The Unusual Evolution of David Bowie's Music

That was a wonderful work. Lets Dance, I think is a bit better... and just as artistic. :)
I think it was Producer Niles Rodgers that brought the sound to Let's Dance that made it a stand out. Rodgers was quite surprised when Bowie quickly made 'Tonight' without him. Bowie stated later that he regretted rushing that LP and that he found it disappointing.
 
I think it was Producer Niles Rodgers that brought the sound to Let's Dance that made it a stand out. Rodgers was quite surprised when Bowie quickly made 'Tonight' without him. Bowie stated later that he regretted rushing that LP and that he found it disappointing.

I was not aware of that. In fact, I think Lets Dance is the best LP released by Bowie. It just sparkles! ;)
 
I no longer have a favorite Bowie album--just too many I like.
But "Ashes to Ashes" is his best single imho.

So I got to thinking, what are his other best songs? Changes, The Man Who Sold the World, Hang on to Yourself, Starman, Stay, China Girl, Beauty and the Beast, Heroes, Space Oddity, and on and on...but I think many of his best songs (on albums like Dogs and Low) weren't singles.

Kind of new to David Bowie, don't know why now and not 40 years ago like everyone else. A couple favorite LPs (yes my DB are on vinyl thus far) are Tonight, and Never Let Me Down. What else is good? Looking to expand my DB collection!

I finally figured out how to sell box lots of CDs and LPs--throw some Bowie in. If those are your favorite Bowies, you may not appreciate his hard-edged earlier stuff like Ziggy and Aladdin Sane. But who knows? I recommend "Young Americans" (his "soul" album) and maybe "Diamond Dogs" and "Scary Monsters" for a bit more edge.

I hated roxy music 'back in the day' and when I found out Eno was part of them I was flummoxed, even though I really like Bryan Ferry.


Fun video too, though this is the abridged version of the song.
 
I no longer have a favorite Bowie album--just too many I like.
But "Ashes to Ashes" is his best single imho.

So I got to thinking, what are his other best songs? Changes, The Man Who Sold the World, Hang on to Yourself, Starman, Stay, China Girl, Beauty and the Beast, Heroes, Space Oddity, and on and on...but I think many of his best songs (on albums like Dogs and Low) weren't singles.



I finally figured out how to sell box lots of CDs and LPs--throw some Bowie in. If those are your favorite Bowies, you may not appreciate his hard-edged earlier stuff like Ziggy and Aladdin Sane. But who knows? I recommend "Young Americans" (his "soul" album) and maybe "Diamond Dogs" and "Scary Monsters" for a bit more edge.



Fun video too, though this is the abridged version of the song.
My fav's are
Glass Spider
New York's In Love
Tonight
Blue Jean.. And my list goes on too but with only 3 LP's I sense I have a long way to go!
 
This is the era I most resonate with. Basically as I was a 16/17 year old and it was the soundtrack to a lot of parties, along with Spandau Ballet, INXS, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson etc.

Heee heee!! :) The early 1980s, until 1985/86, had some amazing music, perhaps the most amazing in my opinion. I was only two years old in 1986, but that short period of perhaps five years, from 1981 - 1986, is my all time favorite. You had Bowie in his prime, then Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Eurithmics (I love Sweet Dreams!!), although I am not a Michael Jackson fan, Billie Jean is one of my favorites. Robert Palmer: Big Log, is often overlooked. Then there was Asia... so amazing! I could listen Real Life, Billy Squier, and Loverboy (especially Notorious), all day long! ;):beerchug:
 
I applaud your analysis of Bowie but you left out the last 35 years of his career.

I didn't mean to leave anything out, but only looked at his first evolution. Quite frankly, I am not that much a fan on his later stuff (although Blackstar is growing on me currently). It simply doesn't have the "edge" I like. It is a drastically different. To be quite honest, I simply don't know enough (or listen to enough) of his later things to be thorough and objective. o_O
 
The fashion (if you can call it that) was putrid. The clothes I bought and wore, I am ashamed of. Lurid colours, stripes, coloured shoes and socks, baggy pants. Oh my, it was bad, but the music was great. :)
That might be... but yet, what I wouldn't give to time warp myself back to the 1980s, put on some of the "putrid fashion" (they had some cute things too, like the miniskirt crazy of like 1984/85... which is what I would probably opt for in my time-warp fantasy), have the "big hair", and go to one concert after another. :D:jump:
 
I did a couple of years studying audio production and the lets Dance album was shown to us as kind of groundbreaking. I think that included things like instruments triggering other instruments - ie: the kick triggering the sax sounds (or whatever) which is why this album sounds so tight in its arrangements. I personally find it a bit overproduced to my ears.

This music all came before my party-day music. I grew up on grunge and that music still resonates with the best times of my life when i hear it now.
 
I didn't mean to leave anything out, but only looked at his first evolution. Quite frankly, I am not that much a fan on his later stuff (although Blackstar is growing on me currently). It simply doesn't have the "edge" I like. It is a drastically different. To be quite honest, I simply don't know enough (or listen to enough) of his later things to be thorough and objective. o_O

Agreed.
I think most fans concentrate on the cocaine fueled 70s because that's where his most inspired work resides. He could do no wrong. His worst record from this period was probably Pin Ups. Or not.
Someone else may choose Low or Diamond Dogs or Lodger. I don't know, I love them all, some more than others and all for different reasons.

The same with his albums after Let's Dance.
That was so huge that Tonight and Never Let Me Down seemed like let downs to me.

I got distracted during the late 80s with post punk and industrial music and when Black Tie White Noise and Outside came around it seemed derivative.
Still, going back now, they are some of his best work from the 90s.

I never got onboard with Tin Machine. Probably his biggest misstep.
Still, it had to happen for what came later. The ying and the yang. The black and the white. The good and the bad...

I really took notice of Heathen.
I don't know if I was just really jonzin' for some new Bowie at the time or what but that CD really brought me back to his work. And the follow up, Tonight, again really solid.

Which brings us to The Next Day and Black Star.

I listen to my The Next Day record quite a bit. It's probably my favorite since Scary Monsters.
It just seems personal and self effacing and without put on.

I have not been able to buy Black Star.
I've picked it up from the rack and tucked it under my arm several times and walked back and filed ft away. I'm just not ready yet.
 
Agreed.
I think most fans concentrate on the cocaine fueled 70s because that's where his most inspired work resides. He could do no wrong. His worst record from this period was probably Pin Ups. Or not.
Someone else may choose Low or Diamond Dogs or Lodger. I don't know, I love them all, some more than others and all for different reasons. The same with his albums after Let's Dance. That was so huge that Tonight and Never Let Me Down seemed like let downs to me.I got distracted during the late 80s with post punk and industrial music and when Black Tie White Noise and Outside came around it seemed derivative. Still, going back now, they are some of his best work from the 90s. I never got onboard with Tin Machine. Probably his biggest misstep.
Still, it had to happen for what came later. The ying and the yang. The black and the white. The good and the bad... I really took notice of Heathen. I don't know if I was just really jonzin' for some new Bowie at the time or what but that CD really brought me back to his work. And the follow up, Tonight, again really solid. Which brings us to The Next Day and Black Star.I listen to my The Next Day record quite a bit. It's probably my favorite since Scary Monsters. It just seems personal and self effacing and without put on.I have not been able to buy Black Star.I've picked it up from the rack and tucked it under my arm several times and walked back and filed ft away. I'm just not ready yet.

Black Star is actually quite good, but its not for every Bowie fan. I think, he knew that he was not going to live much longer, and he put together what I would consider to really be a "last hurrah". I don't find it as stimulating as Lets Dance (or Scary Monsters), but it is still very good. I would suggest that you borrow a copy and listen to it, or listen to various tracks, then buy it only if you like it. I have noticed that people either really LOVE Black Star, or hate it... NOTHING normally in between. (very much like my dog who either loves you or hates you, with no middle ground :eek:):)

Tin Machine was terrible. I really don't know what he was thinking when that project happened... o_O
 
I tend to want to put his career into a linear progression but you can't do that with David Bowie.
He jumps around from one era to another taking inspiration from each and mixing it with his current inspiration.
He even pulls from his childhood and events from his formative years before Space Oddity.

It reminds me of how his career flow is reminiscent of Brian Eno's;
strong in the 70's and ever evolving in the 80's and less impactful in the 90's and beyond but still, you have to give them props.
Maybe they weren't so much in the spotlight in the later years but they had done it all and had fine honed their craft down to the point of mastery.
 
I didn't mean to leave anything out, but only looked at his first evolution. Quite frankly, I am not that much a fan on his later stuff (although Blackstar is growing on me currently). It simply doesn't have the "edge" I like. It is a drastically different. To be quite honest, I simply don't know enough (or listen to enough) of his later things to be thorough and objective. o_O
There became a time when Bowie felt he "had to pander to his newfound audience and mass appeal"
Some time around the Let's Dance album.
 
That attitude is death to originality.
"Critical reviews for Let's Dance as an album have been mixed, although Rolling Stone later described it as "the conclusion of arguably the greatest 14-year run in rock history".[9] Bowie felt he had to continue to pander to the new mass audience he acquired with the album, which led to him releasing two further solo albums in 1984 and 1987 which, despite their relative commercial success, did not sell as well as Let's Dance, were poorly received by critics at the time and subsequently dismissed by Bowie himself as his "Phil Collins years" "
As a Bowie fan, I tend to agree.
 
bowie-bonds.jpg
 
I tend to want to put his career into a linear progression but you can't do that with David Bowie.
He jumps around from one era to another taking inspiration from each and mixing it with his current inspiration.
He even pulls from his childhood and events from his formative years before Space Oddity.

It reminds me of how his career flow is reminiscent of Brian Eno's;
strong in the 70's and ever evolving in the 80's and less impactful in the 90's and beyond but still, you have to give them props.
Maybe they weren't so much in the spotlight in the later years but they had done it all and had fine honed their craft down to the point of mastery.

That is a very interesting viewpoint, and I think there is much truth in it. I am almost ashamed to say, and speaking just for myself, that I think his career took a sharp decline after Lets Dance. In fact, I would argue that Lets Dance, and the accompanying "Serious Moonlight" World Tour (have his Bad Segeberg, Germany show on DVD, which is fabulous, not to mention quite rare) marked the absolute high-point of his career. The next thirty something years, he was in a slow decline. "Tin Machine" would have completely tanked the career of a lesser artist. What it did, unfortunately, is erode Bowie's capital and turned-off many long-time fans. One can be artistic, but an artist also has to also be able to sell his products. :eek::oops:
 
"Critical reviews for Let's Dance as an album have been mixed, although Rolling Stone later described it as "the conclusion of arguably the greatest 14-year run in rock history".[9] Bowie felt he had to continue to pander to the new mass audience he acquired with the album, which led to him releasing two further solo albums in 1984 and 1987 which, despite their relative commercial success, did not sell as well as Let's Dance, were poorly received by critics at the time and subsequently dismissed by Bowie himself as his "Phil Collins years" "
As a Bowie fan, I tend to agree.

Perhaps so. Yet, a great artist, and David Bowie I believe is in the same arena than say Freddie Mercury, typically has the pulse of his audience. Phil Collins too, has evolved over the years, but I love his work more in Genesis, than his solo stuff. If you think about it Genesis, especially Abacab (spelling??) has much musically in common with Heroes and perhaps Station to Station. I think it appeals to a similar audience.

I think that famous quote (hopefully I am getting this right) by Freddie Mercury said it best in reference to artistic output from 1978/1979: (The show must go on as) the audience is really the fundamental reason for our (Queen's) music; without them, we are nothing. :eek: Freddie Mercury was completely correct then, as he would be today, 40 years later, with his statement. Too many artists (especially actors) alienate their fans with political statements and similar, while some do it by radically changing musical styles. The "political" ones should stick to entertaining, and the others should perhaps invest more into taking the pulse of their audience, as fans will vote on them with their wallets or purses. I know I do, and my purse stays tightly shut if an entertainer really annoys me. :music:
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom