The album David Bowie believed was overlooked: “Some interesting musical ideas”
It’s a tale as old as time. So often, the music an artist considers their best work isn’t honoured as such. It’s common for what they see as their personal opus to fall by the wayside, overshadowed by more commercially accessible or successful releases—leaving the musician as one of the only people still singing the praises of a lesser-known record. David Bowie knew that feeling well. With 26 albums to his name, many of them huge hits, his favourite never quite got the flowers he thought it deserved.
But with that many records, it was always going to be hard. Especially in the 1970s, when Bowie was releasing an album a year, sometimes even more, there was always something shiny and new to move onto. As he evolved as an artist so fast, the demand on fans to keep up with whatever was next sometimes meant that certain releases didn’t get the time of day they deserved.
Looking through his discography, it’s easy to see the ones that fell into the shadows. Lodger was never really going to get its moment when it was sandwiched between the iconic Heroes and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). From there, he moved immediately to Let’s Dance, where that album’s mega-hit title track would have immediately eclipsed the last era. It’s a testament to his talent, really, that there was constantly something new and exciting, whether it be a whole new persona or a new release, but the speed with which he worked directly correlates with the speed at which some of his work was forgotten.
He especially felt that about some of his earliest work. When the world thinks of David Bowie, they likely imagine him first as the alien superstar, Ziggy Stardust. But the musician himself always mourned the records that came before that, especially The Man Who Sold the World, feeling like it didn’t get the attention it deserved.
“I really like that album a lot,” he said of the 1970 release, adding, “It’s really got some interesting musical ideas apart from anything else.”
It was a strange moment in Bowie’s career. Clearly wanting to move away from the more classic or even folky sounds of his debut and second album, The Man Who Sold the World bears evidence of bigger ideas that would be evolved later. Its title track, especially, is heavier and darker and feels like a precursor to the more all-out rock tracks to come after.
“There’s an interesting use of synthesisers and odd instruments like recorders. It’s got some nice sounds on it. I think the structures of the songs are interesting as well: I was really fooling around with different chord shapes and how I could put together structures,” Bowie said in his own analysis of the album. To him, it always held up as a great release, but still, it fell into the shadows the second Ziggy landed.
But in Bowie’s eyes, this 1970 record wins every time. “In its own way, it’s a far better piece of music than, say, Ziggy Stardust,” he said. If the two went head to head, Bowie knew which record he would pick as he concluded, “Ziggy Stardust had a far more direct approach to it but to satisfy me as a musician, The Man Who Sold The World is probably the better album.”
