David Bowie 1999
 Bowie's first flirtation with fame came in 1969 with his single Space Oddity, written the previous year but recorded and released to coincide with the first moon landing. This ballad told the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who becomes lost in space, though it has also been interpreted as an allegory for drug-taking. It became a Top 5 UK hit. Its corresponding album, his second, was originally titled David Bowie, which caused some confusion as both of Bowie's first and second albums were released with that name in the UK (in the US the second album bore the title Man of Words, Man of Music). In 1972, this album was re-released as Space Oddity.
Bowie put the finishing touches to Space Oddity (the track) while living with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. Mary and David joined forces with Christina Ostrom and the late Barrie Jackson to run a Folk Club on Sunday nights at The Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street, south London. This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab and became extremely popular. In August 1969 The Arts Lab hosted a Free Festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song Memory of a Free Festival.
Later in 1970, Bowie released his third album, The Man Who Sold the World, rejecting the acoustic guitar sound of the previous album and replacing it with the heavy rock backing provided by Mick Ronson, who would be a major collaborator through to 1973. Much of the album resembles British heavy metal of the period, but the album provided some unusual musical detours, such as the title track's use of Latin sounds to hold the melody. The song provided an unlikely hit for UK pop singer Lulu and would be performed by many groups over the years, including Nirvana. In the original UK cover of the album Bowie is seen in a dress, an early example of him exploiting his androgynous appearance. In the U.S. the album was originally released in completely different cartoon-like cover not featuring Bowie.
His next record, Hunky Dory in 1971, saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of Space Oddity, with light fare such as the droll Kooks (dedicated to his young son, known to the world as Zowie Bowie). Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes on tracks such as Oh! You Pretty Things (a song taken to UK #12 by Herman's Hermits' Peter Noone in 1971), the semi-autobiographical The Bewlay Brothers and the Buddhist-influenced Quicksand. Lyrically, the young songwriter also paid unusually direct homage to his influences with Song for Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, and Queen Bitch, which Bowie's somewhat cryptic liner notes indicate as a Velvet Underground pastiche. As with the single Changes, Hunky Dory was not a big hit but it laid the groundwork for the move that would shortly lift Bowie into the first rank of stars, giving him four top-ten albums and eight top ten singles in the UK in eighteen months between 1972 and 1973.
Bowie's androgynous image was taken a step further in June 1972 with the seminal concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, presenting a world destined to end in five years and telling the story of the ultimate rock star, Ziggy Stardust. The album's sound combined hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter pop of Hunky Dory and the fast-paced glam rock pioneered by Marc Bolan's T.Rex. Many of the album's songs became rock classics, including Ziggy Stardust, Moonage Daydream, Hang on to Yourself, and Suffragette City.
The Ziggy Stardust character became the basis for Bowie's first large-scale tour beginning in 1972, where he donned his famous flaming red hair and wild outfits. The tour featured a three-piece band representing the 'Spiders from Mars': Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums. The album made #5 in the UK on the strength of the #10 placing of the single Starman. Their success made Bowie a star, and soon the six-month-old Hunky Dory eclipsed Ziggy Stardust, when it peaked at #3 on the UK chart. At the same time the non-album single John, I’m Only Dancing (not released in the US until 1979) peaked at UK #12, and All the Young Dudes, a song he had given to, and produced for, Mott the Hoople, made UK #3.
Around the same time Bowie began promoting and producing his rock and roll heroes. Former Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed's solo breakthrough Transformer was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson. Iggy Pop and his band The Stooges signed with Bowie's management, MainMan Productions, and recorded their third album, Raw Power, in London. Though he was not present for the tracking of the album, Bowie later performed its much-debated mix.
The Spiders From Mars came together again on Aladdin Sane, released in April 1973 and his first #1 album in the UK. Described by Bowie as Ziggy goes to America, all the new songs were written on ship, bus or trains during the first leg of his US Ziggy Stardust tour. The album's cover, featuring Bowie shirtless with Ziggy hair and a red, black, and blue lightning bolt across his face, has been labelled as startling as rock covers ever got. Aladdin Sane included the UK #2 hit The Jean Genie, the UK #3 hit Drive-In Saturday, and a rendition of The Rolling Stones' Let's Spend the Night Together. Mike Garson joined Bowie to play piano on this album, and his solo on the title track is often cited as one of the album's highlights.
Bowie's later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane records, as well as a few earlier tracks like Changes and The Width of a Circle, were ultra-theatrical affairs, filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage retirement at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. His announcement – Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you. – was preserved as part of a live recording of the show, belatedly released as a double album under the title Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture in 1983 after many years circulating as a bootleg.
Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, was released in October 1973, spawning a UK #3 hit in Sorrow and itself peaking at #1, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK.[citation needed] By that time, Bowie had broken up the Spiders from Mars and was attempting to move on from his Ziggy persona. Bowie's own back catalogue was now highly sought. The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with the second David Bowie album (Space Oddity), whilst Hunky Dory's Life on Mars? was released as a single in 1973 and made #3 in the UK, the same year Bowie's novelty record from 1967, The Laughing Gnome, hit #6.
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