David Bowie “Space Oddity” released 50 years ago today, July 11th, 1969. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the single was released to coincide with the first manned moon landing (which launched on July 16th, 1969), “Space Oddity” was Bowie’s first single to chart in the UK: British radio only began playing the track once the mission was successful (on July 20th) and the crew returned safely to earth (July 24th). “Space Oddity” hit #5 in the UK but failed to crack the top 100 in the US (#124). The original single had “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud” as its b-side. Our version is the RCA 1973 reissue with “The Man Who Sold the World” as its b-side; in ‘73 “Space Oddity” did significantly better in the US, going to #15. That success, in turn, inspired a UK re-release by RCA a couple of years later: in ‘75 it re-entered the UK charts and went to #1, his first in England. It again re-entered the charts after Bowie’s death in 2016.

I love “Space Oddity” – it was the first song I listened to after Bowie died and I was in tears by the second line. I also love the history and trajectory that the track had in Bowie’s catalog throughout his career. He revisits the loneliness and isolation of the Major Tom character in “Ashes to Ashes,” “Hallo Spaceboy,” possibly “Starman,” and “Blackstar.” Recently I listened to the audiobook of On Bowie by Rob Sheffield, who argues that “Space Oddity” is also responsible for inspiring a host of other artists’ songs over the years, the most obvious being, of course, “Major Tom (Coming Home)” by Peter Schilling but also ones like Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth” and Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love.” It’s included in several “best of” song lists, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s, and certainly deserves to be there.