To help celebrate the huge and very welcome comeback this year from the legendary David Bowie — not to mention the recent reissue of his widely acclaimed current album The Next Day with five new songs and a pair of remixes added on — we’ve got a killer prize back to award to one very lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader in the U.S.
The prize pack includes:
- The Next Day Extra, the new 2CD/1DVD expanded reissue that features the original 14-track album on one disc, a second CD with 10 B-sides, bonus tracks, remixes and new songs, and a DVD featuring the five music videos made for tracks off the album.
- Three promo-only 10-inch vinyl singles for Next Day tracks “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” “Valentine’s Day” and “The Next Day.”
TO ENTER: Just drop a comment below naming the song that first got you into David Bowie — and feel free to share the story of how you became a fan. Oh, and if you’re viewing this on the Slicing Up Eyeballs app, you may e-mail your entry to info@slicingupeyeballs.com.
RULES: Contest is limited to residents of the United States only (sorry, label’s rules). We’ll take entries until 5 p.m. EST Friday, Nov. 22. After that point, we’ll select one winners at random and contact him or her via e-mail. One entry per person.
ETC.: Below, check out the music video for “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA), one of the bonus tracks on The Next Day Extra.
UPDATE: Contest is now closed. Thank you all for entering and sharing your memories. Winner has been notified.
Video: David Bowie, “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)
China Girl. I’m late to the party.
First Bowie song I heard and loved was “Diamond Dogs.”
When I was 6, my parents had The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. I was amazed by the cover illustrations. I played it constantly. I would have to say Space Oddity is my favorite. It gives me goosebumps and makes me sing and cry. I heard the Sound and Vision Tour and was completely born away. Love Labyrinth, own the soundtrack, and have the Absolute Beginners single on vinyl, as well as the film.
Suffergete City
The Width of a Circle. I was probably 7 or 8 years old. Blew me away.
Modern Love. MTV had finally hit our small town and I’ve been hooked on that groove (and Bowie himself) ever since.
I can’t remember which came first, but Rebel Rebel and Suffragette City were the two songs I remember hearing and loving as a kid.
“Life on Mars.” My sister owned Hunky Dory and I remember being amazed by this song at an early age (maybe 7 or 8), especially the line “Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow!” The piano playing is unparalleled.
Young Americans
First song I ever heard was The Width Of A Circle late one night on KMET. Didn’t think much more about it until Ziggy Stardust was released, and remembered, oh yeah, that guy!
Diamond Dogs. My dad had the record and the cover used to freak me out.
I wish it had been “Sound & Vision”, but it was “Changes”
Theme to Cat People was the one that sealed the deal. I bought Low then Ziggy shortly thereafter.
Probably the first Bowie song that I remember going, “ooooh, this is cool!” was Heroes.
“Young Americans” in 5th grade a fellow student brought in the album, first I was intrigued by the album cover then she played the title track, within a few seconds I had to have this album! But it would be awhile before I got it. But my older brother had given me “David Live” that Christmas and it wasn’t too long after that did I get Young Americans. I have been a dedicated fan since, 38 years and counting!
Modern Love. Actually wrote my HS senior year “thesis” on Bowie’s evolution of persona up to and including the Serious Moonlight Tour days. I got an ‘A’ and he got a fan for life.
Almost everything from the 70’s. Station to Station is a fav.
Five years.. .. would be the one that made me a fan!
Suffragette City! Off Changesonebowie on vinyl …
Five Years…
when i was 10, my brother left for college. He left behind all the records that were ‘doubles’ with his roommates’ thankfully Rise & Fall was included- i haven’t looked back since
Rebel Rebel was on a jukebox in a bowling alley in 1974. Loved it then, love it now.
The very first song I ever heard from David Bowie was ‘Space Oddity.’ It was 1972 and I was 13 years old at the time, and I have since learned it was re-issued that year. :)
Mine was China Girl,I think I was 5 or 6,my sister and I were dancing like crazy in the kitchen to this! Then a few years later came Labyrinth,I was an instant David Bowie fan!
my mom had diamond dogs on cassette and i appropriated it from her very early on
Ashes to Ashes…blew my mind
I really wanted to say “The Laughing Gnome” but it was the ubiquitous stuff off of Let’s Dance.
Believe it, or not it was Tvc15
Ashes to ashes
Love that song!
Station to Station – when I went to the movies and saw Christiane F for the first time
Suffragette City, but my fave is Ashes to Ashes.
Fame.
“Putting Out Fire” from Cat People. I was 10 when that movie came out in ’82 and that song from the ending credits haunted me for the longest time ’til I had to find out who it was! By the time Labyrinth came out 4 years later…I was a Bowie fan!
Space Oddity!
Not to quote BJM, but “David Bowie, I loved you since I was 6.” My mother was a Bowie fan, and he’s as much a part of my childhood as learning to riding a bike or going to school.
The first song I remember was Cracked Actor, such a great sounding song, and it makes me happy to know a 6-year old me was wandering the house singing “Crack, Baby Crack!”
It would be Fame and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Album I got to listen to as a wee one.
It had to be China Girl, I remember seeing the video for the first time on American Bandstand as a kid.
Space Oddity
Modern Love
“Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)”
First song I heard was Heroes. Such memories of sitting at a friends house playing board games and listening to her vinyl of Bowie. Continued to follow him to date.
Sound and Vision
My mom was a teen in the mid/late 70’s, and she had me listening to Bowie for as long as I can remember as a child.
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) :) <3
China Girl. I admit my music tastes were dictated by music videos and MTV however it led me to discover his entire catalog.
Boys Keep Swinging
I know this is US only, but all the comps seem to be, any chance of getting some for other countries?
I have been a fan since August 1983. I was at a friend’s house for the evening and he was a big Bowie fan, and we got talking about him and I asked to see his collection, he then started playing me a load of songs and I liked everything he played, so next week I bought Hunky Dory and within a year had almost everything he had released up to that point.
It’s all about licensing for different territories.
I get that, but it would be nice for other countries to get a look in occasionally.
I remember hearing Rebel Rebel when I was about 9 yesrs old, it changed my life forever !! Was lucky enough to see him perform live 3x throughout the 80’s-90’s and til this day that song holds up
“The Width of a Circle”
When we were in high school (early 80s) my friends older brother had this tape. He was kind of a stoner dude. We used to listed to ‘The Man Who Sold the World” all the time. Still my favorite DB album and always takes me back to that time.
“Space Oddity” as a little kid. Always liked it and the popular songs from that era–“Golden Years”, “Suffragette City”, “Changes”, etc. Grew up with the 80’s songs as an older kid. Saw him in concert in London with Morrissey in 1995. (I went mainly for Moz.) I complained at the time that I hardly knew any of the songs he played, but little did I know that the Outside album he was touring for would become my favorite of his albums.
Space Oddity
Let’s Dance. But Suffragette City is one of the first songs I learned to play on the bass.
Rebel, Rebel and from then on anything the man put out is pure gold in my opinion.
Fame!
Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys remix) – still a career highlight for Mr. Bowie
I had been hearing songs on the radio for decades but it was “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” that made me want to start buying his records.
“Panic In Detroit” seems to be the song that I remember that turned me on to Bowie. When I really got into music when I was a kid in the mid 70s Bowie was all over FM radio (which was quite good back then, at least the station I listened to was) and his stuff really popped out at me. His ever changing look didn’t hurt either.
Golden Years was the song that got me into Bowie. Had heard some other stuff before, but Golden Years made me fall in love, buy Station to Station, and within a month I think I had bought half his output (up to that point, roughly 1991) on CD, and within a year or two had completed my collection. Again, I’d heard some other songs before (I didn’t really grow up listening to secular music) but not many, mainly the soundtrack to Labyrinth, but I heard Golden Years right around the age when my parents were finally letting me make my own decisions about what I listened to, and Golden Years made me want to dance my sassy little teenage butt off. I have been a devoted Bowie fan ever since.
It was almost certainly the duet with Bing Crosby, “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy.” I was just a little boy in 1977, but even then l was completely enthralled by his voice and style. The first solo single I remember was “Ashes to Ashes.” And once Let’s Dance came out (and I was old enough to buy records), my fandom just snowballed.
Rock N Roll Suicide. I always loved the David Bowie I heard on the radio but when I was 14 this older boy played this song on guitar to my answering machine. I thought it was the weirdest, most romantic mess I’ve ever heard. Then I heard the original and it’s history from there. “Oh, no love! You’re not alone!”
Ashes to Ashes – Maybe it was Drummer Boy. Either way I was a fan from an early age.
The first song would have to be Panic in Detroit. I grew up there and it was always on the radio (as it should be).
Andy Warhol. I was floored. I knew David Bowie from the “Let’s Dance” phase, but nothing could prepare me for AW.
Quicksand. My high school girlfriend’s father was listening to it. As soon as it ended I asked him to make me a tape of it.
Fame ’90. I’d heard and enjoyed his pop hits through the ’80s, but that was the one that drilled deeply enough to make me buy the Sound + Vision box set and start to truly explore all the greatness that is Bowie.
Ziggy Stardust.
This one’s easy. I remember the exact moment. I heard Let’s Dance on the radio when I was 10 years old and when he sings “tremble like a flowwww UHHH” I was so confused. I thought, “You can do that? You’re allowed to sing like that on the radio?” I thought it was so strange that he would sing the word “flower” that way and not get in trouble for it. Then, around that same time, I was at my older cousin’s house and telling them that Let’s Dance was my current favorite song and that night the Ziggy Stardust movie was on TV. They called me in and said “hey Jon, here’s that guy you like” knowing that my mind would be blown. Again, I was gobsmacked. Who in the world is this guy?!?! When you’re 10 in 1983 you have a very black and white view of the world and he seemed to be breaking all these rules that my young mind couldn’t make sense out of. I’ve been obsessed ever since and that moment may have done more than just made me a fan of David Bowie. It kind of opened my mind to different frontiers. To an impressionable little boy, this is the seed that gets planted and grows into something permanent later. How would my life, my worldview, my taste in music, my appetites, be different if he’d sung “flower” like a normal person? He wouldn’t be him and I wouldn’t be me.
David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes. I saw this video on MTV at a young age(5?) and was amazed! Scared to in fact…I loved it. I made my dad buy the tape and loved it…thus the seed was planted.
Golden Years or Fame (forget which I heard first)
It would have to be “scary monsters” for me. I had an original pressing of the LP. I later sold it along with about 300 LP’s. I’m such a fool! Anyway, I’d love a chance to win this. Thanks!
China Girl was the first I can remember. However, that lead me to his back catalogue with songs like Space Oddity and Starman. That is when I really fell in love and I don’t even think I was 10 yet.
Had to be Changes. I used to strap a small transistor radio to the handle bars of my Schwinn Stingray and it was on the radio. Totally fascinated from then on.
I was, of course, aware of Bowie, as anyone who grew up in the ’80s was, but his mid- to late-’80s output was just too poppy and dull for me. When I got older and had heard from many that, no, really, Bowie in the ’70s was amazing, I figured I’d give him a chance with Station to Station…
…and that title track is still so magnificent. I think he has better albums, but the peak of his entire career may still be, for me, his first words in that song: “the return of the Thin White Duke.” I was hooked.
I remember listening to my aunt’s Ziggy Stardust record and Rock N Roll Suicide would end and I would pick up the needle and start it again and again. I was probably 9 or 10.
Gonna be honest, I got in to him because of Nine Inch Nails. I loved the song and video for I’m afraid of Americans. It wasn’t until later I went back and celebrated his entire catalogue.
Starman. Seeing this performed live on Top Of The Pops caused a sensation, and I was hooked!
I remember seeing the “DJ” video when I was a kid and being totally mesmerized by him. I still love that one.
Space Oddity
Young Americans :)
My first Bowie song was Ziggy Stardust, which I heard via Bauhaus.
Bauhaus’ Ziggy Stardust led me to the Bowie album which led me to everything else.
Let’s Dance was the first song that I heard by David Bowie. In the dance class I was in we had a routine to this song. I think I was about 8 or so. I actually still know most of the dance..hahah
After that I was obsessed with David Bowie and have never stopped loving him.
The song that first got me listening to Bowie was Fascination off Young Americans. My older sister’s boyfriend owned the album, and I ended up with it when they split.
I remember listening Casey Kasem do the Top 40 and hearing “China Girl” for the first time.
Moonage Daydream was my first favorite! Been listening since I was little<3
It wasn’t a song. It was a whole album: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
“Changes” — the line about “these children that you spit on” was a go-to quote for high school yearbooks back in ’83.
The Man Who Sold the World. It sounded so unlike anything I had heard before despite being so old (I heard it for the first time about 8 years ago…I know, I know). Started a wonderful journey that still continues today. Love Bowie’s work :)
Ziggy Stardust but it was in 1990 when I bought the rykodisc tape of Chnagesbowie
Golden Years… Watching my father singing along to this in the car was one of the happiest times we had together especially when I tried to sing along with him…Golden years, gold whop whop whop :0)
“Suffragette City” –I first heard it when I was in elementary school in the mid-70s. My friend’s older sister–a huge Bowie fan–had a copy of “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” which we listened to over and over–but “Suffragette City” hooked me, with its “Hey, man’s!”
Modern Love. “Let’s Dance” was the very first CD I ever bought, and still have it to this day.
My first Bowie was the Labyrinth soundtrack – I was about 7 or 8. Then there was the title track for the movie Cat People… Holy shit, that song’s so good, stupid Danzig covered it. Then came Ziggy and all the rest.
“Ziggy Stardust”
Fame.
The summer of 1975.
Young Americans via Sixteen Candles.
It wasn’t a song, it was the images from “The Man who fell to earth” – him drinking water from the ocean..him standing naked in the mirror (the first naked man I ever saw)..and then he sings with Bing!!And my neighbor had her hair cut and colored like Ziggy’s!..I remember hearing “Changes” and “Ashes to Ashes” on my little radio…I would love to have tea with that amazing man!!!
Suffragette City!
The period of time that I discovered Bowie, songs, videos, and images converged together. MTV had just come out, and it was likely Ashes To Ashes that first came to my attention. Scary Monsters had just come out, the images and songs were incredible to my 18 year mind. An aunt bought me a compilation, Golden Years, which first introduced me to Wind Is The Wind, well the rest is history.
Honestly, “I’m Afraid of Americans.” But I later discovered the early/Berlin Bowie…
DJ. I have vivid memories of the first days of MTV when they didn’t have a whole lot of videos. DJ would be in regular rotation.
The first song I remember hearing was “Changes” when I was a little kid.
‘Cat People (Putting Out Fire)’ from the movie Cat People. The opening of the movie with those visuals and Bowie’s voice felt like I was watching something I wasn’t supposed to (I was pretty young when I watched it). The movie is still great but very dated whereas the song is as sexy now as it ever was and will continue to be.
UNDER PRESSURE!
Young Americans. I saw a display of the album in a window of a record shop in NYC and went in and bought it.
has to be “sons of the silent age”. a precursor to the new romantics of the early 1980s.
Changes
I”m going to go with “Space Oddity” and here’s why: in the early ’70s dad brought home a new Realistic (Radio Shack! Ha!) component stereo system (receiver, TT, speakers). I wasn’t really buying records yet, but I was starting to listen to Top 40 radio. I distinctly remember bouncing between the speakers to hear each channel of the stereo separation of that track when it was charting in the US in ’72, esp. during the “countdown” part. I thought that was really freakin’ cool!
Strangely, my first exposure was through him and Mick Jagger on Live Aid. Horrible but true!
the first Bowie I was into was the China Girl, let’s Dance bowie. After that I just went back and ate all the older stuff up.
Ashes To Ashes, via the video airing on TV-61 (Phoenix, AZ’s MTV knockoff) in 1982.
‘Space Oddity’ of course, but it unlocked a world of amazement as I’d plow through his discography.
Sweet Thing. It’s a dark masterpiece.
Hearts Filthy Lesson, made me buy Ziggy, made me buy everything else!
Ashes To Ashes. Ah the early days of MTV when they actually showed music videos
I believe it was Space Oddity. Not the best, but I was hooked.
Space Oddity on my General Electric AM transistor radio.
I’m a real latecomer. While I remember as a child loving Bowie’s performance in Labyrinth, I never explored his music. I would hear Let’s Dance, Modern Love, Blue Jean, China Girl, et cetera on the radio, but never gave it a second thought. I was just beginning to expand my musical horizons into the past when Bowie released “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” which intrigued me. After seeing Bowie on the Outside tour with Nine Inch Nails, I became an instant fan and promptly started exploring his discography as much as possible.
Seeing the video for “Fashion” changed my life.
I was almost 13 when Young Americans came out with it’s blue-eyed soul, Luther Vandross backing vocals and Sanborn sax. That song captured my imagination and I loved the whole album, including the cover of “Across The Universe” that was from my first album purchase with my own money @ age 10, Let It Be. Bowie has been one of my favorites since, including all of his devotees and sound a likes such as Peter Murphy, David Sylvian, Ian McCulloch and many others. While my favorite Bowie album is Station To Station, I have multiple copies of it on CD and LP and also the amazing Box Set that came out September of 2010, Young Americans is still the song and the album that really sucked me in. I was aware of Space Oddity, Rebel Rebel and the other AOR hits that preceded Young Americans, but seeing Bowie as a Rock god with an R&B flair put him in a sophisticated aura around my universe.
In 1975 I was just 7 years old and heard Rebel Rebel on FM Radio, loved the track but did not know who the singer was. I then later saw a David Bowie on Soul Train and was intrigued. Mind I was just a little boy. Saw him again on Cher…Wow!!! Then on the Bing Crosby show. I had heard other Bowie tracks unbeknownst it was him. But Rebel Rebel was the song that left an impact on me….
Suffergete City – heard a band cover it and was immediately hooked.
Let’s Dance: truly a song and video for my adolescence. I probably watched that video twice a day on MTV for an entire year. Throw in my obsession with Stevie Ray Vaughn 6 years later that song is pure gold. Modern Love is a VERY close second…
Hero’s
Queen Bitch from Hunky Dory. I remember my older brother listening to this album and I thought David Bowie was a girl on the cover. I fell in love with him then and there…..
Has to be “Fame”. It’s one of my Mom’s favorite songs, and hearing it a million times as a kid you’d think I’d be sick of it. But, everytime I hear it on the radio, I stop and listen. Bowie is a GOD!
“Rebel Rebel” – The sound of uncaring , uncompromising yet loving youths.
Changes….Breakfast Club….
“It Ain’t Easy” wasn’t the first Bowie song I heard but after getting baked in the back seat of a friend’s car while he blasted it out really solidified my love for Mr. Bowie.
Suffragette City. And seeing him on Dinah Shore as a kid, being mesmerized by that flame-haired creature.
I was late. The Julien Temple video for “Blue Jean” brought me into the fold. I remember as I dug into the Bowie library at that time, it felt like I’d discovered a new artist who was releasing an album a week!
Space Oddity
“Ziggy Stardust”… I’d heard the stuff on “Let’s Dance” and liked it well enough, but “Ziggy” made me want to find out more.
Being born in 1973, I missed out on all the good stuff. I had a couple of older sisters that had the US mix of Rebel Rebel on 7″. But for me, Modern Love was the song that made my developing 10 year-old mind hover the tape recorder in from of the radio speaker – waiting for the DJ to play it again so I could simultaneously hit play and record to forever capture the song. I ended up saving my allowance and bought the Let’s Dance cassette one day at the grocery store with my mom.
Didn’t have MTV yet, but I used to stay up watching Night Tracks on TBS waiting for one of the videos from that album.
Started with “TVC 15” when I saw him on SNL and later “Look Back In Anger”…being a retired drummer the playing on that track blew my mind.
The Man who Sold the World
Fame.I was 11 or 12 when me and my buddies would go to the roller rink.Thought it was the most amazing song I had ever heard over those carpet covered speakers with glitter.It’s still an amazing tune.
Boys Keep Swinging. When I was a kid I got to stay up late at my grandparent’s place to watch Saturday Night Live and saw Bowie as a freaky puppet doing Boys Keep Swinging. I think my mild fascination with androgyny stemmed from watching Bowie and Klaus Nomi that night.
The Let’s Dance LP. It never dawned on me until recently the meaning of the album’s title and Bowie on the cover in a boxing pose.
“Life on Mars?” I was about nine and on summer camp when the counselors played it incessantly. Never looked back.
Young Americans was the first Bowie song I heard and is still one of my favorites.
Blue Jean and the entire tonight album
fond memories of the 80s.
Also the bing Crosby christmas song collaboration
Late to the party too, first song I can remember would have been Let’s Dance @ 11 years old.
It was probably Ziggy Stardust or Rebel Rebel but Saviour Machine stands out very much too. It was all so many beers ago…
The Bing Crosby collaboration was an early memory, but Rebel Rebel was the favorite song of a friend, and got me listening more closely to the rest.
The first song i heard was China Girl, i had heard it many times from my sister’s “various artists” cd, Didn’t know anything about David Bowie, until i saw modern love music video and Ashes to ashes on tv on VH1 One Hit Wonders, and yeah he was interesting, he seemed even more interesting to me after seeing Life On Mars :)
Oh please yes!
Space Oddity was one I remember from my childhood (yes, I’m old). Another early one was Fame. I remember hearing that on the radio and getting a little spooked out by it (as I was 7 or 8 at the time).
The live version of “Soul Love” from Stage.
Let’s Dance and Rebel Rebel – I couldn’t just pick one! 💕
Changes. Strangely, it took an additional 8 years for me to become a Bowie obsessive.
Probably the trifecta from 83—Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love–thanks to my sister who was 5 years older than me at the time and MTV (who could forget David saying “I want my MTV!”)
The Bowie soundtrack in my childhood home were “Changes”, Young Americans”, “Fame” ,”Golden Years”, and “Heroes”. These songs were the foundation , the beginning of a life long love of Bowie’s music .
I always liked Bowie from the time I heard him in the 80s, but was never a huge fan until I decided a few years ago to give him a closer listen. I watched a live performance of a show in Paris, and when he did Be My Wife I was officially hooked!
Actually Space Oddity was the first I heard, totally intrigued me, but at the time I had no idea it was Bowie… I was a kid. But then as I started paying closer attention “Let’s Dance” was announced on the radio… Something about the first line, I’ve been a life long fan since.
Young Americans (with background vocals by my late mom’s favorite – Luther Vandross)
Young Americans, I think, but I don’t remember “even yesterday.” :)
I was in a record store in the 70’s as my mum was shopping down the street. I had a few dollars in my pocket due to working during the summer and the record store called “Longs Electronics.” LPs were on sale for $3.99 each.
The guy behind the counter was playing David Bowie’s Man Who Sold The World and I walked in when “All The Madmen” was on. “Black Country Rock” would have been the first song that was complete that I heard and knew as David Bowie. Since then I have been a major Bowie fan with several book and poster of him as well as the collected picture discs. One time we were so poor and out of work that I had to feed my child buy pawning off the David Bowie 45 picture disc collection and other rare Bowie. I would love to have a new collection to begin making new memories with.
I can’t pin down exactly what was the first Bowie song I can remember hearing, but it was his being in “The Hunger” that had me hooked. I was around 15 at the time (so I couldn’t see it in the theater), and had to wait until the movie later hit HBO or Cinemax some years later…where I still had to sneak watching it late at night as my folks slept. Yep, David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve as a sexy vampire, and a Bauhaus cameo…That’s all it took….
Space Oddity! It got a lot of airplay in Detroit on their ground breaking FM rock radio stations in the early 70’s.
Ashes to Ashes. Saw the video on MTV as a kid and was hooked since.
Ashes to Ashes – I saw the video on Top of the Pops and it just blew my mind.
Space Oddity
Suffragette city
Back in 2005, my 10th grade chemistry teacher allowed us to bring music from home to play during our work time. One day, a 12th grader who was very musically aware brought Bowie at the Beeb (the 1999 BBC Sessions collection) and put it on shuffle.
The first song that came on was “Starman”… as soon as I heard the “transmission” sounds made by Ronson’s guitar, I was forever changed. David Bowie has been my hero ever since.
My 24 year old life is thus divided: Pre-Bowie, and Post-“Starman”.
Fame
panic in detroit.
jean genie
My first conscious appreciation of Bowie was the song “Blue Jean” because of the extended video.
Ashes to ashes , 10 years old, video watched as part of the max headroom show (remember that) still my fave Bowie tune, and a wonderous tony Visconti production , best pop single ever?
Wow…first song I recall hearing was probably ‘Suffragette City’ on classic rock radio as a small kid.
But the two songs that got me really into him were ‘Ashes To Ashes’ and ‘Under Pressure’ with Queen.
Perhaps one of the most versatile artists ever? I was listening to the Sirius/XM station and it’s just crazy how many different sounds and styles he has mastered over the years.
And Tin Machine rules, I don’t care what anyone says!
Lady Stardust was my first Bowie song. And I think it might still be my favorite. I fell in love with him when I was a little girl and saw Labyrinth. My friends had posters of NKOTB and Duran Duran, but I had Jareth :-)
Rebel Rebel the whole not knowing if youre a boy or a girl dominated my existence
GOLDEN YEARS. I was only 10, and my 13 year old brother played it a lot. I would never sing aloud the “wop wop wop” part, however, because I didn’t want to offend my Italian friends, seriously.
fame
fame was it for me
“Changes” did it for me…and it still sounds fresh today!
I heard Space Oddity in 1969.Yup.I’m that old. I’ve followed his entire career. I met him twice, once in NYC, once in Los Angeles. I’ve had all of his records at one point or another. I’ve purchased Hunky Dory several times. 98% of his 70’s records are great. A few of them, and not many artists can say this, were game changers.
There were so many when MTV rolled around. Under Pressure is still a fave, along with Cat People, and others later discovered.
ziggy
and Bauhaus covered it beautifully too
Of course, “Cat People” reared it’s pretty head again in the movie “Inglorious Basterds.” Great song for that point in that movie!
Starman. It was also probably the first non-terrible song I tried to learn on guitar, too.
Fame, 1975. Loved the ditty but would have no true understanding of who Bowie was for another 10 years.
The Man Who Sold The World. Saw the performance on Saturday Night Live in 1979 (with Klaus Nomi on backing vocals). Scared me and intrigued me in equal measure
“what kind of magic spells use.. Slime and snails and puppy dogs tails…” Every song from labyrinth! I was a kid! And then i heard Ashes to Ashes…
Second grade, 1979, Changes from Hunky Dory, I proceeded to wear my Dad’s vinyl copy out in my room over the next few years. Thanks Dad!
I fell in love with the Thin White Duke in 1976 (I was in third grade). And I’ve been one of his space cadets since.
Space Oddity was one of many that I have enjoyed from Bowie.
I’m afraid of Americans
Ashes To Ashes
First song would be DJ off Loger. Pre MTV, if you lived in NY there was a Friday night 30 min. video show on late (12:30am) and only 3 videos would be shown per week. Thankfully this coincided with at least one of the DJ, Boys Keep Swinging, and Look Back in Anger videos getting rotated week after week for a few months on that show.
“Heroes”
I currently have a collection of about 5000 records and I attribute that collection to seeing Ashes to Ashes on early MTV as a kid. The song blew my mind, which lead me to buy Scary Monsters, which again blew me mind, which led me to become a lifelong music diehard. It would be difficult to find an artist in my collection that wasn’t influenced by Bowie in some way.
“Ashes to Ashes”
“Ziggy Stardust.” I was a Bauhaus fan and I loved their version, which led me to the original. I still love both bands and my favorite Bowie records are the ones from 1976 – 1980.
American Girl…still seried into my psyche from Silence of the Lambs.
It was 1983. Let’s Dance and its subsequent singles was all over the radio. They were okay, but I wasn’t enthralled. It wasn’t until I heard one of his Serious Moonlight shows from Montreal on the King Biscuit Flower Hour that I was reeled in. The tracks that won me over were all from 1976’s STATION TO STATION album, Golden Years, Stay, TVC15 and the epic title track. But the clincher was Space Oddity. Loved it and always will.
1983– Let’s Dance, first album I bought. Heroes was the next one I picked up, followed by Scary Monsters. Station to Station is my fave though.
blue jean
I grew up with Bowie, my dad is a huge fan. Can’t remember the first song I heard but Ziggy Stardust was always his favorite album so definitely something off that one!
Let’s Dance. I was a sales associate in a shoe store and the store manager had it on a mix tape. I heard it over and over and never got tired of it. It got me exploring the entire Bowie catalog.
Rebel rebel. Aren’t we all at some time?
Lodger. An amazing collection of songs which still transfix me.
One of my favorite childhood memories was dancing around the living room to “modern love.” I know 80’s Bowie has some critics, but I love that song so much to this day.
Oddly enough, it was “Everyone Says ‘Hi’ (Metro Mix).” The remix was featured in the PlayStation 2 game Amplitude, and I liked it enough to do some research on Bowie and his music. Obviously the remix was a bit different from what I was maybe expecting, but I was very pleasantly blown away: went out and bought Ziggy Stardust straight away, and thereafter developed a reputation in my school and among friends as being the resident Bowie expert.
I discovered “Aladdin Sane” in 2000 and fell in love with this album; especially “Cracked Actor” and “Let Spend The Night Together”!
Fame Fame Fame Fame Fame Fame FAME I was like 4 when it came out, it was on the radio in toronto all the time, and the first telephone number i learned was the radio station, which i’d call a million times a day and request it. it’s still one of my faves to this day, along with heroes…
i got out of bowie as a “kool” preteen… tho i secretly lways loved fame… weirdly enough, a promo copy radio station giveaway of never let me down got me back into him… time will crawl captivated me even if the rest of the lp was cack and chunder (well, i kinda dug day in day out) but i still like time will crawl… the broadcast of the glass spider tour on Much Music reminded me of how good he was…. I was in Calgary by then and i legged it down to Recordland and bought up Hunky D through Scary M and haven’t looked back since… (now if only 2014 could see a similar phoenix-like rebirth for Prince…)
It was FAME that i first heard that made me search out who this was and what else he had done… I was in high school at the time…
“China Girl.” I saw the tantalizing music video on MTV, bought the single, then got the “Let’s Dance” album. I soon realized there were far better ones in the back catalog.
“Hang Onto yourself” was first but played David Live record until his voice was hoarse.
“Ashes To Ashes”. I used to hear my older sister play “Scary Monsters” across the hall in her bedroom when I was 14 or so. I wound up borrowing her album indefinitely. I still have it to this day. I hope she’s not reading this.
Ashes to Ashes. Bowie cool !!!
Though I’d heard others, I’d probably have to say Modern Love. The Let’s Dance album was huge when I was in high school. I like that album well enough, but eventually found and love all that proceeded it.
I guess it must have been CHINA GIRL at the time. Soem 80s pop glamour with nudity on TV? Who could have resisted that as a teenager!
There’s a “Starman” waiting in the sky…
I’d probably been aware of him before this but I’d have to say that seeing the video for “Ashes to Ashes” really hooked me. I bought Scary Monsters and then became hooked and a bit obsessed.
Suffragette City is probably the first one that made me go, “Wow, who’s this?!?” when I was but a wee lad.
Five years made me a Bowie fan
Rock n Roll Suiside
Modern Love.
Saw him on his Glass Spiders Tour in Spain on a high school trip with a girl I had just met. Fell in love for a couple of days. Great concert…great memory of youth.
“Cat People.” I was born in late 1979 and my parents were both big Bowie fans in the ’70s, so I remember hearing Bowie ever since my earliest memories. “Cat People” was the first song I remember taking to and it was the Let’s Dance version I listened to most. I loved that album when I was 4-5 years old (I like it today, as well.) I had a Labyrinth lunch-box (didn’t use it much, because I thought it was too cool. I still have it, too but not the Thermos). I got re-energized in my Bowie interest with 1.Outside and luckily got to see him on that tour. I’d been listening to loads of Bowie last year and feeling a bit down that he probably wouldn’t be releasing any new music… then, I wake up one morning and go online to see the picture of his face blocked out with a white box! I love the Next Day.
I would have to go with “Blue Jean” – don’t know why I love that song so much, but I do. Then I went crazy for “Jump They Say”, especially the remixes. Great stuff. Thanks.
“Heroes”
Diamond Dogs! My mom is a huge David Bowie fan and his music was a constant in our household growing up!
Always liked hearing his songs but started buying his stuff around “Never Let Me Down” era…Day-In
Day-Out started me…
Let’s Dance – my uncle used to play the LP all the time.
In the 80’s I was a teenager and Blue Jean here was all over radios and tv. I love it. I was 14. As I grow older, for my own pleasure, I began to buy UK magazines as The Face, i-D, NME and Melody Maker. Pictures of Bowie were everywere. It was when I first saw the ‘lighting’ one that I felt that I MUST got to know Bowie. A love affair started then…
Space Oddity!
“Heroes” did it for me!!
I really must play more Bowie, the comments above have really put me in the mood for Let’s Dance.
But the track that lit my Bowie light was “Fashion”
For me, it was listening to the Low album all the way through the first time. As soon as Speed Of Life started up, it was like a kick in the gut, and I knew that I was in for a wild ride
China Girl. That song still reminds me of a girl who was too good for me. I admired her, but never did ask her out. Seeing her or even a picture of her would make my heart ache. Hearing the song did the same thing. That song was the first of many Bowie favorites.
I discovered David Bowie via Joy Division. I remember reading Peter and Ian were huge fans of “Low.” So off I marched to the record store to purchase the much talked about album. I’ve been in love with Bowie ever since.
Modern Love. Start of a love affair with Bowie’s music
Kooks…off Hunky Dory…’eard when I was a kid in England, ‘ad a friend who nabbed ‘er brother’s LP when he was out and we’d listen to it over n over again…then when I moved to the US met a brilliant gang of high school kids of which one, my best friend years to come WORSHIPPED him…would LOVE to win this for her to give to her on her birthday in December…..
Space Oddity. In the early 70’s I had heard a lot about David Bowie (good and bad), but hadn’t heard him. Then saw him on TV one night performing SO and thought he was awesome!
SCARY MONSTERS! and super creeps
My fav is Heroes. But my best memory was the far off chance of getting a date with a semi-supermodel, one who was in 17, vogue, etc magazines. and spending all my 18 year old savings on front row tix to Bowie concert Glass Spiders to impress. While the concert lasted hours, our relationship fizzled after a few weeks. and that night Bowie played Modern Love. ahhhhhh memories.
Bombers
I stayed home from school with some sort of bogus illness in 1973 and devoured Ziggy Stardust. Favorite tune is “Hang On To Yourself.”
Ashes to Ashes
First time I heard Bowie I was probably a toddler. “Rebel Rebel” must have been my first one but I really got into him when I was 16. Bought the Ryko singles collection. Now i have every single thing the man has recorded. Hey Bowie I’m still waiting for Outside #2.
I dunno. It might have been Changes or John I’m Only Dancing – Some one gave me changesonebowie and that was it.
“Scary Monsters”. I heard it in a club, it packed the dance floor & I was hooked.
(email address incorrect on last entry)
Rock & Roll Suicide – “& the clock waits so patiently on your song…”
Young Americans. I was very young and it was on the radio all the time. So I would crank the volume all the way up!
Space Oddity! Song/Video made me change from being a drummer to a guitarist/singer/frontman! Thanks David!
i wore a 7″ copy of “rebel rebel” out.
Five Years
Scary Monsters. Went back and got all of his previous albums after that came out.
10 years old… Let’s Dance on MTV
My mom says that when I was 2, every time Let’s Dance would come on MTV I would start dancing like crazy. Then, at 5, she bought Labyrinth for me on VHS and I was just immediately enthralled with him. Soon after watching it I heard Space Oddity for the first time and that was it, I’ve been insanely hooked ever since! I knew that he was, without a doubt, the greatest rock musician in the history of the world. Every person I know automatically thinks of me anytime they hear or see David Bowie anywhere.
I fell in love with Bowie as a child when I first saw Labyrinth. I remember wishing the Gobljn King would come for my little sister. Then, my love was rekindled when I was a teenager and heard The Man Who Sold the World. So beautiful!
Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
…because it meant to turn over the album and start the ride all over again.
Little Wonder…I of course knew Bowie growing up, but this song moved me from a casual listener to something more!
Space Oddity. I was in grade school when I heard it on the radio. I didn’t know understand it, but I was entranced by it.
Under Pressure and Fame(90) are two favs. I really enjoyed the Bowie channel Sirius had on recently. I got to hear a lot of Bowie’s work I had never heard. we all know the hits but the man has a vast body of work that takes a long time to discover and get familiar with. He has earned being called “iconic” and Sound + Vision truly describes the man as an artist and performer.
The first Bowie song I consciously recall hearing was Fame… I still have a very distinct memory of hearing it coming across the speakers on the big yellow school bus, which was whisking me off to the daily hell that was summer camp.
But the first Bowie song I remember making a real impact was The Boy From Freecloud, which a friend turned me onto. It was such an unusual song to me… considering my musical taste at the time was geared more solidly towards the likes of The Who, Led Zep, etc. Bowie actually opened me up to a whole bunch of other artists and music for which I was very grateful.
The first song that got me into Bowie was Moonage Daydream.
Heroes.
So epic and takes me away into a place of hope and realness combined
“underground”.
I first discovered David’s music when I was six years old. My grandfather had taken me to see the film LABYRINTH and i’ve been obsessed ever since.
Heroes
Suffragette City
DJ. That video was fascinating to my, at the time, 12 year old eyes.
I guess it was “Lets Dance” that I heard first and loved. But really it was the whole “Ziggy Stardust” album that I really got into. I remember playing the tape on my walkman over and over again.
“Sound and Vision” did it for me. Years after my dad had exposed me to Ziggy Stardust without much absorption on my part, my boyfriend-at-the-time sent me some wav files of Low so we could simultaneously listen on Skype. I was so surprised at how much I adored the songs. The Eno-filled side B only solidified that.
Cat People (1982). At 9 years old, I remember how menacing and intriguing I found the endless intro of human humming and percussive effects on the radio version. Only years later I got hold of the album version with its weird guitar-synth outro solo. It can’t get more avant-garde for a mainstream artist. A year later, of course, commercial hell broke loose with “Let’s Dance” which won me over completely. Much more great music was to come from the man, but the “Cat People” soundtrack version I will always remember as my proper introduction to David Bowie.
absolute beginners, with eyes (and ears) completely open, I absolutely loved him and it’s absolutely true.
The first Bowie I remember hearing (and seeing) was “Ashes to Ashes”. Thank you MTV!
New Career in a New Town.
I’d grown up listening to Bowie, but it was the Low album that did it. That album seemed like it was made for me, and me alone.
Five Years. Drum. Guitar. And then, the voice. What a great song.
Diamond Dogs. I was driving with a number of friends on the PA turnpike through a pretty rough snowstorm. A friend put this on the car stereo and I was instantly hooked by its odd raggedness.
I, of course, heard a smattering of Bowie singles during my childhood in the 80’s and 90’s and liked what I heard, but it was the brilliance of Outside and “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” that truly made me a fan and prompted me to dig through his back catalog.
First song may have be Jean Genie. But it was the Diamond Dogs lp as a whole as whole as my mother would play it constantly. Been loving him ever since.
“A New Career in a New Town”. I was 9 and it was playing in the back of a hardware store while my Dad was buying me a Masters of the Universe Moss Man action figure. I asked what the song was and the guy showed me the album cover of LOW and said it was a man named David Bowie. My Aunt bought me LOW for my birthday 2 years later when I was at Camelot Music in the mall and it changed the way I listened to music for life.
First song that got me into David Bowie was “Lady Stardust”. My brother played Ziggy Stardust and Spiders From Mars album and that was one song that stuck out to me the most. Bowie is so emotive in this song from start to finish. I thought it sounded so cool that it made me want to learn how to play piano even though I didn’t have any musical knowledge. Now I am currently leading a brass band, and I also play for a jazz band at times as the keyboard player. David Bowie is truly an inspiration! ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ
Ashes To Ashes
First song? Blue Jean. Hey, I was an 80’s kid.
Life on Mars? and there’s no real cool story behind it, but I can’t think of anything cooler than winning this package! Pick me, pick me!
The first time I remember being aware of David Bowie was his video for Ashes to Ashes, it totally blew my young mind, it was the coolest thing I ever saw and I knew there was a different world to explore besides my small working class town and its expectations and limitations
Changes as a little kid on my AM transistor radio.
Ashes To Ashes
The Man Who Sold The World. I was 5 when it came on the radio. I asked my brother who that was and he said “this freaky guy named David Bowie.” I didn’t really know what he meant, but I knew I loved it. I was a weird even in Kindergarten.
Though I had heard and liked all of his early songs – Fame; Starman; Major Tom; etc; it’s his ‘Lodger’ album that really shines with me, especially the song “DJ”.
REBEL REBEL
The first song I can remember hearing was Lets’s Dance (being 10 years old at the time) but it wasn’t until I heard Space Oddity a few years later that I really became a fan.
Let’s Dance on the MTV.
Fashion
While I was familiar with his 80s stuff, my first purchases were the month or so in 2002, when Heathen was released, followed by the Ziggy Stardust reissue. While it was all good (exceptional, actually), the track that really stood out to me at first was Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.
Not first song, but “I’m Afraid of Americans” performed with NIN was one of the single beat performances I have ever seen.
V2-Schneider
Ashes To Ashes
quicksand cos my uncle got me into bowie
“Life On Mars?” is the first Bowie song I remember loving. I had heard songs here and there, but never really got into his work until the time he hooked up with NIN. These days, I have next to no interest in the new NIN album but LOVE the new Bowie!
Lets Dance.
I was 8 years old.
I feel lucky, that I have seen him twice now. I love everything he has done. My current favorite songs by him are You Will Set the World On fire (Next Day) and Strangers when We Meet (The Outside)
Space Oddity. I grew up on Long Island and worked at Starbucks when I was 16. One evening, after work, me and this kid Fred Gumm were driving around stoned (I know!) and that song came on the radio (I know!) and I was all like woahhhhh, what is this, who is this, where am i?!?!? It was insane. I immediately fell in love with Bowie and bought used copies (sorry David) of Hunky Dory, Ziggy, and Young Americans. Boy, was I in for a treat!
Hallo Spaceboy was probably the track that first stood out to me. I was young and my older brother had just purchased the then-recently released Outside. Not everyone’s favorite period for Bowie, but I’m still immensely fond of Outside. I followed that up with hearing his Singles: 1969-1993. So the range of styles became quickly apparent and I loved all of it.
“Oh! You Pretty Things.”
Queen bitch
Modern Love! Being a child of the 80’s that video was just the best.
Oh wow, this video is so good. My first experience with Bowie was the Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I got the vinyl LP from my uncle’s record collection, he knew I liked awesome music.
Space Oddity caught my attention when I was young. Just an amazing piece of songwriting and timeless production engineering. Bowie’s ability to jump genera and own a sonic landscape speaks for itself.
John, I’m Only Dancing – It was mind blowing and bi-curious and sexy!
Queen Bitch & Life On Mars – as soon as I heard these songs coming from my older brother’s room, I was hooked! So much so that I ended up “borrowing” his Bowie albums without his permission so I could tape them! I was caught, of course, and had a major brother/sister blowout – the punishment from him & the grounding from my parents were well worth it!!
I first got into Bowie through the song “The Bewlay Brothers”, which made me love Hunky Dory passionately. Someday, compare the vocal on this song to “My insatiable One” by suede.
China Girl was my first taste. When we first got cable back in the 80s, I had it on MTV 24/7.
Like most music I’m into I started new and then went in reverse to discover the earlier work.
Ashes to Ashes. Specifically, the crazy-ass video.
Space Oddity. When I was about 9, my uncle gifted CHANGESONEBOWIE to me that Christmas. It was one of my first real rock albums and I played it to death. I used to sit in my little room with my little record player and daydream about outer space and being Major Tom.
Life on Mars
Still gives me chills today
Sound and Vision
Thin White Duke elitists will hate me for this, but my gateway to Bowie was through “Let’s Dance”, his much-maligned 1983 “sell-out” album. But I was a little kid when that record hit it big, and had not yet been exposed to his earlier, more accepted works, so I guess that’s my excuse. No, on second thought, I won’t make apologies. “Let’s Dance” is a BRILLIANT pop rock record! Suck it, purists!
I grew up on classic rock radio and had the ChangesOne CD around so I was familiar with all the hits, and a fan. But strangely I think it was when “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” was out that I started to really pay attention. And by the time “Earthling” came out I was hooked.
I fell in love with Bowie when I saw him perform “Starman” on Top of The Pops in 1972 :D
My first introduction to Bowie was probably seeing “Ashes to Ashes” or “Fashion” in the early days of MTV.
Fame
Let’s Dance
This is THE song that made me become a David Bowie fan. It is a really, really good and rockin song! I love it ALOT!! Of course, I love ALL of his songs no matter what.
The first song that got me into Bowie was ‘Five Years’. My entire family loves Bowie so I pretty much grew up listening to him but when I got my first good turntable I took all my parents’ records and that was the first song I played over and over again. It still makes me cry.
Ashes To Ashes – the ultimate new wave classic that encompassed everything great about Bowie and the movement he influenced…the blueprint of the new electronic sounds of the day.
“Golden Years”
Moonage Daydream
When I was around 6 or 7 years old 1982 or 83, MTV had a Bowie marathon around Halloween. I was completely fascinated and a little scarred. I will always remember that night!
Life on mars
It would probably have been China Girl
I first got into bowie with starman and I have had a fantastic 40+ years following bowie since
“You Better Hang on to Yourself”. Its been 30+ years since I first heard the song and it still sounds as exciting today as the first time I heard it.
Space Oddity
First Bowie song was Rebel Rebel. Usually I don’t get the full impact of his songs immediately. I listen, I enjoy, I keep listening. It’s only much later that the wieght of his music is evident. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hot tramp, I love you so.
Golden years. Then Low and Heroes came out and since then I have been following him.
Ziggy Stardust, but Bauhaus’ version. So of course
I had to seek out the original.
I saw him sing “Young Americans” on the Dick Cavett show.
Ashes to Ashes
Fashion
Ashes To Ashes
The first one that impressed me was “The Man Who Sold The World”.
“Modern Love” hooked me in the MTV heyday. Finding everything before it blew my mind!
I can’t remember the 1st Bowie song I heard since I was born in 1982. But I grew up with a brother who was 8 year older than me. So I heard it all and loved it. Watch labyrinth a thousand times, and do this day i still wonder if Bowie was wearing a cup or is he really packing downstairs. I then started getting into the velvet underground and feel in love with ziggy stardust. But I gotta say the Bowie song that really blew me away was “I’m afraid of American” with NIN. Amazing song! I was a drag king and that was the 1st song I ever performed. When I was in high school I moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey. I would always write my friend and her name was ground control and I was major Tom…. So Bowie has been a big part of my life. And I absolutely adore the man.
I just got turned on to your app… It brings back a lot of great memories. Thanks!
As for the song that got me hooked on David Bowie, I would have to say it was “Suffragette City”. The song has such a frenetic tempo to it which was perfect for my early teen years.
Thanks,
Chris
Ashes to Ashes – I was a young kid just cutting my teeth on New Wave and Punk. So many sighted Bowie as a influence. I had never heard him before and then we got Mtv and boom there he was on it with Ashes. Not only did his music reflect the times but his look added this air about him that was intoxicating at first sight. He is a true Chameleon, adapting at an instant. If there was ever a total rock icon I think it would be him. His influence has seeped in to so many areas from art to fashion to music. No one can really touch that ever…..
For me it would have to be Changes. instantly wanted to learn more about Bowie after hearing that track.
Let’s Dance. I was in a band and we were practicing this song and my dad said I sounded just like him. It meant a lot to me because I rarely got compliments from my dad. I will always remember that even though he’s passed on.
Under Pressure, fantastic tune! It doesn’t get any better than David and Freddie together!
First single……Changes! I was 11 years old and just loved that album. I took it to school to show all my friends my new find! Been hooked on David ever since?
Fashion, one of the true classics.
It was Fashion… It was 1980, I was 12 years old. I was going to go to school-disco, but got sick and get high temper. I sneaked out, went to the disco and they played this song “do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion”. I asked the DJ to play it again and asked who it was. “He is called David Bowie an the song is called Fashion”. That day changed my life and a year later I had a huge Bowie record collection. At the age of 13…
Lets Dance
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Pahrumpahpumpum! Dig that duet with Bing on “Little Drummer Boy”
Changes and most of Hunky Dory. This was the 80s, just before Let’s Dance. It was great fun catching up on all the phases in between.
The Bewlay Brothers