David Bowie is (part 9): 'Make way for the homo superior'

David Bowie spent much of 1971 on his own, or with his wife Angie, at their home in Haddon Hall. At an upright piano Bowie started writing. The music poured out of him. It was during this period that he wrote some incredible songs, such as 'Changes', 'Life On Mars?' and 'Oh! You Pretty Things'.

In April, Bowie went into the studio with the future Spiders From Mars to record his fourth album. As Tony Visconti was off with Marc Bolan, the album was produced by Ken Scott with help from Bowie himself, or as the sleeve note put it 'assisted by the actor'.

As many of the songs were piano-based, Bowie invited a young session musician, piano player Rick Wakeman, who would shortly after go on to find fame himself in the band 'Yes', to play on the album. Wakeman has said that as Bowie played him the songs the hairs stood up on the back on his neck. It is rare, he said, for this to happen. But on this occasion it happened again and again and he knew immediately he was going to be part of something a little special.

Two of the songs on the album are about people Bowie admired. One is for Bob Dylan, the other Andy Warhol. After recording, 'Andy Warhol', Bowie met him in his studio known as 'The Factory'. Bowie said later of the meeting, "I was invited up to The Factory... I met this man who was the living dead. Yellow in complexion, a wig on that was the wrong colour, little glasses. I extended my hand and the guy retired, so I thought, 'The guy doesn't like flesh, obviously he's reptilian.' He produced a camera and took a picture of me. And I tried to make small talk with him, and it wasn't getting anywhere. But then he saw my shoes. I was wearing a pair of gold-and-yellow shoes, and he says, 'I adore those shoes, tell me where you got those shoes.' He then started a whole rap about shoe design and that broke the ice. My yellow shoes broke the ice with Andy Warhol." Bowie played Warhol the song and he hated it. Bowie also performed a mime which was filmed:


Hunky Dory sounds as good today as it did when it was made. It is a modern classic and yet another leap for Bowie's song-writing, this time into the stratosphere. Like every record Bowie had released before it, it was not a hit. But this time was different. People had begun to sit up and take notice and, although he did not know it at the time, the groundwork had been laid for the massive success that was just around the corner.

Hunky Dory
All songs written by David Bowie, except where noted.

Side one

1. 'Changes' – 3:37
2. 'Oh! You Pretty Things' – 3:12
3. 'Eight Line Poem' – 2:55
4. 'Life on Mars?' – 3:53
5. 'Kooks' – 2:53
6. 'Quicksand' – 5:08

Side two

1. 'Fill Your Heart' (Biff Rose, Paul Williams) – 3:07
2. 'Andy Warhol' – 3:56
3. 'Song for Bob Dylan' – 4:12
4. 'Queen Bitch' – 3:18
5. 'The Bewlay Brothers' – 5:22

Bowie had been without a recording contract when he started work on the album at Trident Studios in April 1971. RCA Records in New York heard the tapes and signed him to a three-album deal on 9 September 1971, releasing Hunky Dory on 17 December. Supported by the single 'Changes', the album scored generally favourable reviews and sold reasonably well on its initial release, without being a major success. Melody Maker called it "the most inventive piece of song-writing to have appeared on record in a considerable time", while NME described it as Bowie "at his brilliant best". In America, Rolling Stone wrote "Hunky Dory not only represents Bowie's most engaging album musically, but also finds him once more writing literally enough to let the listener examine his ideas comfortably, without having to withstand a barrage of seemingly impregnable verbiage before getting at an idea". However, it was only after the commercial breakthrough of Ziggy Stardust in mid-1972 that Hunky Dory became a hit, climbing to #3 in the UK charts. In 1973, RCA released 'Life on Mars?' as a single, with a video by Mick Rock, which also made #3 in the UK.



Bowie himself considers the album to be one of the most important in his career. Speaking in 1999, he said: "Hunky Dory gave me a fabulous groundswell. I guess it provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience – I mean, people actually coming up to me and saying, 'Good album, good songs.' That hadn't happened to me before. It was like, 'Ah, I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?' There was always a double whammy there."

Post-script
'Shadow Man' is a song for which Bowie made a demo in September 1971. Neither the demo nor any other version has ever been released. It was re-recorded for the Toy album in 2000 but that hasn't been released either. Hear the demo version here. Hear the Toy version here.

In 1974, Dana Gillespie, a singer who briefly sang as Bowie's backing singer, recorded her version of  'Andy Warhol'. Hear it here.

Next time: Spiders, stars and dudes