Young Americans: Jessica Pratt on David Bowie’s “genius” sleeper record
To say that David Bowie fits into just one genre doesn’t make much sense. While he is most often associated with glam rock and has a few rock classics under his belt, it’s hard to categorise albums like Aladdin Sane, Low, Let’s Dance, and Blackstar under a single genre. Bowie’s work is multifaceted and ever-evolving, but as far as Jessica Pratt is concerned, Young Americans are one of the most underrated records in his catalogue.
While Pratt’s version of folk-infused indie rock is far from the kind of music Bowie was known for, it’s not like it was completely off the table. When he was making albums like Space Oddity, Bowie was known more for his acoustic-flavoured folk rock, putting songs like ‘God Knows I’m Good’ right next to his biggest hit.
Bowie clearly had bigger fish to fry in his solo career, though, and even when he found his lane as a glam rock alien, he didn’t feel completely satisfied. When working on tracks for Diamond Dogs, the ‘Starman’ already had a vision for where he would go next: conquering soul music.
Working in New York and getting a hand from future legends like Luther Vandross, Young Americans is one of the strangest records Bowie ever made. Since he had a handle on traditional rock and roll, this album refuses to meet the audience halfway, usually playing with everyone’s expectations by putting different elements into the mix that no one saw coming, like the cover of ‘Across the Universe’ halfway through or getting John Lennon to guest on the final track, ‘Fame’.
For Platt, the song ‘Win’ ended up tying the entire record together, recalling to Line of Best Fit, “Young Americans was obviously a genius record and ‘Win’ is super sexy and strange. I’ve always liked the instrumentation, and I used to stand in front of the stereo and sing along to it when I was a teenager”.
There are plenty of great songs on Young Americans, so why didn’t it get the time of day? It’s certainly pop-flavoured years before Bowie would see the MTV generation, but when you look at the albums that fall directly beside it in his discography, it does tend to fell like an also-ran in his catalogue.
While not nearly as forgettable to casual Bowie fans as something like Pin Ups, Young Americans couldn’t have competed with the likes of Diamond Dogs and Station to Station. It was still a fine record for him to make, but when you’re sandwiched between the send-off to the glam rock period and the beginning of his experimental pre-Berlin period, you’re bound to get forgotten.
At the same time, a song like ‘Fame’ is a good indicator of what Bowie’s music was all about. It had that knockout chorus and a brilliant hook, but if you listen to the weird way they approached production, this probably left their fans wondering just where the hell the rock and roll space traveller was going to go next.
