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David Bowie - Five Years

The development of the phonograph record industry was a great boon to the entertainment world and became a big factor in the popularizing of songs. First efforts in this medium entailed the use of cylinders, which proved impractical. Columbia and Edison were early companies, joined in 1901 by Victor, and these three became the most important companies in the development of records. Other companies formed a decade or so later. After cylinders came the standard type of 78- rpm record used during all the years following till about 1950. Early records utilized an acoustical process of recording which left much to be desired because of its poor fidelity and volume. The early records featured band marches, string ensembles, instrumental solos, comedy and novelty songs and dialogues, and opera singers performing operatic and semi-classical airs. By 1909 the companies began to record the popular songs of the day by well-known entertainers. The first electrical records appeared in the mid 20s on a small scale, and by the late 20s most companies had converted to the far superior electrical process.

The roots of jazz took hold decades before. Jazz in something like its later form began to emerge about 1890. By 1900 it was being played in New Orleans. Leading early jazzmen were Buddy Bolden and Bunk Johnson, followed by King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Small jazz groups played for street parades and funerals, in brothels and dance halls. Many future jazz greats were spawned in New Orleans in the formative years.

Jazz bands began to play on riverboats up and down the Mississippi, stopping to play at river towns and spreading the sound. Bands moved to Chicago in the postwar era. That city became a mecca for jazzmen from all points, a wild and lively place during Prohibition.
Source: Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Vol. 1 Music By Year 1900 1950 by Roger D. Kinkle


David Bowie - Five Years
  • Songwriter David Bowie
  • Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott,
  • Released June 16 1972


"Rolling Stone, 28 February 1974

In February 1976 Rolling Stone published an extract from Bowie’s aborted autobiography, The Return of the Thin White Duke, in which he suggested that his half-brother Terry Burns had inspired ‘Five Years’."

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Location: United States

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