When David Bowie released his self-titled debut album in 1967,
the world had little idea of the impact that distinctive young
man would make. Here we look at the musical journey Bowie
underwent whilst creating the enduring cultural legacy he
commands today.
David Bowie’s self-titled debut studio
album was released on 1 June 1967, on
Deram Records. The album consisted
of an odd mixture of Syd Barrett-
esque fairy tales, Beatles psychedelia,
folk music, show tunes and easy
listening. It’s an odd mix indeed, but
an admirable example of both Bowie’s
creativity and distinctive voice. In the
summer of 1967, music newspapers
The Disc and Music Echo reviewed the
album, describing it as a ‘remarkable,
creative album’ sung with a ‘sufficiently
fresh interpretation to make quite a
noise on the scene’.
In the same year, Bowie also had
notable success with another artist,
having penned the third single for Oscar,
which gained significant media attention,
as it satirised a series of highly publicised
breakouts from British prisons around the
same time.
However, it wouldn’t be until two
years later that Bowie would flirt with
some fame of his own with the 1969
release of his hit single Space Oddity.
Supposedly released to coincide with the
first moon landing, it was to be the first
introduction of Bowie’s famed character
Major Tom, an astronaut who becomes
lost in space, and is revisited through
Bowie’s 1980 hit Ashes to Ashes.
The single’s corresponding album
was quickly released off the back of the
record’s relative success, and was lauded
in numerous music publications. In the
November 1969 issue of Music Now!,
the album was described as ‘Deep,
thoughtful, probing, exposing’ and
‘gouging at your inners’.
Famed British music publication
Melody Maker was also quick to praise
the album it its March 1970 edition,
describing it as ‘ultra dramatic’, andheaping praise on the single Space Oddity
in particular, stating that, ‘It is more than
probable five or six years ago Space Oddity
would have been given an icy reception
and even banned as being sick’. Bowie has
always been nothing if not good at timing
his releases to perfection.
A week before this Melody Maker
review, Bowie was also in a celebratory
mood, as he married Mary Angela
Barnett in Kent. Call her Angie. She
was to be the inspiration for many of
Bowie’s hits before their divorce years
later. Later the same year, Bowie released
his third studio outing. Rejecting the
acoustic-led sound of his previous two
albums and replacing it with a heavy
rock backing, provided by future long-
time collaborator and guitarist Mick
Ronson, The Man Who Sold the World
gained as much media attention for its
album sleeve as for the music containedDAVID
BOWIE
WHEN ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR