Bowie 70

On January 8, 1947, a baby named David Robert Jones arrived on Earth just twelve years after another legend was born in Elvis Aaron Presley. While Jones would adopt many personas such as Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, Jareth the Goblin King, and so many others. He would be famously known to the world as David Bowie as the man who, like Elvis before him, would change the world not just through his music but also for what he gave them in their own search for identity. His passing on January 10, 2016 has been catastrophic as tributes were held by many while fans were able to get a final gift from him two days before on his 69th and final birthday with his final album Blackstar. In what would’ve been his 70th birthday, many will hold tribute to him as it would be one of many goodbyes to the man who gave us so much.

For this tribute that I’m writing, I decide to make a list of 70 songs by David Bowie that I love but it will not include many of the hits that many know and love. That is too easy as a list of the hits is just immense. Then of course, there’s the famous album cuts like Moonage Daydream, Quicksand, and many others that fans love as they won’t appear in the list as well as instrumentals as there’s too many great instrumentals to choose. For my approach on this list, I will choose not just album cuts but also rarities, live version, and alternate versions of songs that he did that means a lot. I could make a bunch of explanations on why I chose these songs but that would be too long. These are just songs of Bowie that I really love and feel that anyone who is either new to Bowie or have heard the hits and some famous album cuts should check out as there is so much to what the man has done in the span of a career that will never be equalized. They’re all diverse and has something to offer as it show how broad Bowie was not just as a musician but as an artist who was backed by musicians who knew how to play.

I want to send a special shout-out to the people at the Echoing the Sounds forum for giving me suggestions as they’re just as big fans of Bowie as I am. This list will be broken into chronological periods from the eponymous debut album in 1967 to Blackstar:

Part 1 (1967-1973)

1. Silly Boy Blue (BBC Session)

2. Drive-In Saturday (Live Version 1972)

3. Velvet Goldmine

4. Cygnet Committee (BBC Session)

5. The Prettiest Star (w/ Marc Bolan)

6. Holy Holy (1970 version)

7. Bombers (BBC Session)

8. Moonage Daydream (Arnold Corns version)

9. Lady Stardust (demo)

10. The Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud (BBC Session)

11. Conversation Piece

12. Janine (BBC Session)

13. Running Gun Blues

14. Saviour Machine

Part 2 (1974-1982)

15. Space Oddity (1979 acoustic version)

16. Who Can I Be Now?

17. Because You're Young

18. Candidate (demo)

19. 1984/Dodo

20. Fascination

21. Blackout

22. Red Sails

23. Drowned Girl


24. Cat People

Part 3 (1983-1991)

25. Ricochet

26. As the World Falls Down


27. That’s Motivation!


28. Time Will Crawl (MM Remix)

29. Sons of the Silent Age (Glass Spider live w/ Peter Frampton)


30. Never Let Me Down (Glass Spider live)


31. Julie

32. Girls

33. Look Back in Anger (1988 remake)

34. Amazing

35. Prisoner of Love

36. Sacrifice Yourself

37. Shopping for Girls

38. Baby Universal


39. A Big Hurt

Part 4 (1992-2004)

40. Real Cool World


41. Black Tie White Noise


42. You’ve Been Around


43. The Buddha of Suburbia


44. Untitled No. 1

45. Strangers When We Meet (Outside Version)


46. A Small Plot of Land

47. I'm Derange

48. Subterranean/Scary Monster (live w/ Nine Inch Nails)


49. Dead Man Walking (acoustic version)


50. Seven Years in Tibet (Mandarin version)

51. I Can't Read (The Ice Storm version)

52. Seven

53. Can’t Help Thinking About Me (VH1 Storytellers)


54. Survive

55. Let Me Sleep Beside You (Toy Version)

56. Stay (BBC Live)


57. Shadow Man (Toy Version)

58. Heathen (The Rays)

59. The Loneliest Guy

60. Fall Dog Bombs the Moon

61. Bring Me the Disco King

62. Loving the Alien (Reality Tour)

Part 5 (2013-2016)

63. Valentine’s Day


64. (You Will) Set the World on Fire

65. You Feel So Lonely You Could Die

66. If You Can See Me

67. Sue (in the Sea of Crime) (Nothing Has Changed version)


68. Girl Loves Me

69. I Can’t Give Everything Away


70. No Plan


Thank you David. We will miss you.

Studio Releases: David Bowie (1967 album) - David Bowie (1969 album) - The Man Who Sold the World - Hunky Dory - The Rise & 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 - Tin Machine II - Black Tie White Noise - Outside - Earthling - ‘Hours…’ - Heathen - Reality - The Next Day - *

Live Releases: David Live - Stage - Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars - Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby - Bowie at the Beeb - (Live at Fashion Rocks (w/ Arcade Fire)) - (Live Santa Monica ‘72) - (Glass Spider Live) - (VH1 Storytellers) - (A Reality Tour)

Soundtracks: Christiane F. - Labyrinth - The Buddha of Suburbia - (Lazarus)

Miscellaneous: Peter and the Wolf - Baal - Sound + Vision - (Early On (1964-1966)) - (All Saints) - Toy - (Nothing Has Changed) - (No Plan)

© thevoid99 2017