The album was recorded in December 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. The sessions featured an entirely new personnel, including then-unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. For the first time ever, Bowie played no instruments on the album, solely contributing vocals. Musically, "Let's Dance" has been described as a post-disco record, with elements of dance-rock, dance-pop and new wave. It contains three cover songs, including Iggy Pop's "China Girl", which Bowie and Pop recorded together for Pop's "The Idiot" (1977), Metro's "Criminal World", and a reworking of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", originally recorded by Bowie and Giorgio Moroder in 1982 for the film of the same name.