Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (song)

"Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released as the title track of his 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). It was also issued as the third single from that album in January 1981. Coming as it did in the wake of two earlier singles from Scary Monsters, "Ashes to Ashes" in August 1980 and "Fashion" in October the same year, NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray labelled its release another instance "in the fine old tradition of milking albums for as much as they could possibly be worth".[1] The song was subsequently performed on a number of Bowie tours.

"Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
B-side"Because You're Young"
Released2 January 1981
RecordedPower Station, New York, February 1980; Good Earth, London, April 1980
GenrePost-punk
Length3:27 (7" single edit)
5:10 (Full-length album version)
LabelRCA
BOW 8
Songwriter(s)David Bowie
Producer(s)
David Bowie singles chronology
"Fashion"
(1980)		 "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)"
(1981)		 "Up the Hill Backwards"
(1981)

Musically the track was notable for its lead guitar work by Robert Fripp and distinctive synthesized percussion. The lyrics, sung by Bowie in his Cockney accent, charted a woman's withdrawal from the world and descent into madness ("When I looked in her eyes they were blue but nobody home ... Now she's stupid in the street and she can't socialise"). Thematically the song has been compared to Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" (1979),[1] and to the "claustrophobic romance" of Iggy Pop's 1977 collaborations with Bowie, The Idiot and Lust for Life.[2]

The edited single reached No. 20 in the UK charts. As well as 7" vinyl, it was issued in Compact Cassette format.

Track listing

All tracks written by David Bowie.[3]

  1. "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" – 3:27
  2. "Because You're Young" – 4:51

The French release of the single had "Up the Hill Backwards" as the B-side.

Production credits

Charts
Chart (1981) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 20
Irish Singles Chart 17

Live versions
  • A concert performance recorded on 12 September 1983 was included on the live album Serious Moonlight (Live '83), which was part of the 2018 box set Loving the Alien (1983-1988) and was released separately the following year. The filmed performance appears on the concert video Serious Moonlight (1984).
  • The song was performed during the 1987 Glass Spider Tour, although a 1987 live performance of the song was not included until the 2007 special edition release of Glass Spider featured a performance recorded in Montreal, Canada.
  • Bowie performed the song on Saturday Night Live on 8 February 1997. This was later released on the album Saturday Night Live - 25 Years Volume 1.
  • Bowie and Reeves Gabrels performed an all-acoustic country and western version of the song for the radio station WRXT in Chicago Il on 16 October 1997.
  • Bowie performed the song with Nine Inch Nails numerous times during the Outside Tour and one live version was released on the concert album No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) (2020).

Other releases

Cover versions
  • Frank Black - Live recording (with David Bowie) (1997)
  • Ex-Voto - Goth Oddity: A Tribute to David Bowie (1999)
  • Sepulcrum Mentis - The Dark Side of David Bowie: A Tribute to David Bowie (1997)
  • Superchunk - Cup of Sand compilation (2003)
  • Tides of Mars - .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
  • UFX - bonus track included on 2013 reissue of Sick Sick Sex (2008)
  • Joe Jackson - Live Music - Europe 2010 (2011)
  • Daniel Johnston & Jack Medecine - The Electric Ghosts (2006)
  • Shearwater - The Sky Is A Blank Screen: Live Recordings 2016 (2017)
  • Depussy - Pink Dolphin Music Presents: Scary Monsters (an electronic tribute) (2019)

References in pop culture
  • "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" was referenced in the popular multimedia franchise JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It is the name of a Stand called "Scary Monsters" (Japanese: スケアリー・モンスターズ Hepburn: Sukearī Monsutāzu), which was introduced in Part 7: Steel Ball Run.

Notes
  1. Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp.112-115
  2. Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: p.180
  3. "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" (Single liner notes). David Bowie. UK: RCA Records. 1981. BOW 8/PB 9654.CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. "A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN (1977 – 1982) - David Bowie Latest News". DavidBowie.com. 22 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2017.

References

Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5

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