Janine
Black Country RockFill Your Heart
It Ain't Easy
Panic In Detroit
Shapes Of Things
Rock N Roll With Me
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Golden Years
Weeping Wall
Neukoln
African Night Flight
Scream Like A Baby
Shake It
God Only Knows
Shining Star
Crack City
You Belong In Rock And Roll
You've Been Around
Ian Fish, U.K. Heir
The Motel
Law (Earthlings On Fire)
Survive
Hole In The Ground
Pablo Picasso
Dancing Out In Space
Blackstar
27 comments:
man, those are some great songs ...
I know!
This is why I didn't say "worst song on every Bowie album."
I kind of fell into the trap of "worst" song as well and I was initially very surprised at the song selection
Think you may have started a theme here Sal.
His cover of "God Only Knows" does prove it is possible to ruin what is one of the greatest songs of all time.
Now I wanna hear them !
great idea, love to see it with some others (The Who, Stones, Petty etc.). But it's screaming to have a playlist to go along for all of us lazy sods.
Merry Xmas
P
Yeah, definitely some of the ones I skip. But in some cases we're talking doubles instead of home runs.
What, no zip file? (Kidding)
I remember watching that Christmas special in 1977, and thought why does THAT guy get to shake David Bowie's hand?
Panic In Detroit...c'mon man
In the interest of full disclosure:
I have never owned a David Bowie album.
I have never listened to any of his songs for pleasure under headphones, with the exception of the single mix of "Rebel Rebel", "Heroes" and a bootleg of a sort of Buddy Holly-ish early version of "Hang On to Your Life." I also like the Mott album he produced and "Raw Power," but that's it.
I witnessed the Young Americans tour live at Radio City, and to this day I remember it as the most appalling spectacle I had ever seen on a stage. Luther Vandross dancing on the inside of a grand piano? I don't think so.
I also saw Flash Gordon and the Gay Guys From Outer Space -- excuse me, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars -- live at Carnegie Hall, and I still think both it and the album it derived from are the most sophmorically silly things I ever endured.
His voice? Unlistenable -- a pompous portentous baritone that is, IMHO, completely .
antithetical to rock n roll
Okay, I've wanted to get that off my chest for years and years. Thank you.
@steve simels
"Okay, I've wanted to get that off my chest for years and years. Thank you."
Dude, you've gotten that off your chest on every one of my Bowie posts since 2008, save the post after his death, which you gratefully let me off the hook.
Sal -- hey, I'm stressed out from the holidays.
My apologies.
"No apology necessary," he says, as he burns all of his Willie Nile records.
"as he burns all of his Willie Nile records.:
Heh,
Hahahaha. That's an amusing idea, with endless iterations possible....
I started these comments from the bottom, and as soon as I saw Simels' "as he burns all of his Willie Nile records", I just knew Simels must've said something disparaging about Mr. Jones.
I get Simels' complaint about Bowie's voice. Just last night -- literally -- I saw a clip of Tony Visconti listening to Dennis Davis' isolated drum track from 'Look Back In Anger' and was completely blown away. When I went to listen to the full version, it took more than one listen to decide I liked it enough to keep, largely because Bowie's voice (Keepability mostly being based on those crazy good drums; if the Visconti clip didn't have him interrupting it and talking over it, that'd EASILY be the version I'd keep). But I've never otherwise let Bowie's voice keep me from loving what I love by the guy, and that includes a buuuuunch of stuff stretching from Liza Jane in '64 to the title track (and apparently the weakest track!) of his bow-out.
Anyway, like others here, I wouldn't hate a ZIP file of this list you've made...
C in California
I know it's not politically correct these days but Simel's Flash Gordon comment made me spit out my coffee.
BTW - the Shout It Out Loud chat box hasn't been uploading the past few weeks I visit this site. Is it my browser?
Kevin,
ChatBox looks okay from here. Might be your browser.
What, no zip file? (not kidding).
I echo softshoebanana @ Panic In Detroit... c'mon man... really?
This is really a great idea for a musical exercise - never ever thought about it. Hell, I've never even seen it on the Hoffman forum and they've got threads for everything!
Randy
A few things:
1. There's no zip file for a number of reasons. It's a list of songs that exceeds the length of a CD. It won't play well. The songs are all readily available to stream, so you can just create a playlist.
2. Anyone who knows me or this blog knows I am a fanatical Bowie completist. I am both a fan and a defender. I specifically did not use the word "worst." I chose "weakest" because even the greatest albums of all time will have a "weakest" track, even if the track is, as "Wardo" put it, a "double" versus a homerun." It's math. There are few songs on this list that I truly can't stand, and some I really love even if I find them to be the "weakest" on their respective albums.
3. RE: "Panic In Detroit"- It's a good track, but I have never loved it. It opens with a bang--that great guitar sound and that Bo Diddley beat, but the melody on the verses goes nowhere. I think it's clumsy. Your miles obviously vary, but I just don't think it's as great as everything else is on "Aladdin Sane," including the bizarro, glamified theatrics of the Stones' cover, which if you even think about comparing it to the original, you've really missed the point.
What, nothing from the 1st Deram album?
Allow me to add that whatever my feelings about Bowie's music, in all the later interviews I've seen of him he comes across as a thoroughly charming, funny and menschy guy.
Just saying.
My favorite part of Black County Rock is when he goes full Bolan in the 3rd verse. Everything is a bit more pronounced on The Metrobolist, plus that tasty little intro from Ronno. My 2 cents.
Oh hell naw, this one will get the comments!!
I'm a big fan of It Ain't Easy and Panic In Detroit (latter in particular), plus God Only Knows.
And I like African Night Flight and Weeping Wall.
I can only assume It Ain't Easy and Weeping Wall get the "left swipe" here only because the albums they come from are so impeccable, one just has to choose SOMETHING to be the least impressive cut on otherwise near-perfect LPs.
But for most of these ... no argument, even if I'd put a few cuts even a tad lower than these.
This post reminds me of how so many great artists have missteps ... in fact, some of my favorites have whole album missteps and even near-decade missteps, one might say.
Paul Simon strikes me as one of the only artist from the 60s/70s who has almost no bad songs in his whole catalog. There are a few lunkers, but the quality control is enviably high - especially for one who has morphed and tried different styles like has.
Sal, what? You prefer Bowie's "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Panic in Detroit"??? (Rhetorical question.)
Non-rhetorical question: I don't get the distinction between "weakest" and "worst."
Bruce H.
Bruce,
"Weakest" saves me from calling a lot of terrific songs "the worst." I thought it would keep people off my back.
;)
I love a lot of these "weak" songs, though not as much as the others on their respective albums.
And yes, I think "Let's Spend the Night Together" is a brilliant, glammy and hammy piece of genius. "Panic In Detroit" always bothered me, as I said above. It had great designs but failed to deliver...for my ears. The opening lyrics are an awkward mess.
"Looks a lot like Che Guevera/rode a diesel van" over a Bo Diddley beat is what I think the Bowie haters think all of his songs sound like.
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