In the mid-1970s, David Bowie distanced himself from the excesses of his Los Angeles years as he searched for a new creative direction. During this period, he moved to Berlin with Iggy Pop in an effort to expand his artistic vision and free himself from drug addiction. Around the same time, an unconventional tool began circulating in his studio sessions: Oblique Strategies.
The deck of black cards, co-created in 1975 by producer Brian Eno and visual artist Peter Schmidt, was designed to interrupt creative habits through brief, often enigmatic prompts. For Bowie, the cards became one of several methods used to challenge routine thinking, resulting in what is widely considered some of his most forward-thinking work: the Berlin Trilogy.
Subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas, Oblique Strategies emerged from Eno and Schmidt’s shared interest in using aphorisms to overcome artistic deadlock. Each card contains a short instruction—sometimes practical, sometimes abstract—meant to encourage lateral thinking rather than linear problem-solving. Prompts such as “Honor thy error as a hidden intention” or “Not building a wall; making a brick” were intentionally open-ended, forcing artists to respond intuitively rather than analytically.
The cards entered Bowie’s creative orbit through his collaboration with Eno, beginning with Low (1977) and continuing through “Heroes” (1977) and Lodger (1979), the so-called Berlin Trilogy. Much of the work on these records took place at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, where Bowie was rebuilding both his personal life and artistic identity. According to biographer Chris O’Leary—author of two acclaimed books on Bowie’s discography—the cards were “part fortune cookie, part Monopoly ‘Chance’ cards,” designed to spark creative ideas rather than provide direct solutions.
Rather than offering answers, the cards imposed constraints. In practice, this could mean altering a musician’s role, emphasizing repetition, or reframing mistakes as compositional features. On Lodger, these ideas became especially tangible. For the single “Boys Keep Swinging,” band members were instructed to swap instruments, producing a deliberately raw and unstable sound.
Notably, Oblique Strategies was not the sole driver of Bowie’s artistic shift. Another recurring method during these studio sessions involved improvising lyrics. In Starman: David Bowie – The Definitive Biography, Paul Trynka revealed that Bowie was influenced by Iggy Pop’s habit of improvising lyrics directly at the microphone, a technique Bowie later adopted himself.
The cards’ influence resurfaced years later during Bowie’s 1995 collaboration with Eno on Outside, highlighting their long-term impact on his creative process.
Nearly five decades after their creation, Oblique Strategies remain in circulation, both as physical decks and digital adaptations. In total, six editions have been released, the most recent in 2013. The original 1975 edition consisted of just 500 copies, each individually numbered and signed by Eno and Schmidt. All editions were produced in limited quantities, with the exception of the fifth edition released in 2001, which remains commercially available.
Leave a Reply