Weekday Wayback: David Bowie- Let's Dance

I always say a person's favorite Bowie album says a lot about them. Of course I also say the same thing about a person's favorite flavor of ice cream. My personal arbiters of character aside, I picked this album for good reason, from the collection of albums passed along to me by my materfamilias, this was the one David Bowie album. The craziest thing to me is that I didn't realize until as I sat down to write this Weekday Wayback is that Let's Dance was Bowie's fifteenth studio album! Released on April 14 of 1983, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) was just behind him and Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture had yet to be conceived. Opening with "Modern Love", Let's Dance sets the upbeat tone for the rest of the album. That song was revitalized with use in the Greta Gerwig film Frances Ha released in 2012. Ever the crooner, Bowie pulls out all the stops on the second track "China Girl", which had previously been an Iggy Pop song on his debut album from 1977 The Idiot. Funnily enough, Bowie contributed keyboards, saxophone, and toy piano to the Iggy Pop recording. Another interesting musical collaboration related to Let's Dance: Stevie Ray Vaughn is the lead guitarist for the album. It is also incredibly interesting that the title track clocks in at nearly eight minutes. While some critics derided this album for being too pop-y, I think it's a comforting one full of tracks that are worth remembering in his legacy.

Natalie Doggett