David Bowie “Hunky Dory” released on this date, December 17th, 1971. Hunky Dory, Bowie’s 4th LP, is considered one of his best and many best-of album lists place it in their top 100; it reached #3 on the UK charts in 1973 after the success of Ziggy Stardust. Hunky Dory is pop, art, glam and pure perfection.

Two of my favorite Bowie songs appear on the record: “Changes,” which hit #66 on the US charts in ‘72 (and #41 in ‘75) and will likely remain a coming-of-age anthem for another 40 years, and the supremely rocking “Queen Bitch,” which Bowie wrote as Velvet Underground musical fan-fiction. Other tracks are amazing, of course: “Life on Mars” encapsualting the essence of Bowie’s other-worldliness, sweet and sorrowful “Quicksand” (this link to a live performance by Bowie and The Cure’s Robert Smith) and “Oh! You Pretty Things.”