Much later, my eyes were permanently opened when I realized that indisputably, Bowie acted methodically, systematically. Confirmed by the fate which he reserved to his superb Pierrot Clown from the Scary Monsters & Super Freaks album. A clown returning to ashes… ashes to ashes or black stardust? One amongst Bowie’s undisputable masterpieces, no question. And a "Pierrot" character that the "standardization" of Bowie’s production of the Eighties terminated in blood, in favour of the disappointing next-in-line albums that followed.

In retrospect, Scary Monsters, last truly overwhelming album by Bowie, did announce with its title the nature of its 1980s successors...

Lets’ Dance. A calibered product, effective but swaggering, flashy and somewhat empty. A well-oiled machine, where Bowie turned his back on the rarity and uniqueness of the artist Bowie, by raiding the bank of the Hit Parade – even at the price of his own integrity.

Tonight, which contrary to legend is a far more acceptable album than Let's Dance is (if not a masterpiece, far from it!), because of the presence of the extraordinary Loving The Alien and the great Blue Jean.

Never Let Me Down : Bowie’s nadir, a noisy, empty and unlistenable mess from beginning to end and which, by its very title, portends the legitimate fears of Bowie against the erosion of his audience' patience, namely ... er, David, pardon but this is the one album too many, so… adios! ...
  
Fortunately, Bowie showed us in the 1990s with Black Tie, White Noise (a rythmic worthy successor to Young Americans), and 1. Outside, and then in the 2000s with Hours and Reality but above all Heathen and Blackstar, that the three above mentioned paragons of vacuity from the 1980s were just forgivable faux pas along an extraordinary – if not flawless – artistic path.