D. J. (Песня Дэвида Боуи)

1979 song by David Bowie

Mountain (Montreux)
Record Plant (New York City)
| genre = New wave According to biographer Chris O'Leary, these cards were "part fortune cookie, part Monopoly 'Chance' cards", intended to spark creative ideas. Eno and Bowie used them previously to create some of the instrumentals for "Heroes" (1977). Future King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew contributed lead guitar, which was composited from multiple takes. He later told biographer David Buckley that it "goes through a whole mismatch of different guitar sounds almost like you're changing channel on the radio and each channel has a different guitar solo on it."

"D. J." takes a sardonic look at the world of the disc jockey. On the song, the DJ is looked at solely for what he is on the outside: "I am a DJ, I am what I play". Swiftly compared by biographers to Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio" (1978), writer Ian Mathers described the song as "a horror story about a human being reduced to nothing more than work." Bowie described the song in a 1979 radio interview: "This is somewhat cynical but it's my natural response to disco. The DJ is the one who is having ulcers now, not the executives, because if you do the unthinkable thing of putting a record on in a disco not in time, that's it. If you have thirty seconds' silence, your whole career is over." Biographer Nicholas Pegg and author Peter Doggett note that the song has the same initials as Bowie's actual name—David Jones. The song's primary key is in A minor, with a "neurotic compulsion" to move to A major. In the song's original mix, the bass, drums and rhythm guitar parts are noticeably pushed to the background, the last being encased with an Envelope phaser. The violin copies the vocal part in the first verse, after which it is ran through, and at ties replaced by, an EMS synthesiser. According to Doggett, the track makes allusions to other musical artists, from the Rolling Stones and Neil Young to the Beach Boys and Talking Heads; Bowie mimics the last's David Byrne in his vocal performance. In his book Bowie in Berlin (2008), author Thomas Jerome Seabrook compares "D. J." to Bowie's own "TVC 15" (1976) or "Be My Wife" (1977), in that it is a "seemingly straightforward, punch drunk rock'n'roller that [is] then gleefully perverted [in] some way or the other". Bryan Wawzenek of Ultimate Classic Rock highlighted "D. J." as a "danceable gem".

"D. J." first appeared on Lodger on 25May 1979, sequenced as the first track on side two of the original LP. RCA issued the song in slightly edited form as the second single from the album on 29June 1979, with the catalogue number BOW 3 and album track "Repetition" as the B side. Initially available only on limited edition green vinyl, the single charted at number 29 on the UK Singles Chart, number 98 on the Australian Top 100 and number 106 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. Several biographers agreed that it was an odd choice for a single, with Pegg describing it as "boldly uncommercial". Retrospective reviews have been positive. Writing for The Rolling Stone Album Guide in 2004, Rob Sheffield commented on the "razor sharp musical corners" and "new layers of wit and generosity in the songwriting" on Lodger, highlighting "Boys Keep Swinging", "D. J." and "Fantastic Voyage". In his review of the album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "D. J. ", along with "Look Back in Anger" and "Boys Keep Swinging", contain "strong melodic hooks that are subverted and strengthened by the layered, dissonant productions". The same publication's Dave Thompson called "D. J." one of the album's highlights—"a remarkable performance on a number of layers"—and a "lost gem" in Bowie's catalogue. In a 2015 list compiling Bowie's best songs by Mojo magazine, the song was voted number 76. One year later, Ultimate Classic Rock placed the single at number 16 in a list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best.

"D. J. ", both in its single edit and full length form, has appeared on several compilation albums, including Changestwobowie (1981), The Singles Collection (1993), The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979 (1998), Best of Bowie (US/Canada 2002), and The Platinum Collection (2006). The song, along with the rest of its parent album, was remastered in 2017 for Parlophone's A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set, which also featured a new remix by Visconti. The new mix brings the rhythm section more up to the forefront. In PopMatters, Chris Gerard gave the most acclaim to "D. J. ", writing that its new mix gives the track "more punch and clarity". O'Leary calls it one of the best remixed tracks.

+Chart performance for "D. J. "Chart (1979)PeakpositionAustralian Top 100 (Kent Music Report)98UK Singles Chart29US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100106