Berlin Trilogy UK top five. Bowie would later call the music of the trilogy his "DNA". "Consequence of Sound" characterized the trilogy as an "art rock trifecta", while "Rolling Stone" wrote that the Berlin Trilogy "stands as some of the most innovative music in the artist's influential canon". Following Bowie's Thin White Duke period and the commercial success of the singles "Fame" and "Golden Years" in 1976, he was eager to escape the drug culture of Los Angeles, where he had developed a cocaine addiction. He had also become embroiled in controversy regarding comments he made seemingly in favour of fascism. He
Berlin Trilogy company another three months to release it. It received considerable negative criticism upon its release—a release which RCA, anxious to maintain the established commercial momentum, did not welcome, and which Bowie's ex-manager, Tony Defries, who still maintained a significant financial interest in the singer's affairs, tried to prevent. Despite these forebodings, "Low" yielded the UK number three single "Sound and Vision", and its own performance surpassed that of "Station to Station" in the UK chart, where it reached number two. Echoing "Low"s minimalist, instrumental approach, the second of the trilogy, ""Heroes"" (1977), incorporated pop and rock to a greater extent,