David Bowie’s 20 best songs, from wicked to freakin’ awesome

By Steve Newton

I hereby proclaim that David Bowie is the greatest pop-rock artist of all time. Who’s with me?

20. “Time Will Crawl” (Never Let Me Down, 1987)

19. “Panic in Detroit” (Aladdin Sane, 1973)

18. “Ashes to Ashes” (Scary Monsters [and Super Creeps], 1980)

17. “Heroes” (Heroes, 1977)

16. “The Secret Life of Arabia” (Heroes, 1977)

15. “Young Americans” (Young Americans, 1975)

14. “The Man Who Sold the World” (The Man Who Sold the World, 1970)

13. “Station to Station” (Station to Station, 1976)

12. “Joe the Lion” (Heroes, 1977)

11. “Watch That Man” (Aladdin Sane, 1973)

10. “Life on Mars” (Hunky Dory, 1971)

9. “Space Oddity” (David Bowie, 1969)

8. “Rebel Rebel” (Diamond Dogs, 1974)

7. “Time” (Aladdin Sane, 1973)

6. “Fascination” (Young Americans, 1975)

5. “Moonage Daydream” (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)

4. “Let’s Dance” (Let’s Dance, 1983)

3. “Changes” (Hunky Dory, 1971)

2. “Ziggy Stardust” (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)

1. “Wild is the Wind” (Station to Station, 1976)

I never got to interview David Bowie, to my infinite regret, but to hear the full audio of the two interviews I did in the ’80s with his guitarist Mick Rons0n–who played on roughly half of these songs–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 600 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.

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