Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

David Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), released September 12, 1980 on RCA Records, is the triumphant coda to the Berlin era, a harder, more aggressive art-rock statement that reasserted Bowie's commercial dominance while retaining the experimental spirit of Low, Heroes, and Lodger. Bowie wrote nine of the ten tracks himself, with Tom Verlaine's 'Kingdom Come' the sole cover, and produced the album alongside Tony Visconti with guest guitar from Robert Fripp and Pete Townshend. 'Ashes to Ashes,' which returned to Major Tom from 'Space Oddity,' reached number one in the UK and remains one of Bowie's most discussed songs; the album itself also hit number one in the UK. The propulsive 'Fashion' was an international top-five hit, and 'Teenage Wildlife' stands as a nine-minute centerpiece that many consider Bowie's greatest epic since 'The Width of a Circle.' The album closes with a second take of 'It's No Game,' sung partly in Japanese, a bookending structural device that underscores Bowie's complete artistic control of the record from start to finish.