the sense of sadness

and longing for more time. This section of the lyrics is stressed by a "sigh" at its

ｯｰ･ｮｩｧｾ｡､＠ also features Bowie singing his highest pitch of the song. Coupled

with these musical elements, the increased appearances of Bowie as singer at this

point in the music video draw attention to this section of the song, which will be

discussed in more detail in the next chapter. Following this important moment,

Bowie ceases to sing and simply speaks the lyrics, referring to death and darkness

in a rather insistent and excited voice.

Segmental analysis offers the opportunity to read the lyrics of a song not as

a linear narrative but as a variety of segments. The problem with a segmental

analysis of this particular song is that only one category of segments is obvious,

52In the written narrative, Adler claims that he was born in 1947, which happens to be the
same year as Bowie himself. One could then conclude that, of all the characters in the narrative,
Adler would be the character most closely associated with Bowie himself.
 98

Figure 2.4. Lyrics for "Strangers When We Meet." (Bowie)b

)Tooou,yooou,yooou Halfway sadness

)Tooou,yooou,yooou Dazzled by the new

All our friends Your embrace

Now seem so thin and frail It was all that I feared
Slinky secrets That whirling room
Hotter than the sun We trade by vendu

No pecchy frairs Steely resolve

No trendy rechauffe Is falling from me
I'm with you My poor soul
So I can't go wrong All bruised passivity

All my violence All your regrets

Raining tears upon the sheet Ride rough-shod over me
I'm bewildered I'm so glad
For we're strangers when we meet That we're strangers when we meet
I'm so thankful
Blank screen TV That we're strangers when we meet
Preening ourselves in the snow I'm in clover
Forget my name For we're strangers when we meet
But I'm over you Heel head over
But we're strangers when we meet
Blended sunrise
And it's a dying world Strangers when we meet
Humming Rheingold Strangers when we meet
We scavenge up our clothes Strangers when we meet
Strangers when we meet
All my violence Strangers when we meet
Raging tears upon the sheet Strangers when we meet
I'm bewildered/resentful Strangers when we meet
For we're strangers when we meet Strangers when we meet
Strangers when we meet
Cold tired fingers
Tapping out your memories

bLyrics: Bowie. Publisher: North America - Tintoretto Music (BMI) administered by

RZO Music, Inc. Rest of World - Tintoretto MusiclRZO Music Ltd. Lyrics reprinted from
http://www.davidbowie.comlfreebowie/bowie/chronology/albums/950/lyrics/strangers.html;
Internet; accessed 1 April 2000.
 99

although there may be a multitude of less obvious or less emphasized segments.

In the case of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," an application of McDonald's

segmental analysis model results in a thematic reading of the lyrics. By referring

to lyrics and phrases such as hell, blood, deaf ears, etc., the song conveys a feeling

of hopelessness, nihilism and confusion. Musically, this feeling is supported by

Bowie's own sneering vocalization, the cold and distorted accompaniment and his

various declamatory stresses on certain words. In an analysis of the second single

from the album, mUltiple segments are apparent.

"Strangers When We Meet"

A segmental approach to the second single, "Strangers When We Meet,"

yields multiple categories of segments and gives a well-rounded interpretation of

the lyrics (see Figure 2.4). The song is to be sung by Leon Blank, the prime

suspect in the murder of Baby Grace. The flrst category of segments contains

words and phrases that refer to weakness and regret, not unlike the segment

explored above. Examples such as "thin and frail," "violence," "tears,"

"bewildered," and so forth suggest a character-in this case, Leon-that is

suffering in his own depression. He is "resentful," forgetful and "tired" as well,

all pointing to weakness. One of the most poignant parts of the song occurs

toward the end with the following lyrics:

Steely resolve is falling from me

My poor soul all bruised passivity
 100

All your regrets ride rough-shod over me

I'm so glad that we're strangers when we meet

These lyrics refer to one losing motivation, wallowing in inactivity, being

overcome by another's perceived guilt, and experiencing a strange contentment in

loneliness. These lyrics are, again, much like those discovered in "The Heart's

Filthy Lesson."

But there is also another category of segments referring to technology.

Bowie writes, "Blank screen TV preening ourselves in the snow." The meaning

of "preening" in this context is unclear, as is the meaning of snow. Is the snow

mentioned here actually frozen rain or is it referring to what is being displayed on

the blank screen of the television? "Preening" is most probably a reference to

fixing oneself up, looking at oneself in the "snow" of the television in a

narcissistic way. This could be read as a pathetic image. 53 The notion of a

television that is tuned to "snow" or static suggests a television that is not working

properly. The image of a television tuned to a dead station conjures up

relationships between televisions and future technology. One needs only to think

of such culturally influential films as Blade Runner, where televisions are often

shown with static being broadcast, or perhaps television programmes like Max

Headroom, in which televisions could not be turned off. William Gibson's

extremely influential novel Neuromancer begins with the phrase, "The sky above

53The author is indebted to Dr Susan Fast for making this reference clear.
 101

the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.,,54 A television tuned

to a dead channel broadcasts visual and aural distortion; it is also a distorted

image.

The idea of the television taking over a person's attention to the extent that

one cannot do anything but peer into the screen, is a very negative one, and this

idea has often moved concerned parents to encourage their children to spend less

time watching it. The mention of a static television set in this song conjures up

that concern of television taking attention from a person. The fact that it is

transmitting essentially nothing suggests that it isn't working properly. Thus, the

advanced technology hasn't helped the singer of the song, by perhaps informing or

educating, or even entertaining, but has instead contributed to his pathetic

character. The character, like a static television, isn't working properly either.

Perhaps the loss of humanity in technology results in a distorted image of the self,

or one that is not "working" properly. Perhaps the modification of the body,

because of its resulting awareness of "something" real through pain, serves to

correct this distorted self-image.

Bowie continues to refer to advanced technology. He sings, "Cold tired

fingers tapping out your memories," which could be read as a reference to one

typing on a keyboard. This statement is emphasized by its musical context, as it

comes after a piano solo culminating in a descending line down to the dominant,

54William Gibson, Neuromancer (New York: Ace, 1987),3.

 102

where the vocal line comes in, presumably leading the listener back to the tonic,

which doesn't happen. Bowie's voice reaches the same pitch levels as in the

previous verse, but the entry is much more emotionally charged because of the

solo occurring directly before it. The general vocal delivery is much more open

than in the previous number. Reeves Gabrels provides a unique insight regarding

the effectiveness of these lyrics:

when we did strangers when we meet i did very much playoff the
melody for emotional motivation.... the best performances of this
song are from the live "earthling" tour.... for some reason that
song and it's lyrics (blank screen tv ... ) had a lot of resonance on the
road. 55

A segmental analysis of the lyrics suggests an atmosphere of longing,

hopelessness, darkness and of technological advancement that is cold and not

advantageous to humanity. Further, the lyrics do not point to any redemption or

positive event in the future. These themes contribute to a space which could be

called liminoid, not quite reaching the ideal liminal as presented by Turner. It is a

place of limbo without the range of possibilities afforded by the liminal, and no

sign of the transformative as a result of the struggle in this "in-between" phase.

It is unclear as to why Bowie includes apparently positive lyrics within this

context. The Lmmediate feeling that thjs author had when fIrst heaIing this songs

was that the speaker had decided to resign to the hopelessness of his situation

(whatever that might be), that "it is better this way." Such a reading is certainly

550 abrels, Personal email, dated 23 February 2000.

 103

not optimistic. Nevertheless, Bowie's inclusion of apparent optimism offers the

opportunity for various readings of the song, as well as opening other avenues of

possibility for what Bowie is conveying through it.

A Brief Discussion of Album Art

Victor Turner suggests that those living in a postindustrial society are

trying to reclaim the numinous. Many members of society at the end of the

twentieth century would agree that technology has sped everything up. Many

would suggest that society is speeding out of control, and, as Ted Polhemus

suggests, many would look to their own bodies as the last item that they can truly

control. Bowie reflects this negative attitude towards technical advancement

thr0llgh the creation of the antagonist Ramona A. Stone. In her spoken segue

track, Ramona A. Stone speaks technologically-themed phrases such as "I've been

having a midilife crisis ... I've spat upon deeply felt age." The first phrase uses

"midi-" rather than "mid-." a clever use of the acronym for "musical instrument

digital interface." The second phrase, when considered along with the photo

included in the liner notes. may suggest that Ramona has reconfigured herself to

defy age by some technological modification. In the digitally manipulated photo

of Bowie himself, Ramona is a green-skilmed woman with metallic gear on her

torso and an artificial arm (see Figure 2.5). Aurally, Bowie has transformed his

voice electronically into at least three voices speaking at the same time-using a

harmonizing synthesizer-and the accompanying music is cold and mechanicaL

 104

Figure 2.5. Ramona A. Stone.

using synthesizer string pads and various samples of industrial noises. He has

transformed himself into something like a character from a video game, much like

a science fiction warrior in a simulation. Again evoking Baudrillard's hyperreal,

Ramona has become reality in the narrative. The only sound that is not

electronically processed in some way in this segue is provided by a piano

interjecting various quick successions of notes. 56 The photo coupled with the

sound and lyrics of the segue suggest progressive technology. The hopelessness

of progressive technology is revealed in Ramona, a green-skinned semi-human

manipulator, as revealed in the narrative; the idea of optimism in teclmology is

56The piano is a "neutral" instrument, as discussed by Paul Theberge in Any Sound You
Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press,
1997), because of its familiarity and traditional use, as well as the direct connection between
bodily gesture and the resulting sound. This relationship can be "completely severed with
electronic devices." (p. 199)
 105

Figure 2.6. "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" lyrics.

Figure 2.7. "Strangers When We Meet" lyrics.

 106

nowhere to be found. Darkness and pessimism are also reflected in the reprinting

of the lyrics. The lyrics for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" are reprinted in varying

size fonts, sometimes blurred and seemingly cut up (see Figure 2.6). They are

printed in black within light-coloured boxes on a green and black background, an

effect which makes successful reading of the complete lyrics almost impossible.

Also, the lyrics for the following song on the CD, "A Small Plot of Land," are

listed just beside these in an almost completely illegible state: blurred white

printing over the black background. The lyrics for "Strangers When We Meet"

are printed in a somewhat clearer manner, but in four thin closely-spaced

columns, which is confusing to the reader (see Figure 2.7). The words are

difficult to read further to the right of the page due to the "interference" of a tinted

photo and more text. In addition to conveying a similar sense of darkness and

confusion as the music itself by actually hindering the ability of one to properly

read the lyrics, such a presentation also causes one to question why the lyrics are

reprinted in the first place. The images blur the lines between reprinted lyrics and

artistically manipulated photos, and may cause one to question at which point

such an image could still be called reprinted lyrics. Bowie contributes to a space

between these lines-this liminoid space-by suggesting an atmosphere of

confusion to the reader.

 107

Musical Analysis: "The Motel"

The themes throughout 1. Outside deal with the culture of body

modification, as they are generally explored in chapter 1. The narrative deals with

murder as art, and contains references to body play. Is there a way to relate the

music of the album with the lyrical and other themes? From the segmental

analyses attempted previously in this discussion, themes of confusion, infection,

regret and the influence of technology are made apparent to the listener. The

question is, how are these themes reflected in the music of the album, and how do

they connect to the culture of modification? A particularly powerful

demonstration ofthis connection is embodied in the seventh track on the album,

"The,Motel" (see Figure 2.8 for the lyrics to this song).

- The track begins with background noise and people talking beneath a jazz-

like piano and bass accompaniment. The atmosphere created is suggestive of a

club or bar where people congregate for a short time before returning to their

previous activities. A bar is a place of leisure outside of the everyday. Similarly,

a motel as a transitional place evokes the notion of a liminal space. The limbo

atmosphere created in this opening establishes the aural space evoking a transitory

location.

The beginning strains of music are sparse and airy, with scattered piano

and bass entering, playing over an accompaniment oscillating between G b and F

tonal centres, with a string pad providing a pedal ofE b at the back of the mix.

Bowie enters at the downbeat of the eleventh bar of 4/4 time with a melody line
 108

Figure 2.S. Lyrics for "The Motel." (Bowiet

For we're living in a safety zone The razor sharp crap shoot affair
Don't be holding back from me And we light up our lives
We're living from hour to hour down And there's no more than
here Re exploding you
And we'll take it when we can Re exploding you
Like everybody do
It's a kind of living which recognizes Re exploding you
The death of the odourless man I don't know what to use
When nothing is vanity nothing's too Makes somebody blue
slow Me exploding re exploding you
It's not Eden but it's no sham

There is no hell
There is no shame
There is no hell
Like an old hell
There is no hell

And it's lights up, boys

Lights up boys

Explosion falls upon deaf ears

While we're swimming in a sea of sham
Living in the shadow of vanity
A complex fashion for a simple man

And there is no hell

And there is no shame
And there is no hell
Like an old hell
There is no hell

And the silence flies on its brief

flight

CLyrics: Bowie. Publisher: North America - Tintoretto Music (BMI) administered by

RZO Music, Inc. Rest of World - Tintoretto MusiclRZO Music Ltd. It should be noted that the
lyrics are highly contested in many official sources. These lyrics were compiled by comparing the
official David Bowie Internet website (http://www.davidbowie.com). the Japanese liner notes
(from 1. Outside v. 2, BMG Victor, Inc.lAristaJapan, 1996, BVCA-2801/02) and the recording
itself.
 109

that follows the oscillations of the accompaniment (see Figure 2.9). At m. 39, he

begins singing on different pitches, oscillating between B b and A corresponding

to the G b and F of the accompaniment, at the same time that the drums enter to

solidify the quarter note pulse. It is at this point in the song that the vocals

provide the mediant in relation to the accompaniment's tonic; the harmonic

progression of V- bVI-V-etc. (F-G b -F-etc.) in B b is suggested. At m. 47, Bowie

hits a C, the highest pitch thus far (the lyrics here are "It's lights up, boys") with

the listener expecting a resolution to a tonic, which does not happen. Rather, the

accompaniment returns to the G bIF oscillation. At m. 59, the vocals return to the

pitches B b/A using different lyrics than before, but then repeating the previous

section from mm. 39-46. The vocals continue upwards to C as in the previous

case, but then continue to D b and finally hitting E b while the accompaniment

lands decidedly on the tonic, accentuated by distorted power chords in the

accompanying guitars. The song finishes without vocals, with the instruments

playing the tonic harmony, while the song fades to an end.

There is no real sense of arrival for the listener until m. 83 when the vocals

reach E b and the accompaniment cadences on the tonic. This arrival on the tonic

is emphasized by highly distorted power chords, the only appearance of distortion

in the song so far. Walter Everett, discussing power chords, comments, "the

listener is forced to hear ... an assertion of tonic based solely on non-pitch

factors: 'a tonic is likely to ... receive an attack more 'emphasized ... than that of
 110

Figure 2.9. Formal analysis of "The Motel."

Measure General Key Centre Comments

Number/Time

1-12 (0:00-0:48) oscillating between Intro

GblF

13-20 (0:49-1:25) vocals enter G b IF A section

21-26 (1:26-1 :52) instruments only interlude
27-34 (1:53-2:25) vocals GblF A'section,

35-38 (2:26-2:43) instruments only interlude

39-46 (2:44-3:07) vocals B b / A, "there B section; here, the vocals can
is no helL.", drums be heard as providing a third to
enter the accompaniment's tonic; the
harmonic progression to this
point seems to be V- b VI-V (F-
G b -F-etc.) in B b

47-50 (3:08-3:33) vocals up to C, C section;

further ha..rmonic
movement in
accompaniment

51-58 (3:34-3:45) instruments only interlude

GblF

59-66 (3:46-4:10) vocals return B b / A B'section

67-74 (4:11-4:35) "there is no helL." B section

75-82 (4:36-5:00) vocals up to C - D b C'section

83-94 (5:01-5:37) vocals hit E b D section; an arrival on I-V -

b VII-I-etc. in E b, power chords

95-115 (5:38-6:40) no vocals, static tonic Outro

(fade) harmony
 111

its temporal neighbors. ",57 In this case, the assertion of a tonic is based on pitch

factors-in other words, there is a cadence immediately before the arrival on the

tonic-but the tonic comes rather unexpectedly. The piece doesn't begin on a

tonic, and a dominant is not recognized until its resolution to the tonic emphasized

by distorted power chords. It is also through non-pitch factors, heavy distortion in

this case, that the tonic is established. In his discussion of Heavy Metal music,

Robert Walser discusses power chords and distortion in terms of power:

distortion functions as a sign of extreme power and intense

expression by overflowing its channels and materializing the
exceptional effort that produces it. ... Distortion begins to be
perceived in terms of power rather than failure, intentional
transgression rather than accidental overload-as music rather than
noise. 58

The resolution on the tonic is accentuated by the distorted power chords, and thus

the resolution is a sign of extreme power. The song traces a movement from airy

and scattered accompaniment, treated vocals and oscillations to an intensely

expressive arrival at a tonic, complete with Bowie's highest sung pitch and

distorted power chords, outlining a chord progression ofI-V - bVII-I-etc. This

could be thought of as an arrival to a settled structure from a very loose structure,

achieved through the inclusion of drums to solidify the quarter note beat to the

playing of a progression rather than an oscillation of chords. One cannot help but

57Walter Everett, "Confessions from Blueberry Hell, or, Pitch Can Be a Sticky Subject,"
Expressions in Pop-Rock Music, ed. W. Everett (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000), 332.
Everett is quoting Allan Moore, "Patterns of Harmony," Popular Music 1111 (1992),77.
58Robert Walser, Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal
Music (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1993),42.
 112

draw a parallel between this reading of the song and the process of a rite of

passage ritual as discussed by Turner and the culture of body modification as

explored in the first chapter. The initiates are in a liminal state, basically

undefined and generic in their cultural role; the music is atmospheric and

impersonal without reaching any resolution. After an unsuccessful ascent to C,

hoping to reach E b, the music suddenly returns to a stable place, marked by order

and confidence, which could be an analog of the resulting phase of a rite of

passage. 59 Reinforcing this feeling, during the final strains of the song, guitarist

Reeves Gabrels guitar plays a melody which basically harmonizes the tonic of the

key. His melody line, played clearly with little distortion, provides closure to the

song. No longer is there any tonal confusion or uncertainty; Gabrels' melodic

outlining of the tonic chord further establishes this arrival at balance and stability.

Through such a reading, the song's form can be recognized as pointing to

certain behaviours explored in the previous chapter. The spirit of mutilation and

modification as a transformative event is certainly reflected in this piece. The

moment of transformation, at m. 83, corresponds to lyrics that point to violence:

"me exploding re exploding you." But instead of a negative view of violence,

perhaps a..n explosion could be seen in a positive light, as in a sudden strong

outburst of emotion; in this light, an explosion could be thought of as an

emancipation rather than a destructive and violent event. Read in this way, this

59perhaps a "cut" or "piercing" occurs at ill. 83, with the sudden appearance of distorted
power chords.
 113

song suggests an analog to Turner's liminal phase: the transformation occurs with

a feeling of order and stability following. Bowie moves from the general sense of

the liminoid, conveyed in the album as a whole, to a song analogous to the middle

phase of a rite of passage. Bowie's intention with this positive presentation is

unclear. In an album that is rife with negative themes contributing to an

atmosphere suggesting a liminoid phase, not reaching the full extent of the liminal

as outlined by Turner, this analog to the liminal is unexpected. "The Motel" may

represent Bowie giving body modification its chance; this is the one song that

says, "Yes, the behaviour works. Be transformed." However, it could also be

perceived that Bowie does not put his faith in the activity as a force of change, as

is made evident by the other elements of the album, forcibly by the music videos

for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" and his live performance.

 CHAPTER 3

BOWIE'S VIDEO AND LIVE PERFORMANCE

There's the idea that there's a great brick wall and we can't possibly
get past-that on December 31, 1999-1 think it's egotistic-we'll
all suddenly not be here. I think this is a feeling of panic and
desperation that produces a massive momentum, as it does at the
end of every century. It's only an exaggerated version, coming to
the end of the millennium.
- David Bowie, Seconds interview. 1

As has been explored in the previous chapters, 1. Outside engages with

issues including body modification and extreme acts of violence-towards the self

and/or others-as art, all of which Bowie has suggested, in his comments to the

press and to Penman in particular, is a manifestation of the search for a new

spirituality different from Judeao-Christianity.2 Through his comments in

Seconds magazine, as well as through the accompanying narrative (as it takes

place on 31 December 1999), Bowie is engaging with the idea of the state of

society at the end of the millennium. He suggests that Western society suffers a

certain anxiety toward the end of a century. He may also be suggesting that the

liminoid space which is represented in the album is a characteristic of society at

lGeorge Petros & Steven Blush, "I Don't Feel as Though I Hold a Torch for One
Particular Style of Music, I Find that Absolutism Outmoded." Seconds (August/September 1995);
ｨｴｰＺＯｷＮ｡ｬｧｯｮ･ｳｾ｢ｭｲｩ｣ＱＹＵ［＠ Internet; accessed 19 March 2000.
2Bowie makes similar comments in a MusiquePlus special and VHl interview, both
television appearances, from 1995.

115
 116

this time; the liminoid is not simply a fictional construction, but an actual societal

state.

This chapter will focus on the visual aspects of the album, particularly

exploring the music video for "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," and Bowie's live

performance of "A Small Plot of Land." Through a study ofthe music video,

various juxtapositions will be revealed. It will be argued that Bowie uses these

juxtapositions to create a sense of ambiguity, contributing to the creation of a

liminoid space. This ambiguity may also reflect his confusion regarding the

subject of body modification, and may further extend his application of the

liminoid space to a specific segment of society.

Video Analysis: "The Heart's Filthy Lesson"

AlfBjomberg, in his article, "Structural Relationships of Music and

Images in Music Video," introduces an extensive model for the study of music

video. Bjomberg comments that "the specific characteristics of (the visual

dimension of) music video attracting the attention of writers and scholars may be

summarized as the breakdown oflinear narrativity, of causal logic, and of

temporal and spatial coherence."3 Various writers, such as Aufderheide and

Kaplan, suggest that these traits are due to the "postmodem condition," the

development of technology (including the ability to produce music videos) and

3AlfBjomberg, "Structural Relationships of Music and Images in Music Video," Popular

Music 1311 (1994),51.
 117

various explanations regarding the nature of the audience. Bjomberg points out

that what these authors and scholars have overlooked is the significant role of

music in the context of music video, suggesting that the music is somehow

"dominated" by the visual aspect.4

Bjomberg proposes a list of "analytical dimensions" used in his analysis of

music video. The list includes: discursive repetition/structure of lyrics/function;

demarcation; symmetry; musematic repetition; directionality (or pitch-related

directionality); motorial flow; dynamics; sound processes; and individuality

predominance factor (referred to as IPF, being a measure of the signification of

'individuality' in a piece). 5 This analysis will begin with an exploration of some

general characteristics of Bowie's video, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson."

To begin, the video's visual content will be arranged according to its

corresponding musical sections, as in Bjomberg's analyses (see Figure 3.1).6 The

video utilizes quick editing of images and consists of mainly brown, yellow, red

or black hues; everything is presented as through a rust or sepia lens. The scenes

take place indoors-in an artists' studio-and the "world" is very much in decay,

4Ibid.,53. Will Straw also suggests that rock journalists have made a similar claim, "that
music video had made 'image' more important than the experience of music itself," and ''that
music video would result in a diminishing of the interpretive liberty of the individual music
listener." See Will Straw, "Music Video in its Contexts: Popular Music and Post-modernism in the
1980s," Popular Music 7/3 (1988),247.
SBjomberg provides much more detail for each ofthese elements on pp. 56-9 of his
article. Some of these terms are clarified further in this paper's discussion ofa synthesized
analytical method.
6Ibid.,61.
 118

Figure 3.1. Visual account of "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" arranged according
to corresponding musical sections.

SECTION DESCRIPTION
Intro The video opens with an image of a white mannequin against a
beige background, followed by various images of the environment
in which the video is taking place, presumably an artists' studio.
Bowie is shown in a black t-shirt and pants, smoking, followed by
an image of a dancing person wearing a minotaur mask. As all the
instruments begin to play, a group of tattooed and pierced persons,
here referred to as "punks" because of their various peircings and
violent dancing later in the video, walk down a flight of stairs. Also,
there is a marionette playing a set of drums.
Verse 1.0 Bowie, wearing black, is shown singing, while images of the punks
throwing sand and other substances onto a mannequin, are quickly
cut to, mixed with close-up shots of a female punk.
Verse 1.1: The punks are shown to be wheeling a cart of some kind around,
"Oh while Bowie is shown "playing" with a mannequin and dancing. a A
Ramona ... " female punk walks toward a bath in a light robe.
Verse 1.2: There are more shots of the woman moving closer to the bath.
"Something Bowie, not shown singing, dances, thrusting his arms into the air
in our and moving quickly; punks "adorn" the mannequin with various
skies ... " substances and are shown sawing its torso. At the bath, the woman
drops her robe revealing her bare back and buttocks at the very start
of the instrumental section.
Instrumental Shots of the woman bathing are intermingled with quick shots of a
male punk getting needles pierced through his brow. Images of
Bowie's face making exaggerated gestures-putting his hands on his
face and opening his mouth, for instance-are cut with projected
images of gaping mouths on a wall. The woman is lifted out of the
bath by a circle of punks. This is followed by various close-ups of
punks in front of swinging suspended light bulbs; other punks are
then shown pulling and hanging from large ropes in a larger room.
Shots of Bowie wearing white-"artist" Bowie-are then shown.

"Bowie has his ann around its shoulder and sings to it, smiles at it, puts his hand on the
figure's chest and head, etc.
 119

Figure 3.1 (coot' d)

Chorus "It's the Heart's ... " Bowie as "artist" is shown singing briefly, and
then sketching or painting something on the floor. The punks
pulling on the ropes are revealed to be lifting mannequins by their
heads, suspending them over the floor of the studio. "Artist"
Bowie is shown in a small circular metal cage-like enclosure,
applying red paint to his white shirt and his face. Images of a man
being covered in red paint and other substances and accessories are
presented, intermingled with shots of a woman drinking or spilling
liquids on her face. More sawing of the mannequin's torso is
shown here. The viewer at this point can become confused as to
which object is being decorated or worked on: the man or the
mannequin.

Verse 2.1 Bowie is shown singing "Oh Ramona," while images of the
adorned man-now completely covered in red paint---destroying
boxes or some small items are shown. The dancing minotaur is
shown again, while a mannequin is decapitated.

Verse 2.2 Bowie is shown sitting in a chair with a minotaur mask in his hand,
with various Bowie face shots and quickly edited images of the
events recounted above.

Bridge This section begins with the sound of a sigh interrupting the music
for just a moment; Bowie is in the chair reaching upward. The
mannequin is then drenched with liquid, and its head is removed.
Bowie is showed in the chair with the minotaur mask on. In a
climactic sequence, punks walk slowly with a large bull head and
place it on the mannequin, encircling the figure and then walking
away from it. During this sequence, there are many images of
Bowie singing the song.

Coda The camera iris opens on the image of the punks gathered at a table,
not unlike the traditional image of Christ's Last Supper. Various
close images of the punks eating are shown, and then the punks are
in front of the table violently "moshing" and throwing mud or paint
at each other. Bowie is shown singing, again "playing" with the
mannequin, and there are three consecutive shots of the word,
"OUTSIDE" on the set walls. Bowie is shown sitting in the chair,
and the marionette playing the drums makes its final appearance,
as does the dancing minotaur. The final scene is of the minotaur
sitting in the chair, unmasking itself to reveal Bowie as the music
fades. As he pulls the mask off, his face is happy, but gradually
turns sorrowful as his head falls to his chest.
 120

Figure 3.2. Bowie with mannequin in "The

Heares Filthy Lesson 59 video.

with waste and litter scattered throughout the set (see Figure 3.2 for an image of

Bowie "playing" with a mannequin, from the video).

The video could be thought of as conceptual. In her article. "Music Video:

The Popular Pleasures of Visual Music," Cathy Schwichtenberg begins by

breaking the genre of music video into three formal categories: performance

videos, where a concert atmosphere is recreated by the visual images; narrative

videos and conceptual videos. Conceptual music videos present sets of images

which, by their interrelationships with the editing and music, develop a concept.

Schwichtenberg suggests that "this type of visual music proffers suggestive

 121

resonances to be linked together in our musical experience of a concept."7

Contributing to the conceptual nature of the video are brief moments of action

which suggest linearity. For instance, there are distinct sequences of events, such

as the "baptism," the adornment of the mannequin and the feast. Through the

barrage of images that assault the senses during this video, the viewer experiences

a sense of disorientation and confusion. The dynamism of the images makes a

linear narrative nearly impossible to perceive. The video could be seen as

conceptual, while following a rough narrative sequence; it can be divided into four

parts, the actions culminating in the adornment with the bull's head and ending

with the feast. The video begins with a "preparation" scene, where the group is

introduced, moving from a flight of stairs through the artists' studio environment.

A woman is then shown being "baptised," while a man is shown being pierced.

Following this is a sequence of "preparation," where both a mannequin and a man

are adorned with various objects and liquids. The third part is a climactic section

in which the mannequin's head is removed and replaced with that of a bull.

Finally, the video ends with a scene depicting a feast.

Schwichtenberg's discussion of conceptual videos may suggest another

reading: "Visual fragments are related as metaphorical equivalents for a 'feeling'

evoked by 'moving' music."g The visual images in this video are often disparate

7Cathy Schwichtenberg, "Music Video: The Popular Pleasures of Visual Music," Popular
Music and Communication, ed. James Lull (Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications, 1992), 124.
8lbid.
 122

though seemingly occurring in the same enclosed "world." The video's dark and

dull hues, quick edits, and images of violence and dirt serve to reflect the

aggressive timbre of the music-particularly emphasized by the sound of the

electric guitar-and the nihilistic sense transmitted by the lyrics (for instance, "if

there was only some kind of future"). The sound of the electric guitar hook is

dense, noisy and extremely processed, contributing to the uneasy atmosphere

created by the images. Combined with extremely quick edits, the visuals and

sound of the video contribute to a sense of insecurity and anxiety. The constant

changing of images and the lack of linearity presents the viewer nothing upon

which to focus. Also, among the various elements in the video are those that

seem to be contradictory, and others that are more complex than simple

contradictory pairs. These various elements, along with the conceptual character

of the video, contribute to its ambivalent quality. These elements will be referred

to as juxtapositions.

Juxtapositions

Carol Vemallis, in her article, "The Aesthetics of Music Video: An

Analysis of Madonna's 'Cherish,'" suggests that both music and image create

large sectional divisions, thus taking into account the information culled by Alf

Bjomberg's discussion of discursive repetition/structure of lyrics/function. 9

9Carol VernaIIis, "The Aesthetics of Music Video: An Analysis of Madonna's 'Cherish',"

Popular Music 17/2 (1998),153-4.
 123

Bjomberg's discussion of discursive repetition refers primarily to the

determination of the form of a piece, breaking it down into subsections according

to function, including verse, chorus, bridge, solo, etc. 10 As mentioned, this video

can be divided into roughly four major sections: an introduction/opening scene;

the preparation and adornment of the mannequin and person; the completion of

the mannequinlMinotaur; and the feast. Between the introduction and the

preparation scenes is an "interlude," consisting of images of the piercing of the

man and the "baptism" of the woman. Also, between the preparation of the

mannequin and its final adornment is an extremely disruptive musical event. At

this particular moment in the piece, all the instruments are absent and a sound

akin to a sigh is heard before the music begins again (marking the beginning of

the third section). Vemallis comments that "in music video, the shape ofthe

musical line can correlate to the shape of the visual image."ll The most striking

characteristic of this "break" is not only its suddenness but also the contour of the

visual image accompanying it. Generally, one would think of a downward motion

when hearing a sigh. Often, in one's own experience, with a sudden exhale of

breath, the upper body seems to descend releasing all the air in the lungs. In this

case, the visual image is of Bowie sitting in a chair, suddenly reaching upward

with his hands and head, contrary to the expected contour. This opposition causes

IOBjomberg, "Structural Relationships," 57.

llVemallis, "Aesthetics of Music Video," 157. Her discussion ofform follows on pp.
159-60.
 124

the event to be disruptive to the viewer, audibly as well as visually, and leads the

viewer into the climactic scene of the video: the final adornment of the

mannequin. This event is aptly named as a sigh because of its role in breaking the

motorial flow of the piece, which involves a constant G b pedal, and is reinforced

by a constant rhythm of drums and bass as well as flowing, virtuosic piano and

aggressive guitar lines. In addition, the event serves as an element of

juxtaposition, contributing to a sense of ambiguity in the video.

Bjornberg's discussion of demarcation generally refers to a division not

detennined necessarily by repetition, but by "the number of musical dimensions

exhibiting change."12 For Bjornberg, demarcation is contributed to by changes in

lyrics, melody, harmony, etc. These changes would support the broader reading of

fonn above, but act to break the piece into further subsections. The most obvious

musical change is in the mode of the melody line, which contributes to the feeling

of tonal area. Throughout the piece there is a constant G b pedal, with Bowie's

opening melody suggesting a D b minor tonality. When he begins singing "Oh

Ramona... ," the key in the melody has changed to G b-Lydian, which moves to

G b minor when Bowie sings, "Something in our skies." With the beginning of

the chorus, the key of the melody has again changed to F b -Lydian (a transposition

down a tone from the mode of the previous section). Simplified, the piece is an

12Bjomberg, "Structural Relationships," 57.

 125

oscillation between G b (the starting and ending tonal area) and F b.13 These

changes in tonal area do correspond to changing lyrical "sections," and contribute

to the musical narrative of the piece; the sections in F b arguably demand a return

to the framing mode of G b. This last statement would come under the rubric of

Bjomberg's notion of "directionality." Bjomberg explains the concept of

directionality as "an attempt to summarise the effects both of parametric

dimensions such as mode ('tonal language') and of non-parametric aspects of

tonalorganisation."14 This tension between the two tonalities is another example

of juxtaposition, which serves to keep the song in a state of harmonic limbo.

This tension again serves to give the video another element of ambiguity. An

important recurring element in this video is a moment when Bowie is shown

singing the song (rather than simply posing or moving). Bjomberg uses the term,

Individuality Predominance Factor (IPF), which is "based on a reading of the

dualism of lead vocal melody and instrumental accompaniment in terms of the

individuallbackground relationship."15 For the purpose of this analysis,

Bjomberg's notion ofIPF will be slightly altered: the discussion of this element

will revolve around instances of the appearance of the featured artist as singer. 16

13 A more complete map of the tonal areas of the piece follows: G bpedal-d b-G b Lydian-

g b -F b Lydian-G b Lydian-g b -F b Lydian-G b pedal.

14Bjomberg, "Structural Relationships," 58.
15Ibid., 59.
16Bjomberg discusses the different presentations of the featured artist in Bruce
Springsteen's "Human Touch" video, but concludes only that the presence of three "different"
artists and their apparent synthesis mirrors the form of the piece, which ends in an extended coda
section (a musical synthesis). The use of the term in this discussion stresses the presence ofthe
"individual," that is, the featured artist.
 126

This reading of a modified "Individuality predominance factor," indicating the

attention given to the individual as opposed to the "background," suggests a

privileging of certain lyrics in the piece. One is likely to be drawn to a segment of

a music video that showcases the featured artist predominantly, and will arguably

pay more attention to the musical and lyrical events occurring during this time.

The image of the featured artist is one of the only constant elements in the context

of this music video, and as such, it serves as an anchor for the viewer's attention.

In "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," Bowie is shown many times while the

mannequinlMinotaur is finally adorned, singing, "I'm already ... Will you carry

me? Oh Paddy, I think I've lost my way." This is the only section of the video

where Bowie is often shown singing the lyrics. The instances of Bowie singing

the lyrics privileges those lyrics, and enhances the visual images that surround

him. The privileging of these particular lyrics stresses their sense of confusion, a

cry of dependence and the rapid passage oftime ("I'm already five years older/I'm

already in my grave"). The sense of confusion contributes to the atmosphere of

insecurity and desperation. These various juxtapositions ultimately contribute to a

sense of the liminoid in the video.

Although the idea of anonymity or limbo is a characteristic of t.he liminal

phase, the context is one of passage. Those that are involved in a rite of passage

are considered set apart and enlightened, and gain a certain stature as a result of

the rite. With the many elements of juxtaposition which create a sense of

ambiguity and confusion, there is no enlightenment for the participants, nor does
 127

there seem to be any result at the end of the rite. The juxtapositions serve to

confuse the viewer and support the video's apparent purpose of projecting

ambivalence. The constant oppositions and juxtapositions contribute to the

effectiveness of the video as a representation of a liminoid state, by casting it into

a state of limbo, without any hope of closure or finality.

Further reinforcing the idea that the video is a representation of a liminoid

state is the presentation of familiar elements in new combinations. Most notably,

images of Christian ritual and iconography are intermingled with those of the

carnivalesque.

Iconic Images

-In "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" video, there are at least two kinds of iconic

imagery presented to the viewer: images of primarily Christian ritual and those of

the carnivalesque. Through the use of these images, the video can be read as the

depiction of a rite of passage or a transformative event. The carnivalesque

imagery serves to perhaps reinforce the video as a transformative vehicle, much

like Rabelais' books, as analyzed by Mikhail Bakhtin, in which these images were

typified.

The major types of ritual images in this video are as follows: the

"baptism" of a woman, the piercing of a man's forehead (reminiscent of Christ's

crown of thoms) , the preparation of a mannequin through adornment and

modification, and the decaptitation and attaching of a bull's head to the

 128

mannequin, with the group then encircling the completed figure. The video also

contains images which invoke Christ's crucifixion as well as the traditional image

of the Last Supper. This discussion will begin with the significance of the

"baptism" of a woman in the context ofthe video.

After the first verse ofthe song, the images of a woman disrobing,

uncovering her bare back and buttocks, are shown. Interwoven with images of

Bowie's face and of the piercing of a man, the woman lowers herself into a tub of

water, where she fully submerges herself and is later raised out of it by a group

surrounding the tub. They put their arms beneath her and lift her out of the water

with her remaining in the same lying position as she was in the tub. She is

subsequently lifted above their heads, and thus this sequence of images ends.

Of course, the idea of baptism is primarily a Christian one. In describing

the transmutation of rituals due to social circumstances, Catherine Bell provides a

concise outline of the development of the Christian ritual of baptism. Originally

fashioned after the experience of Christ, which is described in Matthew 3: 13-17,

Christian baptism was a marker of the entrance of a person into the Christian

community. Bell comments,

As befits an alternative sectarian group outside mainstream

Judaism and critical of Judaism's accommodations to a worldly
ethos and political necessities, Christians made a sharp distinction
between insiders and outsiders-the "way of life" and the "way of
 129

darkness"-and ritually guarded it with rites rich in the symbolism

of death and rebirth. 17

With the conversion of Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan in 313 C.E.,

in which Christianity was deemed legal in the Roman Empire, the religion moved

from being a sect to being a recognized church. Institutionalization followed: the

Church became involved in all areas of life, including marriage, death, and

appropriating Roman festivals as Christian holidays. Bell comments:

Hence, the elaborate initiation of the adult catechumen [or initiate]

ultimately divided into a rite of infant baptism, confirmation, and
communion. In this ethos, the Christian community was no longer
a marginal schismatic Jewish-Gentile sect nursing millennial
expectations of the end of the world. It was now in a position to be
quite at home in the world, closely tied to the major political
institutions of the early medieval period, with a growing
understanding of its role in the world and its history.18

Interestingly, most present Christian charismatic and evangelical churches,

developing from the Protestant movements of the 16th Century, return to the idea

of baptism as a commemorative act, imitating the historical act of Christ. In

certain evangelical circles, the baptism in water is an act of identifying with

Christ, and is often recognized as an initiate's public display as a follower of

Christ. 19

17Catherine Bell, "Ritual Change," Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions (New york:
Oxford University Press, 1997),213.
18Ibid., 216.
19See Section VII, Number 2 (b) in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada's Statement of
Fundamental & Essential Truths: Article V of the General Constitution, By-Laws and Essential
Resolutions adopted by General Conference 1994; accessible at http://www.paoc.org!
aboutlbelieve.html; Internet; accessed 16 April 2000.
 130

The use of the image of a woman appearing to be baptized is interesting.

Bowie may be invoking the evangelical church here, which in itself is critical

toward institutionalized Christianity in the form of Catholicism with its

extrabiblicalliturgical rituals. But the action is certainly on the outside of any

kind of Christian presentation. For instance, the baptism occurs in a tub, into

which the woman enters by herself. She is nude upon entering the water, a state

which would not be tolerated in a religious setting. Finally, the images of her

baptism are intercut with those of Bowie's grotesque facial gesturing and of a man

being pierced in the forehead. This clash of images is not conducive to any

pacifying religious experience or positive transformative event in the traditional

sense.

The images of a man being pierced by needles through his forehead, the

criss-cross of pins appearing like a "crown" of sorts, also conjures up images of

Christ's crown of thorns. Perhaps the intent here is is similar to that of Flannery

O'Conner's character discussed in the first chapter and the beliefs of some that to

become closer to Christ, one must identify with Him and His pain. This path to

Christ is not a traditional one, but rather an access to God through the self and

one's own actions. Why is this image shown in the video, and at this particular

spot in the video, intercut with the images of the baptism? One can consider

another participant as an icon of Christ, since at the end of the video, he presents

himself with arms outstretched as if crucified. His gaunt figure supports a popular

image of Christ on the cross, suffering, weak and frail. The inclusion of this
 131

image in the video can be read as another evocation of Christ and His crucifixion.

The mutilative and ritual nature of Christ's crucifixion is undeniable, but its icons

present in the video serve as familiar elements in unfamiliar contexts, which is

characteristic of a liminal space. It will be shown later that, with the conveyance

of ambiguity, this space becomes liminoid.

Further suggesting the image of Christ, the final section of the video

consists of a feast. While much of the subsequent images of consumption lean

toward a more carnivalesque reading, the opening of this section with the camera

iris revealing the frontal view of the complete table is reminiscent of the

traditional paintings of the Last Supper. Christ is often a focal point at the centre

of the table, surrounded by His disciples. This first view is not in focus, further

adding to the possibility that this is a direct evocation of Christ's Last Supper; it is

no longer clear that the viewer is observing a David Bowie video. For a moment,

the video seems to call up a religious image from antiquity.

Intermingled with these Christian images are images of non-Christian

ritual, such as the adornment of the mannequin and its adornment with a bull' s

head and worshipful encircling of it by the group. This takes place after the

disruptive event ofthe "sigh," which serves both to draw the attention of the

viewer in the direction of what follows, and as an instance of juxtaposition

contributing to ambiguity in the video. Obviously, the action of adorning a

mannequin and then encirling the representation of a minotaur is not a ritual that

is even remotely rooted in Christianity. The encircling of the mannequin invokes

 132

non-Western ritual in the fact that it is not recognizable as traditionally Western,

although the worshipful encircling of the completed mannequin suggests the

worship of idols. But why the emphasis on this portion of the video and its

images? The ritual does not involve conventional religion, nor does it "praise"

the classical body. As will be discussed in more detail later, the "classical body"

as presented in Renaissance statuary also represents rationality itself and

everything "high" and intellectual. The minotaur is not an example of the

classical body; this new minotaur body represents the "low," the marginalized and

the physical.

The reasoning for the appearance of Christian ritual is more difficult to

establish. Rob Walser, in his discussion of the use of mystical and religious

themes in the music of Heavy Metal groups such as Iron Maiden and Led

Zeppelin, comments that religious imagery, along with myth and other types of

images, are "sources of power and mystery.,,20 Apart from Christianity, heavy

metal bands like Iron Maiden draw upon various traditions, including the Occult,

Romantic poetry and even Egyptian civilization?1 Speaking specifically about

Iron Maiden, he states,

Fans at a concert participate in an empowerment that is largely

musically constructed, but which is intensified by ritualistic images
that sanctify the experience with historical and mystical depth....
In concerts or with recordings, Iron Maiden fans can experience a
utopia of empowerment, freedom, and metaphysical depth,

2°Walser, Running With the Devil, 154.

21Ibid., 151-3.
 133

constructed in part out of ideas that have been excluded from the
utilitarian world of work and schooL 22

Walser's suggestions can be easily applied to Bowie's use of Christian images in

the video. These images invoke historical depth and depict ritual that is outside of

the "everyday." The use of Christian images in the video serves to draw attention

to ritual and sacrifice as possible methods to engage with the spirituaL As such,

they are empowering, providing the listener with new resources to make sense of

his or her own social experience. The Christian images may work in this way, but

they're effectiveness is changed by their interaction with other types of familiar

Images.

What then is the purpose of presenting an apparent baptism, the many

invocations of Christ as well as the Last Supper, with images of ritual and also the

carnivalesque? An explanation can be found by referring again to Victor Turner's

theory of liminality. Turner states:

Liminality may involve a complex sequence of episodes in sacred

space-time, and may also include subversive and ludic (or playful)
events .... Then the factors or elements of culture may be
recombined in numerous, often grotesque ways, grotesque because
they are arrayed in terms of possible or fantasied rather than
experienced combinations-thus a monster disguise may combine
human, animal, and vegetable features in an "unnatural" way....
In other words, in liminality people "play" with the elements of the
familiar and defamiliarize them. Novelty emerges from
unprecedented combinations of familiar elements. 23

22Ibid., 154-5.
23Tumer, "Liminal to Liminoid," 27.
 134

By combining various familiar elements, including a "baptism" and those of

Christian iconography, as well as the carnivalesque, the video may be initially

read as representing a liminal space. Turner's comments fit the video almost

perfectly, even with the statement regarding the recombination of human and

animal elements in the creation of a monster; in this case, a bull' s head is

combined with a human body to create a Minotaur, which is an example of the

many juxtapositions in the video.

As a familiar element, the carnivalesque serves its purpose in the

establishment of a kind of liminal space, but it also serves as an example of

transgression. The carnivalesque overturns the official; it is a statement against

the status quo. The discussion will now turn to an exploration of the

carnivalesque as transgression.

Transgression

Peter Stallybrass and Allon White, in their book The Politics and Poetics

of Transgression, shed some light on the carnivalesque as a move against the

"high" and "official," but not simply in behaviour or appearance but in all areas of

culture. They begin by discussing the notion of the "high" and "low" in culture:

We have tried to see how high discourse, with their lofty style,
exalted aims and sublime ends, are structured in relation to the
debasements and degradations of low discourse. We have tried to
see how each extremity structures the other, depends upon and
 135

invades the other in certain historical moments, to carry political

charge through aesthetic and moral polarities. 24

Through their discussion, the authors also explore the contradiction inherent in the

"low," being both reviled and desired. There is a political imperative to reject and

eliminate the "low" by the "high," but there is also a desire by the "high" for this

Other. The "top" attempts to eliminate the "bottom" for reasons of prestige and

status, only to discover that it is dependent upon the low-Other, "but also that the

top includes that low symbolically, as a primary eroticized constituent of its own

fantasy life.,,25

The low-Other is despised and denied at the level of political

organization and social being whilst it is instrumentally
constitutive of the shared imaginary repertoires of the dominant
culture. This is evidenced by the history of the representation of
'low' entertainment and the carnivalesque.26

Bakhtin's carnivalesque has moved from a study of Rabelais' work to the

development of the notion into a critical inversion of all hierarchies and official

realms. Stallybrass and White continue:

In Bakhtin's schema grotesque realism in pre-capitalist

Europe fulfilled three functions at once: it provided an image-ideal
of and for popular community as an heterogeneous and boundless
totality; it provided an imaginary repertoire of festive and comic
elements which stood over against the serious and oppressive
languages of the official culture; and it provided a thoroughly
materialistic metaphysics whereby the grotesque 'bodied forth' the
cosmos, the social formation and language itself.27

24Peter Stallybrass and Allon White, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1986),3-4.
25Ibid.,5.
26Ibid.,6.
27Ibid., 10-11.
 136

But the authors also point out that some critics question whether the "licenced

release" of carnival activity might deem it as simply a form of social control ofthe

low by the high.28 They reply:

It actually makes little sense to fight out the issue of

whether or not carnivals are intrinsically radical or conservative,
for to do so automatically involves the false essentializing of
carnivalesque transgression. The most that can be said in the
abstract is that for long periods carnival may be a stable and
cyclical ritual with no noticeable politically transformative effects
but that, given the presence of sharpened political antagonism, it
may often act as catalyst and site of actual and symbolic struggle. 29

The authors then point out a similarity to Bakhtin's concept ofhighllow inversion

referred to as "Symbolic Inversion," developed in the collection of essays edited

by Barbara Babcock, The Reversible World. She writes:

'Symbolic inversion' may be broadly defmed as any act of

expressive behaviour which inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or in
some fashion presents an alternative to commonly held cultural
codes, values and norms be they linguistic, literary or artistic,
religious, social and political. 30

It is in this spirit that Stallybrass and White wish to use the term "transgression."

This notion can be directly applied to the behaviour of body modification. The

behaviour, in many cases, not only transgresses mainstream cultural codes of

appearance, but it also transgresses the very notion of the "classical" body as held

in Western society.

28Ibid., 13.
29Ibid., 14.
30Barbara Babcock, The Reversible World: Symbolic Inversion in Art and Society (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1978), 14; quoted in Stallybrass & White, Transgression, 17.
 137

Later in their discussion, the authors discuss Bakhtin's notions of the

"classical" body and the "grotesque" body, and their contrary nature. The

"classical" body, as presented by Rennaissance statuary, is generally on a pedestal,

placing the observers in a state of admiration, gazing upon a moment of time: "it

immediately retroflects us to the heroic past, it is a momenta classici for which we

are the etemallatecomers, and for whom meditative imitation is the appropriate

contrition.,,3) Thus, "the grotesque body stands in opposition to the bourgeois

individualist conception of the body, which finds its image and legitimation in the

classical. ,,32 The classical body became the identity of rationality itself,

representing the "high" discourses of philosophy, theology, law, etc. "The

'grotesque' here designates the marginal, the low and the outside from the

perspective of a classical body situated as high, inside and central by virtue of its

very exclusions.,,33 Stallybrass and White advocate that one should not treat the

carnivalesque as nothing more than a political binary, but rather that one should

take a wider view of transgression: "The 'carnivalesque' mediates between a

classical/classificatory body and its negations, its Others, what it excludes to

create its identity as such. In this process discourses about the body have a

privileged role.,,34

31Stallybrass & White, Transgression, 21-22.

32Ibid., 22.
33Ibid., 23.
34Ibid., 26.
 138

Stallybrass and White also discuss the marketplace as a bounded enclosure

and a site of open commerce:

At the market centre of the polis we discover a commingling of

categories usually kept separate and opposed: centre and periphery,
inside and outside, stranger and local, commerce and festivity, high
and low.... The market square ... is only ever an intersection, a
crossing of ways. 35

From the authors' comments, a parallel can be made between the marketplace and

a liminoid space, as both of these spaces are rife with juxtaposition. Stallybrass

and White further suggest that the marketplace is like the body.

The tangibility of its boundaries implies local closure and stability,

even a unique sense of belonging, which obscure its structural
dependence upon a 'beyond' through which this 'familiar' and
'local' feeling is itself produced. Thus in the marketplace 'inside'
and 'outside' (and hence identity itself) are persistently mystified.
It is a place where limit, centre and boundary are confirmed and yet
also put into jeopardy.36

The marketplace, both as a site of juxtaposition and as an analog for the body,

leads to another observation. The marketplace as a site of the carnivalesque is

also a site of the liminoid. Stallybrass and White discuss the notion of liminality:

Victor Turner has similarly argued with respect to role reversal that
carnival is 'a moment when those being moved in accordance to a
cultural script were liberated from normative demands, where they
were ... betwixt and between successive lodgements in jural
political systems' .37

35Ibid., 27.
36Ibid., 28.
37Ibid., 18.
 139

If one will accept the idea of the marketplace as liminoid, then the body also

constitutes the liminoid with the display of transgression through the

carnivalesque. The images also serve to overturn the official, and to call for

transformation. Thus, the video's display of carnivalesque images serves to

reinforce the idea that it is creating a liminoid state. This state is not fully liminal,

since its infusion with ambiguity and confusion caused by juxtaposition results in

a loss of hope for positive transformation.

Carnivalesque Images

"The Heart's Filthy Lesson" is saturated with images of the carnivalesque,

primarily in the form of Bowie's various poses and the feast. Pam Morris, in her

"Introduction" to The Bakhtin Reader, comments on the effect of the

carnivalesque: "it always simultaneously ridicules and celebrates, crowns and

decrowns, elevates and debases. The grotesque exaggeration of the body in

carnivalesque forms, and especially the persistent emphasis upon the belly and

genitals, mocks Medieval religious repudiation of the flesh.,,38 Bakhtin states,

"Minor occasions were also marked by comic protocol, as for instance the election

of a king and queen to preside at a banquet 'for laughter's sake' (roi pour rire).,,39

The preparation of the man, and later the mannequin (in some scenes being sawed

38Pam Morris, "Introduction," The Bakhtin Reader (London: Edward Arnold, 1994), 21.
39Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World, trans. H. Iswolsky (Cambridge: The M.LT.
Press, 1968),5.
 140

and finally decapitated) recalls the carnival "king." Bakhtin comments,

"Debasement and interment are reflected in carnival uncrownings .... The king's

attributes are turned upside down in the clown; he is king of a world 'turned

inside out. ",40 The attaching of the bull' s head to the mannequin could be thought

of as a crowning of a sort, creating a minotaur, the mythic monster shaped half

like a man and half like a bull, given a pacifying tribute of youths and maidens as

food. This contradiction is another example of a juxtaposition contributing to a

sense of ambiguity in the video.

The preparation of the man, as well as other images within the video,

suggest the presence of bodily fluids. The covering with human waste or other

bodily fluids is essentially degrading: "To degrade is to bury, to sow, and to kill

simultaneously, in order to bring forth something more and better.,,41 Bakhtin

continues, "It can be said that excrement represents bodies and matter that are

mostly comic; it is the most suitable substance for the degradating of all that is

exalted.,,42 Through the degradation of an object, Bakhtin suggests that a new

birth takes place. He is suggesting that debasement is a precursor to a

transformative event, not unlike the loss of individuality in a rite of passage.

The pierced man could also be thought of as a carnivalesque figure,

"crowned" both literally-with pins in his forehead-and figuratively, being

4°Ibid., 370.
41Ibid.,2l.
42Ibid., 151-2.
 141

empowered and made different. The attention given to the act of piercing in the

video could also suggest its intention as an act against the religious repudiation of

the flesh. Reinforcing what was discussed in the first chapter, Jesse Singleton

suggests a reason why piercing occurs:

Many of the people I spoke to stated that they felt that who they are
is decided, not by themselves, but by the way they choose to
present themselves to society. Society dictates what is correct, it
also dictates what is needed and this results in a move towards
social conformity. Piercing, then, is seen by many practitioners as
an attack on what is seen as forced social conformity.43

With the previous discussions regarding the culture of body modification, this is

only one possible motivation for the behaviour, but one which supports the notion

of piercing as power. Power, in this sense, stems from one's ability to choose

one's own appearance, or to choose one's own expression of transgression.

Throughout the video, Bowie himself is presented as a grotesque figure,

often with a gaping mouth andlor protruding eyes. Bakhtin comments:

Of all the features of the human face, the nose and mouth
play the most important part in the grotesque image of the body;
the head, ears, and nose also acquire a grotesque character when
they adopt the animal form or that of inanimate objects .... The
grotesque is interested only in protruding eyes .... It is looking for
that which protrudes from the body, all that seeks to go out beyond
the body's confmes. Special attention is given to the shoots and
branches, to all that prolongs the body and links it to other bodies
or to the world outside. Moreover, the bUlging eyes manifest a
purely bodily tension. But the most important of all human

43Jesse Singleton, "Self Presentation and Identification," Piercing and the Modern
Primitive (1997); Internet; http://www.bme.freeq.comJpierce/articles/p&mp/self.html; accessed
December 9,1999. Singleton cites B. S. Turner, The Body and Society: Explorations in Social
Theory (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984). See Singleton's complete article at
http://www.bme.freeq.comJpierce/articles/p&mp/index.html.
 142

features for the grotesque is the mouth. It dominates all else. The
grotesque face is actually reduced to the gaping mouth; the other
features are only a frame encasing this wide-open bodily abyss.44

These gestures are particularly stressed when they are supported by the lyrics, as is

the case toward the end ofthe song. Bowie repeatedly sings, "Paddy, what a

fantastic death abyss," often presented with facial expressions suggesting madness

or exhibiting extreme changes in emotion; these elements contribute to the

grotesque in Bowie's mannerisms. Bakhtin suggests that the grotesque is

concerned with that which protrudes from the body, or reaches out of the confines

of the body. Bowie, exhibiting bodily tension, attempts to cross the boundary of

his body and its surroundings by reaching out, whether it is through his sharp and

quick movements of his arms or through his protruding eyes and exaggerated

emotional faces.

The "abyss" of the open mouth is also prevalent in the feast scene.

Bakhtin states:

Eating and drinking are one of the most significant manifestations

of the grotesque body. The distinctive character of this body is its
open unfinished nature, its interaction with the world. These traits
are most fully and concretely revealed in the act of eating; the body
transgresses here its own limits: it swallows, devours, rends the
world apart, is enriched and grows at the world's expense. The
encounter of man with the world, which takes place inside the
open, biting, rending, chewing mouth, is one of the most ancient,
and most important objects of human thought and imagery. Here
man tastes the world, introduces it into his body, makes it part of
himself.... Man's encounter with the world in the act of eating is

44Bakhtin, Rabelais, 316-7.

 143

joyful, triumphant; he triumphs over the world, devours it without

being devoured himself.45

The video features a raucous feast scene, with a particular sequence of images

consisting of a woman (again, a member of the group of "punks") devouring a

piece of meat, her gaping mouth particularly noticeable. Along with this image is

that of a projected mouth on the set walls throughout the video. Around the eating

woman and the other participants in the feast, her colleagues dance in a violent

manner. Referring to acts such as this, Bakhtin comments:

We have shown the essential link of blows and abuses with

uncrowning. In Rabelais abuse never assumes the character merely
of personal invective; it is universal, and when all is said and done
it always aims at the higher level. 46

Morris, in The Bakhtin Reader, suggests that these carnivalesque images bring

attention to that which is material and corporeal: "The upward impulse of official

ideology rejects all that is earthly and material. But the downward thrust of

grotesque realism affirms the material life of the body and of the earthly world.,,47

Just as the novels ofRabelais showcase the exaggerated body, emphasis

on eating and excrement, and frequent beating and debasing, the grotesque body

represents all of humanity: "it is the undying body of all the people, comically

debased so that it may be festivally reborn. ,,48 And like the novels of Rabelais,

Bowie's video is a representation of humanity through its presentation of

45Ibid., 281.
46Ibid., 212.
47Morris, "The Banquet, the Body and the Underworld," The Bakhtin Reader, 227.
48Morris, "Folk Humour and Carnival Laughter," The Bakhtin Reader, 195.
 144

particular grotesque images; it is no mistake that the young people in this video

are members of a subculture with an affinity for piercing and other body

modification. The video is a statement against the terror of the "official" world.

Bakhtin's carnivaleque works against such terror:

In the sphere of imagery cosmic fear (as any other fear) is

defeated by laughter. Therefore dung and urine, as cosmic matter
that can be interpreted bodily, play an important part in these
images. They appear in hyperbolic quantities and cosmic
dimensions. Cosmic catastrophe represented in the material bodily
lower stratum is degraded, humanized, and transformed into
grotesque monsters. Terror is conquered by laughter. 49

The notion that "terror is conquered by laughter" is applicable also to the narrative

of Nathan Adler discussed in chapter two. The presentation of the narrative in a

humourous manner is a method of defeating the terror of the event being

described. The notion of cosmic fear-perhaps the approach of a millennium, a

boundary to be crossed-being defeated by laughter, in the form of the grotesque

and the transgressive is interesting. The suggestion that this "laughter" conquers

the unknown fear might support Bowie's suggestion that the behaviour of body

modification is a manifestation of tension at the end ofthe millennium. What the

behaviour does suggest is a transgression against what society deems as normal

and proper, and a crossing of societal aesthetic lines.

The combination of carnivalesque images with those of Christian

iconography and ritual serve to extablish the video as a kind of liminal space. But

49Bakhtin, Rabelais, 336.

 145

through its many presentations of juxtapositions, the video also suggests a sense

of overwhelming ambiguity. The video does not fit into the description of the

proper liminal phase. This notion of a liminoid space does not only apply to the

video or to the music and lyrics as were explored in the last chapter, but also to

Bowie's live perfonnance. Juxtaposition in his perfonnance is notable and

effective in continuing the establishment of a liminoid space.

Bowie in Live Performance

Christopher Sandford describes Bowie's first appearance on David

Lettennan's late night television show:

The disparity showed between his dark clothes and the puce-red
stage. After a perfunctory "Heart's Filthy Lesson"-shom of the
studio effects, no more than a slab of bristling art-noise-he gave a
wolflike leer and bared his teeth. Bowie looked seriously ill. The
lights picked out the disconcerting colours of his eyes. For the first
time in twenty years, he was physically reproaching his audience,
turning his back even before the song ended. His grim "Thanks"
was an irony. 50

Sandford's description certainly conveys the spirit of the evening. Bowie was

presented in a shiny black jacket and pants, a cream coloured T-shirt, with

matching black nail polish and eye liner, appearing angry and gaunt. Sanford

failed to mention that the music actually started before Bowie even appeared on

stage, and he appeared highly agitated when he began to sing, with his arms

flailing and his gestures extreme and sudden. The multitude of technical blunders

50Cbristopher Sandford, Bowie: Loving the Alien (London: Warner Books, 1997),325.
 146

throughout the performance contributed to the overall feeling of confusion and

loss of control, although it is unclear as to whether they were planned or whether

they were simply early performance glitches. Sanford suggests that this

performance shocked the audience into rethinking who Bowie was and what he

was doing. The performance was presented like an accident, furious and volatile.

Recorded the day before the release of his album, this performance of the first

single was probably the first introduction of Bowie's new material to a wide

American audience, and would certainly make an impression on the audience for

any future performances. 51 Sanford continues:

The tour took the same frequently antisocial line. On some

nights concert-goers were confronted by a bare set, on others by a
backdrop of tom drapes, a few chairs, a kitchen table and stark,
operating-theatre lighting. Scrolls were rolled down to indicate
changes in mood. The whole thing rested on Bowie's frozen
presence, broken only by his ambling to the wings or slumping at
the table. 52

Bowie presents himself, to use Sandford's words, as antisocial and also strange

and frightening. Bowie sets up yet another juxtaposition of being both exposed to

an audience, needing them to buy his albums or attend his concerts, but then

presenting himself in an antisocial manner, as ifhis dependence was not an

actuality. Symbolically, Bowie separates himself from his audience by the

5lRefer to Appendix 1, which follows this chapter, for some comments regarding the
general reception of the album and supporting tour.
52Ibid.,325-6. The tour consisted of primarily arena shows, although Bowie did play at
the Skydome in Toronto, a large baseball stadium.
 147

dropping of banners on stage in the live performance of the song, "A Small Plot of

Land."

"A Small Plot of Land"

The concert stage set for the i.Outside tour features a large scaffold-type

marquee holding large letters forming the words "OPEN THE DOG" over the

stage. 53 As Sanford mentioned, the stage itself is covered with drop cloths, with

some stacked chairs and other various forms which appear to be mannequins

draped in drop cloths toward the back of the stage. Toward the front of the stage

is a small table surrounded by some chairs, just immediately behind and left of

Bowie's microphone position. Bowie is wearing a white/grey t-shirt and same-

coloured pants with a white shirt draped around his waist, all stained with dark

blotches of what appears as dark paint, or perhaps blood, yet again pointing to

ambiguity. At one point in the concert, a mannequin in a foetal position, encased

in circular metal bars, is positioned high above the stage as Bowie kneels at the

table in a prayerful position, as if praying to this human moon.

In "A Small Plot of Land," an event occurs which stands out among the

rest of the performance. The song begins with a spotlight only on Bowie, the rest

of the stage in darkness, while Bowie speaks some words accompanied by piano

beginning the introduction. As the other musicians begin playing, the stage is

53This description is of a perfonnance at the Wembley Arena in London, UK, on

November 15, 1995. This perfonnance was privately captured on video tape.
 148

washed with a blue light and Bowie proceeds to sit at the table with his back to

the audience; he turns only as he begins to sing. As the performance continues,

Bowie walks in a limited area slowly, often making quick but smooth gestures

with his hands and arms. He then visits a lower portion of the stage, a few feet

away from the audience, making slow graceful movements, although he doesn't

make any physical contact with the fans only a few feet away. He walks slowly to

a hanging cord and pulls on it, causing a large rectangular banner to unfold above

the stage, and repeats this action three more times at various locations around the

stage (see Figure 3.3). For the first banner, he reaches up to grab the cord with his

right hand, while grabbing his right wrist with his left hand and then sliding it

down to his elbow. He rests his head on his forearm as if in a state of sorrow, and

then proceeds to pull the cord downward slowly but forcefully. The pulling of the

cords occur during Gabrel's guitar solo. The first reaction this author had to this

action in the performance-which is one of the only instances of Bowie doing

anything other than singing and wandering within a relatively small area-was

that this was Bowie acting like a person separating himself from the audience,

much like a person pulling down a window blind to avoid having to see a pesky

neighbour. Sanford suggests that the banners served to change mood, but here

they don't seem to serve such a simple purpose. 54

54In a personal email to the author dated 19 March 2000', Gabrels states that the practice
of dropping the banners did not go on for very long, and he doesn't recall the purpose of the
action. He suggests that it was simply to give Bowie something to do during the guitar solo and to
change the scenery a bit-he suggests the term, "functional theatricality."
 149

Figure 3.3. Bowie in live performance during the

1. Outside tour (notice the banners to Bowie's
left).

Bowie alienates himself from the audience by his image as Sanford

suggests, but also by the literal dropping of divisive banners, which constitutes yet

another example of juxtaposition. Bowie is supposedly alienating himself

although he is performing in front of crowds night after night on tour. Why this

constant juxtaposition? It stresses the idea of the liminoid, presenting a state of

ambiguity and confusion, which is limbo-like without absolutes. It reflects both

Bowie's own confusion regarding the function and results of body modification.
 150

but also reflects some of Bowie's comments regarding society at the end of the

millennium.

The video and live performance exhibit many juxtapositions. In the video,

there are those who are adorning a mannequin, sawing it in half and covering it

with fluids, but there is also the piercing and adornment of an actual person. The

lyrics referring to "cerulean skies," the common colour of blue that a beautiful sky

exhibits, is juxtaposed into a lyric that is laden with themes of infection and

pollution, and a video with no sign of blue sky anywhere. In live perforn1ance,

Bowie pulls down blinds for no practical reason, his clothes stained with paint or

perhaps blood. Bowie pulls the blinds down to be alienated from his audience,

although he is performing in front of them. He turns his back to the audience on

television although his album is being released the next day. In the narrative, the

idea that a horrible murder of a young girl could be investigated with such humour

and nonchalance, and that this murder could be investigated as art, is an intriguing

juxtaposition, as is the notion of body modification as a method of internal

transformation-that through physical transformation comes a kind of spiritual

rebirth. These contradictions and juxtapositions serve to surround the work with

ambiguity, confusion, the unknown.

There is no multitude of positive possibilities available in this limbo state,

as suggested by Turner's notion of the liminal stage of a rite of passage. Bowie

 151

does suggest that the date of 31 December 1999 is like a great brick wall. 55

1. Outside is a reflection of the late 1990s as a kind of liminal state-a liminoid

state because the "transformative event" at the end of it all, the turning of the

clock (like some kind of grand body modification, destroying the old and bringing

in the new), leads to the unknown. As is generally the case with most things that

are unknown, they are responded to with fear; it is easy to be fearless of what is

known or expected. There is no sense of stature or social office for the

participants at the end of this grand rite of passage, but only a fear of greater

disparity in society and nihilism in technology as is evident in some of the lyrics

for the album. With the unknown comes fear, and fear is rarely accompanied by

optimism. Generally, there is only a confusion and dread of what the future will

hold. A potent example of this millennial anxiety is the societal fear that was

associated with "Y2K" or the "Millennium Bug." Many computer experts

suggested that lax programming in the past had resulted in computers being able

to store and recognize only two digits for the numerical representation of the year

(for instance, a date of birth would be recorded as "73" rather than "1973"). With

the turn of the clocks, including internal clocks in computers, in the year 2000,

this number would become "00," with unknown results. Many believed that this

event would shut down electric power to major international cities, while others

55Rowland, "The Outside Story," 39.

 152

believed that Western "civilization" would collapse, which prompted many to

prepare elaborate shelters filled with food and other necessities for survival.

Is it possible to say that Bowie, through 1. Outside, is constructing a true

reflection of society (or at least some part of it) at the end of the millennium? It is

difficult to say, especially when time has in fact gone on and midnight on 31

December wasn't so much of a brick wall as some people thought. What this

discussion does support is that Bowie and his creation of a sense of the liminoid is

a metaphor for the despair of some portion of society at this period of time. The

liminoid not only reflects Bowie's own confusion regarding the act of body

modification, but perhaps the confusion of a segment of Western society at a point

in time when their own future was unclear.

 CONCLUDING REMARKS

This paper has attempted to analyse David Bowie's 1. Outside by

exploring some of the subject matter that Bowie evokes through the music and

lyrics of the album, as well as through the narrative that accompanies it. Of

particular interest are Bowie's comments to the press, specifically to Ian Penman

of Esquire magazine, in which he suggests that the behaviour of body

modification has become a substitute for the Judeao-Christian ethic. By also

analysing some selected lyrics and album art, as well as a track from the album,

this paper has argued that Bowie is creating a liminoid space, which in turn is a

reflection of a segment of society at the end of the twentieth century. This notion

is further reinforced by an exploration of the music video for the first single

released from the album, "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," and by a brief look at

Bowie on the 1. Outside tour.

In an interview with Musician magazine, Bowie shares a fascinating

personal reflection:

Imagine what a wonderful optimistic freeing experience January

the first 2000 is gonna [sic] be, psychologically.... One has to
remain optimistic. And I do; even though the album is seemingly
very dark, it actually pleads for an understanding that there is a
through road to the next century.!

[Rowland, "The Outside Story," 39.

153
 154

Of course, these comments are terribly problematic in light of this thesis (or

certainly problematizes what this thesis suggests). Throughout this study, what

has been made clear to this author is the complexity of Bowie's album. There are

many other elements which contribute to the album, including the play of the

musicians and those involved in recording and engineering the music.

In a further study of 1. Outside, a more comprehensive analysis of the

album art, including the cover image, should be attempted. Also, lyrically, there

are many other track which perhaps would have been more fruitful to this present

study, such as "The Voyeur of Utter Destruction (as Beauty)" and "We Prick

You." These tracks would be a priority in a further study of the album. Bowie's

second video from the album, "Strangers When We Meet," is undeniably similar

in atmosphere to "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," and a comparison of the two videos

would prove enlightening in clarifying the notion of a constructed liminoid space.

Also, there is the potential of an entire chapter studying Bowie's place

within the greater musical milieu of this time period, and his place in relation to

groups such as Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Ministry to name but a few of

the artists employing similar techniques, imagery and subject matter. Feature

films such as Seven and David Lynch's Lost Highway deal with violence in the

role of art and pessimistic themes. All of these cultural artefacts serve to define a

societal attitude at the end of the twentieth century. The context within which

Bowie is working deserves a greater analysis than the cursory one found at the

beginning of this paper.

 155

Furthermore, the issue of "murder as art" has been engaged with since

Thomas de Quincey's essay, "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts," a

satirical view into a society formed to decide on such matters (not unlike Adler's

employer, Art-Crime). Bowie mentions this work in an interview with Damien

Hirst, while discussing "confrontational" artworks of undisclosed gruesomeness. 2

In addition, Bowie has also mentioned that a large inspiration for the album was a

visit with Eno to the Gugging psychiatric hospital near Vienna, where they

interviewed and photographed many of the patients, who are also celebrated

artists. 3 Besides there "massively free and improvised" nature, the links between

the art displayed in the hospital and the finished album are unclear.

Finally, what can ultimately be made of Bowie's comments to the press?

Could his album be seriously considered as a proper reflection of a segment of

society at this period in history? And what are his conclusions regarding the

behaviour of body modification and its ritual nature? Does every song or video

which contains instances of juxtaposition qualify as creating a liminoid space?

These questions serve as a basis for further study.

It would seem that the realm of body modification is presently outside of

Bowie's lyrical and musical focus. In 1997, he released Earthling, which moved

into new musical areas, leaving the industrial vein of 1. Outside for ''jungle'' and

2David Bowie, "Time ofthe Signs"; http://www.outside-org.co.ukIartistslbowieart2.html;

Internet; accessed 10 October 1998.
3Rick Moody, "Returning to the Sound of Those Golden Years," The New York Times, 10
September 1995, sec. 2, p. 54.
 156

other electronica styles. Most recently, Bowie has released t •• • Hours ' as a kind of

"concept retrospective"; it is a collection of songs by a character from the same

generation as Bowie who is looking back upon his life with some regret of missed

opportunities. In the future is the possibility of further releases following the

narrative of 1. Outside, as was the original intention. Until then, the killer of Baby

Grace Blue remains at large, and the question of murder and art remains.
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cf Q:C'Qrrl :'0"":;1 }tJSP.'.n of ｊｾｯ､･ＺＭｲＮ＠ ｐＳＮｲＷＬｾ＠

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ＢｩＡｲｯＧ［ｳＮｾ･ｃ＠
ｾｩ＠ ...ｾ＠ a .st:'L-"'!11. hiZh.:y
［ＩｪＬｾＭＺｩ｣Ｎ･Ａ＠ｳ ｨｩｲＮＡｾＧＭ｣ｯｬ＠ ＧＺＮＭ､Ａｾ｡Ｗｐ］
....hlch It-.. 7';!ITI ..,<;IS ccr.:lcct.f.::(! ";:0 ｾ［Ｎ＠
ｓｰＧ｡ＮＺ｣ｾｲ［＠ a!.:"'G('hed 1:0 far er.n!': :.! o?8C:"'l
ＺｾｲＮｨ＠ 7:1e s.-=!if-c:r.llair.ef. ::-.i:!:'::' ,;,."!',p}i=:"c::s
Ｇｉ［ｾ］･＠ -.:h;:m ｾ｣ｴｩ＠ ....a;:ed. ｡ｲＮＺｰＡ［ＧｹＢｾｆ＠ ＭＺＮﾷｵｾ＠

non-linear Gothic ｾＮＺ＠ ｴｾ＠ ｾＺｬＧ｢ｲＮｃ［＠

Drama Hyper-cycle. hai.:;'us. ｾ｡ｬＱ＠ ve:rSp.5 c.e,-&..i:ir.p. tr.c:O::ie-:::

of ot!ler brutal acts, "ell-ciocumc.."1tcd bv "Ul9 Ro}fulojds. The li..,-ribs S.iC their
components were ｾｨ･ｮ＠ hung \..tpCn the splayed. ",-eo. ｾｬＧＡﾣＬＭｩｫ･＠ prey of !i0ItC.
unim:lgir...ablc crca't'.lrc. The ｾｯｲｳＮ＠
. by mean::: of its 'bottOO::"'::lQst crifice.
-' 3sd been ?laced on ｾ＠ sr;:,;:;l: support "fa..<;-re.,ed "to a ｭ｡ｲ｢ｬｾ＠ base. I-.: .....<J5
:_- . " sho'...... "to varying degrees of h"UC:CesS dep-'S'..cmg L'JlOn ....."he::€: one stood frot:!.
..,
. . be.'Ur..c -.:.,;e ",""Cb but. in front: of ｾＧｊＮ･＠ ｍｾ･Ｂｊｉｄ＠ dear it!:elf. act:ing as both
.' s:'gnifie!" a.."1c. g'.J.at"dia."l 'to the act. I-:: wa:s defin:i:tely !llU:'de::::- ｾ＠ but .....0ll0
. it art? All "this '..ms -::0 be!. 1:t":le lC'..."lc . . -;,'P ｾ｣＠ 'thp. ｭＺｴｾ＠ prevoc.::r::ive eve:lt i.,
Ｇｴｨｾ＠ u."hoie seqUE!:'\ce of ＵｾＭＮ｡ｬ＠ ｾｃｖ｣ＺＧｬ＠ t-1at aad. G"t<!rteG arO\.:...-.d Nc...,embe= 0= "tM't
_-:;,;'.:r:e yr-..ar. p;'unging, me ｩＮｮｾｯ＠ -::he Irost' yo=te::1tous c..i.sos-abyss ｴＮｾ＠ a quie't lone-"hackcr
:'-;kE t=Jse1f could ｣ｏｉｊｬＡＩｾ･ｨＮｮ､＠ Hy 1'liID'le is Nathan ｾＮ､ｬ･ＺＭＬ＠ or D<e:-::ec'ti.ve P:-ore:,:s;or .:'\dlcr :i...,
0:._- ci.!"cuit. I'm a'tt;&ched "to "the division c:: A.....--t-C::!me Inc .. "the re.::ently i."l!Jtigated
,...._r:·pO=aticm fur:Ged by an endv..ＧｉｩＮ･ｾ＠ from: the k-ts Protccto::<'!"te of Lo.'1ci.o:l, it. being ｦｾｬＱＺ＠
ｾ［ｯ］ＡＺｲｦ＠ ］［ＧｾｳｴＺ＠ ｦ［ｾ･ＮｩＭＡＺｲ｣ｨﾣ＠ ｓｾｴ｡＠
［ＮＺＡｮｾ･ｬｦ＠ had rlee!DEd us. the ｾｬﾷｦＮｲｹ＠ of ｾ･＠ divitio!l, ﾷｾｲｴＮ＾ｬｙ＠ of iJ,."1. e.....Ｎｲｩ｢ｾ＠ at last
Y-:!.=1-::'s BieT'.nale in Venjce. ｾｨｲ･＠ rcorns of ev.i.cP-Dce .and ｣ｾｰ｡ｲｴＧｩｶ･＠ sn:.c.y -....'Ork 'ioo-T.i<:h
ＮＺＭｾｲＡ｣ｬｭ､＠ . vciy provo::. t:"l.at the cO'...· i..'"l Y.k!::'k TaI!!iey- S "The ＡｲＮｮｯＺｾ＠ . .'I"t Eye Test" could not
,j.i'::;e.rentiate bet....-een Paulus ?ct::er' s ｾ･Ｚ＠ Y012lg. BuJ..l- of l6la (e.'{<ictly 300 years
::.-:!:=ore ! ....'35 bo:-n, inciden-:-ally) and on!? of ｍｯｮ･ｾＧｳ＠ grc::1n S""....;ck painti..""l.g5 of ｾ･＠
1,2:90'5. 'The --rrac'-i'tiona1 art p:::e.ss dee:;'.erl ｾＧＢＭｲｬＮＵ＠ ｣ＮＭＺｴｾＡｰｯｬｩｮ＠ '<bul:!'sm"t"' ar.-d r€1iOVff.
ｬＧｴＮＡｏｾｩＭＺ＠ -:'0 5>:".Joy 'the ;::!Ore for:nal idcan c:o:r-...ai....1ed. :iT.. Jacicn 3i.=st· s "Sheep In A Box" •
•:"r-:.;,'!-; a ｦ｡ｲＮｴｹｾ｣ｬ＠ It'!:: ti.y job to :>i::::..!t th.:--.J. t...i'Ie n:anu::e neap looking for P€9percor:lS.

FA!Op,"Y, DECEMBER 31, 1999, 10.lSAM

'.r;: :""'1 <il"1Y cri:!ue. rq fir.5'1: ?C5ition is to per..:se thf:!. ;nQ'tive·Ed&. The :--CCc:l.t !¥ltc. t.l1!"U
. 90- • 59, cf concep't-mugg-:ngs prett.f -:tech n.."':!.d :u:c. ;rul!:.=::tg brmth for a..:l art -.!I:1.I!:'der. IT
ﾷＮｾ｡ｳ＠ a ctiJ:c ',·,:hosc 't::inc ｾ＠ no....'. T'ae p=ecedeals were all ｴｨ･ｲｾＮ＠ IT: bad. probably itr.
ｾ＾＿ｧＢｬＮｮｩＡＺｳ＠ in the 'iOs •..;iL'i-t tile ｖｩ･Ｎｾｳ＠ castratiomSTs and 'the blood-ritunls 0=
ＺＮｬＭｾﾱ＠ P."mlic revulsion put: 'the. 1:5.ri on'th.-"':!.t: epi!iooc. bct you. can't f..eep a good ghoul
.::,-..:0,.,--:1.. Spurred .on by Q:ris Burden's havi.•"'1g :u:nself shot: by ids ccliabora"tor i.."l a
g:J.lel]-. tied up in .a bag, wO"-o:l on a higCr.Ja.Y and ti:P,n c:uci-::icd upo;} t:le. lOp 0.£ a
ｾＺＮ［ｬｙｳｷ｡ｧＬ･ＢＱ＠ stories circulatEd i:hru "clle na.o;t;:y-c.con of ｬｲｾ＠ cig.l)t that. c. you,'ig Korean
ｾ］ｴｩｳ＠ was ＢｴＮｾ･＠ ｳ･ｬ］Ｍ､｣ｾ＠ patic:rt: of wee-hours Sl.:::ge....") in cut'....r:d run ｯ＿ｃｾ｡ｴｩｮｳ＠ a"t
ｾ｟ＺＭｳｯＢＧ･｣ｴ＠ locatio:lS in the cl'ty. If you "fauna 01..-:' a"::lcut. i"t. you ccu:t.:. go ar.d ;,,--atc..":.
-:-:-:.i;;: gJY Oavi..g b::ts alld. pieces re:novm meer aoaes--..hetic.

157
 158

.\ fit:zcr· joi.'lt one :right. a li.nO another.

_"".",,' the- Ga""r:nF. of the • eo::;. ｾＮｊＺｩｬｏ｜Ａｲ＠ :-v"ld it
ﾷｊＮｾｔ＠ he '\I:Z!: ､ｾｮ＠ to a "'.:orso all<! one ＳＭｾＮ＠
! ..ｾＧ＠ d 8$kcC to be left in .;. c.aV? in The
ﾷＺ､ｾＤ［ＧｩＮｵｳ＠ fed ･ｶｾＺｹ＠ so oftc..'1 by his
::.::olytes. lie! d::.dn·t do m!.!ci! after t1:at. ! p2pe.r tC"lIiels

［Ｎｾ＠ ｨｾ＠ Ｚｾ･＠ ｬ［ｾ＠ Ｚ［｢ｾ･ｬＧ＠ ｂｬｾﾷｰｲＧＮｮｵ＾＠

susoe..'lded over
ｩｾｃｬＱ＠
",il. ｡ｾｴｩｳｲ＠ "'·HI co once hQ' 5 ?C'.cltce. Rot.'"OG ＱＺｩｭｾ･､＠ ed'ition.
［Ｚｾ＠ S<lID::. ｾＮ＠ ｂ｡ＮＺｾ＠ ＢｴＮｾ＠ ｳｩｮｧｾ］＠ ::Cll;;!r'r;cC pcrfo:::nL->C b3r...k. in
.:.;' ::!. ,-oupla &OO!'-s ...no frequent:ea the: A Ea!'£h Life" e..xplodeci. cor":,,,,ve.<'Sy
ＺＭＮ［ｩｾ＠ bars w€ar!!"!g "tu11 !'mrgery reea1ia: snrapnel ｣ｾｲｯｵｧｨﾷｴＺ＠ t'1C Natior..al
·:!jS. apTa:1S. nfnbp.t" gloves 2nd tra.<;Y..5. =:ndCY...;:;:)p.;rt Fer tt(! Arts. "We haVE' • .ilk('.!l
ｔｾ＠ Ｎ｣ｬｾｩＢＱｧ＠ edge. Then ca--e D:::::ri.er! 3irst eve-ry p!:ecaution wl::h our disposal
ＮｾＭＧ｟ｨ＠ i:o.;e Shark-Ccr.... -Sheep thing. No systems.... an Al'.he.y ｳｰｯｫ｣ｾＺＭｮ＠ ｾ､Ｌ＠
·...:..ll\!lr,S. ;>al3--rsble cit'ual for 'tn."'! "'Tt-.c to'..-cis contaici.r!g Lhe blood are.
ｾＬ［ｧﾷｬ､ｷＧｩＮＡ＠ pt::iU"(". The ［ｬｾ｣ｰｴ｡｢＠ f;;,.cc: of ｾ｡ｴＮＺｬｹ＠ deposi"t:ed IT. nazardous-....'DSte
".!';l7t!. Mr-...ＢＡｮＭＮｾｨｬＰ＠ in ttt! US. 199 /1. 1 ....as in baF..s. Enen ever:ing. t.'-lC r.:l.tctial rill be
:-:-,....,. on. L1.t! ｬｲｩＮｧｾｴ＠ 0':: ｾ･＠ .o\:rney drive."'): to a hoS':>ital for f:!.nal dlspcs,.'l}".
:":'::.:lrifications . A-rbey says he is dealinz •....-i.th ::'::;5'':('.£ of
self·1oa-:hi-:Jg. !mffcti.ng. !lC'...a..l:ir..g ar!!!
::c.e.crrptior..

THURSD/d,
OCTOBER 27, 1994 FRIOA"Y DECEMBER
122 EAST VlLLAGE, 31.1999,10.30AM
MANH/HTAN MUSEUM OF MOOERN
ＺＭｾＨ［ｮ＠
:ar. .-
:::'jucL!!llis-'":.
PARTS A-::hey, ｰ｣ｲｦｯＺ･｡ｮｾ＠
forroec heroin acldict-
art:iS"t not: for 'tt.e:

;.c·t:itiv-e, ｰｾｳｨ･＠ w7t.'l1: leeks like a T'm drir.k:ing. U? "the Oxford Tc·..,,'r.. Nc-II
t;,:J::;::ing needle repeatedly im:o his .1e::sey !ume. Sal"'Cy ;md a.cid. Y.:aybe 1 CCi....'l
fnr....;u. .ac.. G. ｣ｲｏＢｾ＠ of 01000, ｾ＠ IT.!rt get ;] ＺＬ［｝ｮ､ｬｾ＠ on t.hi!:: thing back in Soho
.:.:5:.e hell. S-c:::esm red dribble-dribble_ No at. the b!..U:"eau. It used 1:0 be Rothko"1;
ｾﾷＧＮＺｲＬ］｡Ｑｓ＠ Filce movt'.!> ira ｰ｡ｩＮｾＬ＠ Qi;:rici S1:u.dio. now 'thp. playgrO'.n:i fo!" ell us
1;;:'Si;Jp,e a.."':d scrubbed. dc-...'ll in his 0'....':1 ａＺＧＭｃｾ＠ folk. _I£'s or "!"ht' ､｡ｵ｢･ｲｾＢ＠ as

we're dubbed. Rathko Baby Grace Blue:, real interestillS tiol ｖＨＬＢＺ［ｾＵ＠
h:im:iclf. in a dccp-cbr!t- Algeria Touchshriek fron ｾＮ｡｣ｫＭ randO:t. How
drunk one nig.ltt. care- Leon Blank: Male· .abotrr "this! Ｍ｜ｴＧ･ｾ｢｡ｳｪ＾＿Ｚﾭ
ful1y reroved his clothes. Mixed race· 22 years· drr",n-lo.'ld. firs.t blcck:
folded them up J:lC,3tly. Outsider. Three
convictions for petty
ｰｬ｡｣ｌｾｧ＠ them upon a cbaJ.r. t.heft'l appropriation No convictions of
lny upon Lhc ｦｊｯｾ＠ in a and plagiarism assertive saints
cn!Cificd position :md wi thout license. bel ieved Caucasian
Contacts: Baby Grace
after several ｡ｴ･ｭｄｾＮ＠ way-out tyrannical
found ｔＮｾ＠ mh bluf;'· plJIilP ﾥｾｨｓＧＺｲｩ｡＠ evoked no images
of hi!; ｾＮｳｴｲ＠ ｾ＠ cb(X:kP.d described Christian
out. He'd held the ｲ｡ｺｯｾ＠ ｾＡｲＺｩ｡＠
years. Ot..1n(!r of sMall
: saints questions no
blades betw-een -wads of female christian
"tis..<;lJp' Jla?eT so "(Oat: he establ i shment on !tai 1 machine believed no
Yard. Oxford town ...
'ooiCcldn't eut his fingers. NJ- Deals in art· work is caucasian
Deep thiuker. Always ...ｾＬ＠ drugs and DNA prints. assel"'tive saints
fence for all believed female
appari tiofls of any
mediulil. ｦＭｩｾｲＡｬ･ｳ＠ ... described christian
, 1.00AM lonely- tyrannical questions
R.A .. Stone convictions
"DAUB ER" Sm.-til cog. no wheels. Not.
much to fP on but
martyrs and
tyranni cats are evoked
HQ,SOHO a.A.Stone ｜＼ＮｾｩｧｉＭＺ［＠ hp.ElVY 0.'1
my t:ie!lD!;y. No p:-oblCi:i.
:it"'U come baci-•. ｬｫｳｾ＠
Fema le described sado-
masochist questions !
am sui cide described
The only n.a.ces thE': DaTa "thing "'to do nO'.rJ is real the fabric machine
bar>.k can assoCiate .....-ith all =p.levant pieces into Slashing way out
:&by Crace ｡ｲｾ＠ Leon Blonk, t..lJ.e Mac:k·Verhasiser. 'the- saints and martyrs and
Ram:ma A. Sto!'..C: and MetB.!"andc:a pr0p,ran:oc:!: th,.-)."!: thrown downstai rs
",.J.getia Touchs...'l..--il?.k. TnE' re stz:i..ＧＱｾ＠ =cal ｬｩｾ･＠ fact!;;
rundo;.,.1fIS arc brief but: not" as 1m probable '1i!·tual-
to 'the point: fact. T mar .geT a IE-lid or Ncr.... tile SII.'irl ｢ｬ＿ｾｩＮＧＡ［＠ !'-b.....·
'tYiO froc that.
Ramona A. Stone:
ｦｾｭ｡ｬ･｟＠ {ilucaSi.:;n_
［ｾ＠ ＡＺＧ］ｾ＠ ｾＺ［Ｇｲ＠ ｢ｾ［ＡＧｬ＠
ｲｨ､ＭｱｏｾＮ＠
maintenance !nterQst-
drug ､ｾ｡＠ 1
Assertive
ｾｬＧＱ､＠
Tyrannlcal Futurist,
er 11.15 AM Rn:noa.:.1. A. S!:o:!e- • .l
remember ｾＢＧｴｩＮｳ＠ ＦＮＺｩ｣［ＬＧｾﾷ＠
't."Ii:7 tre.9.C' 1V 11 ｱ｣ｩｾＺ＠
r..;o coovi c t i.olis , Jc:rus wbo. !. l-..ntc o::ypinpl' t."lough;;. But \r1<l!!:. :: ';::;
Contacts!" Leorr··Blank ... AnyhO'..... 'we·vc got ｾｯｴＺＱＮ･＠ a.."'1.cad of m.yself.
 159

youth. 'Yne ::op flQor ｾ＠ ...｣Ｎ＠ｾ the

JUNE1Ｕｾ＠ 1977
r"000'''::;
ga:::-e-io."aYS ｾ｣＠ ｧｾｶｩｲＮＬ＠ up to the holy ｧＡｋｾＺＢＧＮ＠
She nlS:: h:iVC ｏ｜Ｇ･ｲｳｾｮ＠ I;Oro? ｾｨｮ［ｽ＠ 3(; .::.:- ｾ＠

KREUTZtlURG, Ｇｾｮ｡＠
｣ｨ･ｫＭｯｬＡｾｳ＠
.....-as ＮｦＬｯＺＧｾｧ＠
be:o!:"1?
rlm."7l.
ｾｨ･＠ 1 Q{"..,"1! Ｚ＾ｱｵＮｾＡ＠ 7 ...-:..£;-..;:".-

BERUN
ｾｏＡＢ＠
11:"'S V-f>"Q i.n -:-.ne. r.lOrn:inr.. T ｣ＮＧｬｾＭＺ＠
w"'"lc. ｾ｣ＮＡＺＢＧｉｕｩｲｐ＠ ｾｦ＠ ＡＧ［ｯｭｾ＠ poe::: o!.:t-
::;lC':cp OCTOBER 28, 1994
:::aciscc ｾｵＡＢｬＬＮＺｳｨ＠ i.m:::igI'"<!..."1t. ＡＺ｣Ｂ･ｾＮｭｬｲｧ＠ Ａｾｓ＠ Ne....• Yorker rr.agazin>? 8cv;mcp C:C?y.
ｧｵｾｳ＠ out !::Ol:l ever thE' st.rt?e-;:. Eis ＨＧ･ｾ｢ｲ｡Ｗｩｮ＠ iash:j;:·n. :-::' ｾ＠ :.: ＺＧＭｩｲｾＮ＠ of ｩＺＮｾ＠
ha-...Ｂｫｾ＠ r:g s!lr:.;;.k sounds s.;.....ｾ＠ - ｾｩ＠ fie:! 1:,}:t,: ｾＭ［ｮ､＠ since ｩＧｲＮｾ＠ ＳＧＡ［ｾＺｬ＠ -::COrl.. over ,8!=;
ｨｦＢＡＧ［ｾ＠ ｾ｣ｴ＠ ;:!. p:'llO',•• ever "":1::,;; :t!.!Ju:.h. 3:...:l lile cC.::.!..ot:. O!-:.e look h; ell it too:\(. ｾｬ＠ ｲｾ＠ ..:::.

de!..-pcr!:!.t::.or: ＮＺｯｾ＠ ＡＺＢＱｏｕｾｬ＠ the spor.Z,.Y :..!le look ane. ....'rotE- a ne...· hook c;::: "';'1.3-:
!:uhb-i>!" llko:-- a knit!?_ 1-:: ｻＢＺ［ｾ＠ ｾＮｨＬ［Ｚ＾＠ ｢ｲＮｾｱＷ＠ .so::)r:d - M'.:rp1i't'o?S ........1\lld "W'l';{C ;";CIt! Oz.k",. ＨｾＬ｜ﾭ
l'!nd ｢［ｭｧＮｾ＠ my r>J-:J!"r:.r""u,$. I "t.3:kc .a 'Jr..ll...'t p:t::;t ｅｏｴＡＺＭ､ｩｾ＠ ｓＭｾＮＧｬｮＺ］｣､＠ hct!v--:"ly i:l :1'.':." =te·....
Ul'-2 ﾣｾ｢ｲｩ｣＠ r:i3chine. t:;...'To l.:-::t onto a ･ｄｉｓｋｩｾＡＮ＠ Since ｴｬＺｾ＠ ad;"'er::! '07 ａｾｓ＠ ｾＺｬ［＠
ｾＺＭ ..e,:; ....."i:-:-:.h no n..-";:P.. ihe ｾＱｅＧ＠ new mo:,:,Ul.t}', a..'1d. ';)7 c:ot:r!>e hi G
ｃｏＺｩｵ｣｡ｳＲＮｾ＠ suic:::"':'e ｃＨｔＮ［ＡＺｾｲ＠ dC'..iT.h. m!=; da:-K Ｎｳ･ｸＺｾＧ＠ 'iiJ.t.al :;;'.yl.:. ｲｾ､＠
r.riked ar.rl grimr. sil!lOUl?tteC :fa':':'er.:. au t of "".rogue. k. ｾｉｃｏｦｐＺＭｩｬｲｳ＠ ｾｧ＠
by ["U::ie,\!!i yellow ｾＡＢｃＺＧ＠ ｬｾＡＧ［＠ ｰｨｯｴＨＧｾＡＬ［ＺＮ＠ he ｨｾ｣Ｎ＠ foJ,.:..'1O ｾＬＧ＠ twi!::ty
PI.··. •

•
:fe:naJe slasrd.r.g ｷＭｾｹｯＺＮｊｴ＠ .;Ve>nue through desire ｃｬｾＮｲ＠ ｲｬｾＮ＠ It -tihi ;:-.-:
ｾＭＺｳ＠ for ｾＧｬ＠ ce1la:- .e. ｾｬＮｊｲ･＠ ft>;m-,iB ＱｾｦＬ＠ st"ickinp, p.lccrti.ly ｾＮＺｩ＠ ｾＮｦ＠ ic!

-rhr:O'...n dO ....'ll!.:ta.i:::-s i of yeu batiJ. of black liquic ｾＺｭＮ［ｩ＠ 7'Y.....,; ｦＮＺＧｊｾﾷ＠ c;;
c<m' -: --::-ake -any more.. Pure. jey ｾ｢･ｳ＠ co....ercc :.,., tit!; ｐＧＲｳＡＢ［ｾＮ＠ 7:1C:. ﾣＮＺｩｾＢ＠ .
('of ret::-c;:!.t :':l.t"o cil2!ati::.. lc...>d by pre-....e:n.£-d :.lit'ir gy..l...ｾｳ＠ "fn::n ［ｾｅＧＮＵＭＺｨｔｧ＠ .::;"":>:
ｴＮｾ＠ s"hepherdes$. 1\.""11:i mi.xo?d. -:-hp..y psss out. -Oh 11: •...ｾｵＮ［､＠ bp.
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