Day 43 | Under the God

Tin Machine marked as stark a reboot of David Bowie as any in a career distinguished by changes. He went from soft to hard, solo to band, dance music to music meant for listening. Most of all he went from Impressionism to complete unsubtlty. Under the God is one of several moralistic songs on Tin Machine that leave little room for interpretation (contrast against, say China Girl, which covers similar anti-racist ground but is far less obvious). Bowie would never mix his Tin Machine songs with his solo songs- this was a mistake. While distinct, these should be part of the cannon. Album: Tin Machine

Note from 2018: What was I thinking? Bowie performed at least one Tin Machine song after Tin Machine, next to a collection of his solo songs. “I Can’t Read” is included in his VH 1 Storytellers performance, and is captured in the iTunes and DVD version of that 1999 performance.