Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Scary Monsters , also known simply as Scary Monsters, is the fourteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 12 September 1980 through RCA Records. His first album following the Berlin Trilogy, Scary Monsters was Bowie's attempt at creating a more commercial record after the trilogy proved successful artistically but less so commercially.
Co-produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, Scary Monsters was recorded between February and April 1980 at the Power Station in New York City, and later Good Earth Studios in London. Much of the same personnel from prior releases returned for the sessions, with additional guitar by Chuck Hammer and Robert Fripp, and a guest appearance by Pete Townshend. The music incorporates elements of art rock, new wave and post-punk. Unlike the improvisational nature of prior releases, Bowie spent time writing the music and lyrics; several were recorded under working titles and some contained reworked elements of earlier, unreleased songs. The album cover is a large-scale collage featuring Bowie donning a Pierrot costume, with references to his prior releases on the rear sleeve.
The album's lead single, "Ashes to Ashes", revisited the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity" and was promoted with an inventive music video. Scary Monsters garnered critical and commercial acclaim: it topped the UK Albums Chart and restored Bowie's commercial standing in the US, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. It was Bowie's final studio album for RCA and the final collaboration between him and Visconti for over 20 years. Several publications have considered it one of the greatest albums of all time. The album has been reissued multiple times, and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town box set.
Background
From 1976 to 1979, David Bowie recorded what became known as the Berlin Trilogy, which consisted of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger, made in collaboration with the musician Brian Eno and the producer Tony Visconti. Although considered highly influential, the trilogy had proven less successful commercially. Lodgers commercial performance, in particular, was hindered by artists who were influenced by the earlier Berlin releases, such as Gary Numan. According to the biographer David Buckley, Numan's fame indirectly led to Bowie taking a more commercial direction for his next record.Recording
Recording for the album began at the Power Station in New York City in February 1980. Bowie informed returning producer Tony Visconti that this was going to be a more commercial record than his previous releases. Eno did not return, having ended his collaboration with Bowie after Lodger, stating he felt the Berlin Trilogy had "petered out" by that record. It was the fifth and final Bowie album with the core lineup of Dennis Davis, Carlos Alomar and George Murray, who had been together since Station to Station ; only Alomar continued working with Bowie hereafter.File:Robert Fripp 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Robert Fripp in 1974|The sessions saw the return of King Crimson's guitarist Robert Fripp , who previously played on "Heroes".
King Crimson's guitarist Robert Fripp, who played on "Heroes", was brought back for the sessions, replacing Lodger guitarist Adrian Belew. Bowie hired an additional guitarist, Chuck Hammer, after hearing him play with Lou Reed in London the year before. According to the NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray, Hammer added multiple textural layers deploying guitar synth and Fripp brought back the same distinctive sound he lent "Heroes". The pianist Roy Bittan, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, returned from the Station to Station sessions.
Initial sessions at the Power Station took place over two and a half weeks, with an additional week used for overdubs. Tracks completed were solely instrumental. One instrumental, titled "Crystal Japan", was originally intended to be the album's closing track, but was dropped in favour of a reprise of "It's No Game"; the reprise, titled "It's No Game ", was completed in its entirety during the initial sessions. At Alomar's suggestion, Bowie recorded a cover of Tom Verlaine's "Kingdom Come". Bowie felt the track was a standout from Verlaine's 1979 eponymous solo album and asked Verlaine to play lead guitar. Verlaine agreed, although Fripp ended up playing lead guitar.
Rather than improvising lyrics and music as he had with prior releases, Bowie took time composing and developing the lyrics and melodies, ensuring the musicians adhered to his thought-out structures before adding their own personal touches. Many of the tracks had working titles early on. Some of these included "People Are Turning to Gold", "It Happens Everyday", "Jamaica", "Cameras in Brooklyn" and "I Am a Laser", which was originally written and recorded in 1973 by a group of Bowie collaborators known as the Astronettes. The lyrics for the title track, which dated back to a 1975 song called "Running Scared", were written in response to a promotional campaign for Kellogg's Corn flakes cereal, which offered novelty toys of "Scary Monsters and Super Heroes". Other tracks were recorded and left unfinished, including "Is There Life After Marriage?" and an instrumental cover of Cream's "I Feel Free"; the latter was fully covered for Black Tie White Noise.
The sessions resumed in April 1980 at Good Earth Studios in London, Visconti's own studio at the time. Final instrumental overdubs were provided by Fripp and the keyboardist Andy Clark, along with a guest appearance by the Who guitarist Pete Townshend on "Because You're Young". Vocal tracks were recorded last, including the Japanese narration provided by the actress Michi Hirota for "It's No Game ".
Music and lyrics
Commentators have classified Scary Monsters as art rock, new wave, and post-punk. Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine considers Scary Monsters to be a culmination of Bowie's 1970s works and the record's sound similar to early 1980s post-punk. Nicholas Pegg agrees, describing the record as "the triumphant culmination of Bowie's steely art-rock phase and a crucial doorway into early 1980s British pop". In a career retrospective, Consequence of Sound described Scary Monsters as "a high watermark of art pop by which Bowie's future releases are still compared." Carr and Murray describe the album's sound as being harsher – and his worldview more desperate – than anything he had released since Diamond Dogs. The biographer Christopher Sandford writes that lyrically, Scary Monsters reaffirms themes that Bowie had explored throughout his career up to that point, including madness, alienation and the "redeeming power of love"; in this case however, Bowie is able to bring the listener in instead of "freezing out".Side one
The album opens with "It's No Game ", which features sinister guitar loops and Bowie's screaming vocal performance, which Chris O'Leary cites as reminiscent of John Lennon's performance on Plastic Ono Band. Partly taken from an older tune titled "Tired of My Life", it features lyrics read by the Japanese actress Michi Hirota, which were translated by Hisahi Miura. Hirota delivers her performance in what is described by Buckley as a "macho, samurai voice", which was done at Bowie's insistence as a way to "break down a particular type of sexist attitude about women". James E. Perone writes that the track establishes the album's theme of "scary events".The lyrics of "Up the Hill Backwards" deal with the struggle of facing a crisis. Bowie misquotes Thomas Anthony Harris's 1967 self-help book I'm OK – You're OK, a guide on how to save marriage relationships; Carr and Murray see this as a reference to Bowie's divorce from Angie Bowie. Musically, it features unusual time signatures and a Bo Diddley-inspired beat. For the title track, the rhythm section took inspiration from Joy Division; Davis's drum performance has been compared to Stephen Morris's on "She's Lost Control". Described by Perone as punk rock, the music is heavily distorted, featuring Fripp's ferocious guitar-playing, Davis's pounding drums, and David Bowie's treated Cockney accent. Lyrically, it follows a claustrophobic relationship between a woman and a man.
"Ashes to Ashes" revisits the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity". Over ten years later, Major Tom is described as a "junkie", which has been interpreted as parallel to Bowie's own struggles with drug addiction throughout the 1970s. Musically, "Ashes to Ashes" is built around a guitar synthesiser theme by Hammer, augmented by Clark's synthesiser. Like "Space Oddity" before it, the song was built in stages, and features layers of instruments in its mix.
"Fashion" is reminiscent of Bowie's former single "Golden Years", with its mix of funk and reggae. It evolved out of a reggae "spoof" started by Clark on his synthesiser and features guitar "squeals" from Fripp. Apart from being a dance track, the song provokes elements of fascism, with lyrics such as "we are the goon squad" and "turn to the left, turn to the right". The "beep beep" lines were taken from an earlier unreleased song titled "Rupert the Riley".
Side two
"Teenage Wildlife", the longest track on the album, is structurally similar to "Heroes" but does not feature a refrain; its verses only end with the title being sung over Fripp's guitar breaks. Its backing vocals are reminiscent of the Ronettes, while piano is provided by Roy Bittan. The song's lyrics have been widely interpreted. One interpretation is they are an attack on Bowie imitators who emerged in the late 1970s, such as Gary Numan, who personally believed himself a target. Carr and Murray state that the song is Bowie reflecting on his younger self, while Pegg considers it a confrontation to critics who tried to prevent Bowie from evolving throughout the 1970s. Bowie himself wrote in 2008 that the lyrics are about "taking a short view of life, not looking too far ahead and not predicting the oncoming hard knocks". Although it descends from the early-mid 1970s "I Am a Laser", "Scream Like a Baby" features a contemporary new wave sound with lyrics of instability and political imprisonment, comparable with themes present on The Man Who Sold the World. Bowie recorded his vocal using varispeed, a technique that displays a "split personality" effect."Kingdom Come", Bowie's first cover on a studio album since Station to Station, is in the same key as Verlaine's original, but is more grand in style. Doggett describes the arrangement as "an unhappy cross between Motown sound and the sterility of American AOR". Lyrically, the song features similar themes to other album tracks, including frustration, boredom and repetition. On release, Bowie dedicated "Because You're Young" to his then nine-year-old son Duncan Jones. Lyrically, the song is similar to other Scary Monsters tracks, featuring Bowie reflecting and advising a younger generation. Townshend's contributions are placed low in the mix. The album ends with "It's No Game ", which provides a stark contrast to "No. 1"; it features new lyrics and is more mellow and meditative throughout. Doggett writes that whereas "No. 1" "climaxed with the signals of insanity", "No. 2" "just end, draining color from everything around it". Similar to how the album begins, it ends with the sound of a tape rewinding and playing out, although this time, it slows to a halt.