And so, we have to come to the The Thin White Duke, to Ziggy Stardust. Arguably the greatest pop artist of the 20th century, the master of reinvention, a genius songwriter and performer. It's Music Monday, and we're talking about David Bowie.

David Bowie's career spanned six decades and included a great number of studio albums, live albums, and compilations. To truly do it justice would require a book. No, several books. Or maybe a huge website. Heck, the official website barely scratches the surface. So this will definitely not be a definitive David Bowie post. It will, however, serve as a primer, an entry point. And also a walk down memory lane for those of us who have had his music as part of our lives for all or most of them.

David Bowie

This is the second self titles album, the one from 1969, not the one from 1967, which came first but wasn't nearly as memorable. This album is mostly memorable for one song, but it is a song for the ages. It's a science fiction song. It's a song for the ages. It's a song that spawned three sequels, one by a different artist (I'll get to them). This is Space Oddity:

Sample lyric:

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

The Man Who Sold The World

The notable song from Bowie's third album is one that was actually featured here a couple of weeks ago, in the Nirvana post. But this is the original. It is just as brilliant as the cover. This is The Man Who Sold The World:

Sample lyric:

We must have died alone
A long long time ago

Hunky Dory

While previous albums had some great songs, I would argue that Hunky Dory was Bowie's first truly great album. As such, it's the first one that will be represented by several songs here in the post. The first one is a song about impostor syndrome - before that term was invented - and may have also predicted the personas Bowie would take on throughout the rest of the 70s. This is Changes:

Sample lyric:

So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

The next song was Bowie's response to finding out he's about to become a dad (to Moon director Duncan Jones), and deals with the fear and excitement that the next generation will be greater and better. This is Oh, You Pretty Things:

Sample lyric:

Look out at your children
See their faces in golden rays
Don't kid yourself they belong to you
They're the start of a coming race

Bowie's fascination with science fiction expressed itself beautifully in the next song, a song that would hint at things to come. This song, friends. It is so powerful, musically, and delivers some devastating statements . It is a goddamn masterpiece. It is ***Life On Mars?

Sample lyric:

Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show

The subject of this next song hated it, but eventually grew to like Bowie. Bowie would also play him in a movie, many years later. I love the guitar in this one. This is Andy Warhol:

Sample lyric:

Dress my friends up just for show
See them as they really are
Put a peephole in my brain
Two New Pence to have a go
I'd like to be a gallery
Put you all inside my show

The last song from this album I'll feature here is the other hero worship song in it. It's also a bit of an imitation job, which is funny, because Bowie is a much better vocalist than the man he imitates. This is Song For Bob Dylan:

Sample lyric:

Oh, hear this Robert Zimmerman
I wrote a song for you
About a strange young man
Called Dylan
With a voice like sand and glue
His words of truthful vengeance
They could pin us to the floor

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

In this album, and the tour for it, and in a movie by the same name, Bowie took on his first, and most famous persona: Ziggy Stardust. Ziggy is a possibly alien prophet, come to a world on the verge of destruction. That destruction is explained in the album's first song, which sets the stage. This is Five Years:

Sample lyric:

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got

The next song is, in a way, Bowie's declaration of his intent with Ziggy and with future personas. It is also a description of Ziggy himself. Plus, it's just an awesome song. This is Moonage Daydream:

Sample lyric:

I'm an alligator
I'm a mama-papa coming for you
I'm a space invader
I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you

Next up is another simply gargantuan song. This is the song in which Ziggy explains about the aliens, or maybe David explains about Ziggy. Either one does it through the music media of the day, which is the radio. The chorus of this song is just such a jam. Lines like the sample lyric have been profoundly powerful for queer kids for decades now. This is Starman:

Sample lyric:

Look out your window I can see his light
If we can sparkle he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright

After talking about him obliquely for much of the record, this is the song where the titular hero is put into focus. You may know it as "Ziggy Played Guitar," the songs first line. This song is sung from the point of view of Ziggy's bandmates, frustrated by his talent and his ego. This song is basically an interstellar "Behind The Music." This is Ziggy Stardust:

Sample lyric:

He was the naz
With God-given ass
He took it all too far
But boy could he play guitar

The next song is Bowie's homage to Lou Reed, to whom he was very close. The name, apparently, does not refer to women's fight for the right to vote, but to the city of Manchester. It is a song about a man preferring the company of his girlfriend to that of his male friend, due to awesome sex. This is Suffragette City:

Sample lyric:

Hey man, my schooldays insane
Hey man, my work's down the drain
Hey man, well she's a total blam-blam
She said she had to squeeze it but she... then she...

The last song I'll feature is the last one in the album, and was the last song performed as the character of Ziggy Stardust. The cry of "you're not alone" is harrowing. This is Rock 'N' Roll Suicide:
Sample lyric:

No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone!

All The Young Dudes

Never released on any of the studio albums, this song was written for glam rock band Mott The Hoople. As the story goes, Bowie heard the band is going to break up due to lack of commercial success, and wrote "Suffragette City" for them. But they didn't want it. So he sat down in a hotel room and wrote this one instead. It became the anthem of glam. Mott The Hoople stayed together for another 8 years. This is All The Young Dudes:

Sample lyric:

And my brother's back at home
With his Beatles and his Stones
We never got it off on that revolution stuff
What a drag
Too many snags

Aladdin Sane

As a character, Bowie described Aladdin Sane as "Ziggy Stardust in America," and this album is a direct sequel, and to my mind, a lesser sequel. I'm only going to feature one song from this one, a song that was Bowie's attempt to capture what America is. This is The Jean Genie:

Sample lyric:

A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers and
Ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking 'bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York's a go-go, and everything tastes nice
Poor little Greenie

Diamond Dogs

Part 1984 pastiche and part dark original vision, this was Bowie's last glam album. This album, which also featured Bowie's last real "persona," Halloween Jack, works better as an album than in singles, which is why it only gets one song here. That is a song about questioning one's own gender and sexuality. This is Rebel Rebel:

Sample lyric:

You've got your mother in a whirl
She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl
Hey babe, your hair's alright
Hey babe, let's go out tonight
You like me, and I like it all
We like dancing and we look divine

Young Americans

Not every album's gonna be great, you know? But I'll feature one very successful song from the album that I don't particularly like. This is Fame:

Sample lyric:

Fame, (fame) makes a man take things over
Fame, (fame) lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame, (fame) puts you there where things are hollow
Fame (fame)

Station to Station

This album is the one where Bowie showed off his new persona, the problematic and fascistic Thin White Duke. It is a relatively brief album, and very much a piece unto itself. The only song I'll feature here is actually a cover, and is a powerful one, sounding much darker than the loving lyrics would imply. This is Wild Is The Wind:

Sample lyric:

You touch me
I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You're spring to me, all things to me
Don't you know, you're life itself!

The Berlin Trilogy (Low, Heroes, Lodger)

Following Station to Station, recorded amidst mountains of cocaine, Bowie took his first significant break, living in Switzerland and then in Berlin, Germany. This is where he made these three albums, from which I'll feature two songs. The first is from Low. In it, Bowie wonders about Sound and Vision:

Sample lyric:

I will sit right down
Waiting for the gift of sound and vision
And I will sing, waiting for the gift of sound and vision
Drifting into my solitude
Over my head

The second song is the title song of the middle volume of the trilogy. In a period where Bowie was not particularly interested in creating banger hit singles, this one stands out. It's a song about a doomed love finding a moment, finding a day. It's a great song. This is Heroes:

Sample lyric:

Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be heroes, forever and ever
What d'you say?

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

Back from Berlin, and back to form, this album was great, a triumph both artistically and commercially. The first song I'll feature is the title track, the story of a man who starts a relationship with a shy girl and messes her up psychologically to a degree that disturbs him. This is Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps):

Sample lyric:

She asked me to stay
And I stole her room
She asked for my love
And I gave her a dangerous mind
Now she's stupid in the street
And she can't socialise
Well I love the little girl
And I'll love her till the day she dies

I promised two Bowie sequels to Space Oddity, and here's the first one of those, and one in which Bowie identifies himself with Major Tom, now a drugged mess. It is also about dealing with his own feelings of inadequacy and thinking of himself as a failure. Impostor Syndrome, thy name is 70s and 80s David Bowie. Because, seriously, have you listened to these songs? This is Ashes To Ashes:

Sample lyric:

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low

In the last song from the album I'll feature here, Bowie's being a bit of a dick. It's about the New Romantics, a musical movement heavily influenced by Bowie, which he considered worthless. This is Fashion:

Sample lyric:

There's a brand new dance
But I don't know its name
That people from bad homes
Do again and again
It's big and it's bland
Full of tension and fear
They do it over there but we don't do it here

Let's Dance

And now we come to the great Bowie divide. Many folks hate this album, which was one of his most successful and featured three of his biggest hits. I like it a lot. My SO haaaaates it, and particularly those three hits. She thinks it's too Americanized, too commercial. I think the songs are bangers. The first of those is the album's opener, and it is, as I wrote, an absolutely banger. This is Modern Love:

Sample lyric:

There's no sign of life
It's just the power to charm
I'm lying in the rain
But I never wave bye-bye

So, let's get this out of the way. This song is problematic af. From the title (which is highly inaccurate, as the woman in question was Vietnamese), the musical nods of appropriation. I mean, yeah. The whole thing is a mess. The thing is, Bowie and co-writer Iggy Pop were kinda working at cross purposes here. Pop had a crush on a woman and felt awful about the whole thing. Bowie was writing a song about invasion and exploitation,. This is China Girl:

Sample lyric:

My little china girl
You shouldn't mess with me
I'll ruin everything you are
I'll give you television
I'll give you eyes of blue
I'll give you a man who wants to rule the world

The album's title track and first single was a huge hit, and is as pure a love song as Bowie ever wrote. My SO super hates it. This is Let's Dance:

Sample lyric:

If you say run, I'll run with you
And if you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall, into my arms
And tremble like a flower

Tonight

While not my favorite Bowie album, this one still has some songs worth noting and featuring. The first one is about Bowie's issues with organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. This is Loving The Alien:

Sample lyric:

Prayers they hide the saddest view
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
And your prayers, they break the sky in two
(Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)

The other song I'll feature from the album is catchy as hell, which partially making up for it being one of the shallowest things Bowie's ever written. This is Blue Jean:

Sample lyric:

She got Latin roots
She got everything

Absolute Beginners

Bowie had an impressive acting career alongside his musical career. One film he made which I think is underrated - but also maybe underrated in my brain because I saw it at age 15 - is Absolute Beginners. He also wrote and sang the film's title track, which I think is gorgeous. The lyrics aren't much, but the melody and performance are terrific. This is Absolute Beginners:

Sample lyric:

I've nothing much to offer
There's nothing much to take
I'm an absolute beginner
And I'm absolutely sane

Labyrinth

It's an interesting decision to cast someone as sexual as Bowie in a children's movie, but he sure was an amazing Goblin King. And he also sung some songs. The first one is about being a Goblin King who kidnapped a baby. This is Magic Dance:

Sample lyric:

What kind of magic spell to use
Slime and snails
Or puppy dogs tails
Thunder or lightning
Then baby said

The other song from the movie I'll feature is, partially, about being a baby kidnapped by the Goblin King. Symmetry! This is Underground:

Sample lyric:

Sister, sister, please take me down
I, I'm underground
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here

Never Let Me Down, Tin Machine, Tin Machine II, Black Tie White Noise

I appreciate that Bowie was very much doing his thing and following his muse with these albums. I didn't dig them. Moving on.

Outside

After getting all of that out of his system, Bowie got back to writing beautiful melodies and fun songs. Yay! The one I'll feature from this album is his metal electronic song, very influenced by Nine Inch Nails. At least in its original version, which I don't like as much. This is the much promised third song in the Major Tom trilogy. This is Hallo Spaceboy:

And this is the version remixed by the Pet Shop Boys, which I much prefer. This is also Hallo Spaceboy:

Sample lyric:

And I want to be free
Don't you want to be free?
Do you like girls or boys?
It's confusing these days
But Moondust will cover you
Cover you
This chaos is killing me

Earthling

Turns out, he's not an alien after all! The song I'll feature is one I'm conflicted about. It really sounds like Bowie trying to make the music that was popular at the time, and not so much his own thing. Also, the lyrics are silly and are just saying things using the names of the dwarfs from Snow White. This is Little Wonder:

Sample lyric:

Stinky weather, Fat shaky hands
Dopey morning Doc, Grumpy gnomes

Hours...

So much of this album was written as a soundtrack for the game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, and I would totally skip it, like I'm about to do with a bunch of albums, but there's this one song that's simply gorgeous, and so here I am. This is Thursday's Child:

Sample lyric

Throw me tomorrow
Now that I've really got a chance
Throw me tomorrow
Everything's falling into place

Heathen, Reality, The Next Day

These are albums that happened.

Blackstar

Released two days before Bowie passed, this album is simply amazing. I'll only feature the title track, but I strongly urge you to listen to the whole thing. It is both a return to form and an entirely new thing. It is more pop than rock, more avant garde than pop. This is ★:

Sample lyric:

Something happened on the day he died
Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried
(I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)

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