Bowie in Total 3: Never Let Me Down?

And the decade started so well! Now we're entering the third and most painful section of Bowie's career, the 80s (with a little bit of 90s). Two awful solo albums and an ill-advised re-branding as Tin Machine managed to alienate most of Bowie's fan base while giving him his greatest commercial success. Many stopped here and never listened again, despite his excellent albums that followed this drought of talent. Bowie also develops a weird obsession with Iggy Pop, covering him on three albums in a row. Even after reading Bowie's various explanations and excuses, I still can't understand what could make a great artist go so bad. Fortunately, it gets better!

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)

Bowie's last record produced by Tony Visconti for twenty years and his last good album for thirteen years, this album is easily one of my favorites and the one I come back to the most often. This is Bowie's last record with the rhythm section that he'd been with since Station to Station. Bowie offers some of his tightest songwriting with a generous dose of venom toward contemporary society. On the opener, "It's No Game (No. 1)", Bowie screams the vocals while Fripp wails discordant riffs and the lyrics are recited in Japanese, making for a thrillingly alienating start. The first side of the record is a burst of pure energy, spawning a couple big hits in "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion" while being as aggressively avant-garde as Bowie has ever been. The second half is comparatively quieter and more contemplative. "Teenage Wildlife" and "It's No Game (No.2) are about as intimate as Bowie gets while still being catchy as hell. My favorite songs on the album are the title track, which sees Bowie at his most fist-pumping, as well as "Teenage Wildlife", which conveys urgency and desperation perfectly.

Let's Dance (1983)

What was intended as a one-off experiment changes the direction of Bowie's career for the next decade. Produced by Nile Rogers, Bowie drags himself into the faux-funk, forced nostalgia and empty hedonism of the 1980s. Sometimes it works. The title track, "Modern Love" and a cover of Iggy Pop's "China Girl" have remained three of Bowie's most enduring songs. Bowie's vocals are uniformly strong throughout and the musicians are all on point, though Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar doesn't quite fit. Unfortunately, "Cat People (Putting out Fire)", which was so awesome in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, seems a bit dull in it's full form. As well, other songs on the album, like "Ricochet", fall apart on their ill-conceived arrangements. Interestingly, producer/guitarist Nile Rogers, producer Giorgio Moroder and drummer Omar Hakim all featured on Daft Punk's fantastic album Random Access Memories 30 years later. While I would recommend "Modern Love" and "China Girl" as pop songs, the only great song on the record is "Let's Dance", which blends futurism and nostalgia into a dance sound that isn't revisited until 1993s "Black Tie / White Noise".                  

Tonight (1984)

A quickly recorded follow up to Let's Dance without Nile Rogers or any good songs, Tonight managed to further bolster Bowie's commercial success while firmly establishing himself as a mediocre, middle-of-the-road pop act. This was the most painful Bowie album to listen to, without a doubt, though at least it's short. The fact that Bowie thought it was a good idea to cover the Beach Boys classic "God Only Knows" in this style demonstrates that his judgement was way off. Iggy Pop, who was going through a similarly mediocre period, co-wrote five tracks on this album. One of Pop's co-writes, Tonight is a pseudo-reggae duet with Tina Turner that manages to embarrass both parties. The only songs that I found tolerable are "Loving the Alien", which was salvaged and rearranged to become a half-decent song for Bowie's 2003 tour, and "Blue Jean", the best attempt at a pop song on the album. Still, avoid at all costs.

Never Let Me Down (1987)

A marginal improvement over Tonight, this is still a fundamentally terrible album. Bowie seems to be more invested in this album than the previous two, playing more instruments and more actively developing the concept. Despite this, virtually every element is horribly ill-conceived, featuring a hideous cover and some of the worst musical excesses of the 80s. Massive, reverbed drums drown out any attempt at subtlety while Peter Frampton's obnoxious lead guitar manages to consistently annoy and somehow Bowie thought it would be a good idea to include a rap from Mickey Rourke. The sad thing is that, unlike Tonight, the potential for a good album is buried here somewhere. While some of the songs have good bits, I can't recommend any songs in their entirety.

Tin Machine (1989) and Tin Machine II (1991)

These were Bowie's only albums under another name and a partially successful attempt to restore his reputation. Backed by talented guitarist Reeves Gabrels, who would play on Bowie's albums for the next decade, and rhythm section Tony and Hunt Sales, Tin Machine is Bowie trying out late 80s hard rock. Overall, these albums are forgettable and the second album entirely unnecessary, but the performances are strong and there are some decent songs on here. Gabrels' guitar playing is strong throughout though often goes far over the top. A cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" fails miserably, drowning out Lennon's mournful lyrics in hard rock excess. At their worst, Tin Machine sound like the house band at a blues bar. The only songs I would recommend are "I Can't Read", which is a solid song with genuinely interesting instrumentation reminiscent of Sonic Youth, and "Baby Universal", which has the strongest melody of all the Tin Machine tracks. It gets much better after this!