DoM’s latest mashup: “Fashion Music”

Regular readers of this blog know of DoM, the French mashup artist who was my first-ever interview guest and creator of many fantastic mashups, often involving Bowie. Here’s his latest, “Fashion Music,” which combines the music and chors from Bowie’s “Fashion” with Madonna’s “Music.”

I’d describe myself as a casual Madonna fan— I don’t have or even know all her albums, but I can say that Music is the one I like most. As usual with DoM’s mashups, this one sounds like its how the song is supposed to sound (if that makes sense).

Madonna has long spoken admirably of Bowie, though the two never collaborated. In life, Bowie had made some critical comments about Madonna, even cryptically taking a short at her in the song “Lucy Can’t Dance.” The line, “Who died and made you material girl?” seems to be a direct reference, but if you read all the song’s lyrics, the whole thing might be about Madonna. For instance, take a look at these lyrics:

Oh Lucy look what you’re doing I’m doing it too
Now you’re looking for God in exciting new ways
I say trust Him at once which is something these days

This could be a reference to Madonna’s conspicuous association with Kabbalah. Bowie might have been basically saying, “been there, done that.”

Bowie directly mentions Madonna in the Tin Machine song, “Pretty Thing,” in the line, “Tie you down pretend you’re Madonna.” In that case, he’s evoking Madonna as a sexualized ideal in a disturbing way— the speaker in this case appears to be abusive.

Anyway, I think Bowie reflected the way of thinking from the 80s and part of the 90s that Madonna was more about image than substance, which is kinda how I thought about her then. Personally, I have come to appreciate her more as a serious cultural influence and artist, and, actually Music is part of the reason for that. Though, to paraphrase Brian Eno, who says the main part of Madonna’s art is music? That cultivated image is artistic, too. Which is something Bowie knew something about…