10 Underrated Albums By Legendary Rock Music Bands
4. The Man Who Sold The World - David Bowie
Despite being rock’s resident alien, David Bowie wasn’t always as outlandish as he seemed. Long before Ziggy Stardust landed on Earth, the Starman had been looked at as a one hit wonder for most of his career, with many stations not having much time for him after the song Space Oddity took off. Long before he started going through his own changes though, Bowie actually dusted off his electric guitar and went berserk on The Man Who Sold the World.
While the album cover promises something a bit more androgynous, the majority of the songs on this album see Bowie going in a much harder direction, even dabbling in heavy metal on the album opener the Width of a Circle and blending that sound with his folksy beginnings on songs like After All and Black Country Rock. While most people just know this album for the one song that Nirvana covered during their unplugged session, the majority of it is a much different beast, having some of the harshest drum sounds that have appeared on a Bowie record thus far and some guitar hooks that feel like they could have been hammered out by Tony Iommi instead of Mick Ronson.
The Man Who Sold the World might be a great album, but it wasn’t as well received as Bowie would have liked, leading to him writing songs on tour that would eventually blossom into the beginnings of the Ziggy era. This might have been Bowie’s first opportunity to dominate rock and roll, but his real calling was in something that was even bigger than what’s on Earth.