# What's your favorite David Bowie album? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836 "2003-05-03T10:23:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/1 "2003-05-03T10:23:25Z")
Hoping a few Bowie fans will come out of the woodwork to chime in. My pick would be _Diamond Dogs_. The lyrics on the title track create very fun images (the track reminds me a little of the 1st and 2nd track on Genesis’ _The Lamb_, with the colorful description of city-dwelling characters.) _Sweet Thing_/_Candidate_ is a great sequence, very passionate and energetic. _Rebel Rebel_ is pretty much a classic rock anthem. _Rock n’ Roll With Me_ is a great Ziggy-esque tune on par with _Lady Stardust_. And the Rykodisc release of this one has by far the best unreleased tracks. It’s absolutely amazing that _Dodo_ was somehow cut, it’s a solid thematic fit and a catchy tune. And the demo version of _Candidate_, with a totally different sound than the one that made the album, is possibly amongst my all time favorite Bowie songs. I’d probably round out the top 5 with Ziggy, Hunky Dory, Space Oddity, Man who Sold the World. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/2 "2003-05-03T10:51:17Z")
TIN MACHINE!!! Hahaha…no, I’m just joking. My favorite would be a tie between Lodger and Scary Monsters. Jon ---
**Author:** ![phraser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e4f/32.png) [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/3 "2003-05-03T11:45:12Z")
Definately Ziggy. Love his work. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/4 "2003-05-03T14:14:15Z")
**Low** is my #1. Naturally, I also like its companion album, **“Heroes”** , and I’m also especially fond of some of the early albums, like **The Man Who Sold The World** and **Hunky Dory**. **Ziggy** ’s cool too, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/5 "2003-05-03T14:37:31Z")
Hunky Dory or Ziggy Stardust. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/6 "2003-05-03T15:08:34Z")
Either **Diamond Dogs** or **Aladdin Sane**. Beautifully emotional singing backed with some great guitar/piano work. And I liked Tin Machine, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Skillet38](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Skillet38](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skillet38)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/7 "2003-05-03T15:28:42Z")
I’ll pipe up for an underdog. \*\* Heroes \*\* is haunting. Brian Eno can do no wrong, and it’s got Robert Fripp all over it. ah V-2 Schneider ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/8 "2003-05-03T15:54:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > \*\*And I liked Tin Machine, dammit! \*\* Me too. And seeing that band was my only experience of seeing Bowie live…and in a mid-sized theater, no less. Too bad they didn’t do any of Bowie’s old repertoire, though. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/9 "2003-05-03T16:49:56Z")
It’s _Ziggy_ for me, of his albums that I’ve heard. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew \* > **Low is my #1.** I just want to mention how cool it is that, right after this was released, Nick Lowe released an EP called _Bowi_. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/10 "2003-05-03T17:21:34Z")
I’m going to vote for _Outside_. I have quite a few of his other albums and love em all, but _Outside_ just strikes some chord with me. What did you guys think of Heathen? ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/11 "2003-05-03T18:48:32Z")
Not an album per se, but my favorite Bowie disc is the soundtrack to the film \*Christiane F. \* . A good selection of tunes (_Station To Station, TVC 15, Boys Keep Swinging_) plus the English/German hybrid version of _Heroes_ which I have always liked. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/12 "2003-05-05T16:50:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Hunky Dory or Ziggy Stardust. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/13 "2003-05-05T17:12:40Z")
Heroes “So me and Iggy Pop need to find a place to kick the habit. Where do we end up? Berlin, smack capital of Europe.” ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/14 "2003-05-06T02:14:34Z")
Hmm. Ziggy Stardust, followed by Low, for totally different reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Ace\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Ace\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace_Face)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/15 "2003-05-06T02:53:42Z")
Hunky Dory. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/16 "2003-05-06T03:28:09Z")
**RexDart** is spot on, the alternate version of “Candidate” on the Ryko re-release of Diamond Dogs is hugely great. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/17 "2003-05-06T05:17:05Z")
Oh man. Man Who Sold the World. Heroes. Scary Monsters. Station to Station. Pinups. Diamond Dogs. Aladdin Sane. I love his first album. Basically everything through Scary Monsters. I listened to a lot of Bowie when I was young and on drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/18 "2003-05-06T05:22:15Z")
I’ll second **Outside**. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/19 "2003-05-06T08:26:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hazel-rah \* > \*\ ***RexDart** is spot on, the alternate version of “Candidate” on the Ryko re-release of Diamond Dogs is hugely great. \*\* The Rykodisc extras on _Space Oddity_ (aka _Man of Words, Man of Music_) were also quite good. I would number _Conversation Piece_ amongst my favorite Bowie songs, in part for the lyrics (all his stuff from that era is a little overly romantic, like _Wild-Eyed Boy from Freecloud_, I find it interesting that _Conversation Piece_ is like romanticized loneliness and depression.) And the alt-version of _Memory of a Free Festival Part Two_ on the Rykodisc extras is alot fuller sounding, and IMHO much more enjoyable, than the one that made the original release. Back when I got the disc, I recorded it to tape for my car with the alt-version in place of the original. (Of course, I always thought I knew better than the studio what order the songs should be in…I swapped the order of _Levee_ and _Stairway_ when I recorded Zeppelin IV.) ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-david-bowie-album/172836/20 "2003-05-06T12:23:17Z")
Well, pretty much anything he did between Hunky Dory and Scary Monsters would get my vote (except perhaps Young Americans - not enough fuzzy guitar on that one for my taste). Thanks for the heads-up on the re-release of Diamond Dogs - think I’ll exit stage left, bound for my local music shop, immediately.