David Bowie’s best 1980s anthem, according to Robert Smith
David Bowie marked his 50th birthday with a sold-out Madison Square Garden concert, immortalised in the documentary-concert film An Earthling at 50. Highlights included ‘The Last Thing You Should Do’ from 1997’s Earthling, reflecting Bowie’s experimental drum-and-bass era, and ‘Quicksand’ from 1971’s Hunky Dory, a poignant track from his glam rock period. The juxtaposition of these performances underscored Bowie’s unmatched capacity for reinvention, making the event a fitting tribute to his eclectic and transformative career.
These two songs are performed with a disciple of Bowie’s work. Someone who shares the Spaceman’s ability to capture both ecstatic highs and crashing lows in their work, along with his mercurial approach to genre and ability to speak to and for the disenfranchised. Back and to his right, acoustic guitar strapped to his chest, is The Cure’s Robert Smith. It’s a match made in heaven, and we can assume that the song choices reflect Smith’s taste for Bowie’s 1970s and ‘90s work, but how about the decade in between?
Bowie’s period during the ’80s was complicated. They captured his commercial peak, seemingly going from alternative tastemaker to mainstream hitmaker because he felt like it. There were also a few creative high points, too. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) would be a high point in any back catalogue, and ‘Loving The Alien’ is one of his most bewitching singles. Creatively, though, it was rough even before you got to Tin Machine.
Conversely, the 1980s were The Cure’s creative and commercial peak, when they were one of the biggest and most beloved alternative bands in the world. If you sat down and asked a talent of Smith’s stature what his choice cuts from the ‘80s were, what would he say? Well, some bright spark at Sirius XM asked him exactly that question, and the answers were illuminating. It’s a murderer’s row of talent, from underground luminaries like The Sugarcubes and Tom Waits to literal Bananarama. Understandable, who could resist a shoutout to their old drinking buddies?
What Bowie track made it on there, though? None other than the absolute commercial peak of Bowie’s entire career, his sole number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ‘Let’s Dance’. This may sound out of leftfield at first. This is the same decade that gave us ‘Ashes To Ashes’ after all, but for all of Smith’s reputation as a po-faced gloom merchant peddling 12-minute goth classics, dig a little deeper, and the signs are there.
Smith has always been an incredible pop songwriter. It’s what makes The Cure so much more compelling than the other black clad mopers of their generation, they could break your heart with ‘The Hanging Gardens’ or ‘Plainsong’, then immediately put it back together stronger with ‘Just Like Heaven’ or ‘Close To Me’. He doesn’t just know the value of an indelible pop hook; he knows how much more it can stick when juxtaposed with something darker and more unsettling. Something he shares with the Thin White Duke himself.
During that 50th birthday concert, Bowie shares the stage with a number of luminaries. Billy Corgan, Black Francis, and Lou Reed, but there’s an argument to be made that none of those guests quite learned from Bowie the way that Robert Smith did. So, in their honour, put on your red shoes and dance the blues.
