December
17th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s fourth
studio album, Hunky Dory, which was issued this day in 1971. While his
previous album had not quite “Sold the World”, this would be where he’d
put together the core of his “Spiders from Mars” and set the stage for
the music revolution he’d lead with its follow-up.
After the
somewhat lackluster reception of The Man Who Sold the World, upon
returning from a US tour to promote that album, Bowie sequestered
himself in his home, eschewing touring and studio time for the moment,
and planted himself at his piano in order to start composing songs for
his next album. Shifting his writing process off the guitar sent him
veering away from the more hard-rock styling of his last album and into a
more “pop”, melodic sound. When it came time to start assembling his
band for the new album, he managed to bring back guitarist Mick Ronson
and drummer Mick Woodmansey, despite some creative fallout after the
previous album, but bassist Tony Visconti was replaced by Trevor Bolder
to create the core ensemble which would become known as The Spiders from
Mars.
Inspired by his trip the the US, Bowie came up with a
number of songs that paid tribute to some of the personalities he’d
become enamored with over there. These included Andy Warhol, Lou Reed
and Bob Dylan, all of whom found themselves immortalize in song on the
new album. Moreover, Bowie’s agenda for this album was freed from the
influence of the demands of record companies and their executives
insisting he pursue some vision of success which was outside his own
agenda. For this album, he only sought to satisfy himself and it’s one
of the main reasons it is looked back upon as a turning point in his
career and the moment when he fully began to cut his own path through
the popular music landscape. While most artists of the time were
looking to revisit the past after the wild experimentation of the late
‘60s, Bowie was keen to discover new musical lands to inhabit.
While
it met with immediate critical praise upon its release, commercially,
it stalled and failed to chart prior to the release of the Ziggy
Stardust album in 1972. Part of the problem when it came to sales for
Hunky Dory was down to Bowie's new label, RCA Records, pulling back on
promoting it when they got wind that he was about to change his image
AGAIN for the Ziggy album, which was already being recorded. It gave
them cold feet and caused them to pull their support for Hunky Dory
until they saw where he was going. However, once Ziggy took off, the
backlash of success ended up sweeping Hunky Dory off the scrap heap and
pushed it up the charts as well where it eventually peaked at #3 in the
UK.
For many Bowie aficionados, Hunky Dory is the turning point
in Bowie’s career where his artistic vision and abilities finally came
into complete focus at their full potential. It’s the album which put
all the pieces in place to set the stage for his success on his next
album. While on it’s own, it wasn’t the spark that lit the fire, it
provided the additional fuel to help reinforce his trajectory once that
flame was ignited. The album is loaded with songs that have become
classics in Bowie’s canon of essential works. Changes, Oh! You Pretty
Things, Life On Mars, Andy Warhol & Queen Bitch all attest to his
ability to craft solid, inventive pop music that has stood the test of
time for half a century.
