I swear that -1 must be a typo

#34: Time Will Crawl

(from Never Let Me Down)

 

 

Year of release: 1987

UK Peak: #33

Chart Run: {40-33-42-55} (27/06/1987 - 18/07/1987)

 

Scores: 9 (Taylor Jago), 8 (popchartfreak), 7 (Severin, Acidburn, Joe.), 6.5 (dandy), 5 (Colm)

Average: 7.07

Final score: 70.71

 

Never Let Me Down is notorious as an example of a great artist making a bad album. It does, however, include Time Will Crawl, which is noted for being among his personal favourites of his own songs, although the album version is not the best example. In 2008 Bowie had the song ‘remixed’ by Mario McNulty for his iSelect compilation and, although the album version is one of the better tracks on Never Let Me Down, it is the remix which highlights the songs strengths.

According to Bowie: ‘It was a beautiful day and we were outside on a small piece of lawn facing the Alps and the lake. Our engineer, who had been listening to the radio, shot out of the studio and shouted: ‘There’s a whole lot of shit going on in Russia.” The Swiss news had picked up a Norwegian radio station that was screaming—to anyone who would listen—that huge billowing clouds were moving over from the Motherland and they weren’t rain clouds’.

The song was written immediately in the aftermath of hearing the news of the Chernobyl disaster, but Bowie had done apocalyptic fear before; Five Years, Fantastic Voyage, When The Wind Blows – only this time the lyrical intent was resigned indifference. Effectively - someone, somewhere else in the world has screwed up and there’s nothing I can do but wait for the inevitable.

Vocally the song was inspired by Neil Young.

 

Well, it's the best track from Never Let Me Down, but that's not a very prestigious honour in itself. Still, it was the only song from that album to appear on the 3-CD version of Nothing Has Changed, and it appeared on iSelect.

#33: Loving The Alien

(from Tonight)

 

 

Year of release: 1984

UK Peak: #19

Chart Run: {23-19-19-28-45-66-x-67-81-x²-87} (08/06/1985 - 24/08/1985)

 

Scores: 9.5 (Taylor Jago), 8 (popchartfreak), 7.5 (Joe.), 7 (Severin, Acidburn), 6.5 (Dandy), 6 (AH Gold, Colm)

Average: 7.1875

Final score: 71.875

 

The final single from Tonight, of all the tracks on the album, is probably the one that Bowie spent the most time working on. It was originally called Demo No.1, and was Bowie’s favourite of the songs he had prepared for the album. From early on he knew it could be a single but its original arrangement was too unwieldy – it was the album’s ‘epic Bowie song’ in the vein of Station To Station or ‘Heroes’. The process of streamlining the song didn’t quite work and Bowie himself re-worked it again in the 00’s, stripping it back further to ‘the way it should always have been done’

Lyrically the song suggests that all the world’s religions are built on a series of mistranslations and ‘hidden history’ stories.

 

The second of the two singles from Tonight, Loving The Alien is definitely a hugely underrated song. However, while it wasn't a massive hit, it does prove that Tonight at least had a bit of substance (aka 2 great songs and pretty much nothing else, but it's still better than none at all).

#32: Dead Man Walking

(from Earthling)

 

 

Year of release: 1997

UK Peak: #32

Chart Run: {32-62} (26/04/1997 - 03/05/1997)

 

Scores: 10 (AH Gold), 8.5 (Taylor Jago), 8 (Colm), 7 (Severin, Joe., Dandy), 5 (popchartfreak, Acidburn)

Average: 7.1875

Final score: 71.875

 

The guitar riff in the song was inspired by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page back in the 60’s. He had taught Bowie the riff and Bowie had used it for The Supermen, from The Man Who Sold The World.

The song was originally intended to be about Susan Sarandon, Bowie’s co-star from vampire movie The Hunger. Dean Man Walking was the title of her recent film. However, Bowie’s mind was turned to Neil Young. A huge influence on Bowie’s Folk inspired work as the 60’s became the 70’s. Throughout the 80’s Neil Young had spent years trying to keep relevant without much success, but by the 90’s had settled into playing the same style of Rock that he had started out only to find that the US Alt. Rock explosion had made him the Godfather of Grunge. Bowie was struck by the ‘grace and dignity’ of Neil Young, and saw something of himself in Young’s previous attempts to stay relevant.

Bowie had spent the 90’s desperately trying to keep up to date with modern trends and the writing of Dead Man Walking could be seen as the moment Bowie finally let go of concepts, characters and melodrama and settles in to just being David Bowie.

 

At #32 we have the second single from Earthling, Dead Man Walking. It is a bit too long, but it's still good.

#31: Jump They Say

(from Black Tie White Noise)

 

 

Year of release: 1993

UK Peak: #9

Chart Run: {10-9-21-37-51-61}

 

Scores: 10 (Fgiboy2511), 9 (Taylor Jago), 8 (Dandy, Colm), 7 (Severin, Joe., AH Gold), 6 (popchartfreak), 5 (Acidburn, richie)

Average: 7.2

Final score: 72

 

In 1992 Tin Machine had disbanded but the group had achieved its purpose of reinvigorating Bowie’s creative spark. He now teamed up once again with Nile Rodgers (who had produced the Let’s Dance album) to work on his first solo album since 1987.

The resulting album, Black Tie White Noise, was inspired by contemporary Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop and R&B. Jump They Say was its lead-off single and Bowie returned to subject matter he had touched on several times in songs before – his schizophrenic half brother Terry. Whereas previous songs All The Madmen and The Bewlay Brothers were written when the pair were young, Jump They Say dealt with Bowie’s feelings regarding his brother’s suicide in 1985 – Terry had slipped out of his hospital, walked to the nearest railway station and jumped in front of the express train. Press and family members attacked Bowie, accusing him of ignoring Terry and for not attending his funeral (Bowie thought it would turn it into a press circus).

Terry had been a huge influence on the younger Bowie, inspiring him musically and artistically but Bowie has acknowledged he exaggerated his importance into ‘hero-worship to discharge guilt and failure.’

Jump They Say has a coldly calculated feel that recalls some of Bowie’s Low era work, but despite this it received a big promotional push and returned him to the UK Top 10 for the first time in 7 years.

 

At #31 we have the best Bowie song released between 1986 and 1995 with Jump They Say. With an intro which forces you to pay attention, a brilliant saxophone riff, and great lyrics, it's by far the best song on Black Tie White Noise.

Time Will Crawl was majorly improved for iSelect and the 'remix' shows how good a song it is

#30: Up The Hill Backwards

(from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

 

 

Year of release: 1981

UK Peak: #32

Chart Run: {42-32-32-36-42-66} (28/03/1981 - 02/05/1981)

 

Scores: 10 (Joe.), 8 (popchartfreak, Severin, Acidburn, Taylor Jago), 7 (richie), 5 (Dandy, Colm)

Average: 7.375

Final score: 73.75

 

Inspired by a line from a children’s poem – ‘He walked up the hill backwards, so as not to see how high it was’ – the song has been mostly inferred to be about Bowie’s divorce from Angie late was finalised in 1980. Lyrically, the song suggests a ‘keep on keeping on’ attitude. That we have no little or no control over the course our life takes and in order to get through we must stumble blindly forwards sometimes to get past the obstacles.

Bowie’s vocals are, unusually, shared on the song with Tony Visconti and Lynn Maitland. The idea was to give a ‘very MOR voiced’ sound, like the ‘epitome of indifference’, and particularly on the first verse.

Being the 4th single from the album, and having been available to fans for over 6 months it stalled at #32 in the single chart.

 

Starting off the top 30 we have Up The Hill Backwards, the final single from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). Although it peaked at a lowly #32 and is hardly remembered, and doesn't appear on any version of Nothing Has Changed, it still finishes higher than a few tracks on the 2-CD version of that best-of.

I dont know that one very well.

Jump They Say is great - I loved it at the time and still love it now.

#29: Hallo Spaceboy (with The Pet Shop Boys)

(from Outside)

 

 

Year of release: 1996

UK Peak: #12

Chart Run: {12-25-30-49} (02/03/1996 - 23/03/1996)

 

Scores: 10 (popchartfreak, Taylor Jago, AH Gold), 9 (Colm), 8 (Acidburn, Joe), 7 (Dandy), 6 (Fgiboy2511), 3 (Severin, richie)

Average: 7.4

Final score: 74

 

Of all the songs on Outside, it is Hallo Spaceboy that most obviously flaunts Bowie’s main influence from the era; Swiss band The Young Gods. Hallo Spaceboy is a driving Industrial Rock song that bears more than a passing similarity to Skin Flowers by The Young Gods.

It was an odd choice then when first announced as the 3rd single. However, the Pet Shop Boys had asked to remix the track, to which Bowie happily agreed. Neil Tennant had made a connection between Spaceboy and Major Tom that Bowie had never intended. When he explained his intention to use lyrics from Space Oddity, Bowie wasn’t happy. The Major Tom character was written off, lost or dead somewhere far away, and the idea seemed too much like a reference to his past, at a time when Bowie wanted to move forward. Bowie insisted on attending the sessions, but in the end felt like the finished version was like him guesting on someone else’s cover of his song.

The remix version of the song was performed only twice, including the 1996 Brit Awards. Bowie would play the album version of the song at nearly every subsequent show he performed.

 

At #29 we have the highest song of the 1990s (which is appropriate considering it is Bowie's best of that decade), Hallo Spaceboy. The Pet Shop Boys were coming off their first (and so far only) number one album, Very (although Super could very well become their second chart-topper) when they remixed the album version. It was by the far the highest-charting single from Outside, and it also outpeaked The Pet Shop Boys' Single-Bilingual, released later that year, which peaked at #14.

More genius.

#28: This Is Not America (with the Pat Metheny Group)

 

 

Year of release: 1985

UK Peak: #14

Chart Run: {22-14-17-23-29-50-74-x³-90} (09/02/1985 - 20/04/1985)

 

Scores: 9.5 (Taylor Jago), 9 (popchartfreak, Acidburn), 7 (Joe., Colm), 5.5 (Dandy), 5 (Severin)

Average: 7.42

Final score: 74.28

 

Taken from the soundtrack to mid 80’s espionage film, The Falcon And The Snowman, information on the collaboration is hard to come by as most biographies give the track only a passing mention.

The Pat Metheny Group were a Jazz quartet who had been given the soundtrack and this track was a deliberate attempt at a Pop record. Bowie wrote the lyrics and provided the vocal, which is regarded among his finest of the era.

The single appeared during the Tonight album’s era which Bowie; an album which Bowie had already begun to distance himself from. This Is Not America received little promotion but still managed a respectable #14 in the UK charts.

 

Going back to 1984, we have This Is Not America, which was a more soulful piece after the in your faceness of its predecessor Blue Jean. It peaked at #14, a position no song appearing on a Bowie studio album would achieve again until 1993.

#27: Where Are We Now?

(from The Next Day)

 

 

Year of release: 2013

UK Peak: #6

Chart: {6-41} (19/01/2013 - 26/01/2013)

 

Scores: 10 (Taylor Jago), 9 (Severin, Acidburn, Dandy), 8 (Joe.), 7 (popchartfreak, Fgiboy2511), 6 (richie), 5 (AH Gold, Colm)

Average: 7.5

Final score: 75

 

 

On January 8th 2013 at 5am GMT, davidbowie.com uploaded the video for ‘Where Are We Now?’ with a notice informing that the song, and pre-orders for the album could be bought on iTunes. The album’s producer, Tony Visconti, had been sitting at his computer pressing the refresh button repeatedly. It took approximately 15 minutes for the fans to go into meltdown. Within the hour it was headline news on most stations. David Bowie had come out of retirement and taken everyone by surprise.

In the years following Bowie’s heart operation in 2004 he had repeatedly stated that he no longer felt inclined to make music and that he was happy to spends his days reading, walking and relaxing in New York. There was even talk of him being in poor health.

Then in 2010 Tony Visconti received an unexpected email that simply asked if he fancied ‘doing something.’ They began meeting up discreetly, planning and then Bowie sent out a series of email entitled ‘Schtum’ – a German expression for ‘keep quiet.’ All of the musicians were required to sign non-disclosure agreements before work began on the album. Work began on the album in November. Bowie had continued writing vague outlines of songs during his hiatus. On the final day of recording Bowie packed up his gear, said his goodbyes, and left.

The musicians would not hear from him again until summoned in spring 2011 where recording began in earnest with the studio time booked in as The Secret. Just under 2 years later and Bowie had his album ready to go. It was released to universal acclaim.

Where Are We Now? references Bowie’s time in Berlin – One of his most enduring and influential periods. The song ‘s narrator wanders the cities’ street and parks but the Berlin he remembers most is gone. Everything has changed since the reunification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The title is taken from son Duncan Jones’ film Moon, in which a promotional film of the same name suggests a beautiful future.

Throughout the song Bowie chooses not to answer the question of Where Are We Now?

 

At #27 we have Where Are We Now?, the song which took the world by surprise and almost became his first top 5 hit in 27 years. Sadly, it freefell from then, but three years later it remains magnificent.

#26: Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

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

 

 

Year of release: 1974

UK Peak: #22

Chart Run: {28-23-23-22-26-29-49} (20/04/1974 - 01/06/1974)

 

Scores: 11 (richie), 10 (Severin), 9 (Joe.), 7.5 (Taylor Jago), 6 (popchartfreak, Acidburn), 5.5 (Dandy), 5 (Colm)

Average: 7.5

Final score: 75

 

The closing track on the Ziggy album and for the Ziggy tour was released by RCA as a stop gap/cash grabbing exercise during a gap in new material or a clever way to place a full stop on Bowie’s Glam Rock period. Its chart position suffered as the B-side Quicksand was also already widely available to fans.

The song itself has an almost musical feel to it both musically and lyricall as it details Ziggy’s fall from grace and final days as a largely forgotten, faded rock star that the world had moved on from, making its release a rather fitting goodbye to Ziggy himself.

 

Released as the second single from The Rise Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars two years after the album's release, Rock 'n' Roll unsurprisingly didn't set the charts alight. Still, it did better than Suffragette City when that was released two years later.

#25: The Jean Genie

(from Aladdin Sane)

 

 

Year of release: 1972

UK Peak: #2

Chart Run: {33-31-16-16-4-2-3-3-5-13-26-28-39}

 

Scores: 10 (Severin, Acidburn), 9 (popchartfreak, richie, Taylor Jago), 8.5 (Dandy), 7 (Joe.), 5 (AH Gold, Colm), 3 (Fgiboy2511)

Average: 7.55

Final score: 75.5

 

Recorded in New York City, inspired by his new friend Iggy Pop and with a not very subtle reference to author Jean Genet, The Jean Genie very nearly gave Bowie his first UK #1. Unfortunately this slice of Proto-Punk was held off the top spot, not only by Little Jimmy Osmond’s Long Haired Lover from Liverpool but also The Sweet’s Blockbuster. To add insult to injury Blockbuster was built around a near identical guitar riff.

A video was recorded in New York with Bowie, still in his Ziggy Stardust character but showing a more debauched personality than before. This alluded to the Aladdin Sane persona – essentially Ziggy goes to America and gets messed up and paranoid on drugs. Life would eventually imitate art.

 

I can't be the only one to be surprised that isn't higher. I even recounted the results, just to be sure. Anyway, The Jean Genie was Bowie's first top 3 hit, and remains one of his most iconic songs.

#24: Beauty And The Beast

(from Heroes)

 

 

Year of release: 1978

UK Peak: #39

Chart Run: {50-40-39} (21/01/1978 - 04/02/1978)

 

Scores: 10 (Severin, richie), 9.5 (Joe.), 9 (Taylor Jago), 7 (popchartfreak), 6 (Acidburn), 5.5 (Dandy), 4 (Colm)

Average: 7.625

Final score: 76.25

 

The 2nd single from ‘Heroes’ has one of the more ambiguous lyrics from the era. It has been interpreted as being about the mood swings Bowie suffered from during his cocaine abuse. About the inner struggle between the Jekyll and Hyde side of everyone’s personality. Some, mindful of Bowie’s residence, have even inferred the lyrics to be about Berlin itself. Two halves of a single whole divided between East and West Berlin, Democracy and Communism.

Robert Fripp’s guitar part was apparently a single take made minutes after arrival at the studio.

The single again failed to reach the heights of success Bowie had enjoyed in the early half of the decade, barely scraping the UK Top 40.

 

Despite only peaking at #39, Beauty And The Beast is a brilliant song, and one with really commands your attention.

#23: Everyone' Says 'Hi

(from Heathen)

 

 

Year of release: 2002

UK Peak: #20

Chart Run: {20-46-72} (28/09/2002 - 12/10/2002)

 

Scores: 8.5 (Taylor Jago), 8 (popchartfreak, Severin, SamJudd, Joe.), 7 (dandy*), 6 (Colm)

Average: 7.64

Final score: 76.42

 

Bowie had begun working on the follow up to 1999’s ‘Hours...’ before the final single was released. The album was intended to be a few new songs and a number of re-recorded versions of some of his earliest songs, such as I Dig Everything, The London Boys and Liza Jane.

Among the new songs were Afraid and Uncle Floyd (Slip Away). The sessions for these inspired Bowie and the resulting work would become the Heathen album. Toy itself was initially postponed and then shelved. The album remains unreleased but widely bootlegged.

The Heathen album was seen by many as a new beginning for Bowie. It garnered rave reviews where previous albums’ had been mixed. Although the album was written before the September 11th attacks on New York, many picked up on the lyrics as a reference to them. Bowie has said that part of the albums focus was the sense of anger and frustration that New York exists on and that the songs weren’t inspired by the events but that some of the recording took place afterwards and it may have inflected the performances.

Out of all of Bowie’s post 80’s albums, Heathen was the one widely regarded as his best until Blackstar was released.

Everyone Says ‘Hi’ was the only UK single from the album and has a straightforward lyric about distant friends.

 

Over half the people who rated this gave it a 8, and with a difference of just 2.5 between its highst and lowest score it definitely isn't an opinion splitter.

 

On a side note, sorry for the delay, but my computer crashed when I got back from holiday Wednesday and the file with the results was on it, so I've had to count all the results again and create a new file.

Edited April 12, 20169 yr by Taylor Jago

That's surprisingly high when you consider some of the songs below it - The Jean Genie and Rock N Roll Suicide spring to mind

Heart's Filthy Lesson is such genius.

#22: Drive-In Saturday

(from Aladdin Sane)

 

 

Year of release: 1973

UK Peak: #3

Chart Run: {16-8-7-3-8-6-16-21-28-40} (14/04/1973 - 16/06/1973)

 

Scores: 10 (Joe.), 9 (popchartfreak, Severin), 8.5 (Taylor Jago), 8 (SamJudd), 7 (richie), 6.5 (Dandy*), 4 (Colm)

Average: 7.75

Final score: 77.5

 

The 2nd release from Aladdin Sane is considered by some to be his finest Glam Rock era single, and indeed many consider Aladdin Sane to be his finest album. Heavily influenced by 1950’s America it also adds a dose of futuristic Sci-Fi references. The concept being people in the future have forgotten their emotions and look to old movies to learn how to feel again.

The lyrics reference Mick Jagger and Twiggy – both would later work with Bowie (the Dancing In The Street single and the cover of Pin-Ups respectively).

The song was offered to Mott TheHoople but the band turned it down. A decision that both perplexed and infuriated Bowie.

 

And so the highest song from the site's favourite Bowie album, Aladdin Sane, finishes in 22nd place. Although The Jean Genie is more memorable and iconic, the story and lyrics of Drive-In Saturday are more compelling, and so it finishing above the former is comprehensible.