The “infectious” song David Bowie said was “impossible” to resist
A common misconception in music is that commercialism equates to being a sell-out. But even the masters, like David Bowie, were never all that opposed to breaking mainstream records.
The difference, though, is that Bowie had already reached a certain level of success when the idea of going mainstream became a bit of a game. As someone who took pride in his own artistic expression and loved to prioritise experimentation over commercial pandering, Bowie was tickled by the idea that ‘going commercial’ was a tough game.
In fact, he once wrote a song just to prove he could contribute to all of that “top ten rubbish” and show that he could play the game if he really wanted – he just chose not to. When we think of Bowie, it’s usually in association with how innovative he was, not just sonically but in the worlds he created, too. Bowie could sound otherworldly in listening experience alone, but his characters and stories formed just as much of the vision as the melodies and lyrics.
That said, he could snap into action and make pop hits whenever the moment called for it. In 1967, he decided to prove just that. Recalling the moment, Kenneth Pitt, Bowie’s manager at the time, said that Bowie randomly stood up and said he was going to write some chart “rubbish”. Pitt quipped back, saying that he didn’t think that Bowie “could knowingly write any rubbish of any kind”, which Bowie took as more fodder to prove himself right.
He came back with ‘Let Me Sleep Beside You’. “Neither rubbish nor top ten material,” as Pitt observed, ‘Let Me Sleep Beside You’ proved that, while Bowie knew the formulas, it just didn’t sit right. But it did open doors for some of the best and most artistic rock songs in music with his collaborator Tony Visconti, which is proof enough that, even in the crux of frustration, Bowie was always onto something innovative.
This stretched into his own personal tastes, too. One that was slow on the uptake was New Young Pony Club, specifically their catchy tune, ‘Get Lucky’. Heavily inspired by new wave and post-punk acts, NYPC struck Bowie as the perfect balance between past and present, with ‘Get Lucky’ epitomising that delicious slow-burn that comes with music that becomes more innovative the longer it sits with you.
“New Young Pony Club are a five-piece from London,” he shared for Nokia’s Music Recommenders. “Musically, think a young Debbie Harry fronting The Gang Of Four (my bass player Gail’s old band) and you’re almost half way there,” he continued. “‘Get Lucky’ took a little while to get its hooks in, but finally it did and now it seems that it was always nothing but impossibly infectious. Listen out for the priceless line: “Let your girlfriend do what your boyfriend can’t.” Great stuff.”
Most of his favourites seemed to be musicians who could combine more than one familiar sound, or take something older and put their own spin on it. NYPC, along with many in his list – Jamie T, Klaxons, Hot Chip – felt worthy of his time because they felt like things that already existed. Which, as we know, is the sweet spot that Bowie always gravitated towards, even if the innovation at its core wasn’t always as obvious.
