Unless you’ve been living under a pebble for the past year you’ll know that David Bowie is back making music, having released The Next Day in March 2013, his first album in almost a decade. To celebrate his return, here’s a 90 minute sprint through perhaps Bowie’s least acclaimed decade.
The ’80s started off well with the release of Scary Monsters, the album which all his releases in the past twenty years have been acclaimed as “his best since”. Bowie indulged his artistic leanings further with a starring role in a BBC adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal, but a change of label to EMI heralded a new, more commercial sound on the hugely successful Let’s Dance album. 1984’s follow up Tonight was poorly received and Bowie returned to acting in 1986, appearing in and contributing songs to the films Absolute Beginners and Labyrinth, as well as supplying the theme for the animation When The Wind Blows.
After 1987’s Never Let Me Down failed to return him to critical adulation, Bowie went off at a tangent by forming Tin Machine. Although the quartet always presented a united front, it was undoubtedly Bowie’s involvement which propelled their hard rock influenced debut album into the top three in the summer of 1989.
After the relative failure of Tin Machine II in 1991, Bowie returned to solo work, releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums such as Black Tie White Noise, Outside and Heathen until a minor heart attack in 2003 prompted a decade of semi-retirement until the sudden release of the single Where Are We Now? in January 2013.
Have a listen to our virtual mixtape of Bowie’s forgotten decade – you might be surprised!
01 Ashes To Ashes (single, 1980)
02 Kingdom Come (from Scary Monsters, 1980)
03 Fashion (single, 1980)
04 Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (single, 1981)
05 Under Pressure (with Queen, single, 1981)
06 Ballad Of The Adventurers (from David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht’s Baal, 1981)
07 Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (single, 1982)
08 Let’s Dance (from Let’s Dance, 1983)
09 China Girl (single, 1983)
10 Modern Love (from Let’s Dance, 1983)
11 Blue Jean (Extended Dance Mix) (single, 1984)
12 God Only Knows (from Tonight, 1984)
13 This Is Not America (with the Pat Metheney Group, single, 1985)
14 Loving The Alien (single, 1985)
15 Absolute Beginners (single, 1986)
16 Magic Dance (from Labyrinth, 1986)
17 When The Wind Blows (single, 1986)
18 Day-In Day-Out (single, 1987)
19 Never Let Me Down (single, 1987)
20 Under The God (Tin Machine single, 1989)
21 Tin Machine (from Tin Machine, 1989)
