“Modern Love”, Let’s Dance, 1983
Michael Marotta
In a career of seduction, the opening to “Modern Love” is the most devastating of bedroom eyes: the slashing guitar, the tumbling drum beat, and then the Duke’s deadpan lyrical delivery of “I know when to go out/And when to stay in/Get things done.” From there, your walk around the block becomes a mild-mannered sprint. At some point in the mid-2000s, the indie dance party grew tired of glam-era tracks like “Rebel Rebel” and “Suffragette City,” and set its post-punk’d/new-disco’d strobe lights to the frolicking “Modern Love”, a devilishly upbeat pop number that put the sax back in sex and Bowie back into nightcubs. It saw Bowie conquer the pop charts, and give young fans — really young fans, like those born in the late-’70s — their first taste of unbridled genius. With respect to “Loving The Alien” and “Life On Mars,” it remains my undisputedly favorite David Bowie song of all time.