Line #50 YMMV/DavidBowie


1	Music/DavidBowie's career has been so expansive and varied that debate is inevitable, and here are the subjective tropes to prove it.
2	----
3	* AmericansHateTingle: Along with many other GlamRock acts, Bowie had a tough time cracking the American market until "Fame" in 1975, though he did attract a cult following in the Ziggy Stardust era beforehand, becoming one of the few glam artists to make commercial inroads stateside. ''Music/LetsDance'' made him a superstar, but a series of bad artistic decisions caused his popularity to dwindle back down to a cult following in the U.S. until ''Music/{{Heathen}}'', and in 2016 where he was again [[PosthumousPopularityPotential a posthumous superstar]] on both sides of UsefulNotes/ThePond. The Creator/{{Rykodisc}} reissues, as well as the ''Sound + Vision'' box set and the ''Changesbowie'' compilation that kicked off the reissue campaign, revived American interest in his 1969-1980 output, but his 1983-1999 material wouldn't be substantially reappraised until after his death.
4	* {{Anvilicious}}: "I'm Afraid of Americans" was written as a sardonic callout of Americentrism and the neocolonialism of corporate globalization, while its music video features so much symbolism about the prevalence of gun violence that a drinking game based on it would be suicide. Granted, it's not as harsh towards America as [[Music/BruceSpringsteen "Born in the USA"]], but the message is still pretty powerful.
5	* ArchivePanic: Bad enough he recorded so many albums and guest spots, and made so many music videos and concert films...but there's a whole ''filmography'' to explore too. Website/TVTropes made a special Creator.DavidBowie page to help you out.
6	* AudienceAlienatingEra: While Bowie's fandom is inevitably as variable in opinion as his output is in sound, general consensus is that 1983-1992 was not a good time for him. While ''Music/LetsDance'' was his biggest commercial success and boosted his fame to new heights, it was a sharply ContestedSequel compared to ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'', and Bowie's attempts at appeasing the NewbieBoom it brought led to a self-admitted bout of CreatorsApathy. Several side projects only invited further press mockery, and Bowie's attempts at breaking out of it all with the hard rock group Tin Machine only split hairs further despite initial hype. Some of his work from this era got VindicatedByHistory with time, but the vast majority of it marked a huge critical downturn from the stuff he did before and after it all.
7	* AwardSnub:
8	** Only one competitive UsefulNotes/GrammyAward win (1985) and a Lifetime Achievement Award (2006) that wasn't televised, since a lot of those are given out each year. The snubbing is partially due to his not actually being nominated for his music until 1984 (his first Grammy nomination was for Best Children's Album in 1979, for his ''Music/PeterAndTheWolf'' narration), and ''Music/LetsDance'' had the bad luck of competing against Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. Averted in 2017, where he posthumously clean sweeped for his last album ''Music/BlackstarAlbum'', winning all 5 Grammys that he was nominated for.
9	** On the other side of the coin, Jackson fans tend to be appalled to learn that Bowie was the winner of the Best Male Video Award at the inaugural Creator/{{MTV}} Video Music Awards in 1984, because "China Girl" went up against ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. ("Thriller" took home 3 other awards, bear in mind.) Maybe the fact that the lifetime achievement award, the Video Vanguard, has been named after Jackson since 1991 assuages their anger, given that Bowie won it long before Jackson did.
10	* AuthorsSavingThrow: Bowie expressed regret for his comments in interviews during the [[Music/StationToStation Thin White Duke]] era, during which he occasionally expressed sympathy with fascism (due, it's generally accepted, to getting LostInCharacter as the Duke, who actually was a fascist). After this point, on the rare occasions when he would express political themes in his work, they often tended to be anti-fascist, anti-racist, or otherwise anti-authoritarian. Good examples are the videos for "China Girl" and "Let's Dance", as well as much of the content of ''Tin Machine''. He also called out Creator/{{MTV}} for not playing black artists in the early days. The line "To be insulted by these fascists is so degrading" from ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'' is also generally considered to be an apology for this period. (It may be worth pointing out that some of Bowie's pre-Duke material also had anti-authoritarian themes, most notably ''Music/DiamondDogs'', which started out life as a musical adaptation of Creator/GeorgeOrwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', and still had several songs referencing the book even after Orwell's estate refused him the permission to use the work. It may also be worth noting that Bowie performed with a racially integrated backing band for most of TheSeventies).
11	* BreakawayPopHit: "Film/CatPeople (Putting Out Fire)", partially because he included a rearranged version of the song on ''Music/LetsDance''. Now it's better-known for its appearance in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' rather than the film for which it was written.
12	* BrokenBase: Collecting Bowie's 1969-1980 discography on CD is a contentious affair thanks to the fact that CD releases of the man's catalog are notoriously spotty in quality for different reasons. Some fans, especially audiophiles, favor the original Creator/RCARecords [=CDs=] for sounding the closest to the original [=LPs=], while others balk at their technical errors, which differ per album, region, and manufacturer. Some fans favor the Creator/{{Rykodisc}} [=CDs=] for their bonus tracks, consistent mastering, and greater detail, while others take issue with the equalization, which greatly favors treble at the cost of minimal bass. Some prefer the Creator/ParlophoneRecords remasters thanks to their ready availability, while others dislike them for their lack of consistency. The one thing everyone agrees on, however, is to avoid the 1999 remasters, which draw ire thanks to their heavy noise reduction.
13	* CompleteMonster: ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'''s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM74wALZJjk Running Gun Blues]]": The [[VillainProtagonist unnamed narrator]] is an American [[SociopathicSoldier soldier]] waiting to go home after the US pulls out of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Frustrated with this, the soldier sneaks out at night to [[AxCrazy kill random people]], soldier and civilian alike. He uses such varied methods as shooting, stabbing, bombing, and bashing. Through this, the soldier seeks to "promote oblivion", out of nothing but sadistic [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racism]].
14	* CoveredUp:
15	** Bowie co-wrote "China Girl" with Music/IggyPop for the latter's 1977 album ''Music/TheIdiot'', but it's Bowie's cover of the song on 1983's ''Let's Dance'' that is better known. On the other side of the coin, he had to put up with unaware listeners of TheNineties who thought he was covering a Music/{{Nirvana}} song with "Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld" (which must have been particularly confounding since Kurt even says "That was a David Bowie song" at the end of Nirvana's version) and the same treatment from fans of Music/TheWallflowers regarding "'Heroes'".
16	** With Music/NineInchNails' "A Warm Place", even Trent Reznor admits it's a SuspiciouslySimilarSong to Bowie's "Crystal Japan".
17	* CreatorWorship: Frequently considered one of ''the'' greatest musical artists of all time due to the diversity, scope, and creativity of his work. Even before his death, implying that you weren't a fan of Bowie or his work (especially the 70s stuff) would've caused people to gather their pitchforks and torches.
18	* DeathOfTheAuthor: Bowie has been [[Quotes/DeathOfTheAuthor quoted]] as saying that art is for the use of the public and the interpretation of the listener is more important than the intention of the artist.
19	* EnsembleDarkhorse: From his various backing bands you have guitarist Mick Ronson for the "Ziggy" era, guitarist Carlos Alomar for the post "Ziggy" albums, and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey for Bowie's latter day work. Gail in particular took over Freddie Mercury's parts when Bowie would play "Under Pressure" live, and she was able to perfectly nail Freddie's high notes during the bridge.
20	** His Tin Machine collaborator Reeves Gabrel (now of Music/{{The Cure\|Band}}) also deserves credit not only for working with Bowie all throughout the '90s, but helping him rediscover his inspiration after Bowie's over extended courting of the mainstream pop audience, and after the exhausting Glass Spider tour.
21	** Tony Visconti, the producer for several of Bowie's most iconic and acclaimed albums including ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'', the Berlin Trilogy, ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'' , and ''Music/BlackstarAlbum''. As such, he is considered one of David's most important collaborators and a major contributor to some of David's best work.
22	* EpicRiff: Many. "Rebel Rebel" (even better is that Bowie himself plays this one), "Suffragette City", and "Panic in Detroit" are standout examples. "The Man Who Sold the World" also deserves a mention.
23	* FandomRivalry:
24	** While it eventually dissipated with time, in the late '70s and early '80s, there was a prominent clash between Bowie fans and fans of Music/{{Japan}}, with Bowie fans accusing Japan of aping Bowie's sound and style. This even extended to Music/DavidSylvian's solo career for much of the '80s thanks to Sylvian's first two albums sharing noticeable similarities with the Berlin Trilogy (especially ''Gone to Earth'', which featured a lyrical half and an instrumental half in the vein of ''Music/{{Low\|DavidBowieAlbum}}'' and ''[[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum "Heroes"]]'').
25	** Some with Music/EltonJohn fans. It's suspected that John took inspiration from "Space Oddity" for his song "Rocketman". The artists are seen as two of the most defining of TheSeventies, with flamboyant GlamRock influenced personas for a part of their careers, leading to comparisons between the two artists.
26	** With Music/{{Queen\|Band}} fans, though there is also FriendlyFandoms as seen in the corresponding entry. They are both seen as some of the UK's most defining artists, with particularly comparison emerging between frontman Music/FreddieMercury and Bowie. This naturally leads to some competitiveness among fans. Fans of Queen point out the legacy of iconic songs such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Freddie as one of the greatest singer/frontmen/live performers, and Queen's enduring legacy as one of the most popular bands from their generation. Meanwhile, fans of Bowie point to how David is one of the most widely influential and respected artists of all time (influencing Queen as well) with many iconic albums and a diverse scope of work, plus delving into other mediums such as film, theatre, mime, and visual art.
27	* FanNickname:
28	** His crotch has been deified and named The Area by fans. It has its own [[http://id34111.securedata.net/areaology/ website]] and religion.
29	** Bowie himself is called "The Dame" in the British music press. This dates back to TheEighties and the height of his mainstream success, and was initially used as a putdown (according to journalist Charles Sharr Murray). Likely inspired by the "Dame" character in British {{Pantomime}}, who is a comic old woman played by a beloved, famous LargeHam male performer in drag. The name of [[https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/ Pushing Ahead of the Dame]], the blog run by music critic Chris O'Leary that features in-depth essays on every song Bowie ever recorded, is a pun on both this nickname and a line from "Queen Bitch".
30	** "The Starman" is also a common nickname for Bowie, after one of his signature songs and his general penchant for cosmic imagery.
31	* FirstInstallmentWins: Bowie's career as a whole falls under SequelDisplacement and GrowingTheBeard as he didn't achieve critical acclaim until either ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'' or ''Music/HunkyDory''. However, ''specific phases'' of his career tended to be marked by great first albums that would overshadow the rest of the phase.
32	** ''Music/HunkyDory'' or ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' are both contenders for Bowie's greatest albums and are also the first albums in his GlamRock phase. In terms of critical acclaim and cultural impact, they've generally overshadowed the rest of this phase including ''Music/AladdinSane'', ''Music/PinUps'' and ''Music/DiamondDogs''.
33	** ''Music/{{Low\|DavidBowieAlbum}}'', the first title in his Berlin Trilogy, is frequently considered to be the best and another contender for Bowie's best album overall. ''[[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum "Heroes"]]'' is also acclaimed, especially for its title song which has become one of Bowie's signatures, while ''Music/{{Lodger}}'' is generally regarded as the weakest of the three (albeit good in its own right). Overall, however, ''Low'' has received the most acclaim of the trilogy thanks to its greater experimentalism and influence on other artists.
34	* FriendlyFandoms: Due to his wide-ranging influence and collaboration with other artists, Bowie often has this with many different fandoms.
35	** With Music/{{Queen\|Band}} fans, due to their famous collaboration on [[Music/HotSpace "Under Pressure"]], which is frequently considered one of the greatest musical collaborations of all time.
36	** Due to his friendship and general production work with them, Music/IggyPop and Music/LouReed fandoms tend to overlap with Bowie fandoms, to the point where the trio is often referred to by fans as the "Berlin Three."
37	** As major figures of the GlamRock movement and friends, Bowie fans also overlap with Music/MarcBolan fans.
38	** Bowie's collaborations with members of Music/{{Yes}}, Music/KingCrimson, and Music/PinkFloyd (plus his cover of "See Emily Play" in the case of the latter) helped endear his fans to those bands and vice-versa. Likewise, Bowie's collaborations with Music/BrianEno ensured a sizable overlap between his fans and those of Eno's former band, fellow GlamRock stars Music/RoxyMusic.
39	** While they were initially the subject of a FandomRivalry, in the decades since, Bowie fans tend to overlap with fans of Music/{{Japan}} and frontman Music/DavidSylvian, due to Bowie being a major influence on Japan and due to both him and Sylvian sharing connections with Music/RobertFripp and Music/RyuichiSakamoto.
40	** For later generations, Music/NineInchNails is another fandom that overlaps due to their collaboration and touring together in the 90s. The fact that Bowie and Trent Reznor were fans of each other's work even before they met further bolsters this.
41	** Many Bowie fans also tend to be fans of Music/{{Prince}}, and vice-versa, thanks to the two both being known for the large variety of styles they explored and their challenging of social norms, especially in regards to sex and sexuality. It helps that Bowie himself saw Prince as doing for the 80s what he did for the 70s.
42	** In general, Bowie fandom tends to have strong fandom overlap with many of the artists he influenced. But especially artists in Main/PostPunk, Main/NewWaveMusic, and Main/AlternativeRock which were all genres where he was a major, even primary influence.
43	* GrowingTheBeard: ''Music/HunkyDory'', his fourth album, is often regarded as his first great one, with critics frequently describing it as the album where Bowie finally established who he was as an artist. If not that, it's usually considered to be ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'', which is retrospectively viewed as Bowie's actual FranchiseCodifier by analysts and producer Tony Visconti.
44	* HarsherInHindsight: "Valentine's Day" is more or less David Bowie describing his speculations on the psychology of a mass shooter. Come Valentine's Day 2018, [[LifeImitatesArt 17 people would be killed and 17 more would be injured in the highest-profile school shooting since Sandy Hook]].
45	%%* HilariousInHindsight: The year is 1970. David is 23 and has the gall to sing, "And the rumor spread that I was aging fast." (Zero-Context Example)
46	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: While most rock stars who became actors tend to not be very good, Bowie was frequently praised by serious critics for being a very effective actor. He worked with auteur film-makers like Roeg, Oshima and Creator/MartinScorsese, sometimes getting roles based on how effective a previous one turned out to be. Some of his newer fans treasure him for his appearance in Creator/ChristopherNolan's ''Film/ThePrestige'' where he plays UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla. It doesn't hurt that he studied acting and mime in the formative years of his music career.
47	* HoYay:
48	** The "Dancing in the Street" video he and Music/MickJagger did for UsefulNotes/LiveAid in 1985 is the most notorious example of this in the careers of both men, and has been the subject of much mockery as a result. Said mockery reached an apex in 2011 when ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' showed the entire video as an [[OverlyLongGag Overly Long Cutaway Gag]] in "Foreign Affairs", prefaced as "the gayest video of all time".
49	** He also played up his bisexual image onstage during the Ziggy Stardust years. He and guitarist Mick Ronson used to be the page image for FauxYay, after all.
50	* LGBTFanbase: His gender-bending Ziggy Stardust persona and homoerotic lyrical subtext in his songs throughout his career gave him a huge LGBT following.
51	* MainstreamObscurity:
52	** ''{{Music/Low\|DavidBowieAlbum}}'' eternally dukes it out with his GlamRock hits ''Music/HunkyDory'' and ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' for the title of his best album...but how many have actually listened to it and know that (among other things) four tracks are straight instrumentals?
53	** Bowie's career in of itself has run into this. Although he's considered one of the most acclaimed and influential music artists of all time, many of the artists he influenced and inspired became far more famous and commercially successful than him including Music/{{Queen\|Band}} and Music/{{Madonna}}. He became aware of this leading up to TheEighties, which lead to him pursuing a more mainstream sound. As a specific example, his collaboration with Queen on the song "Under Pressure" is more viewed and streamed than most of his own songs. For those of a certain generation, he might even be more known for his appearances in movies than his music (particularly ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', which became a fixture of '80s nostalgia in the 2000s and 2010s).
54	* MemeticBadass:
55	** ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' portrays him as the shapeshifting overlord of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. ("The guy from ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' turned into a bird!") [[spoiler: In season 5 it's mentioned that he isn't the ''real'' David Bowie, just a guy who likes to pretend to be him.]]
56	** On ''WebVideo/NarutoTheAbridgedComedyFandubSpoofSeriesShow'', he's an indestructible ninja with a habit of breaking into song and insisting that he's not David Bowie.
57	** In ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' he is a sort of Gandalf-figure (portrayed, sadly, not by the man himself) who appears to Bret in three dreams, each time in the guise of a different character: [[spoiler: Ziggy Stardust, the Pierrot of "Ashes to Ashes", and Jareth]].
58	** One member of ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'''s Evil League Of Evil is called Dead Bowie, but it's not clear whether he's meant to be the man himself or just a themed villain.
59	** ''Series/TheSiflAndOllyShow'' claims the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built in anticipation of his arrival.
60	** Eric Idle's 1999 novel ''Literature/TheRoadToMars'' takes place in a future where a RidiculouslyHumanRobot of choice is the [=BowieBot=] android. Carlton, one of the 4.5 models -- looking like Bowie in his ''Let's Dance'' days -- serves as a secretary to the heroes (a comedy team) and has the book's primary subplot, in which it explores the concept/history of humor and whether an artificial intelligence can ever acquire a sense of it. (This book started as an unproduced screenplay; Idle is a friend of Bowie's and wrote the concept/part for him to play.)
61	** After 2016 ended up stuffed full of huge political crises and beloved celebrity deaths to a quite insane degree, some fans started citing Bowie's death early in the year as proof that his very existence had been holding the entire world together.
62	* MisaimedFandom: "All the Young Dudes", written for Music/MottTheHoople, was seen as a celebratory anthem for the glam rock movement. In fact [[WordofGod David Bowie has confirmed]] that it is precisely the opposite and the news carried by the young dudes is actually one of the future apocalypse described in "Five Years".
63	** [[MadArtist Julian Priest]], the character portrayed by Bowie in the television series ''The Hunger'', has gained a large amount of...''affection'' from fans over the years.
64	* MisattributedSong: An unusual case. "All the Young Dudes" was first performed by Mott the Hoople, but the cumulative effect of Bowie writing, producing, and performing backing vocals and saxophone on it (he also recorded his own version and made it a concert setlist staple) means they aren't properly associated with it.
65	* NewbieBoom:
66	** Many new fans got on board after ''Music/LetsDance''.
67	** Various newbie booms occurred during the mid-90s (''Music/{{Outside}}'' and ''Music/{{Earthling}}'') and TheNewTens (''Music/TheNextDay'' and ''Music/BlackstarAlbum'').
68	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: It's hard to overstate just how influential Bowie has been on music and popular culture. He has influenced a wide variety of artists in different genres ranging from Main/GlamRock, Main/GlamMetal, Main/PunkRock, Main/PostPunk, Main/NewWaveMusic, Main/AlternativeRock, Main/ElectronicMusic, Main/HipHop, even Main/ClassicalMusic, and more. He has also influenced the visuals and live performance of popular music, anticipating the creation of Creator/{{MTV}}. Even the overall approach to change and artistic evolution has been attributed to David. While Bowie's work is still very acclaimed, many of the artists that David influenced went on to become more commercially successful, more culturally prominent, and/or icons in their own right. Therefore, it can be easy to miss just how wide the scope of his influence has been.
69	* OneSceneWonder: To MemeticMutation. ''Website/TheOnion'' A.V. Club has [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-slinky-vagabond-15-notable-david-bowie-cameos,93482 an article on the subject]].
70	* PosthumousPopularityPotential: Bowie always generated respect from press and music fans throughout his life, but a AudienceAlienatingEra in the 80s brought him out of the mainstream zeitgeist and a heart attack-induced hiatus in the 2000s kept him from fully reclaiming that spot despite renewed critical and commercial success in the 90s. However, his death at the start of 2016-- with no prior public indication that he was ill-- prompted a massive reevaluation of his career and discography, turning him into one of the biggest posthumous superstar singers since Music/MichaelJackson.
71	* RefrainFromAssuming: The title of a song on his 1969 album is called "Space Oddity", not "Major Tom". Although there is a song called "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling that is about the same character.
72	* SugarWiki/RuleOfSeanConnery: Whether you use him a little or a lot, your project ''will'' be cooler for his presence.
73	* SecondVerseCurse: An unusual inversion of this trope with "'Heroes'". The more-commonly heard single edit starts out with the third verse ("I, I wish you could swim..."), so many people aren't aware of the first two verses, or that the "I won't be king" section is a DarkReprise of the first verse.
74	* SequelDisplacement: ''Music/HunkyDory'' and especially ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' tend to mark the beginning of the period that people are most familiar with. It is this period that marked Bowie as one of the defining artists of TheSeventies with broader influence from then onwards. Bowie's pre-''Hunky Dory'' output, meanwhile, is more known among dyed in the wool fans than casual listeners or laypeople apart from the {{Title Track}}s of ''Music/SpaceOddity'' and ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld''.
75	* SignatureSong: As his first hit, "Space Oddity" is usually regarded as this, since the range of his career and resultant arguments over his best era make it hard to settle the question otherwise. However, songs such as "Life on Mars?", "Rebel Rebel", "Starman" and especially "'Heroes'" became competitors for the title in the 21st century, especially after his death in 2016. While relatively early in his canon, "Changes" kinda pokes fun at this, and (ironically) became another one of his signature tunes.
76	** As one of his most famous [[Music/{{Queen\|Band}} musical collaborations]], "[[Music/HotSpace Under Pressure]]" has become one of his most iconic tunes, and is his overall most highly streamed song.
77	** By album:
78	** ''Music/DavidBowie1967'': While the album as a whole tends to be overlooked thanks to Bowie himself subjecting it to CanonDiscontinuity, "Silly Boy Blue" stands as the best-remembered track from it by virtue of it being the ''only'' cut represented in any of his later releases, being featured on the retrospective compilation ''Nothing Has Changed'' and the re-recordings album ''Toy''.
79	** ''Music/SpaceOddity'': The TitleTrack, which marked Bowie's first hit single and remains one of his most famous songs to this day.
80	** ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'': The TitleTrack, thanks to it receiving two famous {{Cover Version}}s by Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/MidgeUre.
81	** ''Music/HunkyDory'': "Changes" and "Life On Mars?"
82	** ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'': "Starman", "Moonage Daydream", and "Ziggy Stardust".
83	** ''Music/AladdinSane'': The TitleTrack and "Jean Genie"
84	** ''Music/DiamondDogs'': "Rebel Rebel"
85	** ''Music/YoungAmericans'': "Fame" and the TitleTrack
86	** ''Music/StationToStation'': The TitleTrack and "Golden Years" (the latter of which was even the namesake for a GreatestHitsAlbum).
87	** ''Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum'': "Sound And Vision" and "Warszawa"
88	** ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum'': The TitleTrack
89	** ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'': "Ashes To Ashes" and "Fashion".
90	** ''Music/LetsDance'': The TitleTrack and "Modern Love"
91	** ''Music/{{Tonight}}'': "Loving The Alien"
92	** ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise'': "Jump They Say"
93	** ''Music/TheBuddhaOfSuburbia'': "Strangers When We Meet"
94	** ''Music/{{Outside}}'': "Hallo Spaceboy"
95	** ''Music/{{Earthling}}'': "I'm Afraid of Americans" stands as the album's best known track thanks to the success of its single release and music video as well as the ValuesResonance of its lyrics since the 2010s.
96	** ''Music/HoursDavidBowieAlbum'': "Thursday's Child"
97	** ''Music/BlackstarAlbum'': The TitleTrack and "Lazarus".
98	* SoBadItsGood: Some of his pre-1969 songs, especially the novelty tune "The Laughing Gnome", and his "Dancing in the Street" duet with Music/MickJagger in 1985, mostly because of the goofy, HoYay-fueled video (another reason the mid-'80s are often called Bowie's big AudienceAlienatingEra).
99	* TearJerker: See the [[TearJerker/DavidBowie tearjerker page for this artist]]. Beyond songs, ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' can also qualify as this; while Thomas Jerome Newton is a TragicHero with the flaw of naivete rather than TheWoobie, by movie's end he ''definitely'' could use a hug...
100	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
101	** Due to his frequent reinventions, Bowie has faced this constantly -- "I preferred him as singer-songwriter, space alien, blue-eyed soul singer, Music/{{Kraftwerk}}-esque {{Krautrock}}er, etc." But it was '''especially''' bad after ''Music/LetsDance'', partially because it overlapped with ItsPopularNowItSucks.
102	** The 1999 reissues by Creator/{{EMI}} and Creator/VirginRecords were widely disliked by fans thanks to them removing the bonus tracks from the Creator/{{Rykodisc}} reissues and using heavy noise reduction in the remastering process, which led to complaints about the music sounding thin and brittle. According to former Rykodisc engineer Jeff Rougvie, the sentiment extended to Bowie himself, who gifted people the Rykodisc [=CDs=] instead. Creator/ParlophoneRecords briefly reissued the 1999 remasters in 2014 when they inherited the rights to the Bowie catalog after EMI's dissolution, but they would quickly replace them with new, in-house remasters over the next few years.
103	* ToughActToFollow: ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s "[[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-works-art-so-good-they-ruined-their-whole-genre/ 5 Works of Art So Good, They Ruined Their Whole Genre]]" calls ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' a tough act to follow in glam rock.
104	** In general, Bowie's run of albums from ''Music/HunkyDory'' to ''Music/ScaryMonsters'' is often the yardstick used to judge the rest of his work. While he continued experimenting and delivering great work, certain albums tended to receive more mixed reception than others or struggle in the shadow of his acclaimed period. ''Music/BlackstarAlbum'' averted this, being directly compared to the Seventies and early Eighties albums in quality, being one of the defining albums of TheNewTens and being a great SwanSong.
105	* VindicatedByHistory:
106	** ''Music/HunkyDory'' didn't get much attention until after the success of ''Ziggy Stardust'', but once it did... well, the fact that it spawned two SignatureSong candidates ("Changes" and "Life on Mars?") should say something.
107	** This also applies to the Berlin Trilogy, which underperformed on the charts compared to his previous albums (especially outside of the U.K.) -- in fact, "'Heroes'", now another SignatureSong candidate, did not make waves as a single when it was new.
108	** The critically-lambasted Glass Spider tour is now seen as an influence on the complex stage shows that rock and pop acts routinely take on the road nowadays.
109	** While Bowie's work as part of Tin Machine was met with middling to outright hostile reviews in its time, in the years since the band has gone on to receive considerable acclaim from retrospective reviewers and has been recognized as being a significant influence on 1990s AlternativeRock and especially {{grunge}}. Nowadays, the Tin Machine era is regarded as one of Bowie's most underrated, rivaled only by the Berlin Trilogy. It helps that Bowie himself regarded the band as being crucial to his renaissance as a solo artist in the years after they disbanded.
110	** Finally, some of Bowie's post-Tin Machine work is also undergoing this in the wake of the success and popularity of his post-retirement albums ''Music/TheNextDay'' & ''★''. ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]'' in particular is now considered a classic amongst die-hard Bowie fans. For example, a popular Bowie blog ran a poll in 2015-2016 for his best albums, [[https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/album-poll-day-3-10-1/ where it came in at ninth]].
111	* TheWoobie:
112	** As Bowie has a good deal of sympathy/empathy for the plight of the "freaky" folk of the world, tales of misunderstood, suffering souls turn up occasionally in his work.
113	** The old veteran in "Little Bombardier" (from his debut album). After years of loneliness and depression, things seem to turn around for him when he strikes up an IntergenerationalFriendship with some schoolchildren -- and then the police, who suspect he means ill, nip that in the bud.
114	** The "missionary mystic of peace/love" known as the "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" (''Space Oddity''). Sentenced to hang by frightened villagers, willing to accept his fate, and only lives because of an avalanche from the titular mountain that destroys the village -- despite his pleas for it to stop, leaving him brokenhearted.
115	** The title character in the play ''Film/TheElephantMan'' is an unabashed, RealLife-inspired woobie, and Bowie essayed the role on Broadway to much acclaim in 1980. (As per the play's instructions, he used body movement and voice inflection to suggest his deformity.)
116	** The protagonist of "Jump They Say" (''Black Tie White Noise'') is a little...different from others mentally, and is DrivenToSuicide by -- depending on interpretation -- [[HearingVoices voices in his head]] or society as a result. It's even worse in the video, where Bowie plays the poor soul as a businessman taken captive by his heartless peers and subjected to electroshock therapy, paving the way for his fateful jump. (To twist the knife in further, it's after his jump that the viewer sees a wedding band on his finger...) Also has a sad RealitySubtext, in that the song's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_They_Say inspired by]] the demise of Bowie's schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burns.
117	** Bowie himself during the recording process of ''[[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum Low]]'', and by extension, the entirety of the Berlin Trilogy. During the previous album, Bowie's cocaine addiction kicked his paranoia into overdrive, which caused him to [[BecomingTheMask Become the Mask]] and believe that he was ''actually'' the pro-fascist Thin White Duke. He was essentially suffering from dissociative identity disorder at that time, not helped by the fact that Bowie remembers almost nothing about the recording process of ''Music/StationToStation'', and once he experienced the worst drug crash of his life, he came to his senses and discovered what sorts of damage the Thin White Duke had caused, making him practically go, "MyGodWhatHaveIDone" ''Low'' recaps his horrific experiences following him snapping out of his personality change and undergoing rehabilitation, while the rest of the Berlin Trilogy was his QuestForIdentity after leaving the Thin White Duke behind.

Context YMMV / DavidBowie