#5: Starman

(from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars)

 

 

Year of release: 1972

UK Peak: #10

Chart Run: {49-41-29-20-18-10-12-18-35-43} {18-36-98} (24/06/1972 - 02/09/1972) (21/01/2016 - 04/02/2016)

 

Scores: 11 (popchartfreak, richie), 10 (Severin, SamJudd, dandy*, Taylor Jago, Colm), 8.5 (Joe.), 7 (AH Gold), 6 (Fgiboy2511)

Average: 9.35

Final score: 93.5

 

Starman is the song that truly launched Bowie’s career from what was fast becoming a catalogue of failed singles. A late addition to the album it sold reasonably well. Well enough to secure an appearance on Top Of The Pops. It would be this performance which would truly launch the career of David Bowie and the character with which he would be most associated – Ziggy Stardust. The performance was controversial at the time for Bowie’s draping of his arm around guitarist Mick Ronson – not something men in 1970s Britain were supposed to do. It opened the doors to all kinds of questions about Bowie’s sexuality and ‘gender-bending’. From that moment he made a connection with a part of British culture that felt like outsiders.

Although Ziggy is often wrongly taken to be the titular Starman, the intention was that he was merely the human tasked with spreading the Starman’s message.

 

Starman was the first single from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, and a performance on Top Of The Pops made it his second top 10 hit. 44 years later, it's still fantastic.

#8: Heroes

 

:blink:

 

Wtf?

 

 

Buzzjack I despair of you

I've been expecting Life On Mars to win... I can't imagine anyone giving it a low score.

 

 

Fashion is much higher than I expected it to be, as is Lazarus.

#4: Under Pressure (with Queen)

(from Hot Space)

 

 

Year of release: 1981

UK Peak: #1

Chart Run: {8-1-1-2-8-16-35-35-38-41-48} {43-81} (14/11/1981 - 23/01/1982) (21/01/2016 - 28/01/2016)

 

Scores: 11 (SamJudd, Taylor Jago, AH Gold, Fgiboy2511), 10 (Joe.), 9 (popchartfreak), 8 (Severin, richie, Colm), 6.5 (dandy*)

Average: 9.35

Final score: 93.5

 

In July 1981 Queen were recording in Switzerland with Bowie also recording his Cat People single in another room, when after a few drinks they began a jam session from which Under Pressure would evolve. Queen had a vague outline for a song called Feel Like that would serve as a starting point for Under Pressure.

According to Queen’s John Deacon, Bowie came up with the famous bassline but according to Brian May, Roger Taylor and Bowie himself, Deacon had already been working on something approaching the final version when Bowie latched onto it, effectively suggesting the song be built around it.

Brian May, in the days after Bowie’s death, stated that Bowie was the driving force behind the song’s completion due to his enthusiasm for the project when others were beginning to lose interest. Most of the vocals were improvised, particularly by Freddie and Bowie apparently wrote the majority of the lyrics in short bursts, inspired by some vague concept of the harshness of modern times. The song was written and recorded in one day, with minimal overdubs from Brian May later.

Neither act at the time was particularly keen on the result, considering it little more than a piece of fun, but once Queen’s label EMI realised that they had the two acts on one song they pushed for its release as a single. It would go on to become a mainstay of Queen’s live shows, but Bowie never performed it live until a memorable version with Annie Lennox at Freddie Mercury’s tribute concert in 1992.

It has been noted many times that when viewed objectively, Under Pressure is something of a mess of ideas but that at its heart is a great bass riff and a powerhouse performance from two of Rocks then biggest superstars. Each gives a vocal performance so stirring that it simply lifts the track beyond its parts. There’s a video on youtube that has the singers parts isolated to produce an acapella version of the song that demonstrates just how accomplished their vocals are.

 

My second favourite Bowie song and favourite Queen songs finishes in fourth place here. Born from a jamming session in a Switzerland chalet, almost 35 years later it remains one of the best songs ever made.

#3: Space Oddity

(from Space Oddity)

 

 

Year of release: 1969

UK Peak: #1

Chart Run: {48-x-39-25-20-13-8-6-5-7-16-18-34-36-49} {23-11-4-2-1-1-2-10-20-38} {24-51} (06/09/1969 - 13/12/1969) (11/10/1975 - 13/12/1969) (21/01/2016 - 28/01/2016)

 

Scores: 11 (popchartfreak, richie, Joe.), 10 (Severin, SamJudd, Taylor Jago), 9 (Fgiboy2511), 8.5 (dandy*), 8 (AH Gold), 7 (Colm)

Average: 9.55

Final score: 95.5

 

Following several frustrating failures at launching his music career and having been dropped by label Dream, David Bowie created a 30 minute film called Love You Till Tuesday, designed to act as a showcase for his talents. Much of it relied on his earlier work but there was one late addition to the film, a track called Space Oddity. The story of astronaut Major Tom and his conversation with ground control, the track was inspired by the impending Apollo 11 mission.

The song impressed him but Bowie’s eventual long term producer Tony Visconti considered it gimmicky and passed on production duties. The single however, captured public imagination when radio began playing the song after the Apollo 11 crew returned home.

Bowie had finally had a hit and he now realised the importance a strong image could have on his success.

The single was re-issued in 1975 where it peaked at UK #1.

In 2013, real-life astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield recorded a cover version of the song, Performed on the International Space Station, he became the first person to record an album in space.

 

In third place we have David Bowie's first hit, Space Oddity. As Bowie never had that hit everyone could agree was his best (like Purple Rain was for Prince), one of the most frequent answers to the question "What is David Bowie's most iconic song?" will be Space Oddity. Be prepared to restrain yourself from hitting somebody who calls it "Major Tom", however.

 

So it's a TV series showdown in the top 2. Life On Mars? vs Ashes To Ashes: who will win?

#2: Life On Mars?

(from Hunky Dory)

 

 

Year of release: 1973

UK Peak: #3

Chart Run: {21-4-3-3-3-5-7-13-19-25-29-38-45} {55-71} {89} {16-32} (30/06/1973 - 22/09/1973) (21/04/2007 - 28/04/2007) (06/07/2013) (21/01/2016 - 28/01/2016)

 

Scores: 11 (popchartfreak, SamJudd, dandy*), 10 (Severin, Taylor Jago, AH Gold), 9.5 (Joe.), 9 (Fgiboy2511), 8 (Colm), 7 (richie)

Average: 9.65

Final score: 96.5

 

One of Bowie’s most iconic and well-loved songs was strangely overlooked for single release until almost 2 albums later. Originally appearing on Hunky Dory in 1971 it wasn’t released until mid 1973.

Lyrically the song is full of surrealist imagery but is essentially the story of a young girl who is bored by the world around her and dreams of something greater. It is also famous for Rick Wakeman’s distinctive piano work.

The songs origin’s date back to 1968 when Bowie attempted to write an English lyric for the French song CommeD’habitude. Bowie’s song remained unreleased until Paul Anka reworked the original French song into My Way (made famous by Frank Sinatra) after Bowie returned to his song and reworked it once again into Life On Mars?

Fans of the song should check out Bowie’s stripped down live version he performed in the 90s/00s. A live performance with Arcade Fire was released in 2005 on iTunes.

 

Our runner-up is the second and final single from Hunky Dory. Considering by some to be his very best song, it re-entered the UK top 20 following his death and was the most streamed Bowie song in the four days following his death.

 

Which means our winner is...

#1: Ashes To Ashes

(from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

 

 

Year of release: 1980

UK Peak: #1

Chart Run: {4-1-1-2-3-7-15-36-57-71} {62} (16/08/1980 - 18/10/1980) (21/01/2016)

 

Scores: 11 (Severin, SamJudd, dandy*, Taylor Jago, AH Gold, Colm), 10 (popchartfreak, Joe., Fgiboy2511), 8 (richie)

Average: 10.4

Final score: 104

 

Ashes To Ashes was Bowie’s first new material of the decade, but it also harked back to ‘a guy that’s been, in such an early song’ – Major Tom of Space Oddity fame. Essentially Bowie was giving us part 2 of the Major Tom character’s story, and the public responded by taking the character to the #1 spot again.

The songs lyrics were created through Bowie’s now famous ‘cut up’ technique, in which he would write down a number of phrases, lines or just words and then take a pair of scissors to them and re-arrange them until he finalised the lyrics. Because of this the song has a large number of lines that exist as a standalone or as part of a 2 line couplet. And despite this technique the songs lyrics remain a remarkably coherent tale of how astronaut Major Tom found himself marooned alone in space, addicted tosome unspecified drug and reflecting on his life. All of which can be taken as a metaphor for Bowie’s own experiences during the 70’s. The song ends with an ominous nursery rhyme warning about the dangers of drug abuse.

Musically the song is a hybrid of Funk, New Wave and Art Rock, which gives it its distinctive otherworldly feel. At the time there was nothing else quite like it in the charts. It helped pave the way for the New Romantic scene that Bowie had both inspired with the Low album and been inspired by himself.

For the video (which at £250,000 was the most expensive video ever made at the time) Bowie recruited a number of regulars from London’s new Romantic hotspot The Blitz club, including Visage frontman Steve Strange. The video became one of the most memorable of the ‘80s. It cemented Bowie’s status as a pioneer of the video format and became a staple of the nascent MTV channel for years.

 

With 6 11s, 3 10s and a 8, it isn't even really close as Ashes To Ashes wins by 7.5 points. Featuring a line which was our reaction at the news of January 11, 2016 ("oh no, don't say it's true"), and a glorious synthesizer outro, Ashes To Ashes is probably my favourite song of all-time, and I'm glad it's won the competition.

 

Thank you all for voting and following the results, it's been great fun!

I really can't argue with that winning.

Me neither, it's definitely a worthy winner and Life On Mars? will have to settle for a very worthy runners up spot.

 

The synths in Ashes to Ashes remain so good all these decades later.

My fave song won!

Hmm, some of my lower scores going to 3 of the top 4. Good songs still, but his best tracks are a little low down for me.