#443 David Bowie, 'Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)' (1980)

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Following the more experimental “Berlin Trilogy,” Bowie made a somewhat return to more of a mainstream sound. Somewhat. This album strikes a good balance between creativity and mainstream. Opening with the unusual, yet genius song, ‘It’s No Game (Pt. 1),’ a song beginning with Japanese spoken word over a slow and steady driving bassline; it’s a great sign of things to come – the unusual creativity coupled with the mainstream. The gateway to this album comes in the shape of track 4, ‘Ashes To Ashes,’ not only one of the biggest songs on the album, but one of the biggest of his career. In this song we see the return of Major Tom, a key figure from his breakthrough single, ‘Space Oddity’ (in a nice synergy, ‘Ashes To Ashes’ was Bowies second UK #1 single following ‘Space Oddity’). Bringing to a close a perfect album is part 2 of ‘It’s No Game,’ at two seconds longer than its counterpart, everything with Bowie was calculated. Guests on the album include Roy Bittan of The E Street Band and Pete Townshend from The Who.

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