THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORD
DAVID BOWIE
SONGWRITER: DAVID BOWIE
COUNTRY: U. K.
ALBUM: THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORD
LABEL: MERCURY
GENRE: HARD ROCK
YEAR: 1970
David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10
January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie (/ˈboʊi/,UK also/ˈbəʊi/BOH-ee), was an English
singer-songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is regarded as one
of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He was acclaimed by
critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His
career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and
stagecraft having a significant impact on popular
music. During his lifetime, his record sales,
estimated at over 100 million records worldwide, made him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
In the UK, he was awarded tem platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, and released eleven number-one albums.
In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Rolling Stone placed him among its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and named him the "Greatest Rock Star Ever" following his
death in 2016.
Born in Brixton,
South London,
Bowie developed an interest in music as a child. He studied art, music and design before embarking
on a professional career as a musician in 1963. "Space Oddity",
released in 1969, was his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart.
After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded
by the success of Bowie's single "Starman"
and álbum The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread
popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as
"plastic soul",
initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering him his first major US
crossover success with the number-one single "Fame"
and the álbum Young Americans.
In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth,
directed by Nicolas Roeg,
and released Station
to Station. In 1977, he further confounded
expectations with the electronic-inflected
album Low,
the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that came to be known as the "Berlin Trilogy".
"Heroes" (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received
lasting critical praise.
After uneven commercial success in the late
1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its álbum Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and
"Under Pressure",
a 1981 collaboration with Queen.
He reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance; its title track topped both UK and US
charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with
musical styles, including industrial and jungle.
He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the
Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius
Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988),
and Nikola Tesla in The
Prestige (2006), among other film and
television appearances and cameos. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live
performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013,
Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with The Next Day.
He remained musically active until his death
from liver cancer at his home in New York
City, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016). Blackstar won British Album of the Year at the 2017 Brit Awards and five Grammy
Awards at the 2017
Grammy Awards.
The Man Who Sold the World is the third
studio album by English musician David
Bowie. It was originally released by Mercury Records in the United States on 4 November 1970 and in the United Kingdom on
10 April 1971. The album was produced by Tony Visconti and recorded at Trident and Advision Studios in London during April and May 1970. It features the first
appearances of guitarist Mick
Ronson and drummer Mick Woodmansey on a Bowie record, who would later become famous as members of the
Spiders from Mars.
Following the largely acoustic and folk rock sound of Bowie's previous 1969 self-titled album, The Man
Who Sold the World marked a shift toward hard rock,
with elements of blues rock.
The lyrics are also
darker than his previous releases, exploring themes of insanity, religion,
technology and war. None of the songs from the album were
released as oficial singles,
although some tracks appeared as B-sides to singles between 1970 and 1973. Originally titled Metrobolist, a
play on Fritz Lang's
1927 film Metropolis,
the title was changed at the last minute by Mercury without Bowie's
consultation.
The
album was released with different cover artwork in the US and the UK. For the
US release, the artwork was a cartoon-like drawing of a cowboy in front of a
mental asylum. It was drawn by Michael J. Weller and based on an image of actor John Wayne.
Bowie was
unenthusiastic about the cover, so he enlisted Keith MacMillan to shoot an
alternate cover. The final image, featuring Bowie wearing a
blue dress designed by fashion designer Michael Fish, was used as the cover for the
UK release. The Man Who Sold the World was reissued by RCA Records in 1972, featuring a black-and-white picture of Bowie's then-current
character Ziggy Stardust on the sleeve,
but reissues since 1990 have revived the original UK artwork.
The
Man Who Sold the World was originally better received by music critics in
the US than in the UK. Nevertheless, it was a commercial failure in both
countries; however, the 1972 reissue managed to chart in both the US and the
UK. Retrospectively, the album has been praised by critics for the band's
performance and the unsettling nature of its music and lyrics, with many considering
the album to be the start of Bowie's "classic period". It
has since been reissued multiple times and was remixed in 2020, under its
original title Metrobolist, for its 50th anniversary.
We passed upon the
stair
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long long time ago
Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world
I laughed and shook
his hand
And made my way back home
I searched for form and land
For years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazeless stare
At all the millions here
We must have died alone
A long long time ago
Who knows? Not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world
Who knows? Not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With the man who sold the world.
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