While David Bowie was highly individualistic, one of his best skills was adapting to the musicians and performers around him, bringing out the best in everybody. Over a decades-long career, Bowie managed to work with musicians from nearly every point on the musical spectrum, from pop and funk to punk and avant-garde. Here are some of his career’s most memorable pairings.
Nile Rodgers and Stevie Ray Vaughan on Let’s Dance:
David Bowie pulled one helluva two-fer with the Let’s Dance album: he saved Nile Rodgers from disco and helped launch the career of Stevie Ray Vaughan. This clip from the oft-bootlegged, legendary Dallas Moonlight sessions allows you to hear all of these elements coming together in Texas rehearsals for the “Serious Moonlight” tour. SRV’s guitar is immediately recognizable and you get a taste of how special this confluence of artistic genius would’ve been live, in a room. (Matthew Landis)
Robert Fripp on Scary Monsters & Super Creeps:
Most people wouldn’t even think of the relationship between Bowie and Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) as a collaboration; they’d just think that Bowie had some amazing session players. But Bowie worked with Fripp throughout the late 70’s up through Scary Monsters & Super Creeps and the triumvirate of Fripp, Bowie, & Eno (with whom Fripp also collaborated extensively) produced some of Bowie’s most iconic work—much of which is marked by Fripp’s signature guitar effects & loops (known as Frippertronics). His guitar work on this cut is one of the more demonstrative examples of his contribution to Bowie’s post-Ziggy sound. (Matthew Landis)
Rick Wakeman on “Life on Mars”:
Another unexpectedly proggy Bowie collaborator—Yes’ Rick Wakeman. Wakeman contributed one of the most iconic piano parts in the history of pop music to one of the most iconic torch songs in the history of pop music. Again, one might think of Wakeman as a mere studio musician but Bowie gives him his own special line in the liner notes to Hunky Dory. Wakeman’s classical virtuosity and flair for the dramatic was used to ostentatious effect on Yes’ records and live shows, but here Bowie harnesses his immense technical prowess to create an undulating bed of piano arpeggios that capture all of the decadence, artifice, and drama of one of Bowie’s most triumphant moments on record. (Matthew Landis).
Luther Vandross on “Young Americans”:
Bowie had a real knack for un-earthing talent. And that extended to all genres. He recognized it. And he nailed it when he enlisted Luther Vandross to contribute to “Young Americans.” At that point, a young, aspiring soul singer (who would blossom into one of the greats of his generation), Bowie genre-hopped en route to his Berlin years, and in the process, made a great soul record and Vandross is a big part of that (as are the rest of the session players on the record; for instance, bass player Willie Weeks played on records or toured with everyone from Donny Hathaway,George Harrison, B.B. King, Bo Diddley, to David Lee Roth, Jimmie Buffet, & Bette Midler).What’s more, if you’ve noticed the quality of sax playing is better than Bowie’s usual, often-wheezy playing on his prior records, it’s because that’s an up-and-coming future smooth jazz legend, David Sanborn, blowing over those soul grooves. (Matthew Landis).
John Lennon on “Fame”:
It’s no wonder John Lennon got a writing credit on Bowie’s “Fame” (you can also hear his falsetto intoning the word as a background vocalist as well). If anyone understood the pathos, paranoia, and trappings of fame, it was the Beatles’ moodier songwriting half. Lennon had his own struggles with drugs, controversy, and stardom. It’s a snarling, nasty take on what it means to be a pop star. It provided plenty for the two to bond over and their synergy is evident on the track. (Matthew Landis).
Iggy Pop on Lust for Life and The Idiot:
Utilizing pretty much the same band from his furtive Berlin period, Bowie helped bring Iggy Pop back from the dead so to speak, producing two classic records (Lust for Life and The Idiot). This track, in particular, demonstrates how Bowie could effectively blend together the glam swagger with Iggy’s gutter-rock. The lyrics are smarmy, the guitar tone nasty, the production gritty and Iggy sounds in fine form, re-invigorated by Bowie’s faith in his talent and intensity, both of which Bowie honed and focused for some of the best performances of Iggy’s career and some transformative productions that would unquestionably mark the production of countless post-punk, goth, and new wave bands. (Matthew Landis)
The other classic record that Bowie produced with Iggy Pop. This menacing yet playful track blends dystopian decadence from two different eras of European intrigue—Cold War-Berlin and the Weimar Republic. The drums, in particular, show all the hallmarks of Joy Division records to come. Bowie’s two Iggy records paved the way for the 80’s and put the period at the end of the 70’s.
As producer and cowriter of the best offerings of Iggy’s discography, including many cuts from Raw Power, The Idiot, Lust For Life and Blah Blah Blah, David Bowie raised Pop up from a hopeless junkie to a dedicated alternative icon. Bowie’s union with Iggy Pop Represents the little spoken of but all-too-important intersection between punk and 1970’s glam rock. (Matthew Landis and Conor Fagan)
Brian Eno during the Berlin Period and beyond:
Bowie’s collaboration with Brian Eno is maybe the most important in the history of music production. Bowie elevated Eno from the ousted Roxy Music keyboardist and electric savant and proved that his bizarre methods and avant-garde taste could function in a pop context. This changed music production. It introduced the synthesizer beyond the status of novelty instrument, utilized the mellotron outside of the “nerdy” context of prog, and made it hip to sample, warp, and electronically produce records. It’s impact is felt on everything from the Blade Runner soundtrack, to hip-hop, to Nine Inch Nails. Eno encouraged Bowie’s most ambitious tendencies and Bowie legitimized Eno’s “strangeness.” These two giants re-thought what pop music could be and as a result carved the path it would take for decades to come. Many still haven’t even caught up with them. (Matthew Landis)
Lou Reed on Transformer:
Yet another heroin addict that owes the second half of his career to David Bowie, the Thin White Duke lent his production and backup vocals talents to The Velvet Underground singer’s breakthrough album Transformer. (Conor Fagan)
Mick Ronson on Honky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars:
As one of the original Spiders from Mars, Mick Ronson played an integral role in early David Bowie recordings. They worked together extensively on Honky Dory in addition to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Together the two co-produced the aforementioned Lou Reed’s album Transformer. (Matt Matasci)
Queen on “Under Pressure”:
Perhaps one of the best known songs for both David Bowie and Queen, “Under Pressure” is a song that speaks for itself. It’s by far a highlight of both artists’ careers and features one of the catchiest bass lines mankind has ever known. The song features heavy lyrical themes and the push-pull dynamics of two of rock music’s most dynamic vocalists, Freddy Mercury and David Bowie. (Conor Fagan and Matt Matasci)
Mick Jagger on “Dancing in the Streets”:
Bowie once again joined forces with one of rock music’s most dynamic vocalists when he paired up with The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger for 1985’s “Dancing in the Streets.” Backed by a very dated video, the song was part of the Live Aid relief project. (Matt Matasci)
Bing Crosby on “Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth”:
One of Bowie’s most surprising collaborations is with the iconic singer/actor Bing Crosby. Appearing on his Christmas special, Bowie was at a point in his career at which he was trying to “normalize” himself to mainstream audiences. The strangely surreal moment has become one of the most referenced crossroads of the holiday season and rock ‘n roll. Bowie found “Little Drummer Boy” to be too distasteful to sing, and so he (along with producers) came up with the counter-point song “Peace On Earth” to perform alongside Bing’s rendition of the Christmas classic. (Matt Matasci)
Trent Reznor on “I’m Afraid of Americans”:
“I’m Afraid of Americans” came at a time when Bowie was fully immersed in an electronic, at times even lite-industrial period of his career. It’s unsurprising that at this point he would turn to the biggest name in popular industrial music, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. The glitchy track that was born out of this union is a distinctly “Bowie” influenced song, but has Reznor’s grimy fingerprints all over it. (Matt Matasci)
TV on the Radio on “Province”:
TV on the Radio embodies the independent spirit that David Bowie trail-blazed over the decades. Just as Bowie always had one of the world’s most identifiable voices, TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe is unmistakable. The two voices alongside the band’s intricately layered instrumental passages produces one of the best songs on one of the 00s best albums. (Matt Matasci)
Arcade Fire on “Reflektor”:
This one’s a bit of a stretch because David Bowie does not play much of a key role in the song, but he appeared as a guest vocalist on Arcade Fire’s excellent single “Reflektor” in 2013. If anything, it was symbolic of one rock icon approvingly passing the torch to a band that very well could fill the role of an artist that astutely straddles the line between artistic creativity and mainstream relevancy. (Matt Matasci)
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