David Bowie Dead at 69

With 1969’s Space Oddity, whose dramatic title track told the story of ill-fated astronaut Major Tom, he had a hit. His friend Marc Bolan of T. Rex had introduced Bowie to producer Tony Visconti, leading to one of the most fruitful and longest-lasting producer-artist relationships in music. The song “Space Oddity” hit Number One in the U.K. and Number 15 in the States, and the album made it to the Top 20 in both countries. Each album he released thereafter offered a new glimpse at his genius. On the following year’s The Man Who Sold the World, he experimented with psychedelia, and in 1971, he fused pop-rock with art pretense and experimentalism with Hunky Dory, his first significant album.

The album contained the hit “Changes” and its threat/promise “Look out you rock & rollers/ One of these days you’re gonna get older,” fan favorites “Oh! You Pretty Things” and “Life on Mars” and songs about Bob Dylan (“Song for Bob Dylan”) and Andy Warhol (“Andy Warhol”). (He’d portray the latter artist years later in the film Basquiat.) 

It was on 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, though, where Bowie hit his stride. In the role of the titular rock-star also-ran, he innovated a glammy look for himself which he amplified in his highly theatrical live shows where he’d tussle with guitarist Mick Ronson. A far cry from the Sixties hippie idealism he’d come up with, Ziggy was brazen and arrogant, a decadent rogue who was also endearing to fans. In addition to the title track, “Starman,” “Suffragette City” and “Five Years” became audience favorites. The album would be certified gold in the U.S. in 1974.

Around this period, Bowie began working behind the scenes for some of his friends. In 1972, he produced and played saxophone on Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes album, writing the album’s hit title song. That same year, he resuscitated former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed’s career by giving him a glam makeover on Transformer. And in 1973, he mixed Iggy and the Stooges’ Raw Power. A few years later, during his Berlin period, Bowie would also work on Iggy Pop’s solo breakthrough LPs The Idiot and Lust for Life, touring with Pop as his pianist to support the records.

Bowie kept the Ziggy Stardust persona on 1973’s Aladdin Sane, which contained “The Jean Genie,” “Drive-In Saturday” and a rag-tag cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” Pin Ups, Bowie’s covers album, followed later that year. He’d attempted to retire Ziggy for 1974’s cabaret-ready Diamond Dogs, but the overwhelming glamminess of “Rebel Rebel” suggested otherwise. 

He did an about-face on 1975’s Young Americans, incorporating soul, funk and disco into songs like the title cut and “Fame,” and he co-wrote “Fascination” with Luther Vandross. It was a risky move, but it reached Number Two in the U.K. and Number Nine in the U.S. He delved deeper into funk on the following year’s Station to Station, picking up a well-documented cocaine habit along the way, and scored a hit with the buoyant “Golden Years.” The album as a whole, though, signaled a newfound interest in the avant-garde.