How would you rate "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" (1980) by David Bowie?

Love it and don’t understand why it isn’t talked of more often, beyond the ‘Best since....’ epithet. Similar to “Heroes” in the sense that one aspect seems to eclipse the greatness of the rest. The drunken, deranged NY sound of the album sounded so new in 1980, and hadn’t aged a bit. The occasionally-maligned second side is so full of hidden gems, in the great DB tradition of tucking great tracks away (a la Repetition, Lady Grinning Soul).

 

Mixed overall, but the highs are really high.

 

One of my favourite Bowie tracks:

 

Bowie is one of my 20 favorites but this one...............bleh

 

Like many, I find the first side to be far more engaging than the second. I still voted "essential," though, because I think that first side may be my favorite overall Bowie side, and side two is not bad at all, just not quite as good. I think "Kingdom Come" is somewhat forgettable, and the other side two songs kind of sound similar to one another, reminding me somewhat of the Pin-Ups period in their overt nostalgia. While "It's No Game Part 2" makes sense as an album closer in theory, it feels kind of anticlimactic in practice, and I think "Teenage Wildlife" would have been better to close the album. In general, my favorite Bowie period is the run of albums from Station to Station through Scary Monsters, and they're each about equally essential, IMHO.

 

Easily top 5 album for me.

 

I think it’s perfect and I never tire of it!

 

It's my favorite Bowie album.

No need to repeat what most are saying on the greatness of side 1.

I also love side 2......especially "Kingdom Come" written by another one of my favorites - Tom Verlaine.

 

100% essential for me. With that classic Bowie/Davis/Murray/Alomar line up and incredible contributions from Fripp, Visconti and others-- there you go!

 

Someone not that long ago wrote on here that Pop and Bowie fell out badly in the early 1990s and never spoke again. I know nothing about it, but it would explain why you never saw them together anywhere.. in any photos, documentary, or concert, etc.

 

Bowie performed guest vocals on Reed’s 2003 album The Raven, and Laurie Anderson, Reed’s partner, said Bowie adored the 2011 Reed / Metallica album Lulu.

It seems like any ups and downs Lou and David had, were of no real consequence in later years.

 

I love it and it's one of my Bowie favorites. I picked "Essential listening - a true classic" but was leaning towards the "Pretty great" option since as much as I love it I find it less essential than Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs and Low.

 

I voted "great", but not "essential".

Each side contains one really weak track, which prevents me from placing it in the top bracket. On Side 1 it's Up The Hill Backwards, and on Side 2 it's Kingdom Come (possibly David's worst vocal performance ever).

 

Someone just put this great one with early SM versions up there. Listen to it while you can.

 

So what is the official title of this album?

Scary Monsters
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps

 

Good question. The second according to Discogs I think

 

Since you did a copy paste, why not go here where you got replies

 

Play side 1 loud....side2, not so loud.

 

I would recommend it but not my fav Bowie album, i cant remember the last time i played it. I will spin it later today

 

Wow, I'm really out of sync with this thread. Although there are some really great musicians involved in the project, I find most of it forgettable. I've tried to love it - but don't. Given up on playing it actually. There are so many better Bowie projects than this.

 

Sometimes it's just a matter of where you jump aboard an artist's career at a moment when a new album can make a lasting impression. Too bad you missed this excellent one. Your avatar could have a casual passerby suspect you might enjoy the Glass Spider stadium tour version of Time more.

 

No need to hide under the chair, it is a very patchy album (a terrific first side and a very dull second).

 

And your complimentary chair, Sir


Or you could hide under blankets, or you could run away

 

Option #1.

Bonus tracks on the '92 EMI are also well worth having!

 

Bowie fans are never going to agree on eras. I consider myself lucky that I was the right age, early teens, to jump aboard the Ziggy/Aladdin Sane/Pin-ups/Diamond Dogs train. I judged every Bowie album after on those. To me, many sadly didn't match up. But anyone who didn't turn up till Hours or Station To Station or Tonight, or whatever, will obviously feel their particular era was the best. As it ever was.