Page "David Bowie" Paragraph 15

The studio sessions continued and resulted in Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold the World ( 1970 ).

Characterised by the heavy rock sound of his new backing band, it was a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style established by Space Oddity.

To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media.

Exploiting his androgynous appearance, the original cover of the UK version unveiled two months later would depict the singer wearing a dress: taking the garment with him, he wore it during interviews — to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stones John Mendelsohn who described him as " ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall "— and in the street, to mixed reaction including laughter and, in the case of one male pedestrian, producing a gun and telling Bowie to " kiss my ass ".

During the tour Bowie's observation of two seminal American proto-punk artists led him to develop a concept that would eventually find form in the Ziggy Stardust character: a melding of the persona of Iggy Pop with the music of Lou Reed, producing " the ultimate pop idol ".

A girlfriend recalled his " scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy ", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character " who looks like he's landed from Mars ".