What are David Bowie's 3 signature songs?

Life on Mars, Heroes, Let's Dance. From a European perspective, these would be his most recognisable songs, for most people, IMO.

 

Lot of consensus here 'bout the top 3. Just to spice things up: only 4 votes for Sound & Vision, really ? ... Moby would protest > Live By Request and how about the next one if you keep listening. Older folks would agree with us, but what would a kid request on that very same show, maybe a 5 year old named George ? He's a late teenager now with at least one happy memory and God knows whether Dave called him later ... George.

 

I think of a signature song as "would my Mom know who does this song".

Changes
Ziggy
Under Pressure

 

It's the kid sayin' that, right ?

 

Right.
My Mom might not know that Bowie sings Starman but she would know Changes.

 

I remember as if it were yesterday asking my mom in the early 80s who David Bowie was. Of course, you can guess the reply:

"Oh, you know, Ground Control To Major Tom."

Looking at the result of the poll, mums really do know best.

Calling @Tyler Chastain

 

It's not about the songs I like the best!

 

Space Oddity, Changes, Fame

 

Where's "The Laughing Gnome"?

 

It's not???!

 

Where is "Stay" as an option?

But in any case, "Space Oddity" and "Life On Mars" are the givens. After that, you could make an argument for a number of songs as ones he is identified with. Yes, "All The Young Dudes" is one of his great songs, but it's largely identified with Mott The Hoople.

For me, if you only can pick 3, the third one he that might be part of his persona could be "Fame", "Young Americans", "Changes", "Let's Dance", "Rebel Rebel" -- any of these songs are immediately iconic as any of Mr. Jones'.

I'll add this -- That Bowie on-stage personas are so a part of his performances makes almost all of his songs iconical, that is, quite signature. There aren't just great songs, good songs, and mediocre songs. Bob Dylan's "signature" songs can probably be more easily picked out -- "Blowin' In The Wind", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Like A Rolling Stone", "Rainy Day Woman, #13 & 35", "Tangled Up In Blue", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", "Lay Lady Lay". But aside from his countrified persona of "Lay Lady Lay", and perhaps the Rolling Thunder Revue clown face (which was really just makeup on from Dylan), he never has really changed his contrarian persona.

Bowie was always shifting, almost always bringing theater into his work -- so each of his "periods" created these signature songs and personas, and they're interlinked. So to come up with merely 3 signature songs is much more difficult. That the Lazarus album is one where he comes to terms with his own death is just one more personal and/or persona he buries himself within to come up with his music.

 

Impossible for me to vote on 3, I have 10 of David's songs that are signature at least.
Here is my ten (not in order).

Rebel Rebel (adore this song in particular)
Life on Mars
Ziggy Stardust
Changes
Heroes
Space Oddity
Five years
Gene Genie
Suffragette City
Let's Dance


etc etc could add another ten at least.
ps
miss you David.
pps
everything on "Changesone" Bowie

 

"He's so simple-minded, he can't drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in a capsule
Loves to be loved, loves to be loved"

 

Space Oddity
Life On Mars?
"Heroes"

 

I see what you did there, Ms Smith!

 

When I think of "signature," I think of characters David Bowie is known by.

Major Tom
Ziggy Stardust
The Thin White Duke

So, those 3 songs.

 

Starman
"Heroes"
Let's Dance

 

Space Oddity - I agree with everything that's been written here, and elsewhere, regarding this classic ("Ground control to Major Tom"); I mean, who doesn't know that? And perhaps more importantly, who doesn't immediately associate it with Bowie? The "grandma" test, indeed!

Changes - According to the liner notes in the Sound+Vision box set, Bowie was apparently surprised by the success of this almost "throwaway" cabaret-like tune, and I'll supplement the comments in this thread a step further by saying that there already has been some tangible proof that "Changes" may continue to enjoy a life of its own beyond that of Bowie when it was quoted back in '85 at the start of The Breakfast Club movie, rather effectively too, I might add!

"Heroes" - this one may not have been as big a hit as, say, "Fame" was back in the day, but I think it has become a "signature song" over time, in part due to Bowie's performances of it at high profile events like Live Aid, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, The Concert For NYC, etc., not to mention countless covers by various artists across nearly the entire spectrum of music.

Runners up:

For my 4th pick, I was a bit torn between "Rebel Rebel" (so evocative of what the whole Bowie phenomenon was all about) and "Life On Mars?" (not so obvious a choice to me for reasons previously cited by others), but ultimately went with the latter in part because of Bowie's VH1 Storytellers performance of this song (coupled with his quips about Barbra Streisand), and that it has since played very well in tributes to the man by Rick Wakeman, Lorde, etc. Interestingly enough, "Life On Mars?" was 2nd among those songs most highly viewed on YouTube in the wake of Bowie's passing (with "Let's Dance" ranking at #1):

R.I.P David Bowie: 8th January 1947 - 10th January 2016 »

 

Not forgetting the Shirley Bassey lavatory story in the lead in to Rebel Rebel on VH1 Storytellers...

 

Which I've always had a distinct impression is fabricated.

 

The ones I knew of growing up, before I started listening, were "Rebel Rebel", "Space Oddity", and "Starman". And those are definitely ones that spring right to mind when I think "Bowie", although as much as I like those songs I can probably come up with 20 or so that I like more. Er, maybe 10. Those are really good.

When I started listening to Bowie, my go-to songs were "Life On Mars", "Five Years", and "Heroes", but the only one I might consider a "signature song" of those would be "Heroes". And if I were to make a short compilation to convince someone to listen to Bowie, I'd probably include lesser-known tracks like "TVC15", "Big Brother", and "The Bewley Brothers" - definitely respected songs but not well known outside of the Bowie community.

 

No ****, Sherlock

 

Definitely Space Oddity, definitely Changes, and I put Heroes as the third choice for its shear scope, breath and staying power although I could probably make a similar case for Let's Dance which introduced Bowie to a whole new generation of fans.

 

It's all in the (cut-off) eyebrows

 

You escaped lightly. I almost included a Tin Machine track just to be contrary