That opening drum fill slides into the room with a flourish and soft-shoes down your ear canal; you can practically feel the DJ put needle to groove while a dancehall springs to life around you. "Young Americans" the song was an instant classic, a timeless single that, on the album, doubled as an opening salvo and a statement of reconfigured intent. Young Americans the album was a stylistic about-face, the most dramatic yet from a career already built on reinvention. Gone was the glam, in its place a smooth and sophisticated take on soul. Recorded during a month-long break from the elaborately staged Diamond Dogs Tour, Bowie set up camp at Sigma Studios in Philadelphia and abruptly changed the course of his career. Local soul and funk musicians were tapped to authenticate the proceedings , and after months on the road, Bowie's live band -- like the Spiders of Mars before them -- had solidified into a crack team of players, powerful and precise at once.
Again working with Tony Visconti, the bulk of the album was tracked live -- including the vocals. After the occasionally labored back half of Diamond Dogs, Young Americans felt effortlessly cool. Parts of the album drift, but as usual for Bowie, the highs are untouchable.
Despite the cross dressing cover,The Man Who Sold The Worldcouldn't accurately be described as glam; it's more like geeky hard rock, with a dash of musical hall and psychedelic pop thrown in. It's an interesting album, but the material is inconsistent; the title track is easily the most famous song here, mostly courtesy of Nirvana's cover version on theirUnpluggedalbum. 'The Supermen' has a great guitar break courtesy of Ronson, while the eight minute opener 'The Width Of A Circle' drags a little, but builds up steam in the music hall derived coda. Starter from ten, David's stylish contribution to the post-punk/new wave era and the beginning of the eighties, Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps). Scary Monsters demonstrated how much David was moving on up in the various musical eras that went by.
He did indeed kiss his butt goodbye to glam rock after his release of Diamond Dogs and he finished with kraut-rock, hence Lodger. For those who don't know, post-punk is a type of music genre that emerged in the late 1970s and was an experimental version of punk rock. The title track uses a similar style to the Pop Group and Joy Division.
Fashion, by its funky bass riffs, sounds a bit like Devo, while the pop-oriented Up The Hill Backwards is much like the Talking Heads. David Bowie isn't only one of the best frontmen of all time, but is one of the best art rock artists. In his decades-long career, Bowie released an array of music, spanning across numerous albums. Here, you'll find a list of the best David Bowie albums, including pictures of the album covers when available.
This David Bowie discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top David Bowie albums can be found at the top of the list. To make it easy for you, we haven't included David Bowie singles, EPs, or compilations, so everything you see here should only be studio albums. If you think the greatest David Bowie album isn't high enough on the list, then be sure to vote for it so it receives the credit it deserves. Make sure you don't just vote for critically acclaimed albums; if you have a favorite David Bowie album, then vote it up, even if it's not necessarily the most popular. After DIAMOND DOGS, YOUNG AMERICANS could have been a more conventional "plastic soul" record from a white British guy. And while it was a plastic soul record from a white British guy, YOUNG AMERICANS was not conventional in its ultimate appeal.
Its title track is one of my favorite Bowie songs, an absolutely moving soul song with incredible backing vocals, and it kicks off a series of absolutely pleasing tracks. I've used the words "fun" and "challenging" to illustrate the Bowie dichotomy of, maybe, the old "one for them, one for me" maxim you find in the film industry, but with YOUNG AMERICANS, Bowie got his cake and ate it too. It's not experimental in the way of the Berlin Trilogy or something, but after the glam rock ramp up of the past half a decade, Bowie briefly reinvented himself and made a singularly soulful album. And while it didn't send him into retirement, NEVER LET ME DOWN also caused Bowie to leave something behind.
After chasing the ghost of LET'S DANCE's success throughout the '80s, a period many critics now consider the artist's fallow period, Bowie created this much maligned record. I think it's widely considered one of Bowie's worst from what I can gather, and as is clear, I nearly agree. I don't think any artists from the '60s or '70s escaped the '80s without at least a couple of embarrassing records, but Bowie transcended trends to the point that NEVER LET ME DOWN is a little more than tolerable. But Bowie couldn't quite escape the musical tropes of the '80s, and much of the rest of the album is mired in them.
It speaks to Bowie's innate musical ability, then, that NEVER LET ME DOWN ultimately isn't a slog. The albums are pretty good, but they aren't considered in this piece. "HEROES," released the same year as LOW, softened its predecessor's avant-garde leanings with stronger pop hooks.
The most significant result is the title track, one of my favorite Bowie songs, but another outcome is a more cohesive bridge between the more "conventional" side one and the more experimental side two. The trilogy was recorded in collaboration with Eno and American producer Tony Visconti. All three featured similar recording processes, in which backing tracks were recorded first, followed by overdubs, with lyrics and vocals written and recorded last. King Crimson guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew contributed lead guitar to "Heroes" and Lodger, respectively. Consequence of Sound considers the trilogy an "art rock trifecta".
Both Low and "Heroes" experiment with electronic and ambient music and are influenced by the German music genre of krautrock. Both also contain similar structures, featuring more conventional tracks on side one and instrumental pieces on side two. On the other hand, Lodger, recorded following the Isolar II world tour, features a wide variety of musical styles, including new wave and reggae, with more accessible songs throughout; both sides are thematically split by its lyrics. But if originality were the only mark of appeal for an artist, there would be many more that I'd think of as highly as Bowie.
His skill, however, and this cannot get lost in the thousands of words I've written about him here, was that he wrote such good music. And the best he ever wrote was presented on THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS. Hyperbole matches the very nature of this record, this silly, aspirational album with songs every one has heard a million times over. Just how radical this record was should not be obscured, however, and I think it isn't if you sit down and listen to the entirety of ZIGGY STARDUST, in one sitting, rather than through its biggest hits in the supermarket or on the radio in your car. "Starman" is phenomenal, sure, it's my single favorite track from the album, but the power of THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS is hearing that whole story told to you, musically and intuitively. David Bowie was many things in his life and career, and Ziggy Stardust was just one of them. But what he produced within that persona shines the brightest.
As the follow up to ZIGGY STARDUST, ALADDIN SANE was a big deal. Not only did Bowie shed the character that gave him such an edge in the glam rock scene, but he took on a new one and a little bit of a rougher sound . Each of the tracks was based on different experiences in different cities across the good ol' USA.
You can probably guess what inspired "Panic in Detroit," but if you listen to it, you'll also find ALADDIN SANE's best track. The rest of the album covers so much ground it's hard to believe that Bowie produced this immediately after ZIGGY STARDUST and a major American tour. "Cracked Actor" is an all-time great, and "The Prettiest Star" and "The Jean Genie" are kind of warped, sensual experiences. The whole album feels like the dark side of the more whimsical ZIGGY STARDUST, which didn't exactly play like an innocent fairy tale.
In the hall of "follow ups to some of the best/most important albums of all time," ALADDIN SANE deserves a special commendation. Station To Stationis sequenced perfectly, its six tracks bouncing between longer and more experimental tracks, and shorter pop songs. At ten minutes the opening title track is the longest, and one of the most experimental songs in Bowie's catalogue, captivating despite the lack of a clear structure, recalling participation in a Stations of the Cross religious service in Berlin. 'Golden Years' and 'TVC-15' are two supremely strange yet captivating singles. On the other hand, the ballad 'Word On A Wing' is plain gorgeous, opening out from a tentative piano introduction. "Diamond Dogs" is a serious earworm and "Rebel Rebel" is one of Bowie's best songs, but I can't seem to claim that any of the rest of the album's songs are top-tier.
While still technically within the "middling" range of these 26 David Bowie albums, I was much more impressed with BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE when revisiting it for this piece. As the return to Bowie's solo career after NEVER LET ME DOWN and six years , BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE was an important album that began Bowie's overt synthesis of the new style of electronic music, specifically house, and his brand of pop and rock. When I first listened to BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE, I was relatively unimpressed with it.
But listening to it now, I think it successfully tackles the then-new "it" sound without being grounded in 1993. His cover of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday," especially, sounds like it could have come from one of his '70s albums, or even the ones he put out later in the '90s or early 2000s. It stands to reason, perhaps, since the song is kind of an ode to Bowie himself.
BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE is much better than I gave it credit for. The first of two self-titled records released just two years apart at the end of the '60s, this 1967 release was David Bowie's debut album. I love going back and listening to the early careers that, at first blush, don't contain the hallmarks we come to know from an artist. Because DAVID BOWIE feels a little too…silly, or whimsical, to be something from the man who was able to channel that kind of energy into something more elevated. And yet Ziggy Stardust is here, as is the elocution and expression the world would come to expect of David Bowie.
"Love You Till Tuesday," maybe, technically, Bowie's biggest hit at the time, wasn't enough to carry the album, and he wallowed in some music industry troubles for a couple years before he would get another shot. The 1967 DAVID BOWIE is, at the end of the day, a fun listen. To me it's a companion to Aladdin sane, because it has the same vibrant guitar sound.
And in truth, only three or four of the remakes are shitty. And four or five of them are among the most exciting things he ever did. And they are as good of songs as any he's written himself. And the actual oldies on this album are superior to the oldies style Nostalgia songs on Aladdin sane, like Drive In Saturday and Prettiest Star and Let's Spend the Night Together.
And the playing of the band is better than that on Aladdin sane. The album starts off poorly with the very worst tracks, but when you get past those, the whole album just takes off. After the hard rock ofThe Man Who Sold The World, Bowie took a softer approach to his follow-up record. In the middle of the singer-songwriter boom of the early seventies,Hunky Doryis too camp to be mistaken for James Taylor, but it's dominated by acoustic instruments with Bowie's acoustic guitar and guest pianist Rick Wakeman taking centre stage. Thanks to the perpetual reinventions that defined his career and ensured his longevity, every Bowie fan can find something special in specific albums that might not appeal so readily to another. With so many albums and distinct sounds to consume across the singer's extensive discography, it's only natural that one fan would prefer Bowie's plastic soul sound to the bombastic glam rock of Aladdin Sane, or vice versa.
Bowie not only redefined himself with almost every new release, he redefined what it meant to make popular music. He proved that he didn't have to pigeonhole himself or sacrifice artistry for the sake of mainstream recognition. LOW and HEROES A year after the greatest-hits album "Changesonebowie" streamlined his shaggy, up-and-down career for rock radio, "Low" and follow-up "Heroes" clear the palette. The first halves sound vaguely familiar — check out the tense rock song "Breaking Glass" from "Low" and the "Heroes" title track that would become an enduring anthem. But Roxy Music's house scientist Eno takes over on both albums' second halves, making ambient-electronic music for films and airports before he'd do so on his solo releases. Pete Townshend and Robert Fripp contribute fierce guitars, and pianist Roy Bittan of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band takes a break from "The River" sessions to help out.
From his cutting-edge early experiments to his MTV cash-outs to his late-career malaise, here's a ranking of Bowie's studio albums from best to worst. Otherwise, he had been turning out an ever-increasingly praised series of albums for a decade. So it's really interesting that Bowie came out of his longest hiatus yet to produce what would come to be one of his biggest successes, and one that would haunt him for the rest of the '80s. In spite of critical dismissal, LET'S DANCE is nevertheless a really good album. Bowie tapped into '80s new wave and made something richer, dirtier, and yet somehow more fun than his contemporaries.
"China Girl," a version of a song Bowie had co-written with Iggy Pop for Iggy's THE IDIOT , is the best example of that on the record. Along with NEVER LET ME DOWN, TONIGHT is often cited as Bowie's worst album. I don't actually know which comes up more, I wasn't exactly conducting a comprehensive survey in preparation for this piece, but in any event, TONIGHT is certainly not beloved. Released right on the heels of LET'S DANCE, Bowie's mega-hit album that brought in a whole new wave of fans for the '80s, TONIGHT may be the musician's most rote record.
Although Bowie worked within styles and sounds across his numerous "eras," rarely did he attempt to directly recreate something from the record before. But that's exactly what he did with TONIGHT, which ends up feeling like the scraps of LET'S DANCE. Nevertheless, TONIGHT is not nearly as bad as some of the vitriol would suggest, but it's also a minor Bowie work. David's final album of the Berlin Trilogy, that is Lodger.
The Thin White Duke was definitely reaching the end of his era, which was a relief, because it was in fact David's dodgiest character to date, hence the famous Nazi-salute he made. Boys Keep Swinging may suggest conservatism, hence the lyrics; "nothing stands in your way/you're always first on the line, when you're a boy" But what about when you're a girl? That said, the video's one of the reasons why I do happen to love that song, and how groovy the music is. Is fairly more democratic and focuses on the protagonist who's "home, lost my job", but does Djing in his spare time.
Then there's the opening track Fantastic Voyage which sympathises with those who suffer from depression ("learning to live with somebody's depression"). Station To Station begins with a superb opening, the title track that is. If you thought Blackstar was the longest track David ever recorded, the title track to this one is several seconds longer and is indeed so rhythmic, the harmonica sound is distinguishable!
Though it does introduce The Thin White Duke, David's most conservative character, if you compare him to Major Tom and Ziggy Stardust, and it was a pretty dangerous move to the public. Golden Years creates a funky groove to the album, TVC 15 is one of my favourite songs of hi, the closing track, Wild Is The Wind, is one of my least favourites, not terrible, just a bit drab and boring. David Bowie had returned after a longish break in the music industry and without a word, hence why his face is hidden behind the title. It's like he didn't want every Tom, Dick & Harry knowing that he was back in business and had a feeling The Next Day would sell a lot anyway. Of course, this album was released during the time when chart music was clearly going downhill.
Springsteen pianist Roy Bittan was a band member forStation To Stationand his playing meshes in beautifully with Alomar, his fluent arpeggios filling in the space between Alomar's twitchy rhythm guitar. ForStation To StationBowie invented the nasty persona the "thin white duke", named in the title track as "throwing darts in lovers' eyes". Bowie also claims that he was too blitzed on cocaine to remember recording this album at all, which is a strange assertion to make for what is perhaps his best realized work. For me, Bowie hit a sweet spot somewhere between his plastic soul, glam, and Berlin periods. Station to Station is an ambitious album too often overlooked.
It's as funky and rhythmic as Young Americans but with better melodies, killer guitar parts, and unpredictable compositions so richly realized I wouldn't mind if the 10-minute title track went on for another 10 minutes — it's just that good. Bowie's "plastic soul" record is far more lively than that semi-derisive label might have you believe. From the title track onward, the album is a joy to listen to, co-opting the sounds of soul and R&B while imbuing the sax-heavy proceedings with enough of his own style to distinguish it from its influencers. THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD After two mushy British-crooner albums, Bowie hooked up with Ronson in the personnel move of his life. "You know, that shitty techno record." Thus spoke a friend of mine, offhandedly besmirching a weird little record that doesn't necessarily deserve half the hate it gets.
