I'm just glad I don't have to pick one.

Well, not I have to attempt a full ranking.

This is pretty rough since I've only acquired about 2/3 of these over the past year:

1. Low
2. Station to Station
3. Scary Monsters
4. Lodger
5. Hunky Dory
6. The Man Who Sold the World
7. Aladdin Sane
8. Ziggy Stardust
9. Diamond Dogs (just got this one this week, actually)
10. Space Oddity
11. "Heroes"

I don't get the dismissal of Lodger. It's a really interesting album with some great songs, and I think it's much, much better than "Heroes".

"Heroes" is about eight notches ahead of Lodger if only for "Sons of the Silent Age", Drinky.

"What's the good of me working if you can't damn cook?!"

Also, I've warmed up to Lodger recently, but songs like "Red Money" which is just a rewrite of "Sister Midnight" from The Idiot, and "Yassassin" which is possibly the most annoying song ever constructed make it weaker than almost any other album of his

Well Ziggy is the masterwork... but this is like the recent thread about The Joshua Tree ... some works become so much apart of the Common Mind it is impossible to judge them. Is Sgt Pepper's good, Hotel California. even Pet Sounds or So.... sometimes it seems I can't even hear them.

Removing Ziggy, I think the Man Who Sold the World is his darkest, and still sounds curious and new.

After that I like Aladdin Sane and Low.

I absolutely detest the Laughing Gnome thing and nothing done after the first Tin Machine is listenable to me.

I don't think that song is all that great, but I'm gonna listen to all of my Bowie stuff again soon and compare.



I like "Repetition" a lot.


to my list I'll append:

12. Young Americans
13. Tin Machine

That's all the Bowie I have.

Hunky Dory is a standout because it seems so perfect of its kind and there's no other album which really compares to it. A classic.

If I'm in a debate against someone arguing the greatness of Ziggy, my first response would be it's not even the best Bowie of its kind--Aladdin Sane is superior. At the very least, comparable.

I think the Let's Dance as Jump The Shark is true for the hardcore Bowie worshipper. Bowie was famous, no doubt, but was on a remarkable string of albums which created the appeal of a cult artist, just a relatively big selling one. Let's Dance was commercially produced and marketed so it came off as mere product to the hardcore fan. Then for the vast majority, Tonight was Jump The Shark. So that was just one misstep, a quick cash in on let's dance. Surely, somebody with this guy's track record would then rebound. But to the dismay of thsoe who stayed true and held out hope, Never Let Me Down drove home the final nail. No one knows for sure if this was by design, but then the big expectations were gone and he was free to dick around with his fancy of the day and was probably happy about it. Good for him.

Ziggy and Hunky Dory are tied for first for me.

Also really love Low and Man Who Sold the World. Occasionally, I'll listen to Lodger or Station to Station.

Lets Dance was funny because it points out that the 80s were about the only decade a guy could come out on stage wearing a pale yellow suit with pink accessories and a bleached-blond, puffy pompodor and people didn't immediately assume he was gay. Kinda like the way Wham wasn't assumed to be a gay band by many even though they made the Village People look butch.

One of these days I'm going to make a comp of awesome Bowie songs from "okay" Bowie albums.

Songs like "Pretty Things" from Tin Machine.

My favorite Bowie varies from year to year and has been many different ones over the years. So, any one of about 10 of his rekkids, actually.

speaking of Bowie, last night I was flipping through channels and landed on VH1 classic. They were showing a video of "All the Young Dudes" from a performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert from years ago. WEIRD lineup... Ian Hunter singing, the rest of Queen playing backup, Bowie playing sax and singing backup, whatshisface Elliott from Def Leppard and their guitarist singing backup, and Mick Ronson on lead guitar. Mick looked surprisingly healthy, but this was a while ago. Bowie was bleach blonde.