History Music / Lodger

''Lodger'' is the thirteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1979. The third and final album of what critics and fans call the "Berlin Trilogy" of his {{Krautrock}}[=/=]PostPunk albums (though most of the album was recorded in UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} or UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity). It also marks the end of his working relationship with Music/BrianEno. The two reunited later for his 1995 album ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]''.

** "Boys Keep Swinging" seems to be Bowie's attempt at pastiching the work of Music/FrankZappa, of whom Bowie was a fan (to the point of grabbing one of Zappa's touring guitarists, Adrian Belew, for both his 1978 ''[[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Isolar II]]'' tour and this album, much to Zappa's consternation). Like much of Zappa's material, "Boys Keep Swinging" is a rough-sounding and musically complex comedy rock song with lyrics bombastically lampooning conformist elements of western society. Hell, considering the off-kilter musical and lyrical nature, one could say that the whole album wears some heavy Zappa influences on its sleeve.

* NewSoundAlbum: While still retaining the rough and abstract art rock style of ''Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum'' and ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum'', ''Lodger'' features much starker and stripped back production that lends a rawer sound to the album. Interestingly, this was not actually producer Tony Visconti's intentions; he couldn't complete the mix in time due to scheduling constraints, resulting in the album shipping out incomplete (this, incidentally enough, is what led to the album being critically panned when first released; the press specifically thought the album sounded "muddy"). The 2017 remix attempts to amend this, bringing the album's sound closer in style to the elaborate and atmospheric ''"Heroes"''.

* SpecialGuest: Avant-garde guitarist and Music/FrankZappa collaborator Adrian Belew performs guitar on a number of the album's tracks (most distinctly the wailing guitar solo in "Boys Keep Swinging", which sounds uncannily precursory to his solo in [[Music/RemainInLight "The Great Curve"]]), as well as contributing mandolin to "Fantastic Voyage". Belew had previously accompanied Bowie during the ''Isolar II'' tour in 1978 and would rejoin him for the ''Sound+Vision'' Tour in 1990; in return for the latter, Bowie contributed two songs to Belew's 1990 album ''Young Lions'' ("Pretty Pink Rose" and "Gunman"), performing both songs with him as duets.

* TakeThat: "DJ" and "Boys Keep Swinging" take swipes at the {{disco}} subculture of the era, Bowie having been a vocal critic of the genre for being, in his eyes, a watered-down gentrification of funk that rapidly became homogenized. "Boys Keep Swinging" in particular jabs at the hypermasculine image of groups like Music/TheVillagePeople, who Bowie felt did more to reinforce harmful gender norms. Of note is that Bowie's dislike of disco was, for the most part, limited to the music rather than to the artists as people, and he went on to collaborate with disco giants Music/GiorgioMoroder and [[Music/{{Chic}} Nile Rodgers]] in the early 80's; he also openly admired Music/DonnaSummer's "I Feel Love", indicating that he did take a liking to acts who chose to innovate upon the disco formula rather than simply repeat it.
* UrExample: "African Night Flights" could very well be the first example of speed rap.

* GuestStar: Avant-garde guitarist and Music/FrankZappa collaborator Adrian Belew performs guitar on a number of the album's tracks (most distinctly the wailing guitar solo in "Boys Keep Swinging", which sounds uncannily precursory to his solo in [[Music/RemainInLight "The Great Curve"]]), as well as contributing mandolin to "Fantastic Voyage". Belew had previously accompanied Bowie during the ''Isolar II'' tour in 1978 and would rejoin him for the ''Sound+Vision'' Tour in 1990; in return for the latter, Bowie contributed two songs to Belew's 1990 album ''Young Lions'' ("Pretty Pink Rose" and "Gunman"), performing both songs with him as duets.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgPUxjQOk-w DJ]]: Bowie in a pink suit, breaking down in a D.J. studio.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' performance of "Boys Keep Swinging" muted the second line of the couplet "When you're a boy/Other boys check you out". Subverted at the very end of the performance when the costume Bowie was wearing suddenly reveals a [[GagPenis fake penis]] and waves it around the place. Surprisingly, Bowie ''wasn't'' blacklisted for this (the production team for ''SNL'' is notoriously strict about who does and doesn't get to return for the show, and have banned a number of hosts and musicians for far milder stunts both before and after Bowie's 1979 performance), and wound up performing on the show again in the late 90's.

* {{Camp}}: '''"Boys Keep Swinging"'''.
* [[DistinctDoubleAlbum Distinct Single Album]]: Songs with themes of travelling on side A and lyrically introspective songs on side B.

* {{Reggae}}: "Yassassin" uses a Reggae riddim as its base.

As with ''Low'', critical reviews were indifferent to negative upon release, only to later be VindicatedByHistory; it is now considered one of his most underrated albums. Commercially-speaking, the album performed roughly on-par with ''"Heroes"'' in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Albums chart, while in the US it outperformed its predecessor, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard 200. The album would later be certified gold in the UK and the Netherlands.

''Lodger'' is perhaps the most accessible entry in the Berlin Trilogy, to the point where an uninitiated listener wouldn't be able to tell that it had any relation with ''Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum'' and ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum''; there are no instrumentals on side two and the songs are lighter and more pop-oriented. Additionally, while its two predecessors are rooted more strongly in Krautrock, art rock, and avant-garde music, ''Lodger'' is more strongly based in a mix of post-punk and WorldMusic (though not without conspicuous art rock leanings), predating Music/TalkingHeads' similar blend of genres on ''Music/RemainInLight'' by just over a year.

''Lodger'' is perhaps the most accessible entry in the Berlin Trilogy, to the point where an uninitiated listener wouldn't be able to tell that it had any relation with ''Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum'' and ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum''; there are no instrumentals on side two and the songs are lighter and more pop-oriented. Additionally, while its two predecessors are rooted more strongly in Krautrock, art rock, and avant-garde music, ''Lodger'' is more strongly based in a mix of post-punk and WorldMusic (though not without conspicuous art rock leanings), predating Music/TalkingHeads' similar blend of genres on ''Music/RemainInLight'' by just over a year. As with ''Low'', critical reviews were indifferent to negative upon release, only to later be VindicatedByHistory; it is now considered one of his most underrated albums.

* LighterAndSofter: By far the most accessible and pop-oriented of the trilogy.
* MoodWhiplash: The bombastically satirical "Boys Keep Swinging" is juxtaposed with the cold, minimalist, and downright chilling "Repetition"; the subject matters of the songs are also like night and day in terms of mood, the former being a riff on male gender norms and the latter being a dead-serious story about an abusive husband.

* PackagedAsOtherMedium: The album cover is styled after a postcard.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: "D.J." Yes, the song is about a disk jockey, but when you remember that Bowie's real name was '''D'''avid '''J'''ones...

* InTheStyleOf: A Music/TalkingHeads biography posits that "DJ" was Bowie's attempt at emulating the singing style of frontman Music/DavidByrne; not only was Bowie personally acquainted with Byrne, but Berlin Trilogy collaborator Music/BrianEno had also started working with Talking Heads during the interim between ''"Heroes"'' and ''Lodger'', with ''Music/MoreSongsAboutBuildingsAndFood'' and ''Music/FearOfMusic'' being recorded and released before and during the recording sessions for ''Lodger''.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: {{Parodied|Trope}} in "Boys Keep Swinging", which features Bowie satirizing masculinity by bombastically listing a number of excruciatingly mundane and unisex privileges that men seemingly have (interspersed with a number of more outlandish and unrealistic claims such as "they'll never clone ya").

* RefugeInAudacity: "Boys Keep Swinging", both the song and the video, continue Bowie's tradition of playing with gender and sexuality. "DJ" isn't too far behind.

* VideoInsideFilmOutside: The video for "D.J." alternates between 16mm location scenes of Bowie being mobbed by fanatic admirers and videotaped scenes of him having a physically violent mental breakdown at a radio station.

** A more bizarre case occurs with the cover photo: ''Low'' featured a profile shot of Bowie's head on the front cover, ''Lodger'' a shot of his legs and feet (though some reissues, such as the RCA and Rykodisc CD releases, make the upper half of the photo the front cover instead of the lower half).

* RefugeInAudacity: "Boys Keep Swinging", both the song and the video, continue Bowie's tradition of playing with gender and sexuality. "D.J." isn't too far behind.

* TheNotRemix: Received a fairly notable one in 2017 as an exclusive extra in the BoxedSet ''A New Career in a New Town [1977-1982]''; unlike the ones from previous retrospective sets, this one was fairly controversial among fans and critics for the heavier changes producer Tony Visconti made to the album. For what it's worth, Visconti stated that the alterations were meant to reflect his intended vision for the album that simply wasn't possible in 1979.

* CallBack: The rhythm of "Move On" is the chord sequence for "[[Music/MottTheHoople All the Young Dudes]]" played backwards.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: {{Parodied|Trope}} in "Boys Keep Swinging", which features Bowie satirizing masculinity by bombastically listing a number of excruciatingly mundane and unisex privileges that men seemingly have (interspersed with a number of more outlandish and unrealistic claims, e.g. "they'll never clone ya").

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' performance of "Boys Keep Swinging" muted the second line of the couplet "When you're a boy/Other boys check you out". Subverted at the very end of the performance when the costume Bowie was wearing suddenly reveals a [[GagPenis fake penis]] and waves it around the place.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: "DJ". Yes, the song is about a disk jockey, but when you remember that Bowie's real name was '''D'''avid '''J'''ones...
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Invoked in the video for "DJ".

* MyNaymeIs: Subverted with "Yassassin" - it is not another way of spelling "assassin". Some versions of the album remedy this by adding the subtitle "(Turkish for: Long Live)".

* GuestStar: Avant-garde guitarist and Music/FrankZappa collaborator Adrian Belew performs guitar on a number of the album's tracks, as well as contributing mandolin to "Fantastic Voyage". Belew had previously accompanied Bowie during the ''Isolar II'' tour in 1978 and would rejoin him for the ''Sound+Vision'' Tour in 1990; in return for the latter, Bowie contributed two songs to Belew's 1990 album ''Young Lions'' ("Pretty Pink Rose" and "Gunman"), performing both songs with him as duets.

''Lodger'' is the thirteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1979. The third and final album of what critics and fans call the "Berlin Trilogy" of his {{Krautrock}}/post-punk albums (though most of the album was recorded in UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} or UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity). It also marks the end of his working relationship with Music/BrianEno. The two reunited later for his 1995 album ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]''.

''Lodger'' is perhaps the most accessible entry in the Berlin Trilogy, to the point where an uninitiated listener wouldn't be able to tell that it had any relation with ''Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum'' and ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum''; there are no instrumentals on side two and the songs are lighter and more pop-oriented. As with ''Low'', critical reviews were indifferent to negative upon release, only to later be VindicatedByHistory; it is now considered one of his most underrated albums.

* InTheStyleOf: A Music/TalkingHeads biography posits that "DJ" was Bowie's attempt at emulating the singing style of frontman Music/DavidByrne; not only was Bowie personally acquainted with Byrne, Berlin Trilogy collaborator Music/BrianEno had also started working with Talking Heads during the interim between ''"Heroes"'' and ''Lodger'', with ''Music/MoreSongsAboutBuildingsAndFood'' and ''Music/FearOfMusic'' being recorded and released before and during the recording sessions for ''Lodger''.

* InTheStyleOf: A Music/TalkingHeads biography posits that "DJ" was Bowie's attempt at emulating the singing style of frontman Music/DavidByrne; Berlin Trilogy collaborator Music/BrianEno had started working with Talking Heads during the interim between ''"Heroes"'' and ''Lodger'', with ''Music/MoreSongsAboutBuildingsAndFood'' and ''Music/FearOfMusic'' being recorded and released before and during the recording sessions for ''Lodger''.

* FaceOnTheCover: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]; the cover photo depicts Bowie made-up to look like an accident victim, spanning the whole of the exterior gatefold sleeve. However, the orientation of the photo places the half with Bowie's face on the back; the front cover, pictured above, merely shows his legs and feet.

* BookEnds: Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" sometimes unofficially includes Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot'' due to Bowie's involvement and its sound. The first song on ''The Idiot'' is "Sister Midnight", and the final song of ''Lodger'' is "Red Money", a rewrite of "Sister Midnight".