Showing posts with label Life on Mars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life on Mars. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

David Bowie: Top 100 Songs/Studio Albums Ranked

Image from showbiz411.com

David Bowie

Top 100 Songs

Glam-rock singer/songwriter born David Robert Jones 1/8/1947 in Brixton, London, England. Died 1/10/2016 in New York City. He changed his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with the Monkees’ Davy Jones. (v – Kon-Rads; Reds & Blues; King Bees: 11/63 to 8/64; Manish Boys: 8/64 to 4/65; Davy Jones: 65; Lower Third: 3/65 to 1/66; The Buzz: 2/66 to 12/66; solo: 66-; Tin Machine: 89-92). In 1972, he became a producer for Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes”) and Lou Reed (Transformer). In 1977, he worked with Iggy Pop as a songwriter and producer for Pop’s The Idiot and Lust for Life albums.

Bowie’s 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time.

Click here to see other best-of lists from performers and here to see other best-of lists from songwriters and/or producers.

Spotify Podcast:

Check out the two-part Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of David Bowie, 1964-1979, debuting January 11, 2022, at 7pm CST, and The Best of David Bowie, 1980-2016, debuting January 18, 2022, at 7pm CST. Both are based on this list. Tune in every Tuesday at 7pm for a new episode based on the lists at Dave’s Music Database.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards.

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Space Oddity (1969) #1 UK
2. Heroes (1977)
3. Let’s Dance (1983) #1 US, CB, UK, CN
4. Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice, 1990) #1 US, CB, RR, UK, AU)
5. Changes (1971)
6. Under Pressure (with Queen, 1981) #1 UK

DMDB Top 2%:

7. Life on Mars? (1971)
8. Fame (1975) #1 US, CB, HR, RR
9. All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople, 1972)
10. Starman (1972)

11. Lust for Life (Iggy Pop, 1977)
12. Ziggy Stardust (1972)
13. Rebel Rebel (1974)
14. Young Americans (1975)
15. Ashes to Ashes (1980) #1 UK
16. The Jean Genie (1972)

DMDB Top 5%:

17. Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy (with Bing Crosby, 1977)
18. Suffragette City (1972)
19. Modern Love (1983)
20. Golden Years (1975)
21. Sound and Vision (1977)
22. China Girl (1983)
23. Dancing in the Street (with Mick Jagger, 1985) #1 UK, CN, AU

DMDB Top 10%:

24. Lazarus (2015)
25. Fashion (1980)
26. Blue Jean (1984)
27. This Is Not America (with Pat Metheny, 1985)
28. Blackstar (2015)
29. John, I’m Only Dancing (1972)
30. Sorrow (1973) #1 AU

31. The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
32. Day-In Day-Out (1987)
33. Absolute Beginners (1986)
34. Diamond Dogs (1974)
35. Rock and Roll Suicide (1972)

DMDB Top 20%:

36. Where Are We Now? (2013)
37. Never Let Me Down (1987)
38. Drive-In Saturday (1973)
39. Scary Monsters and Super Creeps (1980)
40. Heroes (The Wallflowers, 1998)

41. Moonage Daydream (1972)
42. Tonight (with Tina Turner, 1984)
43. Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) (1982)
44. I’m Afraid of Americans (1997)
45. DJ (1979)
46. Boys Keep Swinging (1979)
47. TVC 15 (1976)
48. The Man Who Sold the World (Nirvana, 1993)
49. 1984 (1974)
50. Underground (1986)

51. Jump They Say (1993)
52. Loving the Alien (1984)
53. Time Will Crawl (1987)
54. The Laughing Gnome (1967)
55. Knock on Wood (1974)
56. Hallo Spaceboy (1995)
57. Under the God (Tin Machine, 1989)
58. Wild Is the Wind (1976)
59. Queen Bitch (1971)
60. Beauty and the Beast (1977)

61. Let’s Spend the Night Together (1973)
62. I Can’t Read (1997)
63. When the Wind Blows (1986)
64. Be My Wife (1977)
65. Alabama Song (1980)
66. Time (1973)
67. The Heart’s Filthy Lesson (1995)
68. All the Young Dudes (1973)
69. Panic in Detroit (1973)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

70. Oh, You Pretty Things (1971)
71. Little Wonder (1997)
72. Bang Bang (1987)
73. Success (Iggy Pop, 1977)
74. Breaking Glass (1977)
75. New Killer Star (2003)
76. My Death (live, 1972)
77. Up the Hill Backwards (1980)
78. Station to Station (1976)
79. Pretty Pink Rose (with Adrian Belew, 1990)
80. Quicksand (1971)

81. Look Back in Anger (1979)
82. Five Years (1972)
83. Black Country Rock (1970)
84. White Light/White Heat (live, 1972)
85. China Girl (Iggy Pop, 1977)
86. Memory of a Free Festival (1969)
87. Buddha of Suburbia (with Lenny Kravitz, 1993)
88. Slow Burn (2002)
89. The Prettiest Star (1970)
90. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

91. Heaven’s in Here (Tin Machine, 1989)
92. Heroes (We Could Be) (Alesso with Tove Lo, 2014)
93. Outside (1995)
94. Rock and Roll with Me (1974)
95. Andy Warhol (1971)
96. Thursday’s Child (1999)
97. We Are the Dead (1974)
98. Ashes to Ashes (Tears for Fears, 1996)
99. It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City (1975)
100. Aladdin Sane (1973)

David Bowie: Studio Albums Ranked

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by album’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, critics’ ratings, and awards. Also factored in are the status of each album’s songs in Dave’s Music Database for songs.

1. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
2. Hunky Dory (1971)
3. Low (1977)
4. Blackstar (2016)
5. Station to Station (1976)
6. Heroes (1977)
7. Aladdin Sane (1973)
8. Let’s Dance (1983)
9. Scary Monsters (1980)
10. Diamond Dogs (1974)

11. Young Americans (1975)
12. The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
13. Space Oddity (aka “Man of Words, Man of Music”) (1969)
14. The Next Day (2013)
15. Heathen (2002)
16. Lodger (1979)
17. Pin-Ups (1973)
18. Outside (1995)
19. Earthling (1997)
20. Reality (2003)

21. Hours (1999)
22. Black Tie White Noise (1993)
23. Tonight (1984)
24. Tin Machine Tin Machine (1989)
25. Never Let Me Down (1987)
26. Tin Machine Tin Machine II (1991)
27. Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
28. David Bowie (1967)

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First posted 1/8/2013; last updated 1/18/2022.

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Friday, June 22, 1973

David Bowie “Life on Mars?” released

Life on Mars?

David Bowie

Writer(s): David Bowie (see lyrics here)

Released: December 17, 1971 (as album cut on Hunky Dory)

Released: June 22, 1973 (as a single)

First Charted: June 30, 1973

Peak: 2 CL, 2 CO, 3 UK, 67 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 0.7 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 62.6 video, 305.22 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

David Bowie’s “savvy self-promotion combined with his great gift for melody and lyrical imagery” LW made him rock music’s most celebrated chameleon. He demonstrated a “fascination with space figures frequently in his early career,” LW most famously with the alien persona of Ziggy Stardust in 1972.

Leading up to that, however, were the #1 hit “Space Oddity,” which was released in 1969 to coincide with the historic moon landing, and “Life on Mars?,” a song originally featured on Bowie’s 1971 Hunky Dory album. He wrote the glam rock ballad as a parody of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” WK

The lyrics are “about a girl who goes to a cinema to escape reality.” WK “Sailors fighting in the dance hall; Mickey Mouse’s grown-up cow; a god-awful small affair – all make their appearances to render this one of Bowie’s most enigmatic set of lyrics. No matter, though, because he chose to bless such nonsense verse with one of his greatest tunes.” XFM

“The tenderness of the piano playing on ‘Life on Mars?,’ with its big build towards the chorus, is testament to his all round musical abilities.” LW It is an example of the “real substance behind his many styles.” LW “Its cinematic sweep and the vignettes of action that play across the screen give it a Hollywood glamour regardless.” DT

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First posted 2/14/2024.

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Friday, December 17, 1971

David Bowie Hunky Dory released

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

Released: December 17, 1971

Peak: 57 US, 3 UK, 43 CN, 39 AU, 12 DW

Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK), 10.83 EAS

Genre: glam rock/classic rock

Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.

  1. Changes [3:33] (1/7/72, 41 BB, 38 CB, 26 GR, 28 HR, 1 CL, 2 CO, 49 UK, 32 CN, 80 AU, 1 DF)
  2. Oh! You Pretty Things [3:12] (34 CO, 11 DF)
  3. Eight Line Poem [2:53]
  4. Life on Mars? [3:48] (6/22/73, 2 CL, 2 CO, 3 UK, 67 AU, 5 DF)
  5. Kooks [2:49] (35 CO, 23 DF)
  6. Quicksand [5:03] (4/11/74, 43 CL, 33 CO, 20 DF)
  7. Fill Your Heart (Rose/ Williams) [3:07]
  8. Andy Warhol [3:53] (32 CO, 23 DF)
  9. Song for Bob Dylan [4:12] (37 DF)
  10. Queen Bitch [3:13] (2/15/74, 34 CL, 32 CO, 21 DF)
  11. The Bewlay Brothers [5:21] (38 DF)

Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise.

Total Running Time: 41:50

The Players:

  • David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone, piano)
  • Mick Ronson (guitar, backing vocals, Mellotron, arrangements)
  • Trevor Bolder (bass, trumpet)
  • Mick Woodmansey (drums)
  • Rick Wakeman (piano)

Rating:

4.504 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings)

Quotable:

“The beginning of the classic Bowie period” – Adrian Denning

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

The Beginning of the Classic Bowie Era

“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars made David Bowie a superstar but, before that, Hunky Dory made him an artist.” CM It is a “quantum leap from his previous material.” AD It “is artistically the album that made the breakthrough for Bowie” AD and “the beginning of the classic Bowie period.” AD He said, “The record provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience.” CM Rolling Stone called it “his first great album.” 500

The Seeds for Ziggy Stardust

This album was notable for being “the first to feature the line-up that would become the Spiders from Mars.” CQ That included guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, and drummer Woody Woodmansey.

This is “suggestive of a dress rehearsal with Ziggy waiting impatiently in the wings for his understudy to vacate the stage.” PR Hunky Dory “is not a concept album, but the concepts within would eventually solidify and manifest in the character of Bowie’s spaceman and perhaps even in his personal philosophies.” CQ “The themes and ideas scattered throughout the songs’ lyrics and arrangements set the stage for not only Ziggy Stardust, but for much of Bowie’s output in the ’70s.” CQ

The Bowie Identity

“At a moment when no one knew whether David Bowie was a transvestite, provocateur, folk singer or space alien,” TL “the then 24-year-old released an album that slyly capitalized on the confusion.” TL Up to this point in his career he’d showcased an ability to tackle “a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles” AM and experiment “with a number of personas” PR including guises as “a mod, a folk singer, [and] a jazz buff.” CM His previous album, The Man Who Sold the World, had an “almost heavy-metal sound;” TB Hunky Dory saw Bowie return to “the acoustic guitar-based singer-songwriter sound of his earlier work.” TB

“What elevated the album…was Bowie’s newly developed and highly ambitious capacity for bridging the gap between highbrow and lowbrow art forms.” TB He “blends pop, dancehall, art-rock and folk for his most varied effort.” RV It “was a visionary blend of gay camp, flashy rock guitar and saloon-piano balladry.” 500

“On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie’s improved songwriting and determined sense of style” AM give Bowie the distinction of “inventing – and perfecting – a new style of rock & roll glamour.” 500 He created “a touchstone for reinterpreting pop’s traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.” AM

As Bowie said, “I wasn’t an R&B artist, I wasn’t a folk artist, and I didn’t see the point in trying to be that purise about it. What my true style was is that I loved the idea of putting Little Richard with Jacques Brel and the Velvet Underground backing them. What would that sound like? Nobody was doing that.” CM

The Players

“The playing and production and arrangements were all assured and professional.” AD “Mick Ronson came into his own…proving himself an adept arranger for strings as well as a fine guitar player. Keyboard superstar and then top session man Rick Wakeman provided fine piano and keyboard flourishes.” AD The latter’s “cabaret piano…dominate[s] the sound of the album.” AM

The Songs

Here’s thoughts on individual songs.

“Changes”
“The revamped Tin Pan Alley of Changes,” AM which “proved he could write a great pop song about who he really (maybe) was.” TL It became “a manifesto that Bowie has carried ever since.” CM

“Life on Mars?”
Bowie also crafted “the soaring Life on Mars?” AM in which he is “flexing his muscles as a songwriter.” CM It recalls “the theme of Bowie’s signature tune ‘Space Oddity,’ but here it tells the story of a girl in suburbia hoping that there is life elsewhere because it sure isn’t here.” CM

“Song for Bob Dylan” and “The Bewlay Brothers”
On Song for Bob Dylan, Bowie delivers “a powerful examination of the use of an alter ego to create art.” RV That song and The Bewlay Brothers were amongst Bowie’s “more folky songs.” AM Bowie wrote the latter about his brother Terry, who was bipolar and Bowie’s first idol. CM

“Oh! You Pretty Things” and “Queen Bitch”
He also “inflects his words with a Lou Reed sensibility, as on Oh! You Pretty Things, a rallying cry for homosexuality.” RV It was also “a nod to the British ‘60s beat group and was originally given to Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. Here Bowie reclaims it.” CM

Bowie also makes “a direct sound connection to the Velvet Underground with Queen Bitch.” CQ Such songs “clarified his earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style.” TL That song and “Song for Bob Dylan” have been described as “unabashed fan letters.” CM

“Andy Warhol”
There’s also “the dark acoustic rocker Andy Warhol,” AM a tribute to the New York artist who’d championed the Velvet Underground. Bowie said of Warhol’s reaction to the song” “he hated it. Loathed it.” CM

“Quicksand”
In addition to songs that celebrated Bowie’s contemporaries like Dylan, Reed, and Warhol, Bowie also serves up his “Neil Young homage Quicksand.” AM

“Kooks” and “Fill Your Heart”
Bowie also “again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music (Kooks, Fill Your Heart).” AM The former “was a letter welcoming the arrival of his newborn son and Bowie’s attempt to explain to the boy about his kooky parents. It’s probably the happiest Bowie has ever been on record.” CM

Notes:

The 1990 Rykodisc reissue added the unreleased 1971 recording “Bombers,” and alternate versions of “The Bewlay Brothers,” “Quicksand,” and “The Supermen” (the latter originally on The Man Who Sold the World).

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Other Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 10/1/2024.

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