Day 259 | The Last Thing You Should Do

For a while in the 90s and early 2000s, Bowie would release an album that would leave me wanting more, then follow it with a deviation leaving me disappointed. Such was the case with Earthling, which followed Outside.  Although Outside contained elements of “jungle,” that wasn’t the album’s dominant motif.  That it was for Earthling was more disappointing because it already seemed old. I sometimes wonder how the disco elements in Diamond Dogs sounded at the time, in 1974. Probably new and subversive.  Anyway there is no better example of this style of song than this one. And like the album as a whole I have come to like it much more.  Today I don’t listen to Diamond Dogs, Low or anything else from Bowie’s back catalogue because it sounds currently new.  Also it doesn’t matter today what came first, “Heroes” or Lodger.  So past the context of time and sequence all that’s left is how the song sounds (I can’t even say “what the song means” because it’s minimalist  lyrics don’t leave much to contemplate). These days I like how it sounds well enough! Album: Earthling.