Day 198 | Up the Hill Backward

Scary Monsters is so completely full of strong songs that the standouts (”Ashes to Ashes,” “Fashion,” the title track) are better known than the others more because of how they were promoted than because they are truly better than the other songs on the album. “Up the Hill” actually was released as a single, but without a video or some of the other accompaniments of its better known companions. So, while it is somewhat lost in the cornucopia, it remains an apex work. Still, I don’t know that anyone ever figured out what to do with it. Bowie rarely performed it—he used an abbreviated version during the Glass Spider tour as a kind cheer leading up to another song. Here it is used as the background track for a dance number that didn’t age well. Album: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).