I always think of this song as the pop music center of the 20th century. There are those 33 1/3 books, and the one on Low did a great job of describing its importance this way. Basically what you have here is Northern European melody with rhythm and blues backbeat; synthesized, but analog; intimate haiku about enjoying isolation for lyrics whilst celebrating dance. It’s all in there. (And those gated 80s drums are, for better or worse, at least three years ahead of their time.) I bought my copy of Low when the New Wave crested and the 60s “punks” (Stooges, VU, etc.) were being re-sent back into bargain bins by RCA, etc. to find more customers. Scary Monsters will always be “the” Bowie LP for me, but this song speaks volumes about rock’s past and future in less than four minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IJsAuUgSgc
