Retro Tune of the Day VINYL COUNTDOWN: Young Americans by David Bowie from ChangesOneBowie album, 1976.

Young Americans was a breakthrough hit for Bowie in the United States. The sound of the song, often referred to by Bowie as “plastic soul” included cynical lyrics making references to the Watergate Scandal, McCarthyrism, and black repression via Rosa Parks as well as a direct lift from the Beatles’ A Day in the Life with the line “I heard the news today oh boy!”

Also interesting to note is the ChangesOneBowie album cover shot was taken by Tom Kelley, the same photographer who took the famous nude photographs of Marilyn Monroe on red velvet in 1949. [via]

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