A True Iconoclast: The Legacy of David Bowie and his 36 Greatest Songs
Tuesday 12th of January 2016
I think my initial reaction to hearing about the passing of David Bowie earlier in the week was the same everyone else’s, that of disbelief. For some reason we assumed him immortal, a man of so many faces, so many personas. But ultimately he was just David Robert Jones – a mere mortal from South London. Although just a regular guy like the rest of us, the influence of David Bowie on music and culture as we know it today is immense. A musical trailblazer that drew from the far reaches of western and eastern cultures to develop a constantly evolving and always iconoclastic approach to popular music. A fashion icon that pushed the boundaries of what a man could look like, what a rock star could act like and how being your unique weirdo self could become the template for an entire generation after you. His legacy is unparalleled; there will never and can never be another like him.
When I heard he passed I immediately had the inclination to do a list of his greatest songs. With an initial idea of a top 20 songs, I did a quick shortlist that ended up with over 50 songs. So I did a cull and ended up with 36 before I was unwilling to cut any further. So here it is, a top three dozen – it probably could have been in any order but I did my best to order it in some way, numbers aside.
SUE (OR IN A SEASON OF CRIME)
Part of wanting the list to go further than 36 was to include something from ‘Blackstar’. Released just a few days ago, it’s a testament to the fact that Bowie never grew complacent right ’til the end. This was my first introduction to any of the material from the album. Sounds like Scott Walker arranged by Charles Mingus and somehow, exactly like David Bowie.
JOHN, I’M ONLY DANCING (1972 – Non Album Single)
A song by a bisexual man that addressed his sexuality and caused his record label to prevent it’s release until 1976. Like Lou Reed, Bowie was integral in pushing things that were before considered taboo into the popular consciousness.
ANDY WARHOL (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
I remember playing this song in front of my class when I was in school and my teacher said he liked the performance considering it wasn’t one of Bowie’s best. I disagree, listening back to it now I still find it a fitting tribute to an icon.
WARSZAWA (1977 from ‘Low’)
Using Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies in its creation, this track from Bowie’s Masterpiece ‘Low’ is perhaps a perfect example of the Berlin mindset at the time. Using an invented language for the vocals and a musical arrangement designed to evoke the desolation of Warsaw, this track perfectly typifies the idea of evoking despair and trying to find the human emotion in the electronic instrument.
LAZARUS (2015 from ‘Blackstar’)
What a final song to release before his passing. With a video clip of him on a hospital bed and opening lines of ‘Look up here, I’m in Heaven’. A parting gift that couldn’t have come from anyone else.
ALADDIN SANE (1973 from ‘Aladdin Sane’)
The beginning of him pushing further into experimentation later explored in the Berlin years. In his personal life he was beginning to willingly self destruct with his ongoing drug use: ‘A Lad Insane’.
KOOKS (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
Written for his newly born son Zowie (later Duncan) and with influence from the style of Neil Young. A new parent singing about the parent he hopes to be.
FASHION (1980 from ‘Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’)
Fripp on guitar, Bowie sending up British pop culture and one hell of an 80’s video clip.
ALL THE YOUNG DUDES (1972 from the Mott The Hoople Album ‘All The Young Dudes’)
After they passed on Suffragette City, David went back to the drawing board to offer up another song for Mott The Hoople’s 1972 album. It not only ended up being the band’s biggest songs but one of glam rock’s biggest anthems.
MODERN LOVE (1983 from Let’s Dance)
Always with an affinity towards American Culture, this is a song inspired by Bowie’s love for Little Richard. Another big song from an immensely popular album.
BREAKING GLASS (1977 from ‘Low’)
Those drums. Tony Visconti fed Dennis Davis’ snare through an Eventide Harmonizer to pitch it down underneath the original snare sound. Couple this with the bombastic kick drum sound and Eno’s rude as hell Moog Synth and you’ve got the recipe for one of Art Rock Bowie’s finest.
QUEEN BITCH (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
This track pretty much provides the template for the glam rock follow up in Ziggy. Inspired by The Velvet Underground, and showcasing Mick Ronson’s guitar playing that would be integral in Bowie’s sound moving forward.
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TVC 15 (1976 from ‘Station to Station)
Written about Iggy Pop’s drug induced hallucination where he thought his girlfriend was being swallowed by her television. All the while The Thin White Duke staying on form with all its far reaching reference points. Bowie in peak period.
ROCK ‘N ROLL SUICIDE (1972 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars)
Ziggy’s final collapse. Glam Rock’s explodes.
ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR (1977 from ‘Low’)
Lyrically about completing the mistakes over and over and featuring studio treatments on the vocals, guitars and layered synths. More catharsis from ‘Low’s rebuilding process.
QUICKSAND (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory)
“I’m not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with the potential of a superman”. With not much more than an acoustic 12-string, this is whole track is arguably Bowie’s finest lyrical hour.
FAME (1975 from ‘Young Americans’)
Dancier than Let’s Dance? Probably.
THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD (1970 from ‘The Man Who Sold The World’)
A key track in his early career that shaped where he was headed and a key track in him finding a new audience in the 90’s when it was covered by the worlds biggest band at the time, Nirvana. Another example of his ability to some how continue to be relevant.
ZIGGY STARDUST (1970 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’)
One of rock ‘n roll’s greatest guitar riffs from Mick Ronson and the tale of Ziggy’s tale of self destruction. For one of Bowie’s most popular songs it was somehow never released as one of his 111 singles.
THE JEAN GENIE (1972 from ‘Aladdin Sane’)
One of Bowie’s first songs written in New York City. There’s ambiguity as to who this ones about – Cyrinda Foxe, Iggy Pop, Jean Genet or maybe all of them.
STARMAN (1972 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’)
Number one sci-fi anthem from a guy who wrote a lot of sci-fi anthems. Maybe Ziggy Stardust’s biggest chorus.
LET’S DANCE (1983 from ‘Let’s Dance’)
One of Bowie’s biggest singles and off the album that took him out of the cult circles and into the mainstream. Also features an early career Stevie Ray Vaughan doing the outro guitar solo and one of Bowie’s most iconic videos, featuring an Aboriginal couple facing imperialism in Australia.
ASHES TO ASHES (1980 from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’)
Major Tom returns. Songwriting perfection and a revolutionary video clip.
GOLDEN YEARS (1975 from ‘Station to Station)
Apparently Golden Years was offered to Elvis Presley but he declined. Bowie’s Young American’s moment on Station to Station.
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MOONAGE DAYDREAM (1972 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’)
“I’m an alligator, I’m a mama-papa coming for you. I’m the space invader, I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you”
OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
A little bit cabaret and a chorus hook as strong as anything The Beatles put to tape. Another song about parental anxieties from Hunky Dory.
SUFFRAGETTE CITY (1972 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’)
‘Wham Bam, thanks you M’aam’. Pretty serious song for a track that was passed on by Mott The Hoople.
FIVE YEARS (1972 from ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’)
Opening his glam rock masterpiece and singing about the demise of the human race, his fascination with George Orwell starting to show its face. With an idiosyncratic musical arrangement and the last minute showing Bowie at his most cathartic, this is one of the strongest tracks from one of his strongest records.
SPACE ODDITY (1969 from ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’)
At first David Bowie was just a folk singer. Albeit a folk singer wearing a dress singing about science fiction.
REBEL REBEL (1974 from ‘Diamond Dogs’)
Bowie relationship with Jagger had grown to the point where the Stones were subconsciously rubbing off on his writing. Probably his most iconic guitar riff.
CHANGES (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
Almost serving as a manifesto for his constant reinvention, the track with early beginnings as a parody of a throwaway nightclub track has proved to be one of his most enduring. Like a lot of Hunky Dory its lyrics touch on personal anxieties of the ‘changes’ in his life he was starting to encounter and like a lot of Hunky Dory it features an instantly memorable melodic hook – one of his best.
YOUNG AMERICANS (1975 from ‘Young Americans’)
Plastic Soul Bowie. With backing vocals from Ava Cherry, Robin Clark and Luther Vandross and blaring sax from Dave Sanborn, a white British guy takes on black music with a bleak tale of first time sex and 70’s Nixon paranoia. That shouldn’t work. Huge song.
SOUND AND VISION (1977 from ‘Low’)
The most user friendly track from an album not overly user friendly for the uninitiated. Almost entirely instrumental until the vocal comes in about half way through singing abstractly about his need to shake his addictions. Built from his need rebuild after a emotional and spiritual unsettling time that came before it. The layered instrumental draws from a wide array of sources and different elements from throughout his career, both before and after. He called this his ‘ultimate retreat song’.
STATION TO STATION (1976 from ‘Station to Station’)
Bowie starved himself during this period of everything except cocaine, milk and red peppers. The Thin White Duke was born and one of his greatest albums was recorded. Inspired by Kraftwerk, lyrical themes of gnosticism and the Kabbalah, Earl Slick’s guitar feedback and Bowie’s longest ever studio recording. Potentially the most coked up song ever recorded.
LIFE ON MARS?’ (1971 from ‘Hunky Dory’)
Probably the strongest melody from an album with some of the strongest melodies every written. Life on Mars is often named as one of Bowie’s best and one of his fan favourites and there’s good reason why. Surreal lyrics developed from William Burroughs cut up technique of writing, Rick Wakeman delivering a beautiful piano arrangement before he unfortunately bought a cape and formed Yes. When it hits that chorus it’s pretty hard to fight the urge to sing along. Aliens of the world unite.
“HEROES” (1977 from ‘Heroes’)
Does he have a better song? Does anyone have a better song? Inspired by the Krautrock of Neu! and Kraftwerk, featuring the multi tracked guitar feedback of Robert Fripp. This story of two lovers (later found out to be Tony Visconti cheating on his wife with the albums backing vocalist Antonia Maass) kissing at the foot of the Berlin wall. The revolutionary recording techniques used by Visconti and Eno helped create a wall of sound like that he was singing of and when the vocal goes up the octave – one of the most memorable vocal performances in recorded music.
