On this day in history (April 14, 1983), David Bowie released his 15th studio album Let’s Dance featuring the singles Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love. This album featured a switch in producer from Tony Visconti to Nile Rodgers. Visconti didn’t work with Bowie again until nearly 20 years later on 2002’s Heathen album.

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This album, while wildly successful, caused Bowie to his a self proclaimed creative low in his career. He stated

I remember looking out over these waves of people [who were coming to hear this record played live] and thinking, ‘I wonder how many Velvet Underground albums these people have in their record collections?’ I suddenly felt very apart from my audience. And it was depressing, because I didn’t know what they wanted

This lull ultimately influenced the forming of Tin Machine, which was an effort for Bowie to re-kindle some of his creative juices.

Videos

Let’s Dance

China Girl

Modern Love

Charts and Accolades

Peaked at #1 on the UK Albums Chart

Peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 chart

Title track Let’s Dance reached #1 in the UK/US

China Girl peaked at #2 in the UK

Modern Love peaked at #2 in the UK

Track Listing