There was no one quite like David Bowie. The ultimate artistic chameleon, throughout his career, he continued to push himself, and metamorphose in distinct ways, keeping up with the constantly changing zeitgeist. On a few occasions, he was even the man who decided it, which only a handful of artists can claim to have done.
While he was beyond doubt a creative genius, this natural brilliance was ballasted by the fact that he was a voracious devourer of music from across the spectrum, ranging from jazz and almost unlistenable experimental music, to game-changing fan favourites. Ever since his older half-brother, Terry Burns, opened his eyes to great art and music as a child, Bowie kept his finger firmly on the pulse until the very end. For evidence of this, look no further than his 2016 swansong, Blackstar, a jazz-inflected experimental masterpiece that took heavy cues from contemporary tastemakers Death Grips and Kendrick Lamar.
Given that Bowie was a fan of music of all kinds, and openly discussed many revered acts across his career, for a long time, fans wanted to see what titles he had in his extensive record collection. After years of mystery, in 2003, the ‘Starman’ spoke to Vanity Fair, and trawled through his sprawling 2,500 vinyl collection to pick out his absolute favourites.
“There is really no way to do a list of my favourite albums with any rationality. I do only have about 2,500 vinyl,” Bowie said. “I’ll look through the albums and pull together a list of those I have re-bought or am in the process of re-buying on CD,” he mused. I have little time, and there are just too many to sort through. So, I’ll keep pulling stuff out blindly, and if it’s too obvious (Sgt. Pepper, Nirvana) I’ll put it back again till I find something more interesting”.
While Bowie named an array of albums, one of the most influential on the entire list – which ranked at number five – was his favourite Velvet Underground album, 1967’s The Velvet Underground & Nico. An absolute masterpiece that lyrically delved headfirst into human deviances, aptly backed by experimental music, this was the album that proverbially walked so Bowie could run. Without it, there would have been no philosophical foundation for his era-defining, transgressive classic, 1972’s Ziggy Stardust.
Explaining how he came to own the record, and his thoughts on the band, Bowie explained: “Brought back from New York by a former manager of mine, Ken Pitt. Pitt had done some kind of work as a PR man that had brought him into contact with the Factory. Warhol had given him this coverless test pressing (I still have it, no label, just a small sticker with Warhol’s name on it) and said, ‘You like weird stuff – see what you think of this’. What I ‘thought of this’ was that here was the best band in the world. In December of that year, my band Buzz broke up, but not without my demanding we play ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’ as one of the encore songs at our last gig.”
David Bowie’s 25 favourite albums:
- The Last Poets – The Last Poets
- Shipbuilding – Robert Wyatt
- The Fabulous Little Richard – Little Richard
- Music for 18 Musicians – Steve Reich
- The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
- Tupelo Blues – John Lee Hooker
- Blues, Rags and Hollers – Koerner, Ray and Glover
- The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show – James Brown
- Forces of Victory – Linton Kwesi Johnson
- The Red Flower of Tachai Blossoms Everywhere: Music Played on National Instruments – Various Artists
- Banana Moon – Daevid Allen
- Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – Cast Album
- The Electrosoniks: Electronic Music – Tom Dissevelt
- The 5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion – The Incredible String Band
- Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman – Tucker Zimmerman
- Four Last Songs (Strauss) – Gundula Janowitz
- The Ascension – Glenn Branca
- The Madcap Laughs – Syd Barrett
- Black Angels – George Crumb
- Funky Kingston – Toots & The Maytals
- Delusion of the Fury – Harry Partch
- Oh Yeah – Charles Mingus
- Le Sacre du Printemps – Igor Stravinsky
- The Fugs – The Fugs
- The Glory of the Human Voice – Florence Foster Jenkins
