As well as acknowledging that "Tonight" was not one of his stronger efforts, Bowie would later distance himself from his 1984–1987 period following the critical dismissal of "Never Let Me Down". In 1989 when working with Tin Machine, he described both "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down" as "great material that got simmered down to product level. I really should have not done it quite so "studio-ly". I think some of it was a waste of really good songs. You should hear the demos from those two albums. It's night and day by comparison with the finished tracks. There's stuff that I could really kick myself about. When I listen to those demos it's, 'How did it turn out like that?' You should hear "Loving the Alien" on demo. It's wonderful on demo. I promise you! (laughs). But on the album, it's not as wonderful." He further say in 1993 that he was indifferent about what he was doing and he "let everyone tell what to do."