History Music / TheBuddhaOfSuburbia

''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is the nineteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1993 (just seven months after ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise''). Though named after the 1993 BBC miniseries of the same name (itself based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi), it is not a soundtrack for it. Rather, it serves as an artistic expansion of the musical and lyrical themes featured in said soundtrack, built off of demo recordings that Bowie had initially made for the show but withdrew. Revisiting the material with Turkish multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kızılçay and producer David Richards (both of whom had previously worked with Bowie for the title single to ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'' and on ''Music/NeverLetMeDown''), Bowie elaborated upon these recordings to the point where it was adjacent to but unrecognizable from the original soundtrack. The only song shared between the show and album was the TitleTrack.

* PrecisionFStrike: The otherwise lyrically clean title track contains the line "can't tell the bullshit from the lies."

* VariantCover: The album received three of them over its staggered lifetime.
** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_buddha_of_suburbia_1993_cover.jpg The original 1993 cover art]] consists of an edited still from the TV show, with a map of London inserted as the background.
** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_buddha_of_suburbia_1995_cover.jpg The 1995 US cover art]] features a black and white photograph of Bowie seated on a cot, since the miniseries wasn't widely known outside of the UK.
** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, since the miniseries fell into relative obscurity by that point, but uses a sepia tint. This cover is generally treated as the "canon" one for the album, being incorporated into digital releases and further reissues.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Sometimes considered one to [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]], due to its emphasis on experimental art rock and the presence of several [[EpicRocking lengthy]] instrumental tracks.

''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is the nineteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1993 (just seven months after ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise''). Though named after the 1993 BBC miniseries of the same name (itself based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi), it is not a soundtrack for it. Rather, it serves as an artistic expansion of the musical and lyrical themes featured in said soundtrack, built off of demo recordings that Bowie had initially made for the show but withdrew. Revisiting the material with Turkish multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kızılçay and producer David Richards (who had previously worked with Bowie for the title single to ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'' and on ''Music/NeverLetMeDown''), Bowie elaborated upon these recordings to the point where it was adjacent to but unrecognizable from the original soundtrack. The only song shared between the show and album was the TitleTrack.

Musically, the album is a continuation of the electronic rock style that Bowie had first developed on ''Black Tie White Noise''. However, rather than going for the lounge-pop ContemporaryRAndB of that album, ''The Buddha of Suburbua'' orients it in a musically and lyrically abstract direction more in the vein of [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]] 16 years prior, in effect acting as a SpiritualSuccessor to those albums. The idea was one rooted in the period just after ''Never Let Me Down''[='s=] release, with Bowie having voiced his desire to make a Berlin Trilogy successor for the late '80s before a bout of ArtistDisillusionment motivated him to form Tin Machine instead; Bowie's original demos for the album he promised back then were refitted for other projects[[note]]"Pretty Pink Rose" and a CoverVersion of Music/BobDylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" were carried over to solo albums by prior collaborators [[Music/KingCrimson Adrian Belew]] and Mick Ronson, respectively, while "Lucy Can't Dance" became a bonus track on the initial CD release of ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise''[[/note]]. Concurrently with its sound, ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is also overall more personally introspective, focusing on the BBC miniseries' themes of faith, personal identity, and self-actualization, punctuated by heavy references to South Asian culture and the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom.

Musically, the album is a continuation of the electronic rock style that Bowie had first developed on ''Black Tie White Noise''. However, rather than going for the jazzy lounge-pop of that album, ''The Buddha of Suburbua'' orients it in a musically and lyrically abstract direction more in the vein of [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]] 16 years prior, in effect acting as a SpiritualSuccessor to those albums. The idea was one rooted in the period just after ''Never Let Me Down''[='s=] release, with Bowie having voiced his desire to make a Berlin Trilogy successor for the late '80s before a bout of ArtistDisillusionment motivated him to form Tin Machine instead; Bowie's original demos for the album he promised back then were refitted for other projects[[note]]"Pretty Pink Rose" and a CoverVersion of Music/BobDylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" were carried over to solo albums by prior collaborators [[Music/KingCrimson Adrian Belew]] and Mick Ronson, respectively, while "Lucy Can't Dance" became a ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise''[[/note]]. Concurrently with its sound, ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is also overall more personally introspective, focusing on the BBC miniseries' themes of faith, personal identity, and self-actualization, punctuated by heavy references to South Asian culture and the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom.

* FaceOnTheCover: The 1995 cover, recolored and reused for the 2007 reissue, depicts Bowie seated at a cot. The 1993 cover does ''not'' include Bowie's image, but ''does'' feature a picture of him on the back.

Musically, the album is a continuation of the electronic rock style that Bowie had first developed on ''Black Tie White Noise''. However, rather than going for the jazzy lounge-pop of that album, ''The Buddha of Suburbua'' orients it in a musically and lyrically abstract direction more in the vein of [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]] 16 years prior, in effect acting as a SpiritualSuccessor to those albums. The idea was one rooted in the period just after ''Never Let Me Down''[='s=] release, with Bowie having voiced his desire to make a Berlin Trilogy successor for the late '80s before a bout of ArtistDisillusionment motivated him to form Tin Machine instead; Bowie's original demos for the album he promised back then were refitted for other projects[[note]]"Pretty Pink Rose" and a CoverVersion of Music/BobDylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" were carried over to solo albums by prior collaborators [[Music/KingCrimson Adrian Belew]] and Mick Ronson, respectively, while "Lucy Can't Dance" became a ''Music/BlackTieWhit[[/note]]. Concurrently with its sound, ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is also overall more personally introspective, focusing on the BBC miniseries' themes of faith, personal identity, and self-actualization, punctuated by heavy references to South Asian culture and the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom.

''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is the nineteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1993 (just seven months after ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise''). Though named after the 1993 BBC miniseries of the same name (itself based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi), it is not a soundtrack for it. Rather, it serves as an artistic expansion of the musical and lyrical themes featured in said soundtrack, built off of demo recordings that Bowie had initially made for the show but withdrew. Revisiting the material with Turkish multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kızılçay (who had previously collaborated with Bowie for the title single to ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'' and on ''Music/NeverLetMeDown''), Bowie elaborated upon these recordings to the point where it was adjacent to but unrecognizable from the original soundtrack. The only song shared between the show and album was the TitleTrack.

Musically, the album is a continuation of the electronic rock style that Bowie had first developed on ''Black Tie White Noise''. However, rather than going for the jazzy lounge-pop of that album, ''The Buddha of Suburbua'' orients it in a musically and lyrically abstract direction more in the vein of [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]] nearly 20 years prior, in effect acting as a SpiritualSuccessor to those albums. The album is also overall more personally introspective, focusing on the BBC miniseries' themes of faith, personal identity, and self-actualization, and with heavy references to South Asian culture and the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased in the US until a 1995 release by Creator/VirginRecords. It would be quickly deleted there too after further underselling; the album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}.

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: The 2007 UK release includes [[https://img.discogs.com/pLbC8XDqznWkgVKlDHR37T92ptg=/fit-in/600x465/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2629104-1446047789-6450.jpeg.jpg a blurb]] below the disc tray thanking the buyer for purchasing the album, and encouraging them to avoid pirating music or enabling piracy. The US version of the 2007 reissue features [[https://img.discogs.com/__1J57-Rj-TjxTnojT9_yhe9pLw=/fit-in/600x469/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-12539548-1537321001-5011.jpeg.jpg a more straightforward anti-piracy blurb]], while the 2016 repressing by Creator/ParlophoneRecords [[https://img.discogs.com/WGgulXeJId7sL-lZ_5cdVTDRi_o=/fit-in/600x467/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7914482-1568155910-1024.jpeg.jpg features]] the UK blurb in all regions, albeit with all mentions of EMI removed (as Parlophone was bought out by Creator/WarnerMusicGroup following the dissolution of EMI).

* NewSoundAlbum: More experimental but still electronic-tinged art rock, acting as a middle ground between the lounge pop of ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise'' and the forthcoming {{industrial}} rock of ''Music/{{Outside}}''.

** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, since the miniseries fell into relative obscurity by that point, but uses a sepia tint. This cover is generally treated as the "canon" one for the album, being incorporated into digital releases and further re-pressings.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Now we're swimming up farther with the doll by our sides..."'']]

* IndecipherableLyrics: A number of websites and blogs offer different interpretation of the repeated phrase in "Untitled No. 1". Even the highly regarding blog [[https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/untitled-no-1/ Pushing Ahead of the Dames]] is unsure of the line, offering "See Me Kapoor" and "City Kapo" while another reader suggested "Cynical fool". Others claim it's supposed to be a namedropping of Indian film actor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shammi_Kapoor Shammi Kapoor]].

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased in the US until a 1995 release by Creator/VirginRecords. It would be quickly deleted there too after further underselling; the album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}, and remains one of Bowie's most overlooked post-1960's releases. Critical reception additionally remains fairly lukewarm, with reviewers generally considering it middle-of-the-road at best; fan reception meanwhile is more positive, with many regarding it as one of Bowie's most underrated releases.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased in the US until a 1995 release by Creator/VirginRecords. It would be quickly deleted there too after further underselling; the album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased in the US until a 1995 release by Creator/VirginRecords. It would be quickly deleted there too after further underselling; the album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}, and remains one of Bowie's most overlooked post-1960's releases. Critical reception additionally remains fairly lukewarm, with reviewers generally considering it middle-of-the-road at best; fan reception meanwhile is more positive, with many regarding it as one of Bowie's most underrated releases.

All that said, ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' was a personal favorite of Bowie, who lamented its commercial underperformance as "a real shame." As a testament to his enjoyment of this album, Bowie would re-record the track "Strangers When We Meet" for his next album, ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]''.

* ShoutOut: The title track namedrops Music/ElvisPresley, while "Untitled No. 1" repeatedly mentions Indian film actor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shammi_Kapoor Shammi Kapoor]].
** Or is that ''[[TheUnintelligible reportedly]]'', as a number of websites and blogs offer different interpretation of the lyric. Even the highly regarding blog [[https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/untitled-no-1/ Pushing Ahead of the Dames]] is unsure of the line, offering "See Me Kapoor" and "City Kapo" while another reader suggested "Cynical fool".

** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, but features a sepia tone, since the miniseries fell into relative obscurity by that point. This cover is generally treated as the "canon" one for the album, being incorporated into digital releases and further re-pressings.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased in the US until a 1995 release by Creator/VirginRecords. It would be quickly deleted there too after further underselling; the album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}, and remains one of Bowie's most overlooked post-1960's releases. Critical reception additionally remains fairly lukewarm, with reviewers generally considering it middle-of-the-road at best; fan reception meanwhile is more positive.

* TitleTrack: "Buddha of Suburbia"

** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, but features a sepia tone, since the miniseries fell into relative obscurity by that point. This cover is generally treated as the "canon" one for the album, being incorporated into digital releases and further repressings.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased outside the UK until a 1995 American release by Creator/VirginRecords. The album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}, and remains one of Bowie's most overlooked post-1960's releases. Critical reception for the album additionally remains fairly lukewarm, with reviewers generally considering it middle-of-the-road at best; fan reception meanwhile is more positive.

Musically, the album is a continuation of the electronic rock style that Bowie had first developed on ''Black Tie White Noise''. However, rather than going for the jazzy lounge-pop of that album, ''The Buddha of Suburbua'' orients it in a musically and lyrically abstract direction more in the vein of [[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum the]] [[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum Berlin]] [[Music/{{Lodger}} trilogy]] nearly 20 years prior, in effect acting as a SpiritualSuccessor to those albums. The album is also overall more personally introspective, focusing on the BBC miniseries' themes of faith, personal identity, and self-actualization, and with heavy references to South Asian culture and the South Asian diaspora in the United Kingdom. It's certainly a more conventional album by Bowie standards in that regard, and among those who ''have'' listened to it, it's generally regarded as a much closer return to form than the ''Music/LetsDance'' successor that ''Black Tie White Noise'' ended up being.

Despite being radically different from the music featured in the show, Creator/AristaRecords chose to brand and market ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' as the official soundtrack album from the miniseries, right down to using an edited still from the latter as its cover art. Consequently, the album undersold, only reaching No. 87 on the UK Albums chart, not helped by the multitude of releases that the TitleTrack received as its one and only single. As a result, the album was deleted from Bowie's catalog, and went unreleased outside the UK until a 1995 American release by Creator/VirginRecords. The album wouldn't return to print until a 2007 by Creator/{{EMI}}, and remains one of Bowie's most overlooked post-1960's releases.

** [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover_the_buddha_of_suburbia_1993.jpg The original 1993 cover art]] consists of an edited still from the TV show, with a map of London inserted as the background.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover_the_buddha_of_suburbia_1993.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Now we're swimming up farther with the doll by our sides..."'' (pictured: the 1993 U.K. cover art)]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover_the_buddha_of_suburbia_2007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The 2007 cover art, nowadays considered the de-facto "canonical" version; the 1995 U.S. cover art is near-identical to this one, but is in black and white instead of sepia]]


''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is the nineteenth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1993 (just seven months after ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise'').

While the album is named after and features the theme song of the 1993 BBC miniseries ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' (itself based on the identically-named novel by Hanif Kureishi), it is not a soundtrack album for it. Rather, it is an artistic expansion of the musical and lyrical themes featured in the miniseries's ''actual'' soundtrack (the title song included). Despite this, it was advertised and branded as the show's official soundtrack album, complete with cover art featuring an edited still from the series. The album ended up underselling as a result, not helped by the multitude of releases of the TitleTrack as its one and only single, leading it to be deleted from Bowie's catalog until 2007. To this day, ''The Buddha of Suburbia'' is one of the more commonly overlooked post-1960's entries in Bowie's output as a solo artist.

Despite the poor sales of ''The Buddha of Suburbia'', it was a personal favorite of Bowie, who lamented its commercial underperformance as "a real shame." As a testament to his enjoyment of this album, Bowie would re-record the track "Strangers When We Meet" for his next album, ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]''.

* NewSoundAlbum: More experimental but still electronic-tinged art rock, acting as a middle ground between the lounge pop of ''Music/BlackTieWhiteNoise'' and the forthcoming IndustrialRock of ''Music/{{Outside}}''.

** The original 1993 cover art consists of an edited still from the TV show, with a map of London inserted as the background.
** The 1995 US cover art features a black and white photograph of Bowie seated on a cot, since the miniseries wasn't widely known outside of the UK.
** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, but features a sepia tone, since the miniseries fell into relative obscurity by that point.

* FaceOnTheCover: PlayedWith. The 1993 UK release's front cover features a still from the miniseries, with a map of London edited into the background; a portrait of Bowie is displayed on the back cover. Because neither the ''Buddha of Suburbia'' novel nor the miniseries were well known among American audiences at the time, the 1995 US release replaces the original cover art. A black and white photo of Bowie sitting on a cot is featured on the front, while the back displays a black and white photograph of Karim Amir's house and full-color Pakistani-inspired patterns. The 2007 reissue reuses the American cover art (likely because the 1993 miniseries had already faded from the public consciousness by 2007 and is still fairly obscure to this day), but applies a sepia tint to the front photo. Given the fact that this is the cover art that is featured on the digital release, it has more or less become the album's "canonical" artwork.

* HistoryRepeats: A meta example, with ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld''. David Bowie releases a new album not that long after having found success with a single from the previous one. The album initially lacks Bowie's likeness on the front cover, but replaces the artwork with a portrait of himself for a later release on the other side of the pond. The album ends up selling poorly and is overlooked, only to achieve belated recognition from a later reissue with a re-revised cover; however, it still ends up maintaining a comparatively low presence among Bowie's discography. Additionally, the original cover art more or less becomes forgotten among casual audiences, with one of the redone covers becoming the de-facto canonical one after being featured on reissues and digital releases, and one of the tracks from the album ''does'' receive critical and fan recognition, but only though a re-recording around the mid-1990's (albeit in ''Man''[='s=] case, the re-recording was a CoverVersion by Music/{{Nirvana}}).

* OtherCommonMusicVideoConcepts: The title track's features a light variation of the "travelogue montage" kind, featuring Bowie wandering through the suburbs while singing. It also falls under the "movie tie-in music video" category, as described under VideoFullOfFilmClips.

** The 1995 US cover art features a black and white photograph of Bowie seated on a cot.
** The 2007 cover is near-identical to the 1995 one, but features a sepia tone.

* EpicRocking: With the exception of "Strangers When We Meet" and both versions of the title track, every track on this album exceeds five minutes.

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: The 2007 release includes [[https://img.discogs.com/WGgulXeJId7sL-lZ_5cdVTDRi_o=/fit-in/600x467/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7914482-1568155910-1024.jpeg.jpg a blurb]] below the disc tray thanking the buyer for purchasing the album, and encouraging them to avoid pirating music or enabling piracy.