History Music / LetsDance

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits (with the latter being his ''only'' single to top both the UK Singles Charts and the Billboard Hot 100) and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, while the album itself topped the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Norway, and Sweden, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and went on to become the second-best-selling album of 1983 in the UK and Canada. It was later certified quintuple-platinum in Canada, platinum in the UK, the US, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and gold in Finland and Spain. This unprecedentedly high success caused a NewbieBoom, and to this day, ''Let's Dance'' remains Bowie's highest-selling album ever released, selling over 10.7 million copies around the world over the decades. As a testament to its commercial popularity, the 1999 remastered CD alone was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry. The album was later nominated for Album of the Year at the 1984 Grammy Awards, only to lose out to Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}'',

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, while the album itself topped the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Norway, and Sweden, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and went on to become the second-best-selling album of 1983 in the UK and Canada. It was later certified quintuple-platinum in Canada, platinum in the UK, the US, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and gold in Finland and Spain. This unprecedentedly high success caused a NewbieBoom, and to this day, ''Let's Dance'' remains Bowie's highest-selling album ever released, selling over 10.7 million copies around the world over the decades. As a testament to its commercial popularity, the 1999 remastered CD alone was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry.

This success was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment remains positive today, it was initially met with a more mixed response from the press, and in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Music/{{Tonight}}'' and 1987's ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. As a result, the stock comment for Bowie's post-DorkAge output was that new Bowie albums were "his best since ''[[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps Scary Monsters]]''", his 1980 PostPunk[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately preceded it.

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, the album topped the charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Japan, Norway, and Sweden, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and went on to become the second-best-selling album of 1983 in the UK and Canada. It was later certified quintuple-platinum in Canada, platinum in the UK, the US, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and gold in Finland and Spain. This unprecedentedly high success caused a NewbieBoom, and to this day, ''Let's Dance'' remains Bowie's highest-selling album ever released, selling over 10.7 million copies around the world over the decades. As a testament to its commercial popularity, the 1999 remastered CD alone was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry.

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, causing a NewbieBoom; to this day, ''Let's Dance'' remains Bowie's highest-selling album ever released. This success was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment remains positive today, it was initially met with a more mixed response from the press, and in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Music/{{Tonight}}'' and 1987's ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. As a result, the stock comment for Bowie's post-DorkAge output was that new Bowie albums were "his best since ''[[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps Scary Monsters]]''", his 1980 PostPunk[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately preceded it.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: In "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", the singer's eyes start as green as he warns his inamorata of his dangerous need for her...in verse two, they turn red, and he mentions that "Those who feel me near/Pull the blinds and change their minds".

* TakeThat: Music/FrankZappa[[note]]Zappa had a long-standing animus against Bowie, partly stemming from Bowie's poaching his sidemen Aynsley Dunbar and Adrian Belew[[/note]] would mock the music video for "Let's Dance" in his anti-MTV song "Be In My Video" (1984) from ''Music/ThemOrUs'':

* TakeThat: Music/FrankZappa would mock the music video for "Let's Dance" in his anti-MTV song "Be In My Video" (1984) from ''Music/ThemOrUs'':

* SpecialGuest: Bowie met a young blues guitarist from Texas named Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, and Bowie asked Vaughan to play on this album. It was Vaughan's first mainstream exposure and a stepping stone in his career.

# [[Music/IggyPop "China Girl"]] (5:32)

# "Criminal World" (4:25)

!! ''Millions wait for tropes, while thousands are still asleep'':

!! ''Put on your red shoes and dance the tropes'':

Having finally broken ties with Creator/RCARecords after over a decade of putting up with an unsatisfactory contract that provided him with just a sliver of the money he earned, Bowie was determined to have a big, moneymaking hit with his first release for EMI. With this in mind, he enlisted [[Music/{{Chic}} Nile Rodgers]] as producer and came up with his most mainstream album to date, a collection of radio-friendly pop-rock tunes (though not without Bowie's traditionally dark lyrical undercurrents).

* NewSoundAlbum: The third big 180, ditching the sound Bowie had built up with Tony Visconti & Music/BrianEno in continental Europe in favor of mainstream pop rock & post-disco.

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, causing a NewbieBoom; to this day, ''Let's Dance'' remains Bowie's highest-selling album ever released. This success was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment was positive then and remains so today, in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Music/{{Tonight}}'' and 1987's ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. As a result, the stock comment for Bowie's post-DorkAge output was that new Bowie albums were "his best since ''[[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps Scary Monsters]]''", his 1980 PostPunk[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately preceded it.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Bowie himself considered this album one to ''Music/YoungAmericans'', as both are uncharacteristically mainstream-accessible albums that combine black music (soul and funk for ''Young Americans'', post-disco for ''Let's Dance'') with Bowie's trademark dark & artsy musical and lyrical undercurrents.
* TakeThat: Music/FrankZappa would mock the music video for "Let's Dance" in his anti-MTV song "Be In My Video" (1984) from ''Music/ThemOrUs'':

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/david_bowie_lets_dance.jpg]]

* CoverVersion: "China Girl", from Music/IggyPop's ''[[Music/TheIdiot]]'', and "Criminal World, from English glam rock band Metro's 1977 SelfTitledAlbum.

# "China Girl" (5:32)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/11953188_350_350_1184.jpg]]

The album was even more successful than he planned-- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, causing a NewbieBoom. This was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment was positive then and remains so today, in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Music/{{Tonight}}'' and 1987's ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. As a result, the stock comment for Bowie's post-DorkAge output was that new Bowie albums were "his best since ''[[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps Scary Monsters]]''", his 1980 PostPunk[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately preceded it.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Let's Dance''.]]

Having finally broken ties with Creator/RCARecords after years of putting up with an unsatisfactory contract, Bowie was determined to have a big, moneymaking hit with his first release for EMI. With this in mind he enlisted [[Music/{{Chic}} Nile Rodgers]] as producer and came up with his most mainstream album to date, a collection of radio-friendly pop-rock tunes (though not without Bowie's traditionally dark lyrical undercurrents).

The album was even more successful than he planned -- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, causing a NewbieBoom. This was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment was positive then and remains so today, in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Music/{{Tonight}}'' and 1987's ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. (Hence the stock comment that new Bowie albums are "his best since ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''", his 1980 [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately preceeded it.)

# "Under Pressure" [[note]]A collaboration with Music/{{Queen}}[[/note]]

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The steamy {{Homage}} to ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' at the end of the music video for "China Girl" was graphic enough that it had to be re-cut; the only home video release that includes the original version is the David Bowie — Video 45 VHS from 1983.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The video for "China Girl". Bowie intended to present an anti-racist message through the video by making it as stereotypical as possible. Best exemplified by this [[http://media0.giphy.com/media/k24zo2tuswQow/giphy.gif clip]]

* {{God}}: "Modern Love", according to Bowie, is about a struggle between God and man.
* LetsDance: The title track is named that way, though it can be assumed that it refers to real dancing.

* RecycledInSpace: "China Girl" is a cover of a song he co-wrote for Music/IggyPop's album ''Music/TheIdiot'' in 1977. "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" is a rerecorded version of a song Bowie himself recorded a year earlier for [[Film/CatPeople the motion picture of the same name]].

The album was even more successful than he planned -- "Modern Love" and the title track were international Top 5 hits and the follow-up Serious Moonlight Tour of '83 a sell-out worldwide, causing a NewbieBoom. This was a double-edged sword for Bowie though. While critical assessment was positive then and remains so today, in subsequent years the album has come to be seen as triggering a DorkAge for Bowie, as his next two albums (1984's ''Tonight'' and 1987's ''Never Let Me Down'') would try to duplicate its success to diminishing returns from both his established fan-base and the newbies to the fold. (Hence the stock comment that new Bowie albums are "his best since ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''", his 1980 [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] effort that immediately proceeded it.)

* FakeNationality: The actress who appears in the "China Girl" video? She's actually from UsefulNotes/NewZealand.