Classic Bowie. Brilliant. It's irresistible. No wonder you couldn't help yourself. I get quite annoyed at Bowie snobs who refuse to engage in any 80s Bowie. I mean, how can you go past China Girl? And yes, highlighting, in a very sanitised way, the plight of Aboriginal Australians, long before talks of reconciliation, black deaths in custody, closing the gap, truth telling & treaty and native title but shortly after Aboriginal land rights were introduced in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal people routinely allowed in a whitefella pub in 1984? No. Even now it's still quite astonishing for its time. Interestingly, it was released the year after Goanna released the song Solid Rock, a scathing indictment on the European invasion of Australia - see here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSNxFGW09Mo I'd always wondered about the Let's Dance video - have you discovered anything further about Bowie's thoughts/motivation or that of the producer?
I never got into 'those sorts of trousers' but that album got me into Bowie in a big way. I was recently released from art college and had a job, but there were a couple of kids there who were well into David. They played, on cassette tapes, "Alalddin Sane", and "Hunky Dorie". A lot. It was okay, then I heard "Let's Dance" and thought - maybe there's something in this fellow! I went backwards, as I was often doing (Led Zepplin backwards to Muddy Waters etc etc), and re-realised David Bowie was something else. Some of my favourites were not his later albums, although I loved "Let's Dance," but "Hunky Dory," "Aladdin Sane," and "Ziggy Stardust." As Dr. Kerry King says, there were some amazing later, 1980's tracks which I loved. I then went on to find Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel and my life was complete! Well, you know...
Sometimes it leads to some of the best music, and grounds you in where this all came from. And where it can lead to! Thanks for your Substack, Steve, I enjoy it.
Let’s Dance is my one and only Bowie album. It’s a great record co-produced by the amazing Nile Rodgers. Modern Love and Cat People were two of my favorite tracks.
A Night to Remember by Shalamar and Just an Illusion by Imagination were two songs on my 80’s compilations I never grew tired of.
In May case his music was a comfort when I felt trapped in my own head and anxious. I think it speaks to his charisma that he can be a guide for people in a wide range of circumstances, who different things but find something in Bowie.
"I thought I was Bowie - the reality is I looked more like a refugee from a Def Leppard training camp." Haw!!-- either that, or a throwback to the late, great Bonzo Dog Band!! 👍😅
It was, though we didn't realise it at the time, the last hurrah of his Imperial phase, with Scary Monsters, and the brilliant Ashes to Ashes, from three years earlier, his last great, great record. Of course he would eventually go on to make further great records, but it would be a while, as the 80s just seemd to drain him of anything like the creativity he had in the previous decade. Just as quickly as the money and coke gushed in, the artistry flowed out...like rats leaving a sinking ship!
Still, this record does have moments of brilliance, such as Modern Love and the title song, but to truly see how bereft of original inspirationn he was, just compare his big bang booming China Girl with Iggy's original from the Bowie-produced (and he also co-wrote the song, too), The Idiot, from 1977. There simpy is no comparison, as Iggy's version knocks it out of the park. But, as is ever the way with these things, it inexplicably became a bigger hit than either Rebel, Rebel or Young Americans, let alone Golden Years, all of which are far superior!
When he said to Nile Rodgers he needed a hit is when it all went wrong...ha-ha!
But I'm glad this record got you onboard the good ship Starman, Steve, because in the end any Bowie is better than none at all!
PS Would have loved to see that rigmarole you were all kitted out in...!
Just brilliant, thanks for making us smile at those questionable 80s fashion must haves, my tukka boots were burgundy with a suede tassel fringe, we have loved our David Bowie spots in Berlin, what an incredible human he was
I've never been able to not like this song, it always gives me goosebumps, that Rodgers hook, and Bowie's propped against the wall out-of-place out-of-time look in the video.
Classic Bowie. Brilliant. It's irresistible. No wonder you couldn't help yourself. I get quite annoyed at Bowie snobs who refuse to engage in any 80s Bowie. I mean, how can you go past China Girl? And yes, highlighting, in a very sanitised way, the plight of Aboriginal Australians, long before talks of reconciliation, black deaths in custody, closing the gap, truth telling & treaty and native title but shortly after Aboriginal land rights were introduced in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal people routinely allowed in a whitefella pub in 1984? No. Even now it's still quite astonishing for its time. Interestingly, it was released the year after Goanna released the song Solid Rock, a scathing indictment on the European invasion of Australia - see here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSNxFGW09Mo I'd always wondered about the Let's Dance video - have you discovered anything further about Bowie's thoughts/motivation or that of the producer?
Thanks. Going to investigate further about the video
Classic Bowie....always hidden messages of justice embedded in his work....in particular the Let's Dance video
Keep us posted.
https://www.facebook.com/NITVAustralia/videos/jolene-king-on-bowies-message-behind-lets-dance-nitv/781577876230250/ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/12/how-david-bowies-lets-dance-shone-a-light-on-australias-indigenous-issues
I never got into 'those sorts of trousers' but that album got me into Bowie in a big way. I was recently released from art college and had a job, but there were a couple of kids there who were well into David. They played, on cassette tapes, "Alalddin Sane", and "Hunky Dorie". A lot. It was okay, then I heard "Let's Dance" and thought - maybe there's something in this fellow! I went backwards, as I was often doing (Led Zepplin backwards to Muddy Waters etc etc), and re-realised David Bowie was something else. Some of my favourites were not his later albums, although I loved "Let's Dance," but "Hunky Dory," "Aladdin Sane," and "Ziggy Stardust." As Dr. Kerry King says, there were some amazing later, 1980's tracks which I loved. I then went on to find Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel and my life was complete! Well, you know...
Going backwards is the only way, right?!
Sometimes it leads to some of the best music, and grounds you in where this all came from. And where it can lead to! Thanks for your Substack, Steve, I enjoy it.
Did you get plenty 😂?
Plenty of funny looks!!
🤣🤣
The only time I saw Bowie live was at The Superdome on Let's Dance tour
Like so much of Bowie and Nile’s work, this ages like fine wine — only sounding better with time.
Let’s Dance is my one and only Bowie album. It’s a great record co-produced by the amazing Nile Rodgers. Modern Love and Cat People were two of my favorite tracks.
A Night to Remember by Shalamar and Just an Illusion by Imagination were two songs on my 80’s compilations I never grew tired of.
This is great, and in an interesting coincidence, I just wrote about how Bowie was an important figure for me in a period of transition in my life (https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/reaching-out ).
In May case his music was a comfort when I felt trapped in my own head and anxious. I think it speaks to his charisma that he can be a guide for people in a wide range of circumstances, who different things but find something in Bowie.
"I thought I was Bowie - the reality is I looked more like a refugee from a Def Leppard training camp." Haw!!-- either that, or a throwback to the late, great Bonzo Dog Band!! 👍😅
It was, though we didn't realise it at the time, the last hurrah of his Imperial phase, with Scary Monsters, and the brilliant Ashes to Ashes, from three years earlier, his last great, great record. Of course he would eventually go on to make further great records, but it would be a while, as the 80s just seemd to drain him of anything like the creativity he had in the previous decade. Just as quickly as the money and coke gushed in, the artistry flowed out...like rats leaving a sinking ship!
Still, this record does have moments of brilliance, such as Modern Love and the title song, but to truly see how bereft of original inspirationn he was, just compare his big bang booming China Girl with Iggy's original from the Bowie-produced (and he also co-wrote the song, too), The Idiot, from 1977. There simpy is no comparison, as Iggy's version knocks it out of the park. But, as is ever the way with these things, it inexplicably became a bigger hit than either Rebel, Rebel or Young Americans, let alone Golden Years, all of which are far superior!
When he said to Nile Rodgers he needed a hit is when it all went wrong...ha-ha!
But I'm glad this record got you onboard the good ship Starman, Steve, because in the end any Bowie is better than none at all!
PS Would have loved to see that rigmarole you were all kitted out in...!
Ha, trying to erase from my mind (the clothes not the music!)
No doubt…and me, too…ha-ha!
Just brilliant, thanks for making us smile at those questionable 80s fashion must haves, my tukka boots were burgundy with a suede tassel fringe, we have loved our David Bowie spots in Berlin, what an incredible human he was
I've never been able to not like this song, it always gives me goosebumps, that Rodgers hook, and Bowie's propped against the wall out-of-place out-of-time look in the video.
Great piece I can relate to it 💯. Thanks
Thanks, much appreciated 👍