The David Bowie Song That Predicted Alternative Rock Decades Before It Existed

David Bowie spent his career pushing boundaries, sometimes in obvious ways—songs like "Space Oddity" stood out from the start—and at other times only revealing their influence in hindsight. "The Man Who Sold the World" was released in 1970 on Bowie's third studio album of the same name.

At the time it largely slipped through the cracks: it wasn’t a single and drew no special attention, but two decades later, with the boom of alternative rock, it was revisited and seen in a different light. The track was one everyone in Bowie’s team seemed to like, yet putting it together proved difficult.

He worked on the album with long-time producer Tony Visconti, who later said Bowie was going through a creative and personal transformation and that it was hard to get on the same page. Visconti recalled, "This was the beginning of [Bowie’s] new style of writing—’I can’t be bothered until I have to’.

david bowie, space oddity, tony visconti, alternative rock, 1970, third album, songwriting, creative transformation, the man, sold world