Rank Anything You Feel Like Ranking

(not politics, physical things)

WmC, I like your list a lot, would have put about 20% of those in mine if I made one.

Thanks! Now that I have this album stuff out of my head somewhat I'm thinking about making a list of songs that broke my brain but aren't on albums good enough to make that top 50 list. The kind of thing I'll make notes on for a month and then drop.

10. Marrying his mom so as to become his stepfather

9. Telling everyone he “drugged you” when he just gave you a hit of his joint that one time

8. Calling him “the male Amanda Palmer” behind his back

7. Posting fantasy revenge lists on ILM

6. Telling yourself (accurately) that any public call-out or anything like that would be an act of punching down

5. Spelling out his name as a musical cryptogram as a “devil theme” in your next chamber music work

4. Always referring to him last-name first, first-name last, like “Palmer Amanda”, it’s weirdly so satisfying

3. Recording yourself reading his social media posts in a Maggie Smith voice and share the recordings with your group chat

2. Teaching your dog to shit every time she hears you say his name

1. Living well

1. Outside
2. Station To Station
3. Hunky Dory
4. The Man Who Sold The World
5. Blackstar
6. Low
7. Lodger
8. Earthling
9. Ziggy Stardust
10. Scary Monsters
11. Let’s Dance
12. Pin-Ups
13. Aladdin Sane
14. The Next Day
15. Young Americans
16. Diamond Dogs
17. Heroes
18. Heathen
19. Space Oddity
20. Black Tie White Noise
21. Reality
22. Tin Machine
23. Buddha Of Suburbia
24. s/t (Deram)
25. Never Let Me Down
26. Tonight
27. (Hours)
28. Tin Machine 2

I was asked by a friend to "listen through Eurythmics' catalogue and rank them" and I told them I didn't need to, and sent a link to Alfred's own ranking (which is identical to my own, and says more valuable and interesting things than I would say). "Eurythmics is easy," I texted, "but Bowie would be harder." So I did Bowie instead.

That's a bold choice for number one.

shouldn’t it technically be 1. 1. Outside though

He named it deliberately to top every ranked list of Bowie albums iirc

It's a personal choice bc it's the first of Bowie's albums I ever "went deep" on (that is, listened to incessantly), but As Albums Go it's his most complete and there's only one or two tracks I would consider inessential (and none are really bad); also his most original genre-creation. The only bad thing about it is the plot but I think it kinda serves as a stinky binding agent or something

I wonder where Blackstar and The Next Day would place if the Bowie ballot poll were done today. 12 years ago, jeez.

xp I get the personal choice aspect. For me, that was The Man Who Sold the World, which seemed like a gateway into a different universe. I also appreciate your comment on the "plot" of Outside, which always kept me from loving what I otherwise appreciated as a return to form/evolution in his sound and vision.

Yeah, I love The Man and have always ranked "The Width Of A Circle" highly on any personal song list. What an amazing way to start an album, a "gateway into a different universe" indeed, "turn around, go back!"

otm about "width of a circle," what a banger

I've probably listened to The Man Who Sold the World and 'heroes' the most out of any Bowie albums.

So we asked a simple black bird, who was happy as can be
And he laughed insane and quipped Kahlil Gibran
And I cried for all the others till the day was nearly through
For I realized that God's a young man too

Yes dammit so, so, so good. The synapse between post-hippie Bowie and alien-rock Bowie is magical