"Ashes to Ashes" and the Humiliation of David Bowie

"Ashes to Ashes" is one of David Bowie’s most iconic songs. It collapses myth, reinvents old characters, and confronts the shadows of his own past. In this episode, we trace the story behind the song: its deep ties to "Space Oddity," its place within Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and the new era it ushered in for Bowie after the Berlin Trilogy. Along the way, we’ll uncover the darker meanings beneath its art-pop surface, explore the groundbreaking artistry that surrounded its creation and its music video, and arrive at a moment of unexpected humiliation when Bowie himself was stripped of all mystique by a single passerby on a beach. This song is a reminder that even pop’s great chameleon was never beyond being humbled.

🍿 Watch the episode (and see the full series) on YouTube. 

📕 Read the transcript and hear the songs on the Poetic Wax Substack.

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Poetic Wax is a weekly music history series hosted by Andy Fenstermaker, where he digs into the record collection he's been building since the 1990s to uncover the sometimes little told stories behind the artists, albums, and songs from within.