The albums David Bowie called “a waste of good songs”
David Bowie had reached the heights of his career with the release of 1983’s Let’s Dance, a classic post-disco record; however, let’s just say what came after was not his proudest moment.
We’ve seen it many times before where an artist is critical of their own work. It’s inevitable, particularly for someone like Bowie with a career spanning over 50 years, that he would have some choice words about some of his own musical offerings.
The albums in question are Tonight and Never Let Me Down. What fans hoped to be Bowie carrying on his new era of pop-prowess, producing more classics, somehow led to collections of forgettable tunes in the shadows of Let’s Dance. The musician expressed feeling conflicted when looking back at the production of these albums, feeling there was potential in them, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t get around to bringing these musical embryos to life as he desired.
Bowie was at his peak in the ’80s; he’d transitioned from his art-rock era into a commercially viable pop star, mostly free from the addictions that plagued him in the ’70s. Unfortunately, these follow-ups presented him as complaisant and a star lost in a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy with no real goal. The ideas may be there, but laziness and a lack of focus and direction just don’t cut it when producing an album.
When asked about Tonight and Never Let Me Down during a 1989 interview, Bowie claimed, “I thought it was great material that got simmered down to product level”. He admitted that Tonight lacked the effort that he had previously put into his work and was more an excuse for a reunion with his old friend Iggy Pop.
He wanted to put more concentrated effort into Never Let Me Down, of which he said, “I knew that I wanted something I could tour with on a very grassroots level”, but then ironically decided to sign a tour sponsorship deal with Pepsi in order to fund an elaborate three-stage setup.
What is most tragic is Bowie’s reflection on particular tracks such as ‘Loving the Alien’ off of Tonight, one he claims to be “wonderful on demo, I promise you. But on the album, it’s…not as wonderful. What am I meant to say?” There is a sense of feeling let down, particularly with certain tracks like this, which present his classic songwriting prowess wrapped in a convoluted production style that tries to match Let’s Dance but doesn’t quite fit right.
This is also a common reflection among musicians, where many artists feel a disconnect between the writing and production of an album, most notably The Las, fronted by madman Lee Mavers, who needed 12 different studio sessions to record their debut LP.
Bowie also reflected on the fact that, noting, “I really should have not done it quite so studio-ly. I think some of it was a waste of really good songs. You should hear the demos from those albums. It’s night and day by comparison with the finished tracks.”
Hopefully, one day we’ll come across the demo versions resurfacing for the pleasure of our consumption, which will maybe help shine a new light on this old work.
Without a doubt, these albums are his most idiosyncratic work of the ’80s. Looking back, as Bowie seems to claim, these “experiments” looked promising on paper, but when taken to the lab, they failed horrendously.
