On this day in history (April 14, 1983), David Bowie released his 15th studio album Let’s Dance featuring the singles Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love. This album featured a switch in producer from Tony Visconti to Nile Rodgers. Visconti didn’t work with Bowie again until nearly 20 years later on 2002’s Heathen album.
This album, while wildly successful, caused Bowie to his a self proclaimed creative low in his career. He stated
I remember looking out over these waves of people [who were coming to hear this record played live] and thinking, ‘I wonder how many Velvet Underground albums these people have in their record collections?’ I suddenly felt very apart from my audience. And it was depressing, because I didn’t know what they wanted
This lull ultimately influenced the forming of Tin Machine, which was an effort for Bowie to re-kindle some of his creative juices.
Videos
Let’s Dance
China Girl
Modern Love
Charts and Accolades
- Peaked at #1 on the UK Albums Chart
- Peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 chart
- Title track Let’s Dance reached #1 in the UK/US
- China Girl peaked at #2 in the UK
- Modern Love peaked at #2 in the UK
Track Listing
- Modern Love
- China Girl
- Let’s Dance
- WIthout You
- Ricochet
- Criminal World
- Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
- Shake It
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