‘Scary Monsters’: The Album David Bowie Wrote with Optimism Following the Berlin Trilogy

David Bowie was coming off of his Berlin Trilogy in 1980 when he put out Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). The Berlin Trilogy consisted of the albums Low and “Heroes”, both released in 1977, and Lodger from 1979. The albums came following Bowie’s move to Europe with Iggy Pop, both of them leaving Los Angeles and attempting to reconcile their worsening drug problems.

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After the trilogy, during which Bowie experimented with different genres and sounds as well as dealt with his problems, he sat down to write a more commercially viable record. The trilogy was successful stylistically and influentially, but didn’t quite make a commercial splash. Scary Monsters, however, came from a much more optimistic place in Bowie’s psyche.

“There was a certain degree of optimism making [Scary Monsters] because I’d worked through some of my problems, I felt very positive about the future, and I think I just got down to writing a really comprehensive and well-crafted album,” said David Bowie in 1999, quoted in Nicholas Pegg’s book The Complete David Bowie.

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David Bowie Followed Familiar Themes on Scary Monsters, But Finally Brought Listeners Into His World Instead of Shutting Them Out

Critically, Scary Monsters is considered a great success in David Bowie’s career. It’s been described as the culmination of his work in the 1970s and a gateway into the rock sound of the 1980s. Christopher Sandford, in his 1997 book Bowie: Loving the Alien, posited that Scary Monsters delivered many familiar themes from Bowie’s previous works. However, this album allowed listeners to join Bowie on his journeys through madness, alienation and “the redeeming power of love,” instead, wrote Sandford, of “freezing [them] out.”

Scary Monsters is more accessible to unfamiliar audiences, as far as David Bowie can really be easily accessible. He’s known for experimentation and breaking down musical barriers, and Scary Monsters is another stepping stone in the winding, often complicated garden path of his career. Still, this album is a great place to start for anyone looking to get into Bowie. Granted, you could always start out strong and obscure with Outside, but that’s not recommended for the faint of heart.

This is one of David Bowie’s crowning achievements, and it came right after his acclaimed Berlin Trilogy. There’s a notable shift in Bowie’s energy from the trilogy to Scary Monsters, which makes the 1980 album a beautiful nod to his lasting legacy.

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