Song · David Bowie
“Blue Jean” by David Bowie
From the album Tonight (1984)
“Blue Jean” by David Bowie appears on 11 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1984 and 2023. It was first released in 1984 on the album Tonight. Its best result is #18 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1984. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #15 alternative song of 1984, #5,584 alternative song of all time and #276 of the '80s.
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"Blue Jean" went out as a single ahead of Tonight, David Bowie's 16th studio album, in 1984, and it's one of only two songs on that record he wrote entirely on his own. It's a loose nod to Eddie Cochran dressed up in mid-'80s gloss: Omar Hakim on drums, Carlos Alomar on guitar, horns from Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison, Steve Elson and Mark Pender, even a marimba from Guy St. Onge. Bowie produced it with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham.
Bowie himself shrugged it off a few years later as sexist rock 'n' roll about chasing girls, hardly cerebral, and a BBC reviewer later dismissed it as formula. Chris O'Leary was kinder, filing it under pastiche but calling it clever and catchy. In America it was his fifth and last top-10 hit without a featured guest.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 24 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1984 | 106 |
| 1984 | 18 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1984 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 479 | Q101 | Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) | 500 |
| 1999 | 1006 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 2002 | 1372 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2007 | 1974 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1955 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1984 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2022 | 488 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) | 500 |
| 2022 | 1320 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2023 | 608 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
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