David Bowie - Modern Love (US 12'') (1983) [24bit FLAC]

“Modern Love” is a song written and recorded by David Bowie, and the first track on his album Let’s Dance. It was issued as the third single from the album in 1983.

Bowie has claimed the song is inspired by Little Richard, and it maintains the album’s theme of a struggle between God and man. Some commentators noted the similarities between the track and Elton John’s near-simultaneous hit “I’m Still Standing”, although both parties said the songs were recorded at roughly the same time with no knowledge of the other.

By the time “Modern Love” was issued and edited as a single, Bowie’s Serious Moonlight Tour was underway. The track had become a popular encore on the tour, and Jim Yukich’s video for the song used footage of Bowie and his band performing the song from concert in Philadelphia on 20 July 1983. A live version, recorded in Montreal on 13 July, was on the B-side.

The single reached No. 2 in the UK, and No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. As well as being a staple of the tour, it featured in Bowie’s set at Live Aid in 1985, and in his subsequent Glass Spider and Sound+Vision tours of 1987 and 1990. A re-recording with Tina Turner was also featured on a Pepsi commercial in 1987.