Friday Poll No.10: FACE-OFF! Bowie V Jagger

[Rob McCow]

It's time to put on your blue shoes and paint it black again.


This is David Bowie, solo artiste, artist, reformed junkie and ageing rock megastar.


This is Mick Jagger, artiste with the Rolling Stones, artist, reformed junkie and ageing rock megastar.

Here's how they look today (ish):



But which one is cooler? Which one is your favourite? Who gets you dancing in the street? Who can't give you no satisfaction, or leaves you breaking glass in your room again?



FIGHT!

[SiHart]

David Bowie is cooler, more talented and has made far better music IMO of course!
He's an icon of cool.

Si xx

[Ralph]

No contest! Bowie is clearly more talented

[Pip Madeley]

Bowie for me. He has some great songs, like Life On Mars, Space Oddity and Let's Dance

[Matthew T]

Not a fan of either really, but Bowie at least has a GREAT song in "Space Oddity" so I went for him. Best Jagger song...."Paint it Black"? But even thats a bit meh to me.

[Rob McCow]

Jeez - Bowie's gonna romp home on this one! Where are the closet Rolling Stone fans on this board?

[Wayne]

No contest! Bowie is clearly more talented

Ralph is absolutely right. It's not even approaching anywhere near a contest. Bowie is indeed far more talented.

[Alex]

I do love Bowie a lot, but I don't know, there's something more fun about the Stones. Sympathy for the Devil's an absolute cracker, as is Paint It Black (the opening to the song especially so), and Angie, Miss You, 19th Nervous Breakdown, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Wild Horses, and Ruby Tuesday (which I love to pieces) are great too. I've never seen the Stones live but my Sister used to work for the Counterfeit Stones and so I saw them for free loads of times and never had a less than brilliant time.

Plus whilst the latest Stones stuff hasn't been that great at least it's nowhere near as embarrassing as Bowie's recent output, and they're a lot less pretentious too.

So that's one vote for Mr Jagger at least anyway (again though, it was the toughest Friday Poll choice so far as I am a big fan of Mr Bowie, at least in the 70's and early 80's).

[Lord President]

Bowie in every way, but mostly for his song on Extras!

[Wayne]

I do love Bowie a lot, but I don't know, there's something more fun about the Stones. Sympathy for the Devil's an absolute cracker, as is Paint It Black (the opening to the song especially so), and Angie, Miss You, 19th Nervous Breakdown, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Wild Horses, and Ruby Tuesday (which I love to pieces) are great too. I've never seen the Stones live but my Sister used to work for the Counterfeit Stones and so I saw them for free loads of times and never had a less than brilliant time.

Plus whilst the latest Stones stuff hasn't been that great at least it's nowhere near as embarrassing as Bowie's recent output, and they're a lot less pretentious too.

So that's one vote for Mr Jagger at least anyway (again though, it was the toughest Friday Poll choice so far as I am a big fan of Mr Bowie, at least in the 70's and early 80's).

That's the thing though. The poll is David Bowie vs Mick Jagger, not David Bowie vs The Rolling Stones. Hence the landslide.
Leaving the acting aside for a moment, Bowie has always had a good backing band, but he is a guitarist, singer songwriter, & his music & musical personae are all down to his own creativity.
Jagger on his own, as a singer & partial songwriter in a band with 5 or more other people contributing to everything, can't really compete with that, even if perhaps the Rolling Stones as band as a whole, possibly could.

[Milky Tears]

Bowie's new teeth raped my childhood.

[Stephen Morgan]

Bowie's Hunky Dory in my book, some great songs in his catalogue, Bewlay Brothers, Life On Mars, Space Oddity, Ziggy Stardust, the list is endless, made some good videos too, Dancing in the Street with Jagger for Live Aid, the Ashes to Ashes video, sublime.
funnily enough I'm reading Strange Fascination atm, it's sort of semi biographical and provides a real insight into the recording of each of his albums, I've got up to the release of Heroes and the inspiration behind the music.

[Dave Lewis]

Jagger, by a million miles. Even the It's Only Rock and Roll video is cooler than any period of Bowie's sartorial history.

[WhiteCrow]

I like the way everyone else has said "Bowie no contest", pretty much emulates how I feel.

Jagger was a pretty cool rock and roller in the 60s, but really Bowie has to win simply because of the way he's evolved over time, and really has such a diverse body of work, although some of it, it must be said can a bit awful at times.

If we were to fight this out one Bowie song against one Jagger song though, is there anything in the Bowie catalogue which could be said to beat Jumping Jack Flash for instance?

[Wayne]

If we were to fight this out one Bowie song against one Jagger song though, is there anything in the Bowie catalogue which could be said to beat Jumping Jack Flash for instance?

Do you want a list?

Hey i knew someone would pick my fave Stones song, though!

But as i alluded to earlier, Jagger only wrote the words to 'Jumping Jack Flash'. Keith Richards wrote the music.
Bowie writes the words and the music.

[Stephen Morgan]

If we were to fight this out one Bowie song against one Jagger song though, is there anything in the Bowie catalogue which could be said to beat Jumping Jack Flash for instance?

Sufragette City, Queen Bitch??

[Rob McCow]

Bowie writes the words and the music.

I thought he got Mick Ronson and Brian Eno to write his music?

[Trudi G]

I can't really vote on this one, because i've never been a great fan of either!
The Stones did some good tracks, Bowie did some good tracks, but i never rushed out to buy anything either of them did!

[Andrew Curnow]

I don't much like either (although my father-in-law is HUGE Stones fan) but I have to ask - why is Bowie dressed up like he's auditioning for a remake of "The Gunfighters" in that photo? Is he the celebrity historical celebrity for season 4?

[Dave Tudor]

It's a cool piccie of The Dame!

Bowie wins it for me, too. He's much more innovative, and exciting, and still produces some fine music (his last two albums were actually pretty good), unlike Jagger and The Stones, who, in my opinion, haven't produced anything of any real note for more than thirty years.

Oh, and unlike Michael, David's still looking damn good for his age, the swine!

[Carol Baynes]

I love Bowie. I also love the Stones.

If you used the word "meh" in relation to "Paint it black" in 'real life', I would probably knee you one. ...or just for "meh" in general!

"Beggars banquet" is a favoutire album, as is "Alladdin sane"....what to do... I shall cast a vote Jagger's way as Bowie has quite a few.

Come on people! Have none of you thrilled at the sound to the intro to "Gimme shelter"?!..and (snipppp, before I list every Stones song )

[Dave Tudor]

I shall cast a vote Jagger's way as Bowie has quite a few.

I'm sure they've both had quite a few in their time!

[Alex]

That's the thing though. The poll is David Bowie vs Mick Jagger, not David Bowie vs The Rolling Stones. Hence the landslide.
Leaving the acting aside for a moment, Bowie has always had a good backing band, but he is a guitarist, singer songwriter, & his music & musical personae are all down to his own creativity.
Jagger on his own, as a singer & partial songwriter in a band with 5 or more other people contributing to everything, can't really compete with that, even if perhaps the Rolling Stones as band as a whole, possibly could.

Doh! I was thinking it was vs. T'Stones, rather than Jagger. In that case I'd definitely go for old Bowie face then, despite Jagger's ability to produce rather foxy offspring...!

[Wayne]

I thought he got Mick Ronson and Brian Eno to write his music?

They have done, (for instance Bowie didn't come up with the riff to 'Rebel Rebel'), but as i understand it, although many of the songs are altered & embroidered etc.. The basic ideas & chord sequences come from Bowie.
Although not all of them, granted. Some are contributions are from fellow musicians, & some are group efforts. (I used to read all this sort of stuff from interviews in old 'Sounds' magazine's from the 70's & early 80's)
But apart from anything else, the actual material is much better, & much more varied than the Stones. A different league altogether, IMO.

[Larry]

n contest is The Starman Bowie.