The Man Who Sold the World (album)

Lore & Background

David Bowie's breakthrough single "Space Oddity" was released in July 1969, bringing him commercial success and attention, but its parent album fared worse due to poor promotion. By 1970, the attention had dissipated and his follow-up single failed to chart. Realising his potential as a solo artist was dwindling, Bowie formed a band, Hype, with bassist Tony Visconti, drummer John Cambridge, and guitarist Mick Ronson. Cambridge was dismissed at the end of March 1970 and replaced by Mick Woodmansey. By April 1970, the four members were living in Haddon Hall, Beckenham, an Edwardian mansion where Ronson and Visconti built a makeshift studio under the grand staircase.

Recording began on 17 April 1970 at Advision Studios in London, with the group starting work on "All the Madmen". Ralph Mace was hired to play a Moog synthesiser. Recording moved to Trident Studios on 21 April and continued until mid-May, then back to Advision on 12 May, completing ten days later. Bowie was preoccupied with his new wife and managerial issues, so the music was largely arranged by Ronson and Visconti. Although Bowie is officially credited as the composer of all music, Visconti said that "the songs were written by all four of us." Conversely, Bowie said in 1998, "I really did object to the impression that I did not write the songs."

The album was originally titled Metrobolist, a play on the film Metropolis (1927), but the title was changed at the last minute by Mercury without Bowie's consultation. It was released with different cover artwork in the US and the UK: the US cover featured a cartoon-like drawing of a cowboy in front of an asylum; the UK cover featured Bowie wearing a Michael Fish-designed blue dress. A 1972 reissue by RCA Records featured a black-and-white picture of Bowie's then-current character Ziggy Stardust.

Reader's Guide

The Man Who Sold the World was originally better received by music critics in the US than in the UK, but it was a commercial failure in both countries. 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, and is considered by many to be the start of Bowie's "classic period". The album marked a departure from the largely acoustic and folk rock sound of Space Oddity into hard rock, with much of the material having a distinct heavy metal edge that distinguished it from Bowie's other releases, and has been compared to contemporary acts such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The lyrics contain themes that Bowie would continue to explore throughout the rest of the 1970s, including madness, alienation, violence, confusion of identity, power, darkness and sexual possession. None of its songs were released as singles; some tracks appeared as B-sides between 1970 and 1973. The album has since been reissued multiple times and was remixed in 2020 under its original title Metrobolist for its 50th anniversary.