David Bowie | Space Oddity | The Man Who Sold the World | Hunky Dory
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars | Aladdin Sane | Pin Ups | Diamond Dogs | Young Americans
Station to Station | Low | "Heroes" | Lodger | Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | Let's Dance | Tonight | Never Let Me Down
Tin Machine | Black Tie White Noise | The Buddha of Suburbia | Outside | Earthling | 'hours...' | The Next Day | ★
Changesonebowie
- Complete Monster: In "Running Gun Blues
", the unnamed narrator is an American Sociopathic Soldier waiting to go home after the US pulls out of The Vietnam War. Frustrated with this, the soldier sneaks out at night to 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 racism. - Covered Up: Nirvana's cover of the title track is much better known than Bowie's original, much to Bowie's consternation; he was fine with Nirvana covering the song, he was just annoyed when people misidentified it as their work instead of his, especially when they did it to his face.
- Epic Riff: Inevitable, given that this is a Hard Rock-cum-Heavy Metal album. Notable examples include the Title Track, "The Width of a Circle", "Running Gun Blues", and "Black Country Rock". Furthermore, the riff used in "The Supermen" would be used again 27 years later with "Dead Man Walking".
- Everybody Is Jesus in Purgatory: The title track is vague even by Bowie's usual standards, and as a result, has had many interpretations given to it over the years.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Upon its initial release, the album's critical reception was better in the US than Bowie's home country.
- Growing the Beard: Generally considered the album where Bowie really began to come into his own, with fans, critics, and even producer Tony Visconti regarding it as the "real" starting point of Bowie's path as an artist.
- Harsher in Hindsight: The "I was aging fast" line in "The Width of a Circle" takes on a somewhat darker tone with Bowie's ultimately unsuccessful battle against liver cancer, which resulted in him looking considerably older and frailer within the span of just a year due to the muscle loss that the disease causes.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- "Saviour Machine" starts with the line "President Joe once had a dream...". 50 years later, on the day after The Not-Remix Metrobolist was released, Joe Biden became the President-elect, making him the first actual President Joe in American history.
- In "The Width of a Circle", Bowie sings "...the rumour spread that I was aging fast." Twelve years later, that's exactly what happens to John Blaylock, the character Bowie plays in The Hunger.
- Nightmare Fuel: It's a nightmarish album, filled with references to violence, chaos and horror to a terrifying degree, even by Bowie's often-dark standards.
- Vindicated by History: When first released, the album was a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things and was only modestly received in both acclaim and sales. However, in the decades since then it's received more and more acclaim as its later influence on both Bowie and other artists (particularly in the Goth Rock genre) became more apparent, to the point where it's now viewed as a crucial album in his lengthy discography.
