Following his realization of Andy Warhol’s vision for the Velvet Underground and his mastery of the pop culture art of shape shifting, David Bowie’s third-most distinctive contribution to rock is his use of backing vocals. Typically overdubbing his own backing vocals, Bowie took unique approaches to backing vocals that may have been original to rock and have barely been used by others since his work.

Letting his vibrato shine boldly and without regard to the timing of his vibrato on double-tracked recordings, Bowie’s lead vocals have always been distinctive enough. Surrounding his lead vocals, which often feature disorienting effects of their own, are highly personal backing vocal techniques, such as the “drunken sailors” backing vocals, as heard on both the Mott the Hoople hit (Bowie on backing vocals) and his own live verion of “All the Young Dudes” as well as tracks like “Five Years”. He also does more humming than anyone else in rock, maybe featured most prominently on “Moonage Daydream”. On “Ashes to Ashes” the mumbling call-and-response parts during certain verses become key to the song’s atmosphere. Large parts of Station to Station and Low exist for his unusual backing vocal workouts. Maybe the only singer who’s had a comparable “inner” approach to backing vocals is Marvin Gaye, as best represented on What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On.
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