15 David Bowie Songs That Showcase His True Genius

10. Fame (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-_30HA7rec Bowie followed Aladdin Sane with Pin Ups (1973), an album of covers, and then Diamond Dogs (1974), another glam rock concept album, this time based on George Orwell's 1984. He soon moved on from his glam rock phase - but no one but him could have seen a move to soul music coming. 1975 saw the release of Young Americans, an album of Philly soul (or what Bowie himself called "plastic soul") sung by a translucent-white Bowie, blonde and be-suited, a world away from the spandex-clad Ziggy. This was no temporary mask worn by him, Bowie said he had obsessed by soul music throughout the '70s, and recruited the likes of Luther Vandross and Andy Newmark (the drummer for Sly & The Family Stone) to play on the album. For the album's most famous hit single, Fame, he recruited his friend John Lennon to co-write (and provide backing vocals), and the song's funky riff and altered vocals made it a number 1 single in the US charts. Bowie would stretch his new persona into weirder directions after Young Americans, he would not be this mainstream for quite some time...