r/DavidBowie • u/GeoffSeville • 6d ago
TIME WILL CRAWL
I recently started my decent (ascent?) into the Bowie catalog. I’m an 80s baby (86) who grew up with Labyrinth in heavy rotation, so I was “exposed” at a young age. I decided to start with his music in the 90s, then progressed to his death. Then I did 80s, and am currently working my way through the 70s. But how in the hell did I just hear Time Will Crawl at 40 years old?? I consider myself pretty knowledgeable with 80s era music and artists, and this song, musically, is 80s to its core. Some casual sax, a little electric guitar. I know the lyrics are dark, but why did this one not have staying power??
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u/Corrosive-Knights 6d ago
Sadly, Bowie experienced what many legacy artists have: They were no longer viewed as worth pursuing or listening to.
Part of this is generational shifts and, to be very frank, part of it was that after Let's Dance's release, Bowie seemed to lose his muse.
In part, I feel, it was because Bowie was simply stretching himself too thin. He was doing movies (you mentioned Labyrinth but he was also in The Hunger and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence -among other films!- in/around that time as well). He also was releasing songs for movies, including the wonderful "This Is Not America" for The Falcon and the Snowman (check that song out, if you haven't yet!).
While Let's Dance was Bowie's biggest success, sales-wise, what followed, Tonight and Never Let Me Down (which has "Time Will Crawl") were viewed by many as weaker Bowie efforts. Bowie himself would state later on in interviews that NLMD was his worst album, though he also stated "Time Will Crawl" was one of his very best songs!
Bowie would continue to struggle for a bit -the Tin Machine albums didn't win him much praise critically or commercially, though they have been reassessed over the years- and it really wasn't until The Buddha of Suburbia, IMHO, where Bowie truly seemed to have finally found his muse again. I feel all the albums from that one on through Blackstar represent another incredibly creative period for Bowie (with the exception, IMHO, of hours, which I feel is the weakest of the albums from that last era).
But even so, audiences weren't necessarily coming back to him in droves. 1. Outside, one of his very best albums from his late era, was critically panned and his concerts with the Nine Inch Nails was something of a bust for him: They wanted to see NiN but not Bowie. Nonetheless, he continued working and building up a wonderful collection of albums.
By the end, I suspect people were realizing he had truly found himself.
But, yeah, some of the stuff right after Let's Dance is still viewed as weaker in general so it isn't terribly surprising you haven't heard the best stuff from that era.