They only moved twenty copies in it's first week, from the rack on the side to the rack out front. So it was decided to bring David over to buy a copy or two himself.
He visited a host of cities. Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco. He loved New York, apparently a hive of mime. But it was his constant wearing of women's clothing that attracted the most attention, bullets and lint.
In Los Angeles he wore a pretty floral number and created a storm, though it may have been due to the severe cold front bearing down from the west. At a reception he wore a sequined nightie, crotchless panties and knitted socks.
He fled the United States just in time to be back for the release of 'Holy Holy / Black Country Rock' by Phillips in England, and immediately bought a few hundred copies. It was followed by 'The Man Who Sold The World' in April. The English cover featured David wearing a dress.
London Times - MAN WEARS DRESS!
The Sun - DRESS HAS MAN IN IT!
Weekly World News - HITLER IN HIDING ON MOON!
Then something very confusing happened. It involved - Arnold Corns, Rudy Valentino, Freddie Burretti, 'Moonage Daydream', 'Hang Onto Yourself', David Bowie and a bucket of custard. A fine time was had by all.
Tony De Fries dumped the Mercury/Phillips label, and set up a deal with RCA, David's 1,298th record label. Dennis Katz of RCA had been given four demo's from the upcoming 'Hunky Dory' album David was working on. 'I hated them, but if the album's name is Hunky Dory then it must be just swell, neato in fact, super dooper'
Bowie was at Glastonbury Fair on June 20th, and also in June appeared at the Paris studios playing new songs such as 'Kooks', 'Queen Bitch' and 'Song for Bob Dylan'. He was on the toilet on the 28th and rumoured to be in the general kitchen area on the 8th of July. He toured Holland, Belgium and France in September. Bowie explained how he could be in so many places at once :
'Lots and lots of drugs'
In December 'Hunky Dory' was released, aimed at the Christmas market. It need not be said that there were a lot of disappointed children that Christmas day who had asked for bikes and dolls instead.
Music Melody Man Maker - Hunky Dory, Sysiyo aint gonna like this one bit
Salad Today - Bowie shows enormous talent, his music is quite juicy, and Canelli's Pickled Gherkins are particularly tasty
The album got off to a slow start, what was needed was some hype. David called the newspapers and admitted he was quad-sexual and had 15 testicles. Album sales for 'The Man Who Sold The World' and 'Hunky Dory' took off.
Somewhere in amongst all that Angie had a baby boy. David did the impregnating some time earlier. He toyed with the names Flowie, Slowy, Glowie and Doughy before finally settling on Zowie. Zowie's first words were "You Bastard".
By the end of the year 'The Man Who Sold The World' had sold 50,000 copies. David's basement was full. But even that couldn't account for all of them. Bowie was selling albums.