‘Young Americans’: Florence Welch’s favourite David Bowie song
David Bowie holds such a cultural gravitas that even though he may not be physically here anymore, he will never truly die in the sense that the musical planet he created will continue to orbit for as long as life exists. Everyone has a favourite Bowie song, whether it’s one that rocked your world when it first landed on the scene or one you came to after the event – and Florence Welch is no different.
Subjectively, the parallels between the Florence + the Machine frontwoman’s persona and that of Bowie’s can be traced – there’s a shared juxtaposition between the two of ethereal spectrality with a tone of deep grounding to their artform that makes both of them such commanding presences. That same spirit of Bowie’s was exactly what caught Welch’s eye for the first time all those years ago.
She told the Guardian in 2016, following Bowie’s passing, that: “It’s hard to choose my favourite Bowie song because they are all so influential in my life.” However, it’s the plastic soul sucker punch of ‘Young Americans’ from 1975 that reigns supreme. Welch continued: “Something about ‘Young Americans’ really got me as a teenager: I discovered it when I was just getting into music and parties and boys, and it had this swagger and confidence and soul.”
Indeed, Bowie’s electrifying jolt out of the glam rock era was not only a turning of the tide for the artist himself, but also an invigorating call to arms for a teenage Welch. She enthused: “That ‘aaaaaaaaaaalright’ just hits you – the way he delivers the verses has so much attitude. It’s so joyful but has a bite to it. The bit where he sings ‘break down and cryyyyyyyy’ – only David Bowie could pull that off.”
The golden elixir of ‘Young Americans’ transported Welch into a world of Bowie worship that in many ways would prove seminal to the course of the rest of her life. She explained the impact of it by saying: “This song made me feel free as a teenager, like I’d been given the key to another world, beyond school or home. It electrified me.”
But there’s something uncanny in those last words, because ask any Florence + the Machine fan about how they feel towards Welch’s music, and they would probably describe to you much of the same qualities. In this sense, the throughlines begin to appear much more clearly in sourcing the sonic lineages that Bowie has, directly or indirectly, had a hand in crafting. Welch is just one of a whole raft, but it’s evident that we wouldn’t have our favourite musical fairy queen if Bowie hadn’t have flown the flag before her.
It also speaks to Welch’s impeccable taste as a teenager that she was able to recognise the gemstone of ‘Young Americans’ from such an early age. They do say the soundtrack of our adolescence will be among the most significant in shaping our whole lives, but in many ways, there’s no one who captured that musical spirit better than Welch and her adoration of this Bowie classic.
