| "Blue Jean" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byDavid Bowie | ||||
| from the albumTonight | ||||
| B-side | "Dancing with the Big Boys" | |||
| Released | 10 September 1984[1] | |||
| Recorded | May 1984 | |||
| Studio | Le Studio,Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:08 | |||
| Label | EMI America –EA181 | |||
| Songwriter | David Bowie | |||
| Producers |
| |||
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Blue Jean" onYouTube | ||||
"Blue Jean" is a song written and recorded by the English singer-songwriterDavid Bowie for his sixteenth studio albumTonight (1984). One of only two tracks on the album to be written entirely by Bowie, it was released as a single ahead of the album and charted in the United States, peaking at No. 8, becoming his 5th and last top 10 hit with no features. The song is loosely inspired byEddie Cochran.[4]
Interviewed in 1987 and asked to compare a track like "Time Will Crawl" to "Blue Jean," Bowie said "'Blue Jean' is a piece of sexist rock 'n roll. [laughs] It's about picking up birds. It's not very cerebral, that piece."[5]BBC reviewer Chris Jones criticised the song in his appraisal ofBest of Bowie in 2002, arguing "'Blue Jean' barely exists, so formulaic is it."[6] More positively, rock commentator Chris O'Leary, while locating "Blue Jean" firmly "in the pastiche lane," has described the song as "clever" and "catchy" and one of Bowie's "best second-rate hits."[7]
Cash Box said that it "features the dynamics of classic Bowie which range from the smooth and sultry verse to the exploding chorus."[8]
Following the commercial success of Bowie's previous album,Let's Dance, its singles and theSerious Moonlight Tour, "Blue Jean" was launched with a 21-minute short film,Jazzin' for Blue Jean, directed byJulien Temple.[4] The song performance segment from this was also used as a more conventional music video. The film won the1985Grammy Award for "Best Video, Short Form", later renamed "Best Music Video", which proved to be the only competitiveGrammy Award Bowie won during his lifetime for over three decades, although Bowie posthumously won four Grammys for his albumBlackstar (2016).[9]
Two shorter promotional videos of "Blue Jean" also exist: a three-minute version edited from the fullJazzin' for Blue Jean video and an alternate version recorded forMTV in England that has no relation to the other videos. Both of these videos, plus the originalJazzin' for Blue Jean, are available on the DVD release ofBest of Bowie (2002).
"Blue Jean" was part of Bowie's live repertoire for the rest of his career, being performed on hisGlass Spider Tour (1987), released on theGlass Spider DVD and CD in 1988, the 1990Sound+Vision Tour and his 2004A Reality Tour.
"Blue Jean" has appeared on a variety of compilation albums, includingChangesbowie (1990),The Singles Collection (1993),Best of Bowie (2002),The Platinum Collection (2005),The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 (2007),Nothing Has Changed (2014) (3-CD and 2-CD editions), andBowie Legacy (2016) (2-CD edition). A remastered version of the song was released onLoving the Alien (1983–1988) (2018).
Production
| Chart (1984–1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| AustralianKent Report Singles Chart[10] | 12 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[11] | 16 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[12] | 4 |
| Canadian Singles Chart[13] | 6 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[14] | 11 |
| France (SNEP)[15] | 22 |
| Germany (GfK)[16] | 21 |
| Guatemala (UPI)[17] | 8 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[18] | 3 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[19] | 10 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[20] | 10 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21] | 7 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[22] | 3 |
| Spain (AFYVE)[23] | 3 |
| Spain (Los 40 Principales)[24] | 1 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[25] | 5 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] | 14 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[27] | 6 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[28] | 8 |
| USDance Club Songs (Billboard)[29] | 2 |
| USMainstream Rock (Billboard)[30] | 2 |
| Country/Region | Sales | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | >40,000 | Gold[31] |
But [Tonight's lead single "Blue Jean"] is one of his best straight-up pop numbers, a nod to '50s rock 'n' roll with a driving rhythm.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
