"Absolute Beginners" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie. It was the theme song to the 1986 film of the same name (itself an adaptation of the book Absolute Beginners). Although the film was not a commercial success, the song became one of Bowie's most successful 1980s singles. It reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became a top ten single on the main charts in eight other countries, his last song to accomplish that. It was less successful in the US, peaking at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bowie performed it live on his Glass Spider and 2000 tours. It was chosen by Jeremy Allen in The Guardian as one of Bowie's "ten of the best" songs. Biographer Paul Trynka described it as "Bowie's last great composition of the 1980s".