David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”: The Reinvention That Changed Everything

About this episode

This episode explores David Bowie's transition from avant-garde artist to mainstream hitmaker with his song 'Let’s Dance'.

In the early 1980s, David Bowie was an artist’s artist, but he wasn’t yet a blockbuster hitmaker in America. Fresh off the experimental depths of his Berlin Trilogy, Bowie decided it was time to step out of the shadows and onto the dance floor. In this episode of Behind The Song , Janda explores the seismic shift that occurred when the Starman traded his avant-garde roots for a truly knockout hit that conquered the mainstream. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People in this episode

Host: Janda

Topics covered

• David Bowie
• music history
• mainstream music
• 1980s
• reinvention
• hitmaking

Keywords

• David Bowie
• Let’s Dance
• 1980s music
• hitmaker
• avant-garde
• Berlin Trilogy
• music reinvention

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Let’s Dance

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