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Cover of Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps by David Bowie — Cover: Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps

Song · David Bowie

“Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)” by David Bowie

From the album Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps (1980)

“Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)” by David Bowie appears on 23 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1980 and 2021. It was first released in 1980 on the album Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps. Its best result is #76 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1980. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #76 alternative song of 1980 and #2,280 alternative song of all time.

23countdowns

9stations

#76best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1980–2021years charted

Watch

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (Live) [Official Video]

Video from YouTube (David Bowie). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

The title track of David Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) is a nervy little horror story, and it came out as the record's third single in January 1981, hard on the heels of "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion". NME's Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray grumbled that the album was being milked for all it was worth, but the song earns its keep.

Bowie, co-producing with Tony Visconti, sings it in a Cockney accent, tracing a woman who pulls away from the world and slides into madness, and the band sounds as unhinged as she does: Robert Fripp's guitar squeals and gouges, synthesized percussion ticks like a faulty clock, and Dennis Davis, George Murray and Carlos Alomar keep it lurching forward. Critics have set it beside Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" and the closed-in mood of Bowie's work with Iggy Pop on The Idiot and Lust for Life.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1980	76	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1980	106

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1988	410	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988)	496
1989	411	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)	500
1991	409	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991)	500
1991	872	CFNY 102.1 The Edge	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)	1002
1999	657	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	1344	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	1344	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1346	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2001	504	WFPK	WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time	2000
2002	1345	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	1886	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	1330	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	1888	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	1330	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	1330	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1868	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2008	1835	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1866	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1917	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2011	1995	CD101	CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011)	2011
2020	1641	WXPN	WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time	2020
2021	707	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s	909

Also listed as: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps); Scary Monsters; Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps); Scary Monsters and Super Creeps.

Charting alongside it in 1980

Best songs of 1980 →

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