Teenage Wildlife

Album: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • David Bowie (from the Mail on Sunday June 29, 2008): "So it's late morning and I'm thinking: 'New song and a fresh approach. I know, I'm going to do a Ronnie Spector. Oh yes I am. Ersatz, just for one day.' And I did and here it is. Bless. I'm still enamored of this song and would give you two 'Modern Loves' for it any time. It's also one that I find fulfilling to sing onstage. It has some nice interesting sections to it that can trip you up, always a good kind of obstacle to contend with live. Ironically, the lyric is something about taking a short view of life, not looking too far ahead and not predicting the oncoming hard knocks. The lyric might have been a note to a younger brother or my own adolescent self."
  • In the same Mail on Sunday interview Bowie referred to guitarists "the great Robert Fripp and my long-time friend Carlos Alomar" forming "a splintery little duel." While Fripp is best known for his membership of the progressive rock band King Crimson, Alomar is an American session guitarist who has played on more Bowie albums than any other musician. Among the Bowie songs he has played on are "Young Americans," "Fame" and "Boys Keep Swinging."
  • David Bowie hated Gary Numan, a man who grew up idolizing the This White Duke. He slagged him off in the press and once had the synth-pop artist thrown off the set of Kenny Everett's TV Christmas Special. Bowie even took a potshot at Numan during this song.

    Same old thing in brand, new drag
    Comes sweeping into view, whoa, hoe, hoe, hoe, hoe, hoe
    As ugly as a teenage millionaire
    Pretending it's a whizz-kid world


    "It just seems really childish," Numan told Q magazine. "When he did that, I couldn't have given a f--k about him."

Comments: 1

  • Tom from Appleton, WiFripp's howling guitar work gives this song the additional angst called for by the lyrics (though rather obscure) lyrics. I love this song, especially when in a bad mood...
see more comments

Editor's Picks

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.

Bob Dylan Lyric Quiz

Bob Dylan Lyric QuizMusic Quiz

Think you know your Bob Dylan lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

Psychedelic Lyrics

Psychedelic LyricsMusic Quiz

Whoa man! Do you know which band came up with these cosmic lyrics?

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.