Album release: Black Tie White Noise

Black Tie White Noise, David Bowie’s first solo release since the demise of Tin Machine, was released on 5 April 1993. The album was written and recorded in the months after his marriage to Iman, and saw him reunite with Let’s Dance producer Nile Rodgers.

Reviews were broadly positive, with many critics thankful that Bowie appeared to have turned his back on Tin Machine (Bowie planned to record a third studio album with the band in 1993, but the project failed to materialise). It was also the first in a series of new releases to be described as “Bowie’s best since Scary Monsters”, a description which would rapidly become a recurring cliché.

The album topped the UK chart, and reached the top 10 in Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway. In the US it peaked at 39 on the Billboard 200.

I listen to this album all the time, which is always a good sign. With all due respect to Nile, I didn’t listen to Let’s Dance that much. It wasn’t all me. It was a lot of Nile. I thought, ‘Not again.’ So it was very much my album that we made this time, and Nile contributed to it, as opposed to Nile doing everything and just me suggesting we get Stevie Ray Vaughan in or whatever. That’s probably why it’s so identifiable me.