Exploring The Australian Element Of David Bowie’s Video Clips (Part I)

Before we start, I want to hammer home to you that I am a big David Bowie fan. Love him. Saw him live at Glastonbury in 2000 when I was a fresh-faced nineteen year old who had just consumed mushrooms for the first time and handed the man my heart on a platter after his killer set. And although I’m certainly no expert when it comes to everything Davy Jones, I like to think I am fairly “switched on” when it comes to Bowie-related bits of trivia. So how is it that I completely missed the Australian content in his 80s video clips for so long?

First up, let’s take a look at the clip for Let’s Dance. You’ll need to click on the picture below because EMI’s policy on embedding can suck my balls (when I grow some).

THINGS OF NOTE:

- I wish David Bowie had been the entertainment at the pubs I found myself in when I was younger. All we ever got was podgy middle-aged blokes who were slowly beginning to realise their dreams of rock stardom were never going to come true, and who had resigned themselves to playing Brown Eyed Girl to drunk rugby union players on a Friday night.

- Excellent use of actual “red shoes” in the clip.

- According to Wikipedia, the clip is about “an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism”

- If it weren’t for the complete lack of Nicole Kidman, I would have sworn this video had been directed by Baz Luhrmann.

- Either way, I suggest Tourism Australia put their stamp on it immediately and use it for their next campaign.

I know what you’re wondering… what is the second David Bowie clip in which Australia features prominently? STAY TUNED.