Jazzin' for Blue Jean

"Jazzin' for Blue Jean" was a 21-minute short film featuring David Bowie and directed by Julien Temple. [Nicholas Pegg, "The Complete David Bowie", Page 525, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2004, ISBN 1-903111-73-0] It was created to promote Bowie's single "Blue Jean" in 1984 [ [http://www.dvdmg.com/bestofbowie.shtml David Bowie: Best of Bowie (2002)] ] .

The film depicts the adventures of the socially incompetent Vic (played by Bowie) as he tries to win the affections of a beautiful girl by claiming to personally know her favorite rock star, Screaming Lord Byron (also played by Bowie). Rightfully disbelieving him, she challenges Vic to introduce her to him. They make a date for a Screaming Lord Byron show, where Vic attempts to sneak backstage to convince Mr. Screaming to come say hello to him and the girl after the show.

Bowie takes the opportunity at several points in this film to poke fun at himself and his career — particularly his history of drug abuse, his relationships with groupies, and the commercialization of his music ("You conniving, randy, bogus, Oriental old queen! Your record sleeves are better than your songs!"). Kinder self-references are also present, such as the song "Warszawa" from his album "Low" being played backstage to soothe Mr. Screaming while he's applying his makeup.

The film appears as an easter egg hidden on the "Best of Bowie" DVDs. It is slightly modified: in the club where the girl is watching a Screaming Lord Byron video, the screen originally showed footage of the very same concert she and Vic would later attend. On the DVD version, a different promotional video for the song is overlayed on the screen — this is also the trigger for another easter egg, which is itself that alternate video.

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