A Sense of Doubt blog post #3639 - My Top Twenty Bowie Songs: BOWIE MONTH: Music Monday for 2502.03
I have been meaning to do this post for a long time.
Some of these choices were very easy, and for some I had to put some thought into it.
I did the albums last year, which is both easier and harder. I tend to love the albums as units and have a hard time separating out songs.
next five: Lodger, Hunky Dory, Black Tie White Noise, Heroes, and The Next Day.
Looking at this list now, a year later, I might flip ...Hours and Heathen.
It's easy to choose my favorite song: "Ashes to Ashes" from 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
It's my favorite album, though not my most listened to (that's Low).
I did the albums last year, which is both easier and harder. I tend to love the albums as units and have a hard time separating out songs.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
TOP TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS BY DAVID BOWIE
1. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
2. Low
3. Buddha of Suburbia
4. 1. Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries-A Hyper Cycle
5. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
6. Diamond Dogs
7. ...Hours
8. Heathen
9. Station to Station
10. Blackstar
next five: Lodger, Hunky Dory, Black Tie White Noise, Heroes, and The Next Day.
Looking at this list now, a year later, I might flip ...Hours and Heathen.
It's easy to choose my favorite song: "Ashes to Ashes" from 1980's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
It's my favorite album, though not my most listened to (that's Low).
Though it's the first album I played, it's not the first I listened to in its entirety in one sitting: that's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
And this list is different than it would have been in the 1980s, when I did a music video of "Rock And Roll Suicide" for a video production class. I literally performed the song for part of the video.
And this list is different than it would have been in the 1980s, when I did a music video of "Rock And Roll Suicide" for a video production class. I literally performed the song for part of the video.
#1 - "Ashes to Ashes" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#2 - "Five Years" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#3 - "It's No Game pt.2" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#4 - "Golden Years" - STATION TO STATION - 1976
#5 - "Young Americans" - YOUNG AMERICANS - 1975
#6 - "Sound and Vision" - LOW - 1977
So, given that Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is my favorite album. it makes sense that it would contain my favorite song: "Ashes to Ashes." This also explains why there's three songs from the album in the top twenty. And since The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was the first Bowie album I listened to straight through in one sitting, it also stands to reason that the other album with three songs in my top twenty is that one.
"Ashes to Ashes" some of the best and my favorite lyrics in all of Bowie's music. Plus the whole musicality of the song, the moaning ghouls and monsters. It's a masterpiece. "The shrieking of nothing is killing me" is one of my most quoted Bowie lines as explained here:
Friday, January 31, 2025
There's two songs from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in the top five, but "Five Years" edges "It's No Game pt.2" because it was the first Bowie song to which I really paid close attention, and it's always been something of an anthem for me.
However, "It's No Game pt.2" was the closing number, a big sing along of a cast of 30 people and two bands in the epic avant-garde theatre production I directed and produced: RAW.
Since I am very lyrics-focused, it's no wonder I love these songs. "Five Years" also has some of the richest, strangest, coolest lyrics in all of Bowie's work. And "No more free steps to Heaven" is my second most quoted Bowie line as explained here:
Thursday, January 30, 2025
I like part one, but I prefer part two.
Numbers Four - Six are tougher to order. "Golden Years" edges "Young Americans" only in how many times I have listened to it. But by that logic, "Sound and Vision" might be number one, so... It's all just arbitrary.
Numbers Four - Six are tougher to order. "Golden Years" edges "Young Americans" only in how many times I have listened to it. But by that logic, "Sound and Vision" might be number one, so... It's all just arbitrary.
"Golden Years" has the best funk and "doo-wop" groove of all time with a crooning Bowie and the tingle-unleashing "run for the shadows..." that's my favorite moments in the song.
For me, as favorites, it edges "Young Americans," which is a joyful, power house of dance and rhythm, and the way the music stops for the legend-making lines: "Ain't there one damn song that can make me
Break down and cry?" as then there's a short pause and the slow kick-up of the drums is one of the best moments in all of music. And when you know that Bowie scrapped his 1984 Musical live show of Diamond Dogs mid-tour to write and start performing this soul masterpiece is even more astounding. Sure, "Fame" is great, and it's a collaboration with the towering genius of John Lennon, but in terms of my favorites, "Young Americans" is the best thing on that album.
I dipped into the next ten accidentally here and so sixth is "Sound and Vision," for which Bowie named a tour (supposedly retiring his back catalog forever) and his first box set, one of which I won in a Bowie context online: Remember BOWIENET?
I keep coming back to "Sound and Vision" throughout my life maybe more than most other songs. I have mentioned that I listen to Low more than any other albums, in part for the set of instrumentals on side two, but also for songs like "Sound and Vision" that seems to speak to all kinds of moods, all the time, year after year.
"Drifting into my solitude..."
#7 - "Sunday" - HEATHEN - 2002
#8 - "Sweet Thing-Candidate-Sweet Thing(reprise)" - DIAMOND DOGS - 1974
#9 - "Strangers When We Meet" - BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA - 1993
#10 - "Fantastic Voyage" - LODGER - 1979
"Sunday" from 2002's Heathen ranks very high because I was starved for Bowie music. Even though his previous album (...Hours) came out in 1999, I think I missed it because I was not over-fond of Earthling (1997). I believe I did not buy ...Hours until after Heathen came out, so it had been five years for me, not three.
Also, given that I discovered Bowie in 1980, I had a feeding frenzy gong back to devour THIRTEEN albums, not counting Live ones and a few other special projects.
But in the wake of the 9-11 attacks on our country and learning that inspired much of the content on Heathen, I really renewed my love for David Bowie with that album and the tour with Moby that followed. So, the first track, "Sunday," has to be in the top ten.
From the opening lines, I was captivated:
"Nothing remains/ we could run when the rain slows..."
And then as he breaks into the chorus and croons "It's the beginning of nothing," I found one of my other favorite Bowie lines and the name of a two-part mix. I have another "double-album" mix called "No More Free Steps to Heaven."
Some may consider it a cheat, but I consider the "Sweet Thing" suite of songs to be really one song. That has to be next and top ten. My new friend and fellow HUGE Bowie fan @loveinadoorway may rank it higher as her handle comes from the beginning of "Sweet Thing."
"Strangers When We Meet" is a recent addition to my favorite Bowie songs. I have been listening to that song A LOT in the last few years as I detailed for a second time, here:
Friday, November 18, 2022
But as I have written elsewhere (even recently), buying Lodger in 1981 was a huge moment for me that prompted me to write my Bowie essay as a preface to my Moby Dick final paper for American Literature and call it "Yassassin," which doesn't make the top twenty but is in the honorable mentions.
I played Lodger as much as Scary Monsters in the Fall of 1981, which is also a point of connection with Moby, who has explained that Lodger was his first Bowie album and what a huge impression it made on him.
Another album that I found later was Buddha of Suburbia, the 1993 soundtrack for the television serial of the same name based on the 1990 novel by Hanif Kureishi. I adore the whole thing, but the title track really inspires me, and I love the video Bowie made to go with it.
#11 - "Buddha of Suburbia" - THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA - 1993
#12 - "Soul Love" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#13 - "Moonage Daydream" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#14 - "Teenage Wildlife" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#15 - "Thursday's Child" - 'HOURS...' - 1999
Another album that I found later was Buddha of Suburbia, the 1993 soundtrack for the television serial of the same name based on the 1990 novel by Hanif Kureishi. I adore the whole thing, but the title track really inspires me, and I love the video Bowie made to go with it.
Then, unable to decide between "Soul Love" and "Moonage Daydream," I include both and back-to-back.
The chorus of "Soul Love" very much connected to Bowie's lyrics in "Ashes to Ashes": "I've loved all I've needed love, sordid details following..."
"Love is careless in its choosing
Sweeping over cross and baby
Love descends on those defenseless
Idiot love will spark the fusion
Inspirations have I none
Just to touch the flaming dove
All I have is my love of love
And love is not loving"
The chorus of "Soul Love" very much connected to Bowie's lyrics in "Ashes to Ashes": "I've loved all I've needed love, sordid details following..."
There's a whole book of analysis in how Bowie gets from All I have is my love of love
Given the restriction of twenty slots in a top twenty and the fact that Bowie has twenty-six studio albums, some albums are going to be missed, but with some triples and some doubles, only thirteen of the twenty-six albums are represented in the top twenty. Another seven are listed the in the honorable mentions, but that still leaves six albums without favorites.
And love is not loving" in 1972 to "I've loved all I've needed love, sordid details following..." in 1980.
"Moonage Daydream" is the perfect up tempo punch to the face for anyone who thinks "Soul Love" is maudlin and trite (I don't). But these lyrics...
"Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!"
WOW.
Not that Bowie coined the term "space invader" as it was all through pulp magazines, comic books, and movie double features of the time of the song and the previous two decades, but I always wonder if Atari was thinking of Bowie when it named one of the first ever digital arcade games Space Invaders.
It's a tough choice once I decided to have a THIRD song from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). The Ziggy songs were more natural, the first three. But what about "Up the Hill Backwards"? "Scary Monsters"? "Fashion"? Even "Because You're Young"? Actually, I just love the whole damn album. But when I really thought about a FAVORITE, it is definitely "Teenage Wildlife." I have put that song on miscellaneous, not just Bowie mix tapes. And I am not done writing about reactions to Steiner's book (see two of the links above), and I want to write about his chapter on this song.
So many great lyrics in this song, and I should mention FRIPP's guitar on this entire album... fantastic.
"I feel group of one."
Given how much I have listened to ...Hours in the last 20 years, I needed at least one song from this album and "Thursday's Child" is probably my favorite and not just because it's first.
The video for it is very strange and powerful.
"Nothing prepared me for your smile"
Maybe sentimental but I love it, and the slow groove of this song with the backing vocals makes it so listenable, like over and over as I am doing right now.
#16 - "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" - HEATHEN - 2002
#17 - "Station to Station" - STATION TO STATION - 1976
#18 - "Lazarus" - BLACKSTAR - 2016
#19 - "Panic in Detroit" - ALADDIN SANE - 1973
#20 - "SENSE OF DOUBT" - HEROES - 1977
The entire Heathen album is so good, and so it's no surprise I have two of its songs in my favorites. I could have had two from it. The place taken by "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" could have been taken by a song from Outside, which should be in my top twenty but it just doesn't quite make it, even though I love that whole album and its songs. There's one in honorable mentions. After all, this is a list of favorites, songs that get repeated listens, not what is "best."
With that in mind, "Station to Station" is next. I didn't think much of this song off the album until I heard it live during the Serious Moonlight tour, the opener of the second half after an intermission. It's not that I disliked it. It's a great song, but my esteem for it sky-rocketed after hearing and seeing Bowie perform it 1983. The song just blew my mind, and I was SOBER. And learning the stations of the Kabbalah gave me an even greater appreciation for the song and Bowie as an artist and intellectual.
"Lazarus" has not long been a favorite given that it's off his last album. And I almost chose the last song on Blackstar "I Can't Give Everything Away" as I have been listening to it A LOT. That's definitely a favorite this year! I could have chosen another song for eighteen but when I consider the video and the meaning of the song, I am so impressed and deeply touched. As a last testament, the whole album is a masterpiece, but this song... wow.
I find that the lines of "Panic in Detroit" pop into my head all the time, so if that's not proof of a favorite, then I don't understand the concept.
One left, and even though I was going to avoid any of the instrumentals, given that this blog is named for the song "Sense of Doubt" off Heroes, then I had to include it. It's probably not even my favorite instrumental song (that's "Warszawa" in the honorable mentions). But the title has always stuck with me. It's definitely my favorite song title of all the instrumentals, and so for all these reasons, it's number twenty.
As I wrote, making this list was both tough and easy. It will surely be a different list sometime soon, tomorrow, next year.
Also, some people will flog me for what they consider omissions that call my selection system into question. However, I would say to them that these are MY FAVORITES. I am under no obligation to list other people's favorites or to make a list of hits. Bowie already made many selections of "hits." I also skipped covers and with the exception of "Sense of Doubt," for which this blog is named, I skipped instrumentals.
Thank you David.
Thank you David.
We miss you.
THE FULL LIST - MY TOP TWENTY DAVID BOWIE FAVORITE SONGS
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THE FULL LIST - MY TOP TWENTY DAVID BOWIE FAVORITE SONGS
#1 - "Ashes to Ashes" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#2 - "Five Years" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#3 - "It's No Game pt.2" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#4 - "Golden Years" - STATION TO STATION - 1976
#5 - "Young Americans" - YOUNG AMERICANS - 1975
#6 - "Sound and Vision" - LOW - 1977
#7 - "Sunday" - HEATHEN - 2002
#8 - "Sweet Thing-Candidate-Sweet Thing(reprise)" - DIAMOND DOGS - 1974
#9 - "Strangers When We Meet" - BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA - 1993
#10 - "Fantastic Voyage" - LODGER - 1979
#11 - "Buddha of Suburbia" - THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA - 1993
#12 - "Soul Love" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#13 - "Moonage Daydream" - THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS - 1972
#14 - "Teenage Wildlife" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
#15 - "Thursday's Child" - 'HOURS...' - 1999
#16 - "5:15 The Angels Have Gone" - HEATHEN - 2002
#17 - "Station to Station" - STATION TO STATION - 1976
#18 - "Lazarus" - BLACKSTAR - 2016
#19 - "Panic in Detroit" - ALADDIN SANE - 1973
#20 - "SENSE OF DOUBT" - HEROES - 1977
HONORABLE MENTIONS, the next more than ten - in no order
"Criminal World" - From Let's Dance - 1983
"Pallas Athena" - BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE - 1993
"Where Are We Now?" - THE NEXT DAY -2013
"Queen Bitch" - 1971 - HUNKY DORY
"Word on a Wing" - STATION TO STATION - 1976
"Absolute Beginners" - From Tonight - 1984
"Never Get Old" - From Reality - 2003
"Yassassin" (Turkish For: Long Live) (2017 Remaster) - From Lodger - 1979
"Nite Flights" (2003 Remaster) - From Black Tie White Noise - 1993
"Up the Hill Backwards" - SCARY MONSTERS - 1980
"Outside" - From Outside - 1995
"Speed of Life" - LOW - 1977
"Warszawa" - LOW (1977) and STAGE (1978)
"Sons of the Silent Age" - - HEROES - 1977
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2502.03 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3503 days ago & DAD = 159 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
- Days ago: MOM = 3503 days ago & DAD = 159 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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