Song · David Bowie
“Time Will Crawl” by David Bowie
From the album Never Let Me Down (1987)
“Time Will Crawl” by David Bowie appears on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1987 and 2003. It was first released in 1987 on the album Never Let Me Down. Its best result is #45 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1987. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #125 alternative song of 1987 and #3,997 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (David Bowie). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Time Will Crawl" was the second single from Never Let Me Down, David Bowie's 17th album, in 1987, and beneath its glossy, crowded surface it's a song about the world ending by slow poison: pollution and industry grinding the planet down, with the Chernobyl disaster feeding straight into the words. Bowie wrote it himself and produced it with David Richards.
The credits read like a mid-'80s studio summit: Carlos Alomar, Peter Frampton and Sid McGinnis on guitars, Erdal Kızılçay handling bass, synths and samples, saxophones from Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison and Steve Elson, and Bob Clearmountain on the mix. Its video doubled as a trailer for the Glass Spider Tour, and Bowie later counted the song among his personal favourites from his whole career.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 45 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1987 | 107 |
| 1987 | 86 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1987 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 744 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1121 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
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