David Bowie - Space Oddity

This is the real birth of David Bowie as I know and love him. This album really shows Bowie growing into his glam persona and the concept of glam really solidifying as a musical genre (and when I say glam, if you think of hair metal I will punch you in the ear. The two are only linked by the fact that Quiet Riot covered a Slade song against their will. Other than that, the two genres are unrelated).

The best song on this album is the title track. Its outer space theme really sets the tone for Bowie's eventual turn as Ziggy Stardust, his androgynous space travelling stage persona. Throughout the rest of the album, there are a number of musical genres working together. Everything from folk to psychedelia is thrown into the mix (does Motley Crue sound like either folk or psychedelia? Nope, didn't think so. Glam and hair metal are as unrelated as speed metal and country). Everything after the title track, which opens the album, blends together into a semi-forgettable glam mash, but it still makes for a decent listen and a landmark turn in Bowie's career. There are certainly more amazing albums in the David Bowie discography, but that's less of a knock on Space Oddity than an indication of the heights Bowie would eventually reach. For the record, I'll take Space Oddity over anything Bowie did in the 80's.