16. Under Control / Good Shoes
15. Rainbow In The Dark / Das Racist
14. Dream About Me / The Depreciation Guild
13. All I’ve Got To Do /Eternal Summers
12. Nasty / PackFM
11. Oh So Protective One / Girls
10. Frame / Die! Die! Die!
09. Our Riotous Defects / Of Montreal
08. Celestica / Crystal Castles
07. Drunk Girls / LCD Soundsystem
06. Younger Us / Japandroids
05. Dreaming Of Another World / Mystery Jets
04. Floating Vibes / Surfer Blood
03. Wor / Django Django
02. Someday / Ceremony
01. I’m A Thief / Fresh & Onlys
After a conversation around the camp fire I have finally made my list of my top 20 David Bowie songs. This was pretty easy for me because I don’t even acknowledge Bowie’s catalog after 1984.
20. ‘Lady Grinning Soul‘ – 1973 / The piano in this song is so beautiful & haunting.
19. ‘Blue Jean‘ – 1984 / A cheesy 80′s Bowie single with a hard-to-resist sing-a-long chorus. fun-stuff!
18. ‘The Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family‘ – 1974 / One of the more bizarre Bowie tracks with no actual sentences just random chants.
17. ‘Let’s Dance‘ – 1983 / Has a wonderful bridge.
16. ‘Ziggy Stardust‘ – 1972 / Five stars for the guitar riff alone.
15. ‘Fame‘ – 1975 / This funk masterpiece was co-written with John Lennon. John Lennon & David Bowie funk? It works.
14. ‘Moonage Daydream‘ – 1972 / Freak out in a Moonage Daydream oh yeah! This one has some of my favorite imagery.
13. ‘Watch That Man‘ – 1973 / This Aladdin Sane opener really kicks the album off in an excellent manner.
12. ‘Cracked Actor‘ – 1973 / This glam stomper about aged celebs, prostitutes & drugs really paints the seedy side of LA quite well.
11. ‘Ashes To Ashes‘ – 1980 / I think ‘Space Oddity’ was a shit song but the good thing about it was this excellent sequel.
10. ‘Quicksand‘ – 1971 / Nietzsche, Churchill & a lot of poorly recorded acoustic guitars! Check out the excellent Dinosaur Jr. cover as well.
09. ‘Young Americans‘ – 1975 / I am sure when David Bowie released this soul record in 1975 fans were in shock. Can you hear Luther Vandross singing in the background?
08. ‘Andy Warhol’ – 1971 / It takes a lot for me to get excited about an Acoustic guitar riff but this very experimental track is really impressive.
07. ‘Starman‘ – 1972 / ‘Starman’ the film starring Jeff Bridges sucks! I hate it. I don’t know if the title was named after this song or not but I just thought I’d share my disdain. This obvious nod to Marc Bolan & soaring chorus makes me quite happy.
06. ‘Modern Love‘ – 1983 / The last great Bowie song. :[
05. ‘Drive-In Saturday‘ – 1973 / This song has kazoo’s! I always presumed this song was the precursor to ‘Young Americans’.
04. ‘Rebel Rebel‘ – 1974 / Super catchy & very repetitive with my favorite Bowie line; “Hot tramp, I love you so”.
03. ‘Heroes‘ (Single Version)- 1977 / Amazing. But the album version has a bunch of lame extra verses that are not needed. The single mix is the definitive version.
02. ‘Queen Bitch‘ – 1971 / If it weren’t David Bowie singing & glam you would think this was the Velvet Underground!
01. ‘Sound & Vision‘ – 1977 / I don’t know what the appeal is but everytime I hear this song I get so happy & excited. I automatically crank it up & move with it. I don’t know what it’s about but I once read it was written while Bowie was doing a lot of cocaine & living in Los Angeles. I guess that explains it all.
Well that is my list if you are wondering where ‘Under Pressure’ is I didn’t include it although i is a 5-star song because it was technically released as a Queen record.
I would love to hear what your favorite Bowie songs are.
And for the first time ever I will post my top 50 songs of the year in form of a podcast! Sorry about my nervous talking & “Ummm’s & Unnnnn’s”. I Hope you enjoy something you heard and please support good music!!
First hour songs 50-34:
Due to my mess up, song no. 35 is Jeremy Jay “slow dance” & no. 34 is Delorean “deli”. I forgot to announce what they were! Oops, I will get better!
1. Mew “No More Stories Are Told Today I’m Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World Is Grey I’m Tired Let’s Wash Away”
Okay, Denmark’s Mew is not for everyone. They make the most complex prog-pop with odd time signatures & tunings that make for this really euphoric experience whilst you listen to them. This is one of the most innovative & unique bands of our time & deserve much more national attention. But you know, the public likes Coldplay & U2 for some odd reason. When I listen to Mew I feel like I am listening to something special, it’s refreshing with Jonas Bjerre’s soaring falsetto, Bo Madsen appregios & Silas Graae’s magnificent drumming makes for 2009′s best record. I won’t post a youtube video of one of their songs because out of context the songs don’t have that impact that I have been preaching about.
Yes! Finally San Francisco has some great bands once again! It’s been way too long since the music scene here has been good. What a genius name, what a simple album title, this really lets you focus on just how gorgeous the songs are, some of the best pop songs I have heard in a long time. This is the record I have suggested the most to people in 2009.
