7 STORIES
1969 · 60S
A folk-acoustic ballad disguised as a science-fiction broadcast, "Space Oddity" arrived just nine days before Apollo 11 lifted off, and it h…
1971 · 70S
A cinematic ballad disguised as a glam-rock aria, "Life on Mars?" is David Bowie's most theatrical kiss-off to the dreary realities of 1970s…
1972 · 70S
LONDON, UK
The song now treated as David Bowie's personal manifesto was, by his own reported account, closer to a throwaway cabaret pastiche, and it fl…
1972 · 70S
A glittering science-fiction parable disguised as a pop single, "Starman" arrived in the spring of 1972 as the gateway drug to Bowie's Ziggy…
1972 · 70S
LONDON, UK
The most famous song about a rock star is not sung by the rock star. It is told by one of his sidemen, in the past tense, with envy curdling…
1977 · 70S
BERLIN, GERMANY
A six-minute anthem about two lovers kissing in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, "Heroes" was never a hit upon release — it limped to number 2…
1983 · 80S
NEW YORK CITY, USA
The biggest, shiniest hit of David Bowie's career is a song about dread, not joy: a dance-floor command built on the fairy tale of red shoes…