I remember being totally “gobsmacked” by the image I was looking at!

It was June 1972 and an impressionable young 14 year old (me) was watching Top of the Pops. There on the screen something incredible was happening!

David Bowie was arriving on the glam rock scene. It’s true he’d made a brief appearance in 1969 with Space Oddity, but he hadn’t stayed. This time he was here to stay, big time.

I think it was the fact that Bowie was just so…”different” that caught my eye, but it was also the fact that Starman was such a great song. And there he was performing Starman LIVE on Top of the Pops. No one performed truly live on TOTP in 1972, but Bowie did. That set him apart from the start!

So, the next morning with my pocket money in pocket, I ran down to the local record store, Hamilton Sound to buy Starman. Out of stock!!!

On to Woolies and Smiths but no luck, both sold out. Finally at the far end of Town, Rumbelows had one last copy left. So, my hard earned 25 pence was handed over and a copy of Starman was mine!

With the amazing Suffragette City on the b-side, I was in Bowie heaven as that 45 stayed on my turntable for the next three days!

I was totally addicted.

And, I am still totally addicted to Bowies music some 37 years later and the proud owner of every piece of music every released by the great man.

I have seen him in concert 12 times and have watched every metamorphosis over those 37 years.

So, I decided to try and pick my ten favourite David Bowie songs in honour of the pleasure listening to his music has given me. What a stupid thing to try and do!

With so much great and varied music to choose from…it took me three days to put this list together! And, the funny thing is, I know every Bowie fan will have a different “top ten”. But… for what it’s worth, this is my pick and the reasons therefore!

Here goes, although, even now…I get an urge to change some of these. Perhaps I’ll write another hub with an alternative top ten for a different mood on a different day!

In no particular order…

Lodger was the third in the “Berlin” trilogy and probably the most commercial of the three albums. It spawned some amazing tracks such as “Fantastic Voyage”, “Look Bank In Anger” and “D.J.”. But, my favourite and first in my Bowie top ten is “Red Sails”.

Not only is this a great and somewhat offbeat song, the ending is just so whacky. I’m not sure but lyrically this looks like one of Bowie’s famous “cut and paste” jobs. Musically a driving beat, catchy but offbeat tune and thumping chorus make this a Bowie classic. But…it’s that oh so whacky ending that really makes this song so special.

Most people of my age probably tend to look at all music through rose tinted glasses and have a definite leaning towards the songs we knew so well in our youth! You will definitely see that leaning in this Hub.

However, more recently Bowie has delivered some equally good work. 1995 saw Bowie revert to very dark subject matter on the Outside album. It was a very different feel all the way through, and there were a few “dodgy” tracks. However, there were some Bowie classics as well. The stand out track and another top tenner is “The Motel”.

A haunting song. Incredible bass playing and a virtuoso performance on piano by Mike Garson culminating in a majestic piano solo. Vocally, this is Bowie at his absolute best demonstrating an amazing vocal range and flexibility. I often wonder what he might have been able to do with his voice without the 30 Gitanes a day?

O.K. time to get nostalgic again with my third entry.

Starman made such an impression, so hot on the heels of buying the single, the iconic “Ziggy Stardust” album soon followed into my embryonic record collection.

If Starman stayed on the turntable for three days solid, I can’t remember how long “Ziggy” hogged the turntable? Made of the new vinyl technology “dynaflex” my copy of “Ziggy” was bent into a strange contortion and always slipped on Star. Many years later I got a CD version and still expected the “slip”!

Anyway, the top ten entry from Ziggy has to be “Soul Love”. Even now this track gives me goose bumps (The acid test of a really outstanding song in my opinion). A great song, but such emotion and a sax solo that is just sublime. In fact it’s so good it’s so smooth, it’s like, err, well, eating a tub of Hagen Daas! Sorry, awful simile, but you get the idea.

Staying in the early 70’s I decided to research a bit about David Bowie and was delighted to find that “Ziggy” was in fact Bowie's fourth album. So, I went about requisitioning the back catalogue.

My second album capture was “Hunky Dory”. What immediately struck me was how different this album was to “Ziggy”.

However, it was another album full of quality songs that I immediately fell in love with. Two songs from Hunky Dory make my top ten (and it could have been three or four).

Firstly “Life On Mars”. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was listening to when I first heard this track. Monumental, epic, brilliant, melancholic, sad, emotional, wow look at those cave men go! A superb performance on piano by non other than Rick Wakeman and vocally Bowie again demonstrating incredible talents. Despite some of my top ten changing, this would always, always be there.

My second selection from Hunky Dory is “Queen Bitch”. It’s another Bowie rocker and I just love the way he “does” this sort of song. It’s rock, it’s driving, but it’s a bit camp and it has just a great riff and always prompts a damn good sing a long!

By the time Aladdin Sane came along in mid 1973, I was addicted and had completed my back catalogue collection. Albums were always released on a Thursday back in the 70’s so it was a summer Thursday morning that I was queuing outside of the new independent record store in Hemel Hempstead.

I stood in awe looking at the Aladdin Sane window display and was first through the door with my £2.45 and very quickly left to run up the hill with my new booty in hand.

This album saw long time pianist Mike Garson join Bowie for the first time and he made an immediate impact on the title track where he was allegedly told to “play crazy” to great effect.

However, the top ten entry from this album is the opener “Watch That Man”. What a way to start a long awaited new album. Another Bowie rocker of immense proportions! Superb lyrics and Bowie outrageously rocking his way through four and a half minutes sheer rock and roll delight.

Aladdin Sane was in my opinion one of Bowie's strongest all round albums and still sounds as fresh and as strong thirty-six years later. It also courted some controversy with the track Time that had lyrics that were extremely naughty for 1973!

Apart from the cover album PinUps Bowie fans had to wait until 1975 for another original release. I was tempted to include “See Emily Play” or “Sorrow” from Pinups, but decided to stick to original Bowie tracks, so we move into Bowies first really dark album Diamond Dogs.

More controversy, this time over the cover which clearly showed the half man half dog Bowie’s genitals. So a delay in release resulted as the offending appendage was removed from the covers.

However, the wait was worth it as Bowie delivered a masterpiece.

I could pick any of the tracks on this album for a personal top ten (apart from the wishy-washy “Rebel Rebel”), however, my choice is the trilogy of “Sweet Thing”, “Candidate” and “Sweet Thing (Reprise)”.

Dark, daunting, edgy, street!

Another virtuoso vocal performance by Bowie, and with Bowie playing many of the instruments himself this gives a different feel to the album as a whole. Sleazy sax and grinding guitars give this Sweet Thing/Candidate a unique feel. The constant changes of mood also add to the overall and the climax is a driving deranged feedback guitar “solo” that was very different at the time.

With Bowie seemingly getting darker and more moody, a little bit heavier as well, the anticipation of the next album was heightened by the release of “David Live” which featured Earl Slick’s outrageous guitar. If this was the way Bowie was going I couldn’t wait!

Then he released Young Americans! Plastic soul I believe it was called at the time. I rebelled and didn’t buy it. Well, not for three years.

How wrong could I be?

With the super soulful yet jazzy David Sanborn on sax this album oozes class and seduction. Many a romantic night was spent wooing a young lady to this album, and it won every time!

Containing two of the classiest singles ever in “Fame” and the title track, my top ten entry from this album is “Win”. Just thinking about this track brings out the goose bumps!

I don’t know about “plastic” soul, this is the one of the finest soul tracks I have ever heard. Bowie shows yet another string to his vocal bow and delivers soulful vocals of the highest quality. The cast of musicians reads like a who’s who of soul at the time including future long time cohort Carlos Alomar (on a Bowie album for the first time), the aforementioned David Sanborn, Pablo Rosario and Luther Vandross.

“Win” has a beautiful melody and the very cool instrumentation adds to the atmosphere Bowie creates on this stunning track. Very emotional, very cool, very soulful.

Surprisingly (perhaps I shouldn’t use that word with Bowie) the next album “Station to Station" was far more mainstream. With just a cursory nod to the soul of “Young Americans” this was pure pop albeit with a ten minute plus title track. And, it’s that title track that is the top ten pick from Station to Station.

I was hugely tempted by “Stay” but Station to Station just edges it. With Earl Slick providing a hypnotic guitar riff in the first passage and driving rock in the second the two parts of this track complement each other so superbly well.

From the slow piano based, guitar picking of the first half, to a driving rock riff and superb Slick guitar solo in the second half. All underpinned by an expert vocal performance from Bowie himself and two amazing songs melded into one where the sum definitely adds up to far more than the parts. Epic, soaring, driving, a true classic and always in my top ten…on most days!

And, seeing the “Thin White Duke” live on stage was one of the highlights of my musical life, a stunning show!

I have heard it said that Station to Station was something of a “holding” album in the great Bowie scheme of things. An album made without much thought and just to keep the record company happy. I have to take issue with that simply because the album is so good.

But, I do think it was a time of change for the great man. 1977 saw the eagerly awaited new album “Low”. Bowie had retrenched to Berlin and the apparent optimism of Station to Station quickly evaporated!

I remember sitting at home listening to Capital Radio (London) awaiting the first public playing of “Low”. It was on Nicky Horne’s “Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It” show late one Tuesday evening.

My first reaction was similar to when I heard “Young Americans”…”what has he done”, oh, and I added “this time”!

I guess now I know Bowie's music so well, the constant changes are something I cherish and love. I enjoy seeing what he has come up with and anticipating what might happen! Although the last two albums Reality and Heathen have been somewhat “samey” and not heralded anything really new.

But, back in 1977, I couldn’t cope as my favourite musician changed clothes and personas more quickly than the Government of the time.

Side two of “Low” was a real challenge with four lengthy tracks of Eno inspired ambient electronica. However, over the years those tracks have become firm favourites, but a stand out song from the album?

It has to be the outrageous “Breaking Glass” although “Always Crashing In The Same Car” runs it a very close second. Breaking Glass is 1 minute 42 seconds of anarchy on vinyl. From the hilarious lyrics to the outrageous synth loop, the crunching guitar and driving but unusual riff, this is one of my all time Bowie favourites.

I remember playing this with a room full of Bowie friends when we first brought the album and having to replay Breaking Glass to make sure we heard it right. This track, is clever, different, inspired but most of all an absolute classic that never ceases to amaze me even after 30 years of listening to it. There are very few tracks that can be said about.

So, we near the end of this Bowie top ten.

Finally I am going to dip into Heroes, the second of the Berlin trilogy.

Low had the odd commercial moment, Heroes has nothing commercial about it, yet it was a huge success. In my opinion this is Bowie at his darkest. I guess Heroes itself has become commercial by default, but at the time of release it was definitely not. It is my final choice.

I find words difficult to come by when talking about Heroes. A massive hit it had no right to be. Crunching and whaling guitar and a synth loop played over and over again, but what a great performance by Bowie. This is the man at the very peak of his powers.

Amazing lyrics subtly yet powerfully delivered and just a great, great song. The imagery that this song invokes is dark, powerful, happy, elation, love, despair…every emotion rolled into one.

Heroes builds and builds until the intensity is almost unbearable with Bowie's vocals getting ever more desperate, yet something amazing is happening. Even now I’m not sure what! Whatever it is, it is absolute genius!

So, there you have my top ten Bowie songs that suit my mood for today and incredibly contains ELEVEN songs. Told you it was difficult to choose. Hey-ho!

I really enjoyed writing this Hub rather than my normal business oriented stuff. So, what’s your favourite Bowie track? Do you love him, hate him, or just tolerate him? What do you think of his constant personality changes?

Let me know what you think in the comments below and I’ll give you my opinion :>)

Thanks for reading this very personal Hub.