10 Greatest Diss Tracks In Rock Music History

Okay...so this one might need a little bit of unpacking. If you were to look at David Bowie's first few records, there are hardly any songs that could be considered angry or spiteful, especially when he was starting to invent the persona of Ziggy Stardust. But the origin of Life on Mars didn't start with just Bowie's art rock origins. We'll have to go back even further than that.

Before Bowie had adopted his otherworldly persona, he was just a humble songwriter that was cutting his teeth writing lyrics for songs. When he eventually found a French melody with some potential, he had written a song called "Even A Fool Learns To Love," which was promptly rejected by the record company. Fast forward a few years later, and Bowie hears the exact same song on the radio with Frank Sinatra singing it, having turned it into the classic My Way.

Though Bowie had always thought that his song got rejected for a good reason, you can tell he was a little bitter from the construction of Life on Mars, which is almost verbatim lifted from the original song My Way. In this case, it's more or less a cheeky way for the Thin White Duke to have the last laugh on his detractors, having turned their pop classic into a rock extravaganza in its own right.

Bowie did at least have some class behind the theft though, going on to thank "frankie" on the album's back cover.