rockofallages81-tvgda

In late 1973, David Bowie started getting addicted to cocaine. By late 1974, his addiction got so bad that you could see how bad his health was just by watching video of him. Despite that, he kept making music anyway. He made several albums during his addiction, including 1974’s Diamond Dogs and 1975’s Young Americans. But our focus today is on Station To Station, released in January 1976. Bowie had multiple drug addictions going on at the time, not just cocaine. He famously recalled that his addiction troubles were so bad, he had no memory of making the album at all.
A very similar thing happened with Stephen King, who said his addiction troubles were so bad at one point that he doesn’t remember writing his 1981 novel “Cujo.” But let’s go from the man who wrote killer dogs back to the man who wrote Diamond Dogs.
I like David Bowie’s music. My favorite Bowie album is Aladdin Sane, but there is a strong argument to be made for Station To Station being the best Bowie album. Not because of the drugs, obviously – drug addiction is a serious matter. Station To Station has elements of funk and R&B carried over from Young Americans, but the album also sees Bowie showing influence from a genre known as “krautrock.”
The name is a bit controversial, but regardless, it refers to a form of experimental rock developed in West Germany in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Prominent bands of the scene include CAN, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, and Amon Düül II. There were also bands that leaned more electronic, like Neu! and Kraftwerk. It was these West German bands that influenced Station To Station. As a result, the album differs from Young Americans in many ways, though not in commercial success. “Golden Years,” the lead single from Station To Station, was one of Bowie’s biggest hits. “TVC 15” only peaked at #64 on the Hot 100, but it did get a good amount of AOR airplay. And while it wasn’t an official single, the title track that opens the album (which is Bowie’s longest song, by the way) remains a standout in Bowie’s catalog.
As I said, the album had a strong German influence. Perhaps it was too strong, because Bowie would espouse pro-fascist views on the album’s tour. Or maybe that was the cocaine talking. Either way, Bowie has since rejected those views. That means you can enjoy Station To Station guilt-free, so long as you also ignore the fact that he may or may not have had sex with an underage girl.