Continuing my look at the most underrated songs of the 80s (as determined by writer Chris Dalla Riva), #6 on the list is David Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes.’
This song was the first single on Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and went to #1 in the UK but fell just short of cracking the Hot 100 in the U.S. The video received a fair amount of airplay — which is good, because at the time it was the most expensive ever made. Watching it, that’s hard to believe.
‘Up the Hill Backwards’ is the second track, and fourth single, from David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters.
This was Bowie’s first album following his critically-praised but commercially-challenged Berlin trilogy, and it had a more mainstream sound than its predecessors. First single ‘Ashes to Ashes’ gave him his second #1 hit in the UK.
My 4th favorite album of 1980 is one I didn’t hear until 36 years later — just a few months ago, in fact.
As I wrote in June while marching my way through half of Bowie’s catalog, Scary Monsters is widely considered the last great album he ever made. It capped off a remarkable run that spanned more than a dozen ground-breaking records in just over 10 years.
David Bowie entered the 80s with the release of Scary Monsters, an album that brought the experimental rock of his Berlin phase into more commercial territory. It’s a far more accessible album but still an adventurous one.
It’s also, according to popular consensus, the last great album Bowie ever recorded. Just about every one of his future releases was compared unfavorably to this one, or more charitably called his best work since Scary Monsters.
Meet Me In Montauk 