Year Released: 2003 Label: ISO, Columbia Year Bought: 2003 The 1990s was a strange time for David Bowie. Venerated by Britpop greats such as Brett Anderson and Noel Gallagher, and honoured by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana's Unplugged set, it could have been a decade of him carrying out endless nostalgia tours and cashing in on his place as the Grand Dame of alternative music on both sides of the Atlantic. The trouble was, Bowie had done the whole be-your-own-tribute-act schtick in the late 80s with the Glass Spider tour - a period so unfulfilling it led him to forming Tin Machine. And no one needed that to happen again. So Bowie spent the 90s doing pretty much the opposite of what people wanted him to do, and refused to bring back Ziggy or the Thin White Duke, instead focusing on experimental music (which is actually a very Bowie thing to do). As the century ticked over, Bowie started making albums that were a bit more radio friendly, and after a well-received Glastonbury set and th
Year Released: 2014 Label: Reprise, Warner Bros Year Bought: 2014 When frontmen/women make solo albums, there's always a question of whether the final product could have just been an album by their main band, or does it stand up in its own right? My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way released Hesitant Alien in 2014, a year after his band split up (and five years before they got back together). One of the leaders of the mid-00s emo scene, MCR hit it big with The Black Parade, a rock-opera album that channelled Meat Loaf, Queen, and Bruce Springsteen. Way was always an ambitious front man, and the former comic book artist was open about his love of British music - be it Bowie, Britpop, or shoegaze - long before he made this album. Those influences are splashed around Hesitant Alien, alongside the expected overwrought stylings so associated with MCR. The album kicks of with 'The Bureau', which has a real Berlin Bowie vibe. It's more interesting than many would expect, but i