DJ

Lodger, 1979

a nother nod from Bowie, this time to David Byrne (a fellow Eno associate) as he clearly mimics the Talking Heads frontman’s trademark vocal style across the opening lines of this paean to the increasingly high-profile, powerful and, ultimately, crucial member of the late-70s music business community, the disc jockey. Maybe it was recognition of his subjects’ enormous egos that saw Bowie (aka David Jones, aka D.J.) release such an uncommercial composition as a single, but a predictable glut of airplay saw Simon House’s extraordinary treated violin and Adrian Belew’s Fripp-with-added-clang composite guitar break into the charts.