There is something awesome about witnessing joy in another, watching someone get lost in the moment. I have seen these moments when my dear friend and roommate discussed the importance and majesty of banyan trees, when my mother interacts with her high school students, and when my partner talks about David Bowie. There was a distinct moment last year when my partner, gazing straight ahead as if no longer in the room with me, went on a ten minute monologue about the musical genius that is David Bowie. Little did I know that what started out as an attempt to gain a little knowledge and be able to contribute to the conversation would lead to a full-blown David Bowie obsession.
Even though I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, my music influences and favorite artists were primarily popular in the 70s and 80s. I grew up listening to Genesis (and later Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel), The Police (and later Sting), Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Elton John and, most importantly for this Parsi girl, Queen. These were contemporaries of Bowie, some where friends, some where not so close, all shared musical influences and ran in similar circles. So it would make sense that I would know some Bowie too, right? Sure I knew "Changes", "Let's Dance", "Under Pressure". But that was the extent of my David Bowie repertoire. Most of my musical exposure came from my father who was an amateur drummer and listened to the aforementioned artists constantly, even teaching some of their lyrics in his literature courses. I was genuinely a fan of these artists in my own right. My first concert was Phil Collins' Farewell Tour and over a decade later I saw Peter Gabriel and Sting perform a full 3 hour set together, both of which were some of the greatest and most joyful experiences of my life. So it would make sense that I would also be a Bowie fan, but I wondered why I wasn't already. I asked my Dad's brother why we had never listened to Bowie and he responded "Oh I love David Bowie, I have most of his records. He was just too weird for your dad I guess." When I started listening to Bowie, I understood what my uncle meant. Bowie has some mainstream sounding music, music that sounds a lot like that of his contemporaries, and those are the records that became hits. But the vast majority of Bowie's music embraces sounds that are different, uncomfortable and, like my uncle said, weird.
So in an attempt to listen to music that was new to me and to connect more with my partner, I started on this journey the same way I do with most artists I want to learn about, by listening to their music on shuffle. I figured that would be the best way to hear a lot of his music from different eras and different albums in a short amount of time. My first thought as music jumped from place to place was something my partner had said "Bowie can't be defined by one genre." That absolutely started to ring true as I listened to one song with jazz influences followed by classic rock, followed by a ballad, followed by acoustic. It all felt disjointed, like I was listening to a bunch of different artists from different eras. I realized then that it felt decontextualized. I needed to listen to Bowie the way he intended it, or as close to it as possible. I don't own nor do I have the budget for all of Bowie's vinyl records. But I do have YouTube and Wikipedia. So on a February night in 2020, I started to listen to David Bowies studio albums in chronological order, song by song. I had the song pulled up on YouTube, the Wikipedia pages for the album and the songs on a different tab, I kept opening more resources from those pages in addition to the lyrics to read along, and I opened a notes page on my phone . I listened to and annotated 27 David Bowie studio albums in the span of one week. I spent almost every spare moment listening to and analyzing David Bowie. From the first album to the last I could understand why he has become one of the most talked about artists of all time. He truly cannot be defined by any one sound, any genre, and certainly not any aesthetic. His music could at times be startling, scary, deeply strange and at other times feel like you're at a nightclub with friends. His content and music is deliberate and calculated and paradoxically unplanned and chaotic. He was confident but also deeply fallible and vulnerable. He took us on a journey of his life through some albums, while others took place in other universes, other times or dimensions. But even his most extraordinary subjects had content that was relevant to the times or to the human experience. Lyrics were sometimes straightforward and sometimes required further investigation or interpretation. There were very few Bowie records that did not include intense storytelling and/or sociopolitical commentary. He didn't shy away from difficult conversations or tension musically or personally. He spent his career refusing to be defined personally or musically, and he succeeded. This is the first of many musings I'll write about the late, great David Bowie. Anyone who has spoken to me this past year has likely heard at least one of my rantings about his work or his life. I did not enter this endeavor believing that I would become a fan. I thought I would like a few o
his records and not much else. At the end of last year Spotify rolled out its annual wrap-up and informed me that I was in the top 4% of David Bowie listeners
I listened to 27 David Bowie albums so you don't have to! Here are my favorites:
Honorable Mention: Never Let me Down (1987)
Never Let me Down was Bowie's call to his earlier days. After the success of Let's Dance in 1983 followed by the less-successful Tonight in 1984, Bowie went back to his roots musically and lyrically for this album. One of the many things Bowie executed masterfully was his ability to keep up with the sound of the times while adapting it to maintain his own unique, authentic musical choices. Never Let Me Down did just that, harkening back to his earlier works which had complex musical and lyrical stylings. The top single on this album "Day in, Day Out" showcases some classic rock and R&B musicality. If one isn't paying attention, it sounds like something you would just jam in your car to, but it's actually Bowie's reaction and outrage to the treatment of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. In my shorthand notes in my phone notepad I said "Yep. This is great. It's the rock social commentary I want." The second single from this album, "Time will Crawl" has a traditional 80s sound and surrounded themes of environmental crises and was inspired by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Bowie said that the song "deals with the idea that someone in one's own community could be the one responsible for blowing up the world." The album is full of stories and messages which I'll let you explore on your own. The title track is more personal for the artist. He wrote it from start to finish in 24 hours. It's about himself and his long-time personal assistant, their expectations of one another, and his platonic but steadfast reliance on her. If you want an album that is quintessentially Bowie, this is the one to start with.
#5: Outside (1995)
The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-cycle
Outside is one of the most disturbing albums I've ever listened to. It is one of those albums I don't wish to own and don't care to listen to in my free time. But it has earned a spot in my top-5 because of its brilliant concept and storytelling and the mix of sung and spoken word. This album is a brainchild of David Bowie and artist Brian Eno. They drew inspiration for the themes of this album by observing and interviewing patients at the Gugging Psychiatric Hospital in Vienna which uses art therapy interventions to produce "Outsider Art". Bowie and Eno's approach to writing the music for this album was eclectic, as was Bowie's approach to many albums. For example, they would write character descriptions and prompts on a notecard for a member of the band. For example: "You are the disgruntled member of a South African rock band. Play the notes that were suppressed." The lyrics are also jumbled and Bowie largely improvised whether they would be spoken or sung or in or out of character. This album is not meant to be comfortable, it is meant to be fractured, cut up, broken then stitched methodically but sloppily together again. In the liner notes Bowie writes on the story of the album. It takes place in a dystopian version of the year 1999 where the phenomenon of Art Crime is rampant, murder and mutilation have become an artistic trend in an underground art scene. Nathan Adler, the story's protagonist, is tasked with determining and investigating what is legally art or not. Lyrics are told from the perspective of various characters. This album's Wikipedia page is worth the read since there is so much content and the entire album is worth listening all the way through. Bowie described this album loosely as a reflection of the panic and confusion at the turn of the millennium. Of the stories Bowie tells in his albums, this one is the most creative and, I believe, most significant culturally and analytically. Also, Bowie painted the cover art himself: it's one of a 5-part self-portrait series.
#4: Low (1977)
If this was a list purely based on emotional impact of an album, this would likely be my #1. This is the first in Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy", three albums he wrote while working through sobriety in Berlin (although he was in Switzerland for some of the production of this album). During the late 60s and early to mid 70s, Bowie struggled with substance abuse. While he gained a lot of commercial success during this time, he also did and said things which provoked controversy and outrage. He and his friend and fellow musician Iggy Pop, journeyed to Berlin together to recover from their addictions. This was Bowie's first album since his sobriety. In contrast to the lyrical genius discussed above, what struck me about this album was Bowie's sheer musical genius and his ability to illicit an emotional response just from instrumental, electronic music. It's difficult to describe in the written word, but I have never cried at piece of instrumental music until I heard the song "Warszawa". Just give it a listen, trust me.
#3: Blackstar or ★ (2016)
It's an extremely close call between this album and my #2 pick. Again this one relied heavily on my emotional investment in this album. This is David Bowie's last album. This album earned Bowie 4 Grammy Awards, his only Grammy wins except for a short form film he made in 1985. Bowie did not live to receive his awards or even the nominations as he passed away from cancer just two days after the album's release. The driving force and theme of this album is that Bowie knew he was going to die. Not many people knew, but Bowie knew. This album was a glancing back at his legacy and career, not with throwback tracks that take us back to the 70s, but with a subtle homages to "Major Tom" (from his hit song "Space Oddity") and the very complex questions of what or more accurately who comes next. The sound is once again unique from anything he has done while still being recognizably Bowie. Bowie said the sound was inspired by Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (more on that in a later post) The HBO documentary "David Bowie: the last 5 years" gives a detailed account of the writing and producing and analysis of this album. After a week of following Bowie's life and journey, even though it was four years after his death, I mourned and grieved this loss while listening to this album for the first time. Bowie wasn't going to just say goodbye, he was going to leave reminding us that there is no one like him but challenge us to try.
#2: Let's Dance (1983)
If you love mainstream 80s music as much as I do then this is the album for you! There's a reason that this was Bowie's most successful album ever. As much as I appreciate his weird, edgy, experimental music, I couldn't help but show favoritism towards this album. This is fitting given that he called this part of his "Phil Collins Era", and he didn't say that affectionately. Phil Collins is one of my favorite recording artists of all time and arguable one of the most talented drummers of the 1970s and 80s. I could write (and probably will) a post about my love for Phil Collins and my steadfast defense of his work, but that's for another time. No one can be positive what Bowie meant by that but we can assume he meant that the sound was too mainstream and the music not complex enough like his earlier and then later work. There is some truth to that. This album is filled with the mainstream sounds all 80s music fans love. Every track is a bop! But I would argue that even with a mainstream sound, as I have mentioned earlier, Bowie manages to remain authentic. His high standards for himself may have kept him from seeing that this album, too, was a showcase of his talents. Where he majorly deviates from the norm in this album isn't in the music but in the lyrics, but you really have to be paying attention to notice. I'll talk more about this later but this album takes on themes of substance abuse, orientalism, colonization, spirituality and religious crises, and a critique of capitalism and consumerism all while producing hits you can dance to at any nightclub! Bowie may have believed that he sacrificed some authenticity for this album, but he stayed very much true to himself by churning out more of that "rock social commentary" I look for in a Bowie album.
#1: The Man Who Sold The World (1971)
Alright folks! Here it is! My top Bowie album. This is his 3rd studio album and I truly believe that besides "Space Oddity" on his second album, this was where Bowie found his niche, his groove, his sound if you will. While the others in the top 6 have shifted around a bit with more listening and analysis, this has remained my number one pick consistently. This album doesn't have a story arc throughout like some of this others do, but every song is a story, some more nuanced and poetic than others. Bowie's first two albums were folksy and acoustic, whereas this one is where you start to hear the rock star in Bowie. Every single song on this album is lyrically and musically phenomenal. Let's start with "All the Madmen". With a sound often referred to as "gothic melodrama", this song is dark and eerie and uncomfortable. It starts out so simple but the chorus is musically complex and layered. It's not a club hit, it's not rock social commentary, it's sometimes difficult to listen to because that's what he wanted. If you're going to write lyrics about slipping into insanity (although it is about so much more than that) then the music should fit that as well. He follows up this song with "After All", an equally if not more eerie song which I don't have the energy to unpack because it's... a lot. But it's worth noting that "After All" is in a waltz time signature which I think is pretty darn cool! "Running Gun Blues" sounds like a catchy campfire song before Bowie starts singing, but it's actually a song told from the perspective of a serial killer. My notes say "Slim Shady couldn't compete" and that's coming from a lifelong Eminem fan. "Savior Machine" depicts a society that worships and bases all decision making on artificial intelligence (this was written in 1970) until the machine gets bored with its own problem solving abilities and starts creating problems. The coolest part about this song is not the lyrics which are already a fantastic and unique premise for the time, but the freaking trumpet solos! Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed. But the pinnacle of excellence on this album is actually the very first track "The Width of a Circle". This may be a controversial take, especially since it was so early in his career, but I truly believe this is Bowie's magnum opus. Among decades of absolutely outstanding work, this stands out as his most phenomenal to me. I will most definitely be writing about this in the future but for the sake of this post let me just say that upon hearing this piece for the first time it quickly became not only my favorite Bowie song, but my favorite song of all time. When I listen to music on shuffle now and this song comes on, the very first cord playing is enough to make me smile and close my eyes. I immediately am transported onto a higher spiritual plane, I cannot explain it. It's unlike anything I've ever heard but the closest I can come to a comparison is that this is his "Bohemian Rhapsody". Much like "Warszawa" my love for this song is in the instrumentation more than the lyrics, which are also complex and have been analyzed repeatedly. This song is really two completely different movements separated by a very long guitar solo during which Bowie would often change costumes when performing live, sometimes leaving his guitarist to play for over ten minutes. This may not be everyone's favorite, but there is no contest in my mind, this is the best album Bowie ever bestowed on the world.
There is no greater joy than watching someone talk about something they love, and I found so much joy in discussing this project that I wanted to share it with everyone. I hope reading this provided some joy and if not maybe some fun facts. Bowie's music isn't always easy or hopeful, but somehow it became a comfort for me. Maybe it's because Bowie created worlds through song. His music transported me, provided a much needed escape during a tumultuous and uncertain time. I would really like to dedicate this project to my partner who introduced me to this artist and allowed me to witness and then share in this joy with him.
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