David Bowie's dark years

The other week, I bought Tin Machine on cassette from a charity shop in Kingston for 50p. I think they saw me coming. But I also bought Dare by the Human League and Actually by the Pet Shop Boys, each for 50p as well, so maybe we saw each other coming. No wait, I saw them coming because I bought a copy of the book based on the film Tron for 30p.

I thought "Let's Dance" was a good pop album, and since his persona at that time was meant to be pop star, it worked. Since then, I've felt most of his work was either sub-par, or overambitious; either way still meant boring. Sure all the albums since "Let's Dance" have had a couple noteworthy tracks, but from a man who put out a decade worth of masterpieces, it surely wasn't enough. I'm not even sure what the worst of the bunch would be; "Never Let Me Down", maybe? It's a really lousy, kitchen-sink type record that seemed to be reaching for an "all around pop entertainer", Phil Collins style, except Phil Collins did it better (gawd).

I had hopes for Tin Machine, and kind of like a lot of the first one, but get very fatigued listening to Reeves Gabrels' squealing, squalking guitar effects; is this someone's idea of dissonance? of rocking out?

Lots of people felt he was back on track with "Outside"... not me. I thought it was a dreary, dull record. Really pretentious, too, but that's a good thing in his case: Bowie's supposed to be pretentious.

The only one I can stand to play all the way through is "...hours", the latest one. I mean, its no "Station to Station", but the songwriting's pretty solid, and he doesn't appear to be jumping on any obnoxious bandwagon (although doing just that worked out great for him years ago). I do wish he'd ditch Gabrels and find a different collaborator, though. So yeah, I'll say a good word for "...hours", and state I'll buy everything he'll ever record. But I won't hide the fact I'm disappointed in so many weak records... I mean this guy was my teenage hero. Isn't there a new one coming up? Let's see...

"...hours" just irritates me. Songs like Survive and Seven sound like a wimpy indie band, singing about all the pain in his life but how he'll survive. "Hold on," I think, "you're David Bowie. You shouldn't be writing songs about pretend upset just because you thought it needs a couple of sad ones, you should be writing songs about being David Bowie. Write a song about going to an art opening. Or a showbiz party. Or being a dad."

But then I think "Oh, no, wait a minute, you're David Bowie, your thing is writing songs from perculiar perspectives, so ignore me, carry on." Then I put on the CD and think "This is rotten, can't I listen to the Pet Shop Boys version of Hallo Spaceboy"

The *FIRST* Tin Machine album wasn't entirely horrible.

When I first played "Glass Spider" (on Never Let Me Down), I thought it was cool -- it seemed to have this really weird, distorted mixing and Bowie's voice went all vibrato. Turned out the CD was scratched and played all fucked up that time, but never again. What a disappointment when I found out the regular version (and the whole CD) was complete ass.

Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I was actually moved by "Strangers When We Meet."

-- X. Y. Zedd (xyzedd@yahoo.com), July 31, 2001.

I lol at that.

'Loving the Alien' is prime rib Bowie in his darkest age.

TS: David Bowie's 80's sellout period vs Gary Numan's 80's sellout period?

It depends upon whether I, Assassin fits into Numan's "sellout" period.

A related question - what album does Bowie finger as the point where he lost his way? I remember him being quite critical of Black Tie in an interview somewhere.

like everyone else I think he references Tonight.

I remember him being quite critical of Black Tie in an interview somewhere.

really? that's weird. I mean it has some bad stuff on it but it has just as much great stuff. I remember it being hailed as his "rebirth."

Aside from any peripheral stuff like the BBC sessions or more complete B-side collections or the Sound & Vision set, that's where I'll stay.

here you go, bootleggers: take it & run with it pic.twitter.com/npOJbHWmjm

— Bowiesongs (@bowiesongs) February 10, 2021