A year after Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie’s alter ego, landed on Earth to make it a bit more bearable, the English singer-songwriter was ready to improve and evolve himself, offering something new from his vast artistic talent. In 1973, completely exhausted from the energy he wasted going on stage with this androgynous character from outer space, he decided to stop and think about a follow-up to the record.
On April 13, 1973, Aladdin Sane, the musician’s sixth studio album arrived and demonstrated his enormous ability to reinvent himself. With a vaguely familiar cover, he released his new records just ten months after the celebrated The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Most of the material was recorded in late 1972 and early 1973, during rare breaks on the Ziggy Stardust Tour.
Some of the best songs on the album, like “Panic in Detroit” and “The Jean Genie” fit perfectly as a sequel to that Ziggy that Bowie had created to show off his musical prowess. Aladdin Sane became the highest charting American LP at the time and was the first of his nine chart hits in the UK.
Bowie described Aladdin Sane as “Ziggy Goes To Washington: Ziggy under the influence of America.” The album was to be Ziggy Stardust’s last base, and the personality was buried three months after the album’s release in July 1973, at the last concert he played with Spiders From Mars at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.
April 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most essential albums of Bowie’s career. To celebrate, it will be released in two commemorative limited editions: a half-speed mastered vinyl LP and a pressed LP Picture Disc.
Watch the 4K Upgraded video of “The Jean Genie” here: