For kids of the '80s, Bowie will always be the Goblin King
As he did for so many of my generation, David Bowie walked into my life with blonde glam-rock hair, devilish eye makeup and gray stretch pants that left very little to the imagination.
He was Jareth, the Goblin King who steals babies in the night, and all of us watching Jim Henson's “Labyrinth” understood why sullen, adventurous teenager Sara (future Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly, then 16) found him both terrifying and alluring.
Those two adjectives may best sum up Bowie, who died Sunday at age 69, as a singular artistic voice in music, yes, but also film and fashion.
A financial disaster when first released in 1986, “Labyrinth” found its considerable following on VHS and cable. Henson's fantastic world and even more fantastic creatures are certainly a big reason why — the cavern of creepy hands that form faces, the fire monsters who play catch with their own heads, Ludo the beloved giant — but it is Bowie, cackling and chewing the scenery, who turns a curiosity into a bit of a legend.
The five songs he wrote for the film are as confoundingly diverse as the rest of his career. The opening and closing number, “Underground,” is an '80s pop ballad that climaxes in a gospel celebration. “Magic Dance's” lyrics reference, of all things, the Cary Grant/Shirley Temple movie “The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer” (“You remind me of the babe!”), with a menagerie of goblins and talking animals contributing vocals. The menacing, sensual “Within You” accompanies the film's most memorable images as Bowie chases Connelly in an M.C. Escher-like room of staircases.
Our memories of “Labyrinth” are probably better than the film itself (isn't that always the way?), but so much of it is so delightful and, yes, disturbing that it will surely enchant children of all ages for decades to come.
“Labyrinth” is available digitally from iTunes, Google Play and VUDU, and on DVD and Blu-ray — but retailers may be out of stock for a while.
Groundbreaking gameDid you know that #8220;Labyrinth#8221; also inspired a 1986 video game for the Commodore 64 and Apple II computers? The side-scrolling game by what was then called Lucasfilm Games combined action and text commands in an interface that would be refined for future influential LucasArts classics such as #8220;Maniac Mansion,#8221; #8220;Escape From Monkey Island#8221; and #8220;Sam Max Hit the Road.#8221; (If all of that reads like gibberish to you, check out the archives of LucasArts games at steampowered.com. #8220;Day of the Tentacle#8221; and #8220;Full Throttle#8221; loomed large over my teenage years!)#8226; Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.