19 April, 2016

Seven Days of Bowie - Day Five

Dead Man Walking


Earthling is one of my favourite Bowie albums. Although he'd been making music for 30 years by the time it came out, he was still exploring new and contemporary styles. Britpop? Meh, Bowie was there the first time around. The electronica of the mid-90s interested him more.

If it were anyone else, it might seem like a sad attempt to stay relevant but this was always Bowie's method to embrace a genre and bring his own style to it as well. See also, Young Americans - perhaps not authentic Philly Soul, but more than just a pale imitation. He wasn't just going to hire all the hip producers of the day and say "make me sound like that" [coughMadonna].

Likewise, Earthing was not pure drum'n'bass, but Bowie did bring an element of songcraft to the style, so that even with two guitars, the songs still sound great.


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