| Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | ||||
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| Released | 12 September 1980 (1980-09-12) | |||
| Recorded | February–April 1980 | |||
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| Length | 45:37 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
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| David Bowie chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | ||||
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Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), also known simply asScary Monsters,[a] is the fourteenth studio album by the English musicianDavid Bowie, released on 12 September 1980 throughRCA Records. His first album following theBerlin Trilogy (Low,"Heroes" andLodger),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 andTony Visconti,Scary Monsters was recorded between February and April 1980 at thePower Station in New York City, and laterGood Earth Studios in London. Much of the same personnel from prior releases returned for the sessions, with additional guitar byChuck Hammer andRobert Fripp, and a guest appearance byPete Townshend. The music incorporates elements ofart rock,new wave andpost-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 aPierrot costume, with references to his prior releases on the rear sleeve.
The album'slead single, "Ashes to Ashes", revisited the character ofMajor Tom from "Space Oddity" and was promoted with an inventivemusic video.Scary Monsters garnered critical and commercial acclaim: it topped theUK Albums Chart and restored Bowie's commercial standing in the US, reaching No. 12 on theBillboard 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 theA New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.
From 1976 to 1979,David Bowie recorded what became known as theBerlin Trilogy, which consisted ofLow,"Heroes" (both 1977) andLodger (1979), made in collaboration with the musicianBrian Eno and the producerTony Visconti. Although considered highly influential,[1] the trilogy had proven less successful commercially.[2]Lodger's commercial performance, in particular, was hindered by artists who were influenced by the earlier Berlin releases, such asGary Numan.[3] According to the biographer David Buckley, Numan's fame indirectly led to Bowie taking a more commercial direction for his next record.[4]
Recording for the album began at thePower 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.[5][6] Eno did not return, having ended his collaboration with Bowie afterLodger, stating he felt the Berlin Trilogy had "petered out" by that record.[7] It was the fifth and final Bowie album with the core lineup ofDennis Davis (drums),Carlos Alomar (guitar) andGeorge Murray (bass), who had been together sinceStation to Station (1976); only Alomar continued working with Bowie hereafter.[5]
King Crimson's guitaristRobert Fripp, who played on"Heroes", was brought back for the sessions, replacingLodger guitaristAdrian Belew.[b] Bowie hired an additional guitarist,Chuck Hammer, after hearing him play withLou Reed in London the year before.[5] According to theNME editorsRoy Carr andCharles Shaar Murray, Hammer added multipletextural layers deployingguitar synth and Fripp brought back the same distinctive sound he lent"Heroes".[9] The pianistRoy Bittan, a member ofBruce Springsteen'sE Street Band, returned from theStation to Station sessions.[c][5]
Initial sessions at the Power Station took place over two and a half weeks, with an additional week used foroverdubs. Tracks completed were solely instrumental.[5] 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";[d][11] the reprise, titled "It's No Game (No. 2)", was completed in its entirety during the initial sessions.[5] At Alomar's suggestion, Bowie recorded a cover ofTom Verlaine's "Kingdom Come". Bowie felt the track was a standout from Verlaine's1979 eponymous solo album and asked Verlaine to play lead guitar. Verlaine agreed, although Fripp ended up playing lead guitar.[e][12]
There was a certain degree of optimism making [Scary Monsters] because I'd worked through some of my problems, I felt very positive about the future, and I think I just got down to writing a really comprehensive and well-crafted album.[5]
Rather than improvising lyrics and music as he had with prior releases, Bowie took time composing and developing the lyrics and melodies,[6][5] ensuring the musicians adhered to his thought-out structures before adding their own personal touches.[8] Many of the tracks had working titles early on. Some of these included "People Are Turning to Gold" ("Ashes to Ashes"), "It Happens Everyday" ("Teenage Wildlife"), "Jamaica" ("Fashion"), "Cameras in Brooklyn" ("Up the Hill Backwards") and "I Am a Laser" ("Scream Like a Baby"), which was originally written and recorded in 1973 by a group of Bowie collaborators known as the Astronettes.[f][6][13] The lyrics for thetitle track, which dated back to a 1975 song called "Running Scared",[14] were written in response to a promotional campaign forKellogg'sCorn flakes cereal, which offered novelty toys of "Scary Monsters and Super Heroes".[5][10] Other tracks were recorded and left unfinished, including "Is There Life After Marriage?" and an instrumental cover ofCream's "I Feel Free"; the latter was fully covered forBlack Tie White Noise (1993).[15]
The sessions resumed in April 1980 atGood Earth Studios in London, Visconti's own studio at the time.[12] Final instrumental overdubs were provided by Fripp and the keyboardistAndy Clark, along with a guest appearance bythe Who guitaristPete Townshend on "Because You're Young".[5] Vocal tracks were recorded last,[5][16] including the Japanese narration provided by the actress Michi Hirota for "It's No Game (No. 1)".[17]
By the time ofScary Monsters the kind of music that I was doing was becoming very acceptable ... it was definitely the sound of the early eighties.[5]
Commentators have classifiedScary Monsters asart rock,[18]new wave, andpost-punk.[19] Writing forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine considersScary Monsters to be a culmination of Bowie's 1970s works and the record's sound to be not "far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s".[20]Nicholas Pegg agrees, describing the record as "the triumphant culmination of Bowie's steely art-rock phase and a crucial doorway into early 1980sBritish pop".[5] In a career retrospective,Consequence of Sound describedScary Monsters as "a high watermark ofart pop by which Bowie's future releases are still compared."[21] Carr and Murray describe the album's sound as being harsher – and his worldview more desperate – than anything he had released sinceDiamond Dogs (1974).[9] The biographerChristopher 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 [them] out".[22]
The album opens with "It's No Game (No. 1)", which features sinister guitar loops and Bowie's screaming vocal performance,[23] which Chris O'Leary cites as reminiscent ofJohn Lennon's performance onPlastic Ono Band (1970).[12] 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".[17][23] James E. Perone writes that the track establishes the album's theme of "scary events".[24]
The lyrics of "Up the Hill Backwards" deal with the struggle of facing a crisis.[9] Bowie misquotesThomas Anthony Harris's 1967 self-help bookI'm OK – You're OK, a guide on how to save marriage relationships;[25] Carr and Murray see this as a reference to Bowie's divorce fromAngie Bowie.[9] Musically, it features unusual time signatures and aBo Diddley-inspired beat.[26][27] For the title track, the rhythm section took inspiration fromJoy Division; Davis's drum performance has been compared toStephen Morris's on "She's Lost Control" (1979).[28][12] Described by Perone aspunk rock,[24] the music is heavily distorted, featuring Fripp's ferocious guitar-playing, Davis's pounding drums, and David Bowie's treatedCockney accent. Lyrically, it follows a claustrophobic relationship between a woman (dating back to Bowie's Berlin days) and a man (the demons inside Bowie).[14][29]
"Ashes to Ashes" revisits the character ofMajor Tom from "Space Oddity" (1969). 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.[12][30] 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.[12]
"Fashion" is reminiscent of Bowie's former single "Golden Years", with its mix offunk andreggae. 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 offascism, with lyrics such as "we are thegoon squad" and "turn to the left, turn to the right".[12][31] The "beep beep" lines were taken from an earlier unreleased song titled "Rupert the Riley".[17]
"Teenage Wildlife", the longest track on the album, is structurally similar to "'Heroes'" but does not feature arefrain; its verses only end with the title being sung over Fripp's guitar breaks. Its backing vocals are reminiscent ofthe Ronettes, while piano is provided by Roy Bittan.[12][32][33] 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.[17] Carr and Murray state that the song is Bowie reflecting on his younger self,[9] while Pegg considers it a confrontation to critics who tried to prevent Bowie from evolving throughout the 1970s.[33] 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".[12] 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 andpolitical imprisonment, comparable with themes present onThe Man Who Sold the World (1970).[9][12][34] Bowie recorded his vocal usingvarispeed, a technique that displays a "split personality" effect.[17]
"Kingdom Come", Bowie's first cover on a studio album sinceStation to Station,[35] is in the same key as Verlaine's original,[36] but is more grand in style.[12] Doggett describes the arrangement as "an unhappy cross betweenMotown sound and the sterility of AmericanAOR".[36] Lyrically, the song features similar themes to other album tracks, including frustration, boredom and repetition.[36][24] On release, Bowie dedicated "Because You're Young" to his then nine-year-old sonDuncan Jones. Lyrically, the song is similar to otherScary Monsters tracks, featuring Bowie reflecting and advising a younger generation. Townshend's contributions are placed low in the mix.[12][37][38] The album ends with "It's No Game (No. 2)", which provides a stark contrast to "No. 1"; it features new lyrics and is more mellow and meditative throughout.[23] Doggett writes that whereas "No. 1" "climaxed with the signals of insanity", "No. 2" "just end[s], draining color from everything around it".[39] 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.[12][23]
Thecover artwork ofScary Monsters is a large-scale collage by the artistEdward Bell featuring Bowie in thePierrot costume worn in the "Ashes to Ashes" music video, along with photographs taken by the photographerBrian Duffy. Duffy was reportedly upset by the final artwork, as he felt the cartoon demeaned his photographs.[5][40] The Pierrot costume, designed byNatasha Korniloff, was indebted to Bowie's time performing as amime with the dancerLindsay Kemp in the 1968 playPierrot in Turquoise.[16]
The original LP's rear sleeve referred to four earlier albums, namely the immediately preceding Berlin Trilogy and 1973'sAladdin Sane, the latter also having been designed and photographed by Duffy. The cover images fromLow,"Heroes" andLodger—the last showing Bowie's torso superimposed on the figure fromAladdin Sane's inside gatefold picture—were portrayed in smallwhitewashed frames to the left of the tracklisting. The lettering used was a reworking ofGerald Scarfe's lettering forPink Floyd'sThe Wall, which would be replicated on many album covers in the ensuing years.[5][40] These images were not reproduced on theRykodisc reissue in 1992, but were restored forEMI/Virgin's 1999 remastered edition. The original framed album artwork was featured in theDavid Bowie Is touring museum exhibit.[41]
Thelead single, "Ashes to Ashes", was released in edited form byRCA Records on 1 August 1980, with theLodger track "Move On" as the B-side.[12] It was issued in three different sleeves, the first 100,000 copies including one of four sets of stamps, all featuring Bowie in the Pierrot outfit he wore in the music video for the song.[30] The song was promoted with amusic video which, at a budget of £250,000 (equivalent to £1,400,000 in 2023), wasthe most expensive music video made up to that point.[42] Directed byDavid Mallet, who directed all ofLodger's music videos,[43] the video depicts Bowie in a Pierrot costume designed by his former collaborator Natasha Korniloff.[12] The single and video are both regarded by biographers as one of Bowie's finest,[42] with Pegg stating that it kickstarted theNew Romantic movement.[30] The single debuted at No. 4 on theUK Singles Chart; after premiering the music video on theBBC television programmeTop of the Pops, the single shot to No. 1, becoming Bowie's fastest-selling single and dethroningABBA's "The Winner Takes It All". It was Bowie's second No. 1 single in the UK, after a reissue of "Space Oddity".[12][30][42] However, the US release, featuring "It's No Game (No. 1)" as the B-side, fared worse, peaking at No. 79 on theCash Box Top 100 chart and No. 101 on theBillboardBubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.[44]
Scary Monsters was released on 12 September 1980.[16] RCA promoted the album with the tagline "Often Copied, Never Equalled", seen as a direct reference to the new wave acts Bowie had inspired over the years.[40] The album was a major commercial success, peaking at No. 1 on theUK Albums Chart, his first sinceDiamond Dogs (1974), and remained on the chart for 32 weeks,[45] his longest sinceAladdin Sane (1973).[5][46] The album restored Bowie's commercial standing in the US,[9] peaking at No. 12 on theBillboard Top LPs & Tape chart and remained on the chart for 27 weeks.[47] Buckley writes that withScary Monsters, Bowie achieved "the perfect balance" of creativity and mainstream success.[40]
The second single, "Fashion", was released in edited form on 24 October 1980, with "Scream Like a Baby" as the B-side.[48][49] The single was another commercial success, peaking at No. 5 in the UK and No. 70 in the USBillboard Hot 100.[31] Like the first single, it was promoted by a music video again directed by Mallet. The video depicts Bowie and his backing musicians as "gum-chewing tough guys", interspersed with shots of dancers rehearsing and New Romantic followers. Like "Ashes to Ashes", the video was highly praised, withRecord Mirror voting both as the best music videos of 1980.[31] The title track was released as the third single, again in edited form,[34] on 2 January 1981, backed by "Because You're Young".[49] The single continued Bowie's commercial success in the UK, peaking at No. 20.[48] The fourth and final single, "Up the Hill Backwards", was released in March 1981, with the non-album Japanese single "Crystal Japan" as the B-side.[49] It peaked at No. 32 in the UK, performing the worst out of all the singles.[48]
| Initial reviews | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[50] |
| Record Mirror |  [51] |
| Rolling Stone |  [52] |
| Smash Hits | 9/10[53] |
| Sounds |  [54] |
Scary Monsters received universal praise from music critics.[5]Record Mirror awarded it a rating of seven stars out of five;[51] the same publication voted Bowie the best male singer of 1980,[55] as did theDaily Mirror.[5]Smash Hits gave it a 9 out of 10 rating, describing it as "possibly his most consistently effective long player of all".[53]Melody Maker called it "an eerily impressive stride into the '80s",[56] whileBillboard correctly predicted that it "should be the most accessible and commercially successful Bowie LP in years".[57]The Guardian'sRobin Denselow agreed, describingScary Monsters as being "full of accessible, highly original melodies that are increasingly inaccessible".[58]
Debra Rae Cohen ofRolling Stone found the record to be a "clarification" of Bowie's collaborations with Eno and similar in vein toAladdin Sane, further finding Bowie "settling old scores" throughoutScary Monsters.[59] Fellow criticDave Marsh considered it one of Bowie's best, saying "if this is the new art-rock, I'm for it."[52] TheNew YorkDaily News's Clint Roswell likewise hailed the record as Bowie's best in years, naming "Ashes to Ashes", "Fashion", "Because You're Young" and the title track as songs that recognise the artist as "the preeminent figure inpop".[60] Adding further praise was James Johnson of theEvening Standard, who described the "remarkable" LP as one of the year's best and "proves that Bowie can still maintain his mastery of therock mainstream whenever he feels like it".[61]
The Boston Globe's Jim Sullivan found side two weaker than the first, but concluded "Bowie continues to present a complex, invigorating challenge".[62] Tom Sowa was more mild inThe Spokesman-Review. He hailedScary Monsters as Bowie's finest in four years, highlighting Fripp's contributions and signalled out "Ashes to Ashes" and "Because You're Young", but panned "Teenage Wildlife" as "an overheated, confused and totally embarrassing four minutes of plastic".[63] Charles Shaar Murray gave the album a more mixed assessment inNME, stating: "Scary Monsters is shorn of all hope, yet it represents a call to arms. It is an album which presupposes defeat, yet it is unashamedly and unequivocally confrontational." He further called it the "realist's" Bowie record.[64] InThe New York Times,John Rockwell felt the album lacked appeal for all rock listeners due to it being "too misshapenly ugly, grindingly abrasive and proudly self-withholding. Nevertheless, he deemed it a "fine record of its particular type".[65]
On its end-of-the-year list,Record Mirror namedScary Monsters the second best album of the year, behindSound Affects bythe Jam,[55] whileNME ranked it the ninth best album of the year.[66] OnThe Village Voice's annualPazz & Jop music critics' poll, it placed 19th.[67]
Bowie decided not to supportScary Monsters on a concert tour. Instead, he continued his acting career by performing the lead role ofJoseph "John" Merrick in theBroadway playThe Elephant Man, which ran from July 1980 to January 1981, and guest starring as himself in the filmChristiane F. (1981).[16][68][69] FollowingJohn Lennon'smurder in December 1980, Bowie withdrew to his home in Switzerland and became a recluse.[68][69] Nevertheless, he continued working, recording thetitle song of the filmCat People (1982) withGiorgio Moroder and "Under Pressure" with the rock bandQueen in July 1981.[70][71] The following month, Bowie performed the title role in aBBC adaptation ofBertolt Brecht's playBaal and recorded an accompanyingsoundtrack EP, both released in early 1982.[72] He also starred in the filmsThe Hunger andMerry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, both released in 1983.[73][74]
Bowie did not release another studio album untilLet's Dance, released in April 1983.[75]Scary Monsters was also Bowie's final studio album for RCA Records, who had been his label sinceHunky Dory (1971).[76] Bowie had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the label, who he felt was "milking" his back catalogue.[5] Although RCA was willing to re-sign, Bowie signed a new contract withEMI America Records,[77] and withLet's Dance, began an era of major commercial success.[78]
| Retrospective reviews | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [20] |
| Blender | [79] |
| Chicago Tribune | [80] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [81] |
| Q | [82] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [83] |
| Spin | [84] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10[85] |
Retrospectively,Scary Monsters continues to receive acclaim. Jon Dolan ofSpin wrote that although the 1980s were a less-than-stellar decade for the artist creatively, he began the decade strong withScary Monsters, praising Bowie's vocal performance and describing "Ashes to Ashes" in particular as "gorgeous".[84] Erlewine praised the album for its culmination of Bowie's 1970s works: "While the music isn't far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary, which is something Bowie lost over the course of the '80s."[20] Eduardo Rivadavia praised the record's "risk-taking creativity" inUltimate Classic Rock, writing that the artist's decision to take time writing lyrics resulted in some of the best lyrics and vocal performances of his career. He ultimately called the album one of Bowie's "very best career efforts".[86] The authorPeter Doggett describesScary Monsters as one of Bowie's "most valuable statements", writing that it "annull[ed] audience expectations" and launched a "warning for those who might dare to follow in his footsteps".[87]
Reviewing the album's remaster for the 2017 box setA New Career in a New Town (1977–1982), Chris Gerard ofPopMatters highlighted Bowie's vocal performance on the record as among his best, further complimenting the songs' arrangements and harmonies as "jaw-droppingly brilliant as anything you'll find in the realm ofrock 'n' roll."[88] Analysing the album for its 40th anniversary in 2020,Stereogum's Ryan Leas describedScary Monsters as "the less-heralded classic of Bowie's career", complimenting the way Bowie was able to mesh the different eras of his career up to that point into a creative whole. Leas concluded: "[Scary Monsters] was the album that best-captured everything Bowie was about — and it will always be the conduit through which everything travelled, all of his old selves folded in and carried forward through the rest of his life.[89] In a 2013 readers' poll forRolling Stone,Scary Monsters was voted Bowie's seventh greatest album. The magazine argued that it would be his final "satisfying from start to finish" album.[90]
Reflecting on the critical and commercial success ofScary Monsters, Visconti stated, "We kind of felt that we'd finally achieved ourSgt. Pepper, a goal we had in mind sinceThe Man Who Sold the World."[5] Visconti further said: "It is one of my favourite Bowie albums ever."[91] Despite his glowing assessment of the album,Scary Monsters proved to be the final collaboration between Bowie and Visconti for over 20 years, after Bowie choseNile Rodgers to produceLet's Dance.[5] Although Bowie would achieve worldwide mega-stardom and commercial success in the following years, in particular withLet's Dance, many commentators considerScary Monsters to be "his last great album"[20][89] and the "benchmark" for each new release.[5] Well-regarded later efforts such asOutside (1995),[92]Earthling (1997),[93]Heathen (2002) andReality (2003) were cited as "the best album sinceScary Monsters."[94] Buckley suggested that "Bowie should pre-emptively sticker up his next album 'Best SinceScary Monsters' and have done with it".[95] The biographerMarc Spitz considers it more accurate to call the album Bowie's "last 'young' record", in that it was his final "perfectly confident statement" and the final time that Bowie's "search for the 'new' in our world of sound [felt] pure, as opposed to betraying itself".[27]
Bowie's biographers continue to praiseScary Monsters. Pegg writes that retrospectively,Scary Monsters sounds "as fresh and dynamic as ever", and ended "Bowie's golden run of cutting-edge albums."[5] O'Leary described it in 2019 as Bowie's most "modern"-sounding album.[12] Spitz finds the record to have an energy that his later "good" albums don't (namingOutside andHeathen).[27] Doggett considers it as one of Bowie's "most valuable statements", exceeding his listeners' expectations while at the same time sending a warning out to anyone who dared to follow in his footsteps.[87] Sandford states that withScary Monsters, Bowie "found his voice again" after years of experimentation.[22] Perone praises the album as "a near-perfect balance of [Bowie's] pop and experimental sides" and that it remains one of the artist's "most important and consistent albums".[24] In 2011,Paul Trynka wrote: "Scary Monsters still sparkles today. Its intense, churning grooves sound remarkably contemporary ... but despite the complexity of its arrangements there are many moments of unaffected simplicity."[96] He considers the album's "dense, tough, rock-meets-funk backup" as influential on later bands such asBlur andthe Strokes.[97]
Scary Monsters has appeared on several lists of the greatest albums of all time by multiple publications. In 2000,Q rankedScary Monsters at number 30 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".[98] In 2002,Pitchfork placed it at number 93 on its list of the top 100 albums of the 1980s.[99] In 2012,Slant Magazine listed the album at number 27 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s, saying "Bowie bridles the experimentation of his Berlin trilogy and channels those synth flourishes and off-kilter guitar licks into one of the decade's quirkiest pop albums."[100] In 2013,NME ranked the album at number 381 on its list ofthe 500 greatest albums of all time.[101] In 2018,Pitchfork placed it at number 53 on its revised list of the 200 best albums of the 1980s.[102] In 2020,Rolling Stone placed it at number 443 on its revision ofthe 500 greatest albums of all time.[103]
The album has been rereleased five times to date on compact disc. It was first released on CD by RCA in the mid-1980s. A second CD release, in 1992 byRykodisc andEMI, contained a new remaster and four bonus tracks.[104] A 1999 CD release byEMI/Virgin, with no bonus tracks, featured 24-bit digitally-remastered sound.[105] The album was re-released and remastered in 2003 by EMI as an hybridSuper Audio CD, again with no bonus tracks and with the Redbook audio layer containing the previous 1999 remaster.[106] In 2017, the album was remastered for theA New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)box set released byParlophone.[107] It was released in CD, vinyl, and digital formats, both as part of this compilation and then separately the following year.[88][108]
All songs written byDavid Bowie, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "It's No Game (No. 1)" | Bowie,trans. Hisahi Miura | 4:20 |
| 2. | "Up the Hill Backwards" | 3:15 | |
| 3. | "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" | 5:12 | |
| 4. | "Ashes to Ashes" | 4:25 | |
| 5. | "Fashion" | 4:49 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Teenage Wildlife" | 6:56 | |
| 2. | "Scream Like a Baby" | 3:35 | |
| 3. | "Kingdom Come" | Tom Verlaine | 3:45 |
| 4. | "Because You're Young" | 4:54 | |
| 5. | "It's No Game (No. 2)" | 4:22 |
Albums credits per the liner notes and biographer Nicholas Pegg.[5][109]
Production
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[133] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[134] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| France (SNEP)[136] | Gold | 250,000[135] |
| Germany | — | 70,000[137] |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[138] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | — | 4,300,000[139] |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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