David Bowie: The Man Who Sold The World (1970)

Although released in 1971, I have a UK pressing from 1982. On the rear jacket, it says: "Chronologically, this is the second of David Bowie's rock and roll albums..." It's really his third record. Oddly, it was released in 1970 in the US but 1971 in the UK. That seems backwards to me. There are a number of different cover images. I prefer the one used on the first UK pressing, rather than the image on my copy.

The most famous track on this record is probably the title track, mostly because of Nirvana's  phenomenal cover during that unplugged performance. In fact, that is probably Nirvana's finest performance. There are no real hits n this album, but I view it as one of Bowie's best records.

I really loved the sound Bowie achieved in this record. It sounds raw and primordial.  Wikipedia makes this statement, attributed to David Buckley: The Man Who Sold the World has since been cited as inspiring the goth rock, dark wave and science fiction elements of work by artists such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Gary Numan, John Foxx and Nine Inch Nails. [source] This makes sense to me, though I hadn't considered that before.