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Album Artistry: Celebrating David Bowie's Dynamic Discography

May 15, 2021 Terry Nelson
Albumism_DavidBowie_Discography_MainImage_16x9.jpg

Editor’s Note: From Albumism’s inception back in 2016, we’ve remained unabashedly and unequivocally passionate about our mission of celebrating the world's love affairs with albums past, present and future.

But while our devotion to the album as an art form has remained steadfast, as evidenced by our deepening repository of individual album tributes and reviews, we’ve admittedly seldom taken the opportunity to explicitly articulate our reverence for the virtues of artists’ complete album repertoires as a whole.

Hence why we’ve decided to showcase what we believe to be the most dynamic discographies of all time in this recurring series. In doing so, we hope to better understand the broader creative context within which our most beloved individual albums exist, while acknowledging the full breadth of their creators’ artistry, career arcs, and overall contributions to the ever-evolving musical landscape.

We hope you enjoy this series and be sure to check here periodically for the latest installments.

DAVID BOWIE

Studio Albums: David Bowie (1967) | David Bowie (a.k.a. Space Oddity) (1969) | The Man Who Sold the World (1970) | Hunky Dory (1971) | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) | Aladdin Sane (1973) | Pin Ups (1973) | Diamond Dogs (1974) | Young Americans (1975) | Station to Station (1976) | Low (1977) | "Heroes" (1977) | Lodger (1979) | Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) | Let's Dance (1983) | Tonight (1984) | Never Let Me Down (1987) | Black Tie White Noise (1993) | The Buddha of Suburbia (Soundtrack) (1993) | Outside (1995) | Earthling (1997) | Hours (1999) | Heathen (2002) | Reality (2003) | The Next Day (2013) | Blackstar (2016)

I’ve always bristled whenever someone refers to David Bowie as a chameleon because the compliment seems to cheapen his influence on generations of performers. His contributions as an entertainer are what my definition of an artist should be.

Were there some missteps along the way in his lengthy career? No artist is perfect, and Bowie was no exception. His less than stellar moments were born out of an effort to try something different and not mine the same territory repeatedly. 

The one period in Bowie's career during which he received an immense amount of backlash from his most loyal fans was his so-called commercial years from 1983 to 1987. The album Let's Dance and the title track video introduced him to a mainstream audience tuning in to MTV. He was no longer Ziggy Stardust or the Thin White Duke, but a sober, blond, and besuited Bowie. It was in this period that he reached his commercial peak.

From 1989 to 1991, Bowie was the frontman for Tin Machine and resumed making solo albums again in 1993, thus beginning the final phase of his career. This was an experimental period for him and, to me, a successful one. Bowie didn't seem to care about appealing to commercial audiences. His output was strictly about the music and his vision.

His final four albums Heathen, Reality, The Next Day, and Blackstar, are some of the finest work he ever released, with the latter being the crowning achievement. Blackstar was Bowie's farewell to the world, serving as an obituary of a man who knew his time on earth was limited. It was one of the few great things that came about in 2016.

Blackstar closed the door on a discography that is wide-ranging, timeless, and establishes the fact that David Bowie was one of the greatest and most influential artists of his generation. 

Terry’s 3 Favorite David Bowie Albums of All Time:

1. Station to Station (1976)
2. Young Americans (1975)
3. Heathen (2002)

VISIT David Bowie’s Official Store

LISTEN & WATCH:

In Discographies Tags David Bowie
← Album Artistry: Celebrating Miles Davis' Dynamic DiscographyAlbum Artistry: Celebrating Bruce Springsteen's Dynamic Discography →

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