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Cover of Let’s Dance by David Bowie — Cover: Let’s Dance

Song · David Bowie

“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” by David Bowie

From the album Let’s Dance (1983)

“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” by David Bowie appears on 18 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1982 and 2016. It was first released in 1983 on the album Let’s Dance. Its best result is #57 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #81 alternative song of 1982 and #1,573 alternative song of all time.

18countdowns

6stations

#57best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1982–2016years charted

Watch

David Bowie Cat People Putting Out Fire Music Video HQ

Video from YouTube (Yo Lio). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" started life as the title song for Paul Schrader's 1982 erotic horror film Cat People, with Giorgio Moroder's music and David Bowie's words, cut in Montreux in July 1981 and a chart-topper in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Bowie wasn't happy with that recording, though, so he tore it down and rebuilt it for Let's Dance in 1983.

The remake, recorded at the Power Station in New York in December 1982, is the tougher animal. Bowie co-produced with Chic's Nile Rodgers, Stevie Ray Vaughan takes the lead guitar and lets the blues bleed all over it, and Tony Thompson's drums and Carmine Rojas' bass push it hard, with Rob Sabino on keyboards and Bob Clearmountain engineering and mixing. It's the version most people know, thanks to the album's success, though some critics still prefer the original.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Classic Rock

#3,825 of all time

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1982	57	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982	107

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1989	101	WFNX	WFNX Top 101 Songs of the Decade (December 1989)	101
1989	364	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)	500
1991	384	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)	500
1999	1022	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	783	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	975	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	767	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1945	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1915	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1949	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	2004	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2016	989	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016	1007

Also listed as: Cat People; Cat People (Putting Out The Fire); Cat People (putting Out The Fire); Cat People (Putting out Fire).

Charting alongside it in 1982

Best songs of 1982 →

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