Tunes Tuesday: Bowie rocks the house!

You guessed it! Tunes Tuesday. And this week, we're going to turn on the way back machine, and put David Bowie on the throne for his 1982 single "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)." No, it's not the most obscure song of all time, but it isn't necessarily mainstream, and its worth listening to for two reasons - aside from the fact that it rocks.

First, Bowie does not sound anything like traditional Bowie in this song. I'm a casual David Bowie fan - some of his songs I'll leave on the radio and groove; just as many, I can't stand. However, the patent Bowie vocals are noticeably absent from this jam - in their place are some darker, creepier (yes, than usual) vox that are very Johnny Cash-ish at first, then very 80s rock during the reprise.

Second, it MADE Chapter Five of Quentin Tarantino's flick "Inglorious Basterds." While Melanie Laurent's character (Shosanna - she is on the left above) is assembling her plan to burn down her cinema on Hitler's German film night, this song plays in the background. It brings the scene together, and re-institutes the theme of retribution that underlies the entire movie. In its whole, I thought the movie was pretty good, but not necessarily as monumental as, say, IMDB may suggest (it is currently No. 69 on the site's Top 250). However, I'll definitely see the movie again, and one of the major reasons is the scene that this song is the soundtrack to. (By the way, you can find the scene on Youtube here ... beware of some cussing in French.)

So sit back, relax, and take in what is, in my opinion, David Bowie's greatest 6:46.