What is Hunky Dory?

Hunky Dory
Hunky Dory cover
Studio album by David Bowie
Released	December 17 1971
Recorded	Trident Studios, London April 1971
Genre	Pop rock, glam rock
Length	39:04
Label	RCA Records
Producer	Ken Scott, David Bowie
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone (favorable) Jan 6, 1972
David Bowie chronology
The Man Who Sold the World (1970) Hunky Dory (1971) The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)

Hunky Dory is the fourth album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1971. It was Bowie's first release through RCA, which would be his label for the next decade. Hunky Dory has been described by All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as having "a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class".^[1] It is one of Bowie's regular entries in 'Greatest Albums' lists, MOJO describing it as his "most beloved pre-Ziggy... album".^[2]

Production

With the departure from Bowie's camp of Tony Visconti and his replacement on bass by Trevor Bolder, Hunky Dory was the first production featuring all the members of the band that would become known the following year as Ziggy Stardust's 'Spiders From Mars'. Also debuting with Bowie, in Visconti's place as producer, was another key member of the Ziggy phase, Ken Scott. The album's sleeve would bear the credit "Produced by Ken Scott (assisted by the actor)". The "actor" was Bowie himself, whose "pet conceit", in the words of NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray, was "to think of himself as an actor".^[3]

Style and themes

Musical biographer David Buckley said of Hunky Dory, "Its almost easy-listening status and conventional musical sensibility has detracted from the fact that, lyrically, this record lays down the blueprint for Bowie's future career."^[4] The opening track, "Changes", focused on the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention ("Strange fascination, fascinating me / Changes are taking the pace I'm going through") and distancing oneself from the rock mainstream ("Look out, you rock 'n' rollers"). However, the composer also took time to pay tribute to his influences with the tracks "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol" and the Velvet Underground inspired "Queen Bitch".

Following the hard rock of Bowie's previous album The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of Space Oddity, with light fare such as "Kooks" (dedicated to his young son, known to the world as Zowie Bowie but legally named Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones) and the cover "Fill Your Heart" sitting alongside heavier material like the Buddhism-tinged "Quicksand" and the semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers". Between the two extremes was "Oh! You Pretty Things", whose pop tune hid lyrics, inspired by Nietzsche, predicting the imminent replacement of modern man by "the Homo Superior", and which has been cited as a direct precursor to "Starman" from Bowie's next album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.^[5]

Release and aftermath

Bowie had been dropped by his previous label, Mercury, and was still without a recording contract when he made the album at Trident Studios in April 1971. However RCA heard the tapes and signed a three-album deal with him on 9 September 1971, releasing Hunky Dory two months later.^[4] Supported by the single "Changes", the album scored generally favourable reviews and sold reasonably well on its initial release, without being a major success.^[3] Melody Maker called it "the most inventive piece of song-writing to have appeared on record in a considerable time", while NME described it as Bowie "at his brilliant best".^[6] Stateside, Rolling Stone opined "Hunky Dory not only represents Bowie's most engaging album musically, but also finds him once more writing literally enough to let the listener examine his ideas comfortably, without having to withstand a barrage of seemingly impregnable verbiage before getting at an idea".^[7] It was after the commercial breakthrough of Ziggy Stardust in mid-1972 that Hunky Dory became a hit, climbing to #3 in the UK charts. In 1973, RCA released "Life on Mars?" as a single, which also made #3 in the UK.

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Hunky Dory the 43rd greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 16 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 107 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In the same year, the TV network VH1 placed it at number 47 and the Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums chart placed it at position 16. In 2004, it was ranked #80 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In 2006, TIME magazine chose it as one of the 100 best albums of all time.^[8]

Track listing

All songs written by David Bowie, except where noted.

1. "Changes" – 3:37
2. "Oh! You Pretty Things" – 3:12
3. "Eight Line Poem" – 2:55
4. "Life on Mars?" – 3:53
5. "Kooks" – 2:53
6. "Quicksand" – 5:08
7. "Fill Your Heart" (Paul Williams, Biff Rose) – 3:07
8. "Andy Warhol" – 3:56
9. "Song for Bob Dylan" – 4:12
10. "Queen Bitch" – 3:18
11. "The Bewlay Brothers" – 5:22

Bonus tracks (1990 Rykodisc)

1. "Bombers" (previously unreleased track recorded in 1971) – 2:38
2. "The Supermen" (alternate version recorded in 1971) – 2:41
3. "Quicksand" (demo version recorded in 1971) – 4:43
4. "The Bewlay Brothers" (alternate mix) – 5:19

Personnel

• David Bowie – vocals, guitar, alto and tenor saxophone, piano
• Mick Ronson (as Michael Ronson) – guitar, vocals, Mellotron
• Rick Wakeman (as Richard Wakeman) – piano
• Trevor Bolder – bass, trumpet
• Mick Woodmansey (as Woody Woodmansey) – drums

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1972	UK Albums Chart	3
1975	Billboard Pop Albums	93

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1972	"Changes"	Billboard Pop Singles	66
1973	"Life on Mars?"	UK Singles Chart	3
1975	"Changes"	Billboard Pop Singles	41

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
BPI – UK	Gold	January 25 1982
BPI – UK	Platinum	January 25 1982

Notes

•  • [ e] David Bowie

Discography Studio albums: David Bowie • Space Oddity • The Man Who Sold the World • Hunky Dory • The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars • Aladdin Sane • Pin Ups • Diamond Dogs • Young Americans • Station to Station • Low • "Heroes" • Lodger • Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) • Let's Dance • Tonight • Never Let Me Down • Black Tie White Noise • Outside • Earthling • 'hours...' • Heathen • Reality With Tin Machine: Tin Machine • Tin Machine II Live albums: David Live • Stage • Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture • • Santa Monica '72 • Bowie at the Beeb • LiveAndWell.com Soundtracks: Christiane F. • Labyrinth • The Buddha of Suburbia Compilations: ChangesOneBowie • ChangesTwoBowie • The Best of Bowie • Rare • Sound + Vision • Changesbowie • The Singles Collection • The Best of 1969/1974 • The Best of 1974/1979 • All Saints • Best of Bowie • The Platinum Collection • The Best of 1980/1987 Tony Visconti • Brian Eno • Mick Ronson • Mick Woodmansey • Trevor Bolder • Iggy Pop • Mike Garson • Reeves Gabrels