10 Best Classic Rock Ballads
6. Changes - David Bowie
Throughout his career, David Bowie always felt the need to change his sound from record to record. It was almost habitual how much Bowie reinvented himself from his glam rock heyday to his more experimental Berlin period to the avant-jazz of his last record Blackstar. While the entire Bowie catalog has a varied soundscape, "Changes" seems to be the mission statement for the man's entire career.
Done over a simple acoustic foundation, this song is Bowie addressing the entire concept of change and how different people deal with it in their everyday lives. At the time, the song was a saving grace for rock and rollers, who were looked at as being on the fringes of society. The message to the youth seems to be to stay comfortable in your old skin, even as the passage of time complicates today's matters.
Bowie may have been speaking to and for his audience, but the line "I turned myself to face me, but I never caught a glimpse" is probably the only consistent statement of Bowie's life. This song helped set Bowie on the fast track to rock and roll legend, but like the song says, he didn't want to relish in it for too long. Though the song impacted millions of listeners around the world, Bowie was already halfway to Ziggy Stardust.