Life On Mars? by David Bowie

Seeing as the last post in this blog was about Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 moon landing, i thought it might be appropriate to continue with the space theme.
For me, it was very easy to decide which space themed song to choose. Especially in the light of NASA's current Curiosity mission.

"Life On Mars" by David Bowie was released on 22nd June, 1973 and reached number 3 in the UK charts. The song first appeared on Bowie's album Hunky Dory, which came out in December 1971.
"Life On Mars?" features piano by Rick Wakeman, of the band Yes. Rick Wakeman was a well known session musician and also played on the David Bowie songs "Changes" and "Oh! You Pretty Things", both from the same Hunky Dory album.

At that time, single releases from David Bowie didn't seem to follow any sensible, or logical pattern. The previous few single releases had all been from Bowie's album Aladdin Sane, which came out in April 1973, prior to the release of "Life On Mars?'.
In fact another album, the classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973), had come out between Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane.
To further add to the confusion, the B Side of "Life On Mars?" is the title track from David Bowie's 3rd album "The Man Who Sold The World". Which was also released, in the UK, in 1971.
As to why tracks were released in this seemingly haphazard way, i have no idea. But, this is David Bowie we're talking about here, so maybe all this confusion shouldn't surprise us too much?

I can still remember seeing David Bowie for the very first time. He was appearing on the UK tv show Top Of The Pops, playing his single "Starman". This would have been in July of 1972.
I used to watch Top Of The Pops avidly at that time. I remember it being on a Thursday evening and it was a real highlight of the week for me and for many of my school friends too.

For some reason, i often associate Top Of The Pops and Thursday evenings from that time, with fish and chips and haircuts.
Why?
Well, Thursday was the evening that a mobile fish and chip van used to come around my area and it used to stop just outside my house. We often used to go out to the van and get our dinner from it. I seem to remember that it was very popular with other local residents too and there was often a queue.

As for the haircuts. Well, a very reasonably priced barber used to set up shop at a local social club, near to my home, also on a Thursday evening. So, i was sent up there every few weeks, by my father, to have my hair cut. Every time trying desperately to get as little cut off, as i felt i could safely get away with.
But, my walk to get my hair cut never happened until after Top Of The Pops had finished. Yes, it was that important to a teenager of 14 years old.

Seeing David Bowie perform "Starman" that evening, made a real impression on me. Maybe it was the fact that the song is a little different to most of the songs around at that time? It is a largely acoustic song, which did set it apart. It is, of course, yet another song about space travel and astronauts. I'm sure that must have had something to do with it as well?

I think i can safely say that "Life On Mars?" and "Starman" are still my favourite two David Bowie tracks. That period is certainly his best, in my humble opinion.
Having said that, as you can see from the date written on the front cover of "Life On Mars?" above, i didn't actually get around to buying the single until 24th August, 1974. And i never did buy the single of "Starman".
Don't worry, i have an explanation.

As i mentioned in the very first post in this Vinyl Junkie blog, i was a big fan of the band T. Rex at this time. I was also still at school and therefore had very little money at my disposal. So, any money available to buy records would have gone on those favoured T. Rex singles. Of which there were a steady stream back in 1972/3.

I left school and started work in July of 1974.
As mentioned above, i bought "Life On Mars?" in August of 1974, just at the time when my first pay packets were starting to roll in. I may not have been earning a huge amount of money at that time. But, a fair proportion of that money would have been spent on records. Especially, some of those singles that i'd not been able to buy in the past, through lack of money.
How i came to get my hands on some of these older singles is a story in itself and will be covered in a future post.

Other David Bowie vinyl singles that i still own from that period are, "The Jean Genie" (1972), "Rebel Rebel" (Which i have as an American import from 1973) and "Rock And Roll Suicide" (1974).
All of these were also bought after i had started work, regardless of when they had been released.

David Bowie is one of those artists that i regularly listen to, especially his music from this period. I can't pretend to have liked everything that he's done. But, "Ziggy Stardust" is still one of my favourite albums of all time and "Life On Mars?" itself, is right up there amongst my favourite ever singles.

Like so much of the music of this era, it's not just the music itself that i care about, as good as it is. But, also the memories that it stirs and brings back again. After all, our teenage years are often some of our most eventful aren't they?

Music has a way of doing that to most people. It can instantly transport us back to bygone days and conjure up long forgotten images and maybe not always good ones either?
But "Life On Mars?" brings back only memories of good times, for me at least. That's probably why it gets played so often?