Ok, I love Bowie's 80's music. Who else does on here?

I have all of Bowie's albums. The 80's stuff has always had a soft spot in my heart. I recently picked up the 12 inch remix of Underground. It is an interesting song. Clearly a lot of effort went into it. On my computer, I combined the remix with the instrumental version and edited out some of the more cheesy parts.
I feel like Bowie did some really good stray songs for soundtracks in the 80's.
Cat people putting out fire
Absolute Beginners
This is not America
Underground
When the wind blows

Thoughts?

 

Well, Scary Monsters is clearly a classic that is technically an 80s release, but I know most don't associate it with that decade. Let's Dance is a very good pop record. Tonight is bleh as an album but contains some great singles. I've always liked Never Let Me Down despite its reputation, but the production is pretty bland. Tin Machine was a necessary part of Bowie's musical recovery, but it's not an innately listenable album. That leaves the soundtrack releases (Absolute Beginners, Labyrinth, Cat People, Falcon and the Snowman, When the Wind Blows) as proof that he was still capable of quality material, but overall I think you have to go all the way to Buddha of Suburbia to find the "interesting Bowie" again.

 

I do, but with reservations.

 

Lets Dance is my only Bowie Studio album.

 

It wasn't the best decade for him but it hardly deserves the derision that it typically gets. I tend to like it, maybe because it was my first exposure to Bowie as a young teenager. My 80's Bowie top 10:

1. China Girl
2. Loving The Alien
3. This Is Not America
4. Absolute Beginners
5. Prisoner Of Love
6. Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
7. Let's Dance
8. Heaven's In Here
9. Neighborhood Threat
10. Blue Jean

 

I love Let's Dance. I'm not very familiarized with the rest of his work during the 80's, though.

 

Love Scary Monsters,Let's Dance and Never Let Me Down.

 

I love Let's Dance, Scary Monsters but thats it

 

I love '80s Bowie. That's how I got into his work. I love the Giorgio Moroder version of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", Let's Dance singles, "This is Not America", the Labyrinth songs, and "Absolute Beginners" is one of my favourite songs of the '80s.

Some terrific videos, too, from that era.

 

I really enjoy Bowie's 80s work. Between album tracks and soundtrack work, he was still writing and singing some really great songs at least up until Tin Machine.

My "go to" Bowie CDs tend to be the first Virgin remasters of Let's Dance, Tonight and Never Let Me Down, which contain bonus soundtrack songs (these three reissues preceded the 1999 Virgin remaster series, which dropped the bonus songs).

I actually consider Let's Dance to be pretty groundbreaking. The amazing combination of Bowie's songwriting and vocals, Nile Rogers' funk guitar and production, and Stevie Ray Vaughan's tasty guitar work is pretty magical - my favorite Bowie album top to bottom.

And then there's Scary Monsters..."Ashes To Ashes" (full length album version) was my true Bowie gateway song as a teenager. Probably my favorite Bowie song overall!

 

post-"Scary Monsters", i consider the Baal EP, the Moroder Cat People and Absolute Beginners (the title track only) to be the finest moments in Bowie's lost decade. "Let's Dance" is the most consistent of the albums and strong EPs can be assembled from the generally unfavoured "Tonight", "NLMD" and "Tin Machine". that said, these 'essentials' would amount to around two hours of material, in stark contrast to the prolific '70s when he rarely made a misstep.

 

The Baal EP may contain his finest vocal performances. Amazing stuff.

 

'Scary Monsters' and 'Tin Machine' are great, obviously.

I really like about half of "Let's Dance".

I play "Tonight" once in a blue moon. Don't hate it, but rarely feel the need. Not a terrible record, though.

"Never Let Me Down"....meh.... dated production values overwhelm the few decent tunes hidden there.

"Baal" is quite good.

Not his best decade but plenty of good things to be found if one looks.

 

Aside from 'Scary Monsters' and 'Let's Dance', both of which are excellent albums, these are my favourite songs:

The Drowned Girl (Baal)
Loving The Alien (Tonight)
Blue Jean (Tonight)
Underground (Labyrinth)
As The World Falls Down (Labyrinth)
Absolute Beginners (same)
Time Will Crawl (Never Let Me Down)
Never Let Me Down (same)
Prisoner Of Love (Tin Machine)
Crack City (Tin Machine)
I Can't Read (Tin Machine)
Under The God (Tin Machine)
Bus Stop (Tin Machine)
Baby Universal (Tin Machine 2)
One Shot (Tin Machine 2)
You Belong In Rock And Roll (Tin Machine 2)
Shopping For Girls (Tin Machine 2)
Goodbye Mr. Ed (Tin Machine 2)

Actually, Bowie made MANY great things in the eighties. However, it was very inconsistent and in direct contrast to the previous decade of great-albums-on-a-string. His best songs from the eighties are just as great as the material he made in seventies, in my opinion.

 

'Without You' & 'Time Will Crawl' are good, but so many others^ as well...

 

I think it is all underrated, though I could live without about half of NLMD.

 

I like 80s Bowie. That was my first exposure. Not ever gotten familiar with Tin Machine.

 

Bowie was very big in the '80s.
Lots of good posts in this thread already, but we must mention Under Pressure with Queen and Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger.
Under Pressure being, in my opinion, one of the top Classic Rock songs of the decade.

 

Great lists. Many pop acts would love to have this many good songs, let alone coming after the amazing 70's that he had.

 

I think some of Bowie's best 80s work was his stint on Broadway as The Elephant Man (1980-1981), as the aging vampire in The Hunger (1983), his c0-lead role in the Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), his turn as a pirate
in 1983's Yellowbeard ("shall I meet you in the pump room, sir?"), and his Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).

Musically, he bookends the 80s nicely with Scary Monsters and Tin Machine.
Otherwise, not so much.

 

I get why David Bowie decided to shift some units in the Eighties - he was a financial basket case. I think that this version of Bowie is such a sore spot for long-term fans because it was such a departure and he was so blatant about it...stadium shows - check, duet with Tina Turner - check, mass-appeal fashion - check, accessible but tepid tunage through three albums - check, check and check... strange days indeed for fans of the guy who " took it all too far ". It seemed to have taken it's toll on him as well - the Tin Machine overcompensation sent him spinning off into another "lost decade" for many. Where he once caught the wave and rode it seemingly without effort, he seemed to labouriously chase trends during the Nineties rather than march in the vanguard, never quite getting the timing right.

D.D.

 

not a huge fan of the 80s material but last weekend i spun the GLASS SPIDER dvd which has a good mix of material and sounds great.

 

I agree. I think it became fashionable to attack 80s Bowie because "Let's Dance" was so popular - I think many people assumed "popular" meant "sellout".

In the 90s, I dated a woman who loved Bowie but hated 80s Bowie even though she'd barely ever listened to that material. Her older brothers essentially "brainwashed" her to believe "Let's Dance" was crap.

I got her to listen to it with more open ears and she liked it!

The 1983-1987 run was super-spotty, but there's still some good stuff in there, and I loved "Tin Machine"!

 

I really loved the GST. Sure, the stuff with the dancers was silly, but musically, I thought it was pretty good - too synth-heavy at times, but still good.

And he pulled out some really cool rarities: "All the Madmen", "Big Brother", "Sons of the Silent Age", "Time", etc. How can fans hate a show with those songs involved???

 

Problem with Bowie's 80's output is that you can't help but compare it with what he did the decade before. Sadly, it simply isn't the same quality even if some of it is OK.