When did Bowie really become a big star in America?

Like I said, it was a mix of factors.

The album's sales mixed with three hit singles - one of which got to #1 - and (apparently) incessant MTV play plus a massive tour, Bowie's first in 5 years.

All of that made Bowie bigger than ever and left the impression "Let's Dance" moved many more units than it did...

 

Good mention of the Bing Crosby thing.

I was 10 in 1977 and thought it was insane that Bowie sang with Crosby!

I don't really remember the 1974-76 hits on the radio, probably because of my age - and disinterest. I'd made up my mind Bowie was some freak, so 7 to 9 year old me would've tuned him out!

But I clearly knew who he was well enough to have a strong opinion about how bizarre it was that he'd sing with Crosby in 1977!

 

I think "big star" means "big star in the mainstream", not just popular among FM radio listeners.

Probably more about TV exposure back then than radio.

And Bowie was on shows hosted by Dinah Shore and Cher and Dick Cavett in that 1974-76 range, another factor that helped him be a "big star" in the US.

When you reach the housewives, you're BIG!

 

Of course 1983 - Let's Dance.

Let's Dance is a great album

 

You heard "All the Young Dudes" and "Walk On the Wild Side" though. Meanwhile Alice Cooper (whose name was still getting mentioned alongside Bowie) scored his first AM hit with "School's Out," so mid 1972 was when AM opened up to whatever was going on.

 

Cali? No please.

Cali is a city in Colombia, not a nickname that's appreciated any more than "Frisco."

Thank you for your understanding.

Bill

 

It'll never happen again !

 

The release of Let's Dance largely killed Bowie's reputation among those who'd followed him earlier. It provoked eye-rolls and feelings that Bowie had "jumped the shark."

It reminds me of the Yogi Berra quote about not wanting to go to a "popular" restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded."

He gained "popularity" (of a sort), but lost a lot of respect.

Bill

 

Much appreciated!!!

Bill

 

I'll stick with Ziggy

 

Ridiculous

 

Not at all. I was there.

For a "popular" album it was (and is) a deeply unpopular album with those that brung him.

It was considered an embarrassment.

Bill

 

Yeah, I was there, too. Ridiculous

 

The title of the song said it all.

Gone was the artsy, off the wall artist of many personas. In his place was a singer in search of ... the serious moonlight. Many of us cringed. But many people who had previously thought him too strange were suddenly dancing away in their parachute pants and hairspray-intensive 80s hairdos. I even recall a t-shirt that encapsulated the moment: F___ Art, Let's Dance.

Of course in retrospect, that was but another persona making his appearance for a few years to eventually be replaced by .... ?

 

He was a big star here in Philadelphia before the rest of the USA.

 

Some of us may have taken ourselves and the music--and Bowie's status as a artist a little too seriously. I plead guilty. I cringed. What happened to my hero?

He evolved again, in time. Not before filming the Dancing in the Streets video with Mick. *Glup.*

But in time....

Bill

 

LOL. David and Mick, like their peers from the 60s and 70s, probably found the 80s landscape formidable and reacted as best they could.

 

Less charitably (and arguably more accurately), I think they indulged in too much nose-candy and that caused them to temporarily lose their minds and their sense of taste.

It wasn't a good development for the music.

Bill

 

November 30, 1977

 

Shout-out... Upper Darby!

 

Bowie was a big star in the mid seventies and then he scared the mainstream away. He became a big star again with Let's Dance.

 

Yes.
Two different sets of fans into two different things.

 

It was just one night at Cobo in 1974 on 23rd June. He was scheduled to do the Ford Auditorium the night before but that got cancelled.

 

There was only one night in Anaheim, on 16th September. The 17th was tentatively considered but never announced.

 

This is the most accurate take.

Bowie recognized another audience and created a persona to match the new media presentation of music which catered to it. Not a great artistic triumph per se but very astute given the gaffes committed by some of his peers.