Aladdin Sane’s lightning bolt: how David Bowie crafted the most iconic image in music
Only seven months after the release of the groundbreaking David Bowie album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the ever-evolving artist was already unveiling his next persona. The pace of pop culture was rapid in the 1970s, but Bowie’s evolution was even faster, and in a matter of months, he was already working on his next venture. This would give rise to the iconic Aladdin Sane album cover featuring Bowie’s immortalised lightning bolt motif.
Shot at photographer Brian Duffy’s studio in Primrose Hill, the Aladdin Sane artwork was officially unveiled in 1973, marking the debut of Bowie’s now-iconic lightning strike imagery. The image is perhaps one of the most famous and enduring in music history, as evidenced by the many music fans who often conjure the bolt-laden visage in tributes to the late star.
Even though the arrival of Bowie’s new alter ego marked the end of the beloved Ziggy Stardust, the lightning bol,t which became his de facto symbol for the Aladdin Sane persona, marked a new powerful era of Bowie that proved his prowess as an artist capable of consistent reinvention. Rather impressively, unlike other musicians who agonised over brand and image for years, Bowie’s idea for the lightning strike was much more straightforward.
Bowie himself conceived the idea, and the image was brought to life by Duffy, who captured the iconic shot. The makeup design was meticulously executed by Pierre Laroche, who added the lightning bolt to Bowie’s distinctive look. However, during the shoot, it took a number of attempts before achieving the version that fans came to know and love. As Duffy’s studio manager, Francis Newman, said: “Pierre started to apply this tiny little flash on his face. And when Duffy saw it, he said, ‘No, not fucking like that. Like this’ and literally drew it right across his face and said to Pierre, ‘Now fill that in.'”
Once they had the final shape and size, Laroche spent about an hour applying the rest of the makeup, adding lipstick, which made the flash look shiny. When asked what it actually was, Bowie told Rolling Stone in 1987 it was a “Lightning bolt. An electric kind of thing,” adding: “Instead of, like, the flame of a lamp, I thought he would probably be cracked by lightning. Sort of an obvious-type thing, as he was sort of an electric boy.”
Despite becoming his signature look, Bowie donned the lightning bolt for the first and only time during the photoshoot for Aladdin Sane. The image was first unveiled to the public through the release of the single ‘Drive-In Saturday’, backed with ‘Round and Round’, on April 6, 1973. The single sleeve featured a close-up of the iconic image in muted red and blue. However, it was on April 20, 1973, that we saw the lightning bolt logo in all its glory, displayed prominently on the front cover of the album itself.
The large, glistening teardrop on his clavicle was a spontaneous, last-minute addition by Duffy. “He put that on afterwards, just popped it in there,” Bowie remembered. “I thought it was rather sweet.” Bowie’s manager at the time, Tony Defries, was renowned for his showbiz strategies, often promoting his client as a bigger star than he truly was, under the belief that projecting a superstar image would ultimately elevate Bowie’s career. In line with this philosophy, Defries demanded the album cover to be created using an extraordinarily costly seven-colour system, in contrast to the standard four colours. This choice reputedly made it the most expensive album cover art of its time.
