Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 5

This week we resume the Weekend Diversion: 1983 series with the song that hit Number One this week in 1983, “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, which was Number One in the USA for one week on May 21, 1983. The song was released March 14, 1983, and was the first single from Bowie’s fifteenth studio album, also called Let’s Dance. It became the biggest-selling single of Bowie’s career.

Bowie wrote the song after switching from RCA Records to EMI, but it took on its final form only after working with Nile Rodgers, who’s probably nest known as co-founder of American group Chic.

The music video for “Let’s Dance” (above), was filmed in Australia and was praised as a commentary on the treatment of Aboriginal people. To me, it’s also a commentary on the moral bankruptcy of modern corporate capitalism. Portions of the video were shot in the outback Carinda Hotel, and the locals weren’t told a music video was being shot, so their reactions—including disapproving looks—were all genuine. Carinda is a town in the far north of the state of New South Wales in a mostly sheep-rearing area.

While in Australia, Bowie also filmed the video for “China Girl”, the second single from the Let’s Dance album, and its theme was also criticism of racism. The “China Girl” in the video is New Zealand model, actress, and restaurateur Geeling Ng. While “China Girl” was a Top Ten single in the USA, it was less successful than “Let’s Dance” (It reached Number 3 in New Zealand, though). Bowie originally co-wrote the song in Berlin with Iggy Pop.

I remember being uncomfortable about the video for “Let’s Dance” (and more so about the video for “China Girl”) because it seemed exploitative—something Bowie apparently thought about, too, because he gave himself a cameo in the “Let’s Dance” video as a factory manager—something I never noticed at the time or since, only finding it out when I was researching this post. Be that as it may, I bought the Let’s Dance album (on vinyl) when it was released, and I loved it.

In 1983, Bowie launched a world tour to support the Let’s Dance album. Dubbed “The Serious Moonlight Tour”, taking its name from a lyric in the “Let’s Dance” song, the tour included eight concerts in Australia and two in New Zealand during November 1983. The Auckland show, with 80-90,000 people at Western Springs, was one of the largest concerts ever held there. I’m pretty sure Nigel told me about going to the concert, though I’m not certain and don’t remember him saying which city or country. I do know, however, that the concert held in Vancouver on September 12, 1983 was filmed and released on video in 1984. Possibly as part of the promotion of the release, my partner at the time and I got tickets to a screening at a Chicago venue. I don’t remember much about that screening, except that it was a bar-like setting, not seated, making it kind of like a video bar.

I mention all this extra stuff about the Let’s Dance album because “Let’s Dance” was the only Number One single from that album, so I won’t get the chance to talk about any of this in a future post in this series. Oh, well.

On to chart performance: In the USA, “Let’s Dance” hit Number One in the USA (Gold), Number 2 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Platinum), Number One in New Zealand, and Number One in the UK (Platinum.

This series is back again next week with another Number One hit.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1983” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 1
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 2
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 3
Weekend Diversion: 1983, Part 4