10 Rock Bands That Wrote Songs In Different Genres

When it comes to half of David Bowie's catalog, it becomes impossible to narrow him down to one set genre. Even though all of his stuff normally falls into the realm of rock and roll at the end of the day, we've seen him run the gamut of every single incarnation of rock you can think of, from glam rock on Ziggy Stardust, pop rock on Let's Dance, drum and bass on Earthling, and then settling into jazz rock for his final album Blackstar. Bowie tries on different genres almost like costumes, and Young Americans was his first straight up soul outfit.

Though the accompanying album is known more these days for the song Fame, the opener is a much better representation of what the record sounds like, being a nod to the sounds of Philly soul. Whereas the last few Bowie projects seemed to be giving nods to other genres like art rock and glam rock over the course of the record, every other song on this album carries the same momentum of this track, no doubt helped by the soon to be soul legends that worked on the project like Luther Vandross.

This may have been a fantastic new look for Bowie, but it was never something that he was looking to live in forever, quickly shifting gears to the realm of kraut rock for his Berlin trilogy on Station to Station. While this record is still one of the most easygoing projects in Bowie's discography, he was already three steps ahead of us by the time it was finished.