I was a college student when this album came out. It was and is so revolutionary, and Visconti's production is brilliant. I understand why Bowie wanted a more commercial career afterwards, but it's always so shocking to me how he did a complete 180 on the messages in this album. I wish I'd known of the existence of the interview LP, it would have answered a lot of questions for me. I've always interpreted it differently in many cases. It's No Game for instance, which I've always taken to be less about the world outside Bowie and more about the world inside him. And Kingdom Come I've always regarded as a camp striptease, echoing the cover imagery, about his feelings of stardom. This video was excellent and so well-researched. Thanks very much.
The first track is so good it is sick. We was 4 peeps listening to it when it came out, and the room was simply silent in over 5 min, not sure it was awe or shock that came over us. My first thought was it will be so hard to surpass this brilliance. Before this album, I had Ziggy Stardust as my favorite, but for me it is like all the strings of Bowie comes together on Scary Monsters.
great commentary! I've become a Bowie fan only this year and I swear every fact I learn about his creative process makes him even more awesome. If you do another album, I think "diamond dogs" or "hunky dory" would have a lot to unpack.
I'm glad you enjoyed my video. I definitely plan on covering more Bowie albums in the future (Hunky Dory and Diamond Dogs are both on the list) and I'm currently editing a video about another Bowie album.
This is definitely one of my top 5 bowie albums (picking a favourite is like picking your favourite metaphorical child); I absolutely adore how raw the vocals and instrumentals are in this. I really hope you continue making more analyses on different albums (especially bowie ones) because these are fantasically researched and written.
This is the sound of 2024. Been listening to this since 1980. Always knew it was reflective of some kind of inevitable future. The scary monsters have always been here. But now they're organized.
This was a wonderful video, Adam. One of the best in-depth looks at Scary Monsters I have ever come across. I really enjoyed every minute of your analysis. Excellent job!!! :-)
This is an excellent analysis! Can't believe it has so few views. It is extremely well researched you give such thoughtful commentary and context to the songs and it's allowed me to appreciate them in a light I hadn't considered before. Thank you!
I oroginally stumbled upon your channel because of your exceptional The Wall video and I must say that every upload of yours has so far been a treat. Please continue!
Scary Monsters is in my opinion is all about his experiences and observations of leaving America and crashing/drying out in Berlin. He observed the new sounds being created at that time.. the politics of West vs. East Berlin. I think he used alot introductions of "This is not going to happen to me again..I am coming back clean and wiser America.
I mean, this is a great analysis and the video is very well put together, don't get me wrong, but I find the idea of "content warnings" in Bowie's music to be quite silly. Anybody that could be "disturbed" by the contents of this album (why they would be is anyone's guess) probably isn't watching a deep-dive review of it. Still, great video, subbed.
Easily one of Bowie's best albums. I love how dissonant the guitars and vocals are. It's No Game Part1 is remarkable. Don't over-analyze this- you'll suck all the joy right out of the experience.
Very good analysis. Is probably in my top 10 albums. Just revisited it today and recommended it to my nephew, who is just getting into Bowie, although he’s only 8 and I forgot how dark this album is. Fripps dissonant playing is bloody brilliant. I remember the late 70’s , early eighties. They were pretty dark times and I think the music reflected this. I listened to The Wall endlessly and made myself utterly miserable in the process. So who is many music now that has this creative depth, cos I’m not hearing it ?
Oddly enough this was his last RCA studio album which garnered four singles….Ashes to Ashes, Fashion and Scary Monsters and the less commercial up the hill backwards, the first two being hits….number 1 and number 5 in the UK. However he then parted ways with RCA, how much of that was his decision I’m not sure, although he was dissatisfied with them.
Wonderful analysis man! Keep up with the good work, I will watch them all! You definitely deserve more views and recognition for your work, and I'm hoping you'll get it soon. (Sidenote: Your in video avatar is kinda creepy, if that's what you were looking for haha).
An incredible analysis, I'd watch another any day, especially about a bowie album again. The little thing on screen of your like character model is a little unprofessional and a little pointless is all I would say. You deserve so much more attention for this video, I love it, I'll share it around
Thank you for sharing my video around! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I definitely plan on doing more Bowie videos, and I have one planned for later this year.
I hope you're doing well. I've just got done watching your review of The Wall and wanted to see more of your work. You seem to still be liking comments so I hope you're just being held back and nothing terrible has happened. I know Covid screwed us all up so take the time you need to finish this next big project!
Thanks a lot. I'm doing okay, I just haven't uploaded in a while because the project I'm working on (and have been since October) took a lot longer than I expected for a variety of reasons, but I'll hopefully be able to finish it by the end of this month.
34:54 Wait, why the hell not? If I ask someone to pass the salt, I hope to god someone doesn't take it upon themselves to interpret it abstract from what I meant. "salt" sounds a lot like "assault" and I don't think anyone wants to risk a misinterpretation.
23:40 the word gypsies is blackened out??? My Mother Said I Never Should Children's Song My Mother said, I never should Play with the gypsies in the wood.
Psychopath whom gun down Mr. Lennon did not want peace in the world. He felt comfortable with chaos and creating chaos, because he came from unpredictable environment during childhood. John Lennon did not treat his own son will. He emotional abandonment and physical abandonment him. If people want peace , then things we need to do be kind to ourselves first, as we are kind to others. This includes Gaia, her non human animals, and her humans. It all starts with how we treat ourselves. We have accept and understand our past and present. Self care creates peace in the world.
Please do final cut by pink floyd or any of Roger waters solo albums. I love how indepth you went into your wall analysis and I would happily watch any other pink floyd content
I'm glad you enjoyed my videos about The Wall. I definitely have plans to do videos on a lot of other Pink Floyd albums (including The Final Cut) and Roger Waters solo albums in the future.
@@st.dragon9389 I'm definitely not as familiar with Barrett's solo stuff as I am with Pink Floyd (or Waters' solo stuff), but it is a possibility. I thought it was funny that you asked this when you did, as I'm currently in the middle of reading Rob Chapman's biography of Barrett.
This is a fairly good quality analysis of the album, but GODDAMNIT, is it NECESSARY that the volume go up 17X worth when a piece of music is played?! FFS, DON'T DO THAT, Adam. Leah Kardos, who has the BEST analysis videos of Bowie, doesn't do that and neither does Knox Hill. A slight bump up is fine and acceptable, and maybe even justified but fucking hell, Adam, what you've done here does your videos and channel no favors. You only have 1.52K subscribers, and I would have subscribed just now were it not for the ridiculously high volume of the music. Polyphonic, another great analysis channel, does the same thing, and I stopped watching their videos for the same reason I'm not subscribing to yours.
@@earlpipe9713 No. It's because it's just too goddamn loud and I don't want to have to get up and lower the volume if I'm watching my monitor from the couch. There's NO good reason for there to be such an enormous discrepancy between the level of volume between the narration and the music. It's unnecessary, unwarranted and unprofessional. Hopefully, Adam has made a course correction but I don't know and don't care, but by virtue of the fact that he's increased his sub rate by only 370 over the course of a year doesn't bode well.
I was a college student when this album came out. It was and is so revolutionary, and Visconti's production is brilliant. I understand why Bowie wanted a more commercial career afterwards, but it's always so shocking to me how he did a complete 180 on the messages in this album. I wish I'd known of the existence of the interview LP, it would have answered a lot of questions for me. I've always interpreted it differently in many cases. It's No Game for instance, which I've always taken to be less about the world outside Bowie and more about the world inside him. And Kingdom Come I've always regarded as a camp striptease, echoing the cover imagery, about his feelings of stardom. This video was excellent and so well-researched. Thanks very much.
The first track is so good it is sick.
We was 4 peeps listening to it when it came out, and the room was simply silent in over 5 min, not sure it was awe or shock
that came over us. My first thought was it will be so hard to surpass this brilliance.
Before this album, I had Ziggy Stardust as my favorite, but for me it is like all the strings of Bowie comes together on Scary Monsters.
great commentary! I've become a Bowie fan only this year and I swear every fact I learn about his creative process makes him even more awesome. If you do another album, I think "diamond dogs" or "hunky dory" would have a lot to unpack.
I'm glad you enjoyed my video. I definitely plan on covering more Bowie albums in the future (Hunky Dory and Diamond Dogs are both on the list) and I'm currently editing a video about another Bowie album.
This is definitely one of my top 5 bowie albums (picking a favourite is like picking your favourite metaphorical child); I absolutely adore how raw the vocals and instrumentals are in this. I really hope you continue making more analyses on different albums (especially bowie ones) because these are fantasically researched and written.
Listening to Bowie for decades. Great discussion. Is there is an artist making music now who can come close to this man…. ?
I'm 52 yro, I had been hearing every other Bowie release was the "best since 'Scary Monsters'" by every reviewer. It's a legit statement.
This is the sound of 2024. Been listening to this since 1980. Always knew it was reflective of some kind of inevitable future. The scary monsters have always been here. But now they're organized.
This was a wonderful video, Adam. One of the best in-depth looks at Scary Monsters I have ever come across. I really enjoyed every minute of your analysis. Excellent job!!! :-)
I enjoyed this! Gave me some insights I will think of when I relisten to one album of Bowie which I have never quite been able to crack/connect with
God dammit you did it again! Why do you keep introducing me to these amazing songs?!?
Well done
This is an excellent analysis! Can't believe it has so few views. It is extremely well researched you give such thoughtful commentary and context to the songs and it's allowed me to appreciate them in a light I hadn't considered before. Thank you!
Got this album when I was a kid and loved it - your expose highlights many fascinating insights and reflections - excellent!!
Very interesting analysis with some unseen and unheard of snippets you have done a comprehensive in depth analysis
I oroginally stumbled upon your channel because of your exceptional The Wall video and I must say that every upload of yours has so far been a treat.
Please continue!
SAME
Scary Monsters is in my opinion is all about his experiences and observations of leaving America and crashing/drying out in Berlin. He observed the new sounds being created at that time.. the politics of West vs. East Berlin. I think he used alot introductions of "This is not going to happen to me again..I am coming back clean and wiser America.
I mean, this is a great analysis and the video is very well put together, don't get me wrong, but I find the idea of "content warnings" in Bowie's music to be quite silly. Anybody that could be "disturbed" by the contents of this album (why they would be is anyone's guess) probably isn't watching a deep-dive review of it. Still, great video, subbed.
Easily one of Bowie's best albums. I love how dissonant the guitars and vocals are. It's No Game Part1 is remarkable. Don't over-analyze this- you'll suck all the joy right out of the experience.
Very good analysis. Is probably in my top 10 albums. Just revisited it today and recommended it to my nephew, who is just getting into Bowie, although he’s only 8 and I forgot how dark this album is. Fripps dissonant playing is bloody brilliant. I remember the late 70’s , early eighties. They were pretty dark times and I think the music reflected this. I listened to The Wall endlessly and made myself utterly miserable in the process. So who is many music now that has this creative depth, cos I’m not hearing it ?
This was just what I was looking for
This is awesome. Thanks for the breakdown! :)
now I love him even more 😭 Why was the 70s music so good? not fair 😠
Oddly enough this was his last RCA studio album which garnered four singles….Ashes to Ashes, Fashion and Scary Monsters and the less commercial up the hill backwards, the first two being hits….number 1 and number 5 in the UK. However he then parted ways with RCA, how much of that was his decision I’m not sure, although he was dissatisfied with them.
Wonderful analysis man! Keep up with the good work, I will watch them all! You definitely deserve more views and recognition for your work, and I'm hoping you'll get it soon. (Sidenote: Your in video avatar is kinda creepy, if that's what you were looking for haha).
24:50 that whole album is him making up for the time without characters 😅
An incredible analysis, I'd watch another any day, especially about a bowie album again. The little thing on screen of your like character model is a little unprofessional and a little pointless is all I would say. You deserve so much more attention for this video, I love it, I'll share it around
Thank you for sharing my video around! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I definitely plan on doing more Bowie videos, and I have one planned for later this year.
@@adambaker2967 I'll be there 👍
@@adambaker2967 Thanks for helping me appreciate this album in more depth!
I hope you're doing well. I've just got done watching your review of The Wall and wanted to see more of your work. You seem to still be liking comments so I hope you're just being held back and nothing terrible has happened. I know Covid screwed us all up so take the time you need to finish this next big project!
Thanks a lot. I'm doing okay, I just haven't uploaded in a while because the project I'm working on (and have been since October) took a lot longer than I expected for a variety of reasons, but I'll hopefully be able to finish it by the end of this month.
Mr Baker, please do more analysis videos of DB's albums. I'm a new stan. Idk much but I willingly wanna know 🥰
34:54 Wait, why the hell not? If I ask someone to pass the salt, I hope to god someone doesn't take it upon themselves to interpret it abstract from what I meant. "salt" sounds a lot like "assault" and I don't think anyone wants to risk a misinterpretation.
Stan Bowie, stan skinny legend 🥳🥳🥳🥳
23:40 the word gypsies is blackened out???
My Mother Said I Never Should
Children's Song
My Mother said, I never should
Play with the gypsies in the wood.
Psychopath whom gun down Mr. Lennon did not want peace in the world. He felt comfortable with chaos and creating chaos, because he came from unpredictable environment during childhood.
John Lennon did not treat his own son will. He emotional abandonment and physical abandonment him.
If people want peace , then things we need to do be kind to ourselves first, as we are kind to others. This includes Gaia, her non human animals, and her humans. It all starts with how we treat ourselves. We have accept and understand our past and present. Self care creates peace in the world.
I'm surprised the screeching guitars are Fripp. I thought it was Earl Slick or Chuck Hammer.
Please do final cut by pink floyd or any of Roger waters solo albums. I love how indepth you went into your wall analysis and I would happily watch any other pink floyd content
I'm glad you enjoyed my videos about The Wall. I definitely have plans to do videos on a lot of other Pink Floyd albums (including The Final Cut) and Roger Waters solo albums in the future.
@@adambaker2967 I'll be first in line to watch
If it is okay, could you do some of Syd Barrett’s albums?
@@adambaker2967 If it is okay, could you try to do some of Syd Barrett’s solo albums if you have the time?
@@st.dragon9389 I'm definitely not as familiar with Barrett's solo stuff as I am with Pink Floyd (or Waters' solo stuff), but it is a possibility. I thought it was funny that you asked this when you did, as I'm currently in the middle of reading Rob Chapman's biography of Barrett.
Where did you get the idea that It's No Game Pt. 1 was someone watching TV?
Please do Alice Cooper Welcome to my nightmare
This is a fairly good quality analysis of the album, but GODDAMNIT, is it NECESSARY that the volume go up 17X worth when a piece of music is played?! FFS, DON'T DO THAT, Adam. Leah Kardos, who has the BEST analysis videos of Bowie, doesn't do that and neither does Knox Hill. A slight bump up is fine and acceptable, and maybe even justified but fucking hell, Adam, what you've done here does your videos and channel no favors. You only have 1.52K subscribers, and I would have subscribed just now were it not for the ridiculously high volume of the music. Polyphonic, another great analysis channel, does the same thing, and I stopped watching their videos for the same reason I'm not subscribing to yours.
Why is the increased music volume such an unforgivable trespass in your eyes? Is it simply that you use headphones for audio when watching RUclips?
@@earlpipe9713 No. It's because it's just too goddamn loud and I don't want to have to get up and lower the volume if I'm watching my monitor from the couch. There's NO good reason for there to be such an enormous discrepancy between the level of volume between the narration and the music. It's unnecessary, unwarranted and unprofessional. Hopefully, Adam has made a course correction but I don't know and don't care, but by virtue of the fact that he's increased his sub rate by only 370 over the course of a year doesn't bode well.