The 5 Best David Bowie Collabs Every Music Fan Should Know

As a solo artist, David Bowie produced magic that courses through every listener's body as they become entranced by the likes of "Starman" and "Heroes." However, there were times when Bowie collaborated with other musicians to create something even more out of this world. People talk about the assembling of the Avengers and Justice League onscreen, but Bowie's team-ups with other artists were just as culturally relevant.

Naturally, this feature wouldn't be complete without mentioning Queen and Bowie's bass-driven delicacy, "Under Pressure," which is a rock song from 1981 that sounds cooler today. Yet Queen aren't the only superstars with whom Bowie combined forces; he also had the honor and pleasure of working with other legends like John Lennon and Tina Turner.

It would be exhausting to prattle on about every famous musician and personality who crossed paths with the former Ziggy Stardust here; however, these are the five best Bowie collabs that every music fan should know and have in their classics playlist. Not only did all these songs chart in the Billboard Hot 100, but they're also proper bangers that haven't aged a day since they were released.

From David Bowie's 1975 album "Young Americans," "Fame" has the distinction of being his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is all about its body-shaking, funky beat, and Bowie agonizingly crooning the word "fame" over and over again. Behind the song, though, is its own famous group of musicians: Bowie, Carlos Alomar, and John Lennon.

An unexpected improv between the musicians led to the creation of "Fame." Lennon contributed backing vocals and guitar to the track, adding an extra gloss of star power to this already addictive hit. While Bowie's voice is front and center of this masterpiece, it isn't too difficult to identify when Lennon comes in to leave his genius stamp on the matter.

Bowie and Lennon had become friends in the '70s, leading to the pair covering "Across the Universe" — one of John Lennon's favorite Beatles songs — on "Young Americans" and coming up with "Fame" along with Alomar. According to Bowie, Lennon taught him something important about the songwriting process. "He said, 'It's very easy, all this. All you have to do is say what you mean, make it rhyme, put a backbeat to it,'" Bowie revealed in an interview. "I keep coming back to that principle."

David Bowie closely worked with Iggy Pop, serving as a producer on the latter's 1977 album "Lust for Life." One of the songs they wrote together was "Tonight." Seven years later, Bowie borrowed it as the title track for his 1984 album. However, it wasn't Iggy Pop providing guest vocals on the song. Instead, that spot was reserved for the glamazon Tina Turner.

Using a sample of Aretha Franklin's "Spanish Harlem" and reveling in the reggae rumble, Turner and Bowie breathe new life into this titanic track and put on a performance for the ages. This version of "Tonight" would climb up to the No. 53 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. While the recording is incredible, check out the live video of the song that shows off why both Bowie and Turner are two of the greatest musicians to have ever lived.

In the '80s, Turner and Bowie worked together a few times, and the "Simply the Best" singer revealed that she owed a debt of gratitude to Bowie for convincing their shared record label to give her another chance. "It was because of David that I got another deal, and everything else followed," Turner told Female First (via the New Zealand Herald). "I'll be ever thankful to him."

Close your eyes and imagine the two biggest rock stars of all time. Chances are, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger were the first people who came to mind. Put aside their undeniable talent for a second — because that's never been in any doubt — and the honest truth is those two together feature more charisma in their big toes than most people have swarming in their entire bodies. In 1985, the loud legends teamed up for a daring duet cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets."

The video for the track aired at Live Aid, while a single was also released. To the surprise of no one, Bowie and Jagger's "Dancing in the Street" soared up the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 7 on the chart. Should it have been a tad higher? Perhaps, but it topped the U.K. singles chart, so let's not be too greedy here.

One of the things that came out after David Bowie died is that he and Jagger were friends for over four decades. "There was always an exchange of information within our friendship," Jagger told Rolling Stone. "And I suppose there was always an element of competition between us, but it never felt overwhelming."

Whenever that bassline hits, everybody knows which song it is — unless you listened to way too much Vanilla Ice and think it's "Ice Ice Baby" for some odd reason. Queen and David Bowie collaborated on "Under Pressure," which featured on the former's 1982 album "Hot Space" and reached the No. 29 position on the Billboard Hot 100.

What is there to say about this track that hasn't been said before? It's Freddie Mercury and Bowie demonstrating why there will never be any other singers like them — ever. In what can only be described as a musical tour de force, Bowie and Mercury beautifully complement each other's unique vocal styles in an infectious song that refuses to quit. Decades later, it remains one of Queen's best tracks, as well as one of the greatest songs ever created.

According to Queen guitarist Brian May, "Under Pressure" arose out of a flow-of-consciousness jam session with Bowie. Speaking to "Ultimate Classic Rock Nights," May credited Bowie for having a major role in the song's creation. "The vocal was constructed in a very novel way, which came through David, because he had experience of this avant-garde method of constructing the vocals," May noted. "He said, 'Everybody just goes in there with no ideas, no notes, and sings the first thing that comes into their head over the backing track.' So we all did, and then we compiled all the bits and pieces."

Working with Brian Eno, David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans" received attention after appearing on the "Showgirls" soundtrack. However, the song metamorphosed into something else after Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor infused his industrial rock tendencies into the maxi-single release in 1997. All of a sudden, "I'm Afraid of Americans" found its beast mode, becoming a piledriver of a song.

Reznor's signature production style and loops are all over the track, but he doesn't bog down Bowie's vocals. Bowie still stands tall as the star of the track, once again proving that he was the king of reinvention, and genre was meaningless to him. "I'm Afraid of Americans" thumped its way to No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Despite the song's success, Reznor admitted it happened during a time in his life he isn't proud of. "The 'I'm Afraid of Americans' falls into that category of me at my worst — out of my mind and ashamed of who I was at that time," Reznor told Rolling Stone. "So when I see that, I have mixed feelings — grateful to be involved, and flattered to be a part of it, but disgusted at myself, at who I was at that time, and wishing I had been 100% me."