Just thought I'd post this in response to something Emptyshellmetal wrote, which I agree with:

"It amazes me that Bowie fans and critics still can't get over Bowie's
Tonight or NLMD albums and see them in "context." I can now enjoy
them KNOWING he'll never make music like that again & frankly sometimes
I'm not always in the mood for ethereal, apocalyptic soundscapes......"


I love his 80's output and I totally agree with you, I think he's had a hard rap against his 80's work and people aren't able to put it into context. They keep comparing it to the 70's, but that was a different decade, different sounds, different ideas. Bowie made some stunning music in the 80's right up there with his 70's output. Whether people like it or not he made some real classics like; Fashion; Under Pressure (with Queen), Let's Dance, China Girl, Modern Love, Cat People (original), This is Not America, Absolute Beginners, Loving The Alien and even smaller songs that had something worth listening to like Blue Jean, Underground, As The World Falls Down, Time Will Crawl.
Taken as individual songs, they are really fantastic and shows Bowie's wonderful vocal skills and ear for melody. I even like listening to tracks such as; Girls, Tonight, God Only Knows, Never Let Me Down,...
I think we should treat his 80's output with more respect and understand it was always much better than so many of his contemporaries at the time and it was definitely creative with impassioned vocals, it just wasn't from the 70's.

Here's a list of songs I put together for a Bowie's 80's compilation I'm listening to. It serves as his very best 80's work in my opinion; hope you like it too:

1. Underground
2. Blue Jean
3. Girls
4. Tonight
5. Fashion
6. Modern Love
7.Underpressure
8. Ricochet
9. Julie
10. When the Wind Blows
11. Cat People (original)
12. Let's Dance (album version)
13. Loving The Alien
14. Time Will Crawl (album version)
15. Ashes To Ashes
16. This Is Not America
17. China Girl
18. Cat People (album version) Yes I like both.
19. Zeroes
20. Shake It
21. God Only Knows
22. Without You
23. As The World Falls Down
24. Absolute Beginners (full 8min version)

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people aren't able to put it into context

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Which context?

If you put it in the context of the rest of his catalogue, it falls well short in both quantity and quality. I'm an unabashed "Shake It" defender, but the man forgot more five-star melodies in 1975 than he released on Tonight and NLMD combined.

If you put it in the context of his peers in music at the time, well...everything's subjective and all that, but Prince? Metallica? Run DMC? Public Enemy? Guns 'n' Roses? Tom Waits? Michael Jackson? X? Duran Duran? Culture Club? The Smiths? The Pixies? Squeeze? Jane's Addiction? Talk Talk? The Fall? Eric B. & Rakim? De La Soul? Husker Du? R.E.M.? Talking Heads? Sonic Youth? The Replacements? The Cure? Bruce Springsteen? Madonna?

That's a hell of a lot of context, regardless of how your personal tastes run. Unless they are "Bowie comma David period," in which case I would submit that it may be your own view which lacks context.

I don't walk it like I talk it cause I run it

Here's a list of the best Bowie songs of the decade. I have it on CD so I can listen to it now and then.

It's No Game (Part 1)
Up The Hill Backwards
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Ashes To Ashes
Fashion
Teenage Wildlife
Scream Like A Baby
Kingdom Come
Because You're Young
It's No Game (Part 2)


It's SAILER, idiot!

I only mean in the "context" of Bowie's career, not anyone elses. No doubt
Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, Smith's, U2, etc...
were all making classic music that overshadowed his work in every way.

What I find interesting is Bowie could've easily fallen prey to making a
"commercial" version of New Wave, the music he could've CASHED IN
on in the 80's. Instead he retreats back to simplified 60's pop and his
long affection for Little Richard. And frankly THIS is what was inspiring
him at the time, NOT "ethereal, apocalyptic soundscapes" as I mentioned.
He was rich, tan and successful....so he made albums that a "rich, tan and
successful" pop star would make.
I'm curious what Bowie would've come up with had he tried to compete
with the fabulous electro-pop of the time: Depeche Mode, OMD, Ultravox,
Soft Cell, New Order, etc.... ?

Bowie considers Let's Dance & Tonight his "vocal" albums as he didn't pick
up ONE instrument during recording. No doubt Bowie was way more
interested in getting Iggy Pop royalties than making great "art". If you
change the running order of Tonight it's actually quite "upbeat". Putting
three ballads after Loving the Alien SINKS the album & it never quite
recovers. My preference :

Loving The Alien
Tumble and Twirl
Neighborhood Threat
Tonight
Blue Jean
I Keep Forgetting
God Only Knows
Don't Look Down
Dancing with the Big Boys

Certainly not heady stuff. Best listened to poolside with an umbrella drink.
I mean, hello, the Marimba gets prime time here!

Bowie's soundtrack work at the time appears to be much more inspired as
he always works better when working with a "theme".....Labyrinth, Absolute
Beginners, Falcon and the Snowman, When the Wind Blows.....

As far as NLMD, Bowie was miraculously able to disappoint both his
hardcore fans AND all the new fans he'd gained after Let's Dance. BUT, if
you're a fan of most of Bowie's dabblings you can take it for what it is:
a closing of a chapter and a look back at all his phases and artists he
was inspired by. Alas, doing a Pepsi commercial with Tina Turner, serving
critics hamburgers at Press Junkets with a huge mullet or performing in
the sunshine at large stadiums where you couldn't see the lighting
or understand ANYTHING that's going on onstage sure didn't help.......

In reply to:

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What I find interesting is Bowie could've easily fallen prey to making a
"commercial" version of New Wave, the music he could've CASHED IN
on in the 80's. Instead he retreats back to simplified 60's pop and his
long affection for Little Richard. And frankly THIS is what was inspiring
him at the time, NOT "ethereal, apocalyptic soundscapes" as I mentioned.
He was rich, tan and successful....so he made albums that a "rich, tan and
successful" pop star would make.
I'm curious what Bowie would've come up with had he tried to compete
with the fabulous electro-pop of the time: Depeche Mode, OMD, Ultravox,
Soft Cell, New Order, etc.... ?

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I just creamed my Corduroys.

__________________________________________
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...but I will prick you!

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Madonna?

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Well, Madonna never would have made "Like a Prayer" if Bowie's "Underground" wasn't around for her to rip off.

Well that's really quite narrow minded of you. If you can't go beyond Scary Monsters then that's a shame. And also a bit cliche.

Take our Shake it, replace it with Criminal World, and take out God Only Knows - which I think is one of the worst pieces he ever did, and it's a fair collection.

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Well that's really quite narrow minded of you. If you can't go beyond Scary Monsters then that's a shame. And also a bit cliche.

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I dunno, I thought it was pretty funny.

then there's the Baal stuff. Very daring move

TWAT.