"Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)," also known simply as "Scary Monsters," is the fourteenth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 12 September 1980 through RCA Records. This album marked Bowie's return to a more commercial sound after the Berlin Trilogy (comprising Low, "Heroes", and Lodger), which, while artistically successful, had not achieved substantial commercial success.
Co-produced by Tony Visconti, Scary Monsters was recorded between February and April 1980 at the Power Station in New York City and later at Good Earth Studios in London. The recording sessions included familiar personnel from Bowie's previous albums, with additional guitar contributions from Chuck Hammer and Robert Fripp, and a guest appearance by Pete Townshend. The music on the album incorporates elements of art rock, new wave, and post-punk. Unlike the improvisational approach of the Berlin Trilogy, Bowie focused on meticulously writing both the music and lyrics, some of which were recorded under working titles and featured reworked elements from earlier, unreleased material. The album cover features a large-scale collage with Bowie in a Pierrot costume, and the rear sleeve contains references to his previous releases.
The lead single from the album, "Ashes to Ashes," revisited the character of Major Tom from Bowie's earlier hit "Space Oddity" and was accompanied by an innovative music video. Scary Monsters received both critical and commercial acclaim, topping the UK Albums Chart and achieving a respectable No. 12 on the US Billboard 200. It has been praised as Bowie's "last great album" and a benchmark for his subsequent work. The album was Bowie's final studio release with RCA and his last collaboration with Visconti for over two decades. It is frequently listed among the greatest albums of all time and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.
