The Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by the English musician David Bowie, originally released through Mercury Records in the United States on 4November 1970 and in the United Kingdom on 8April 1971. Produced by Tony Visconti and recorded in London from April to May 1970, the album features the first appearances on a Bowie record of future Spiders from Mars members Mick Ronson and Mick Woodmansey.
Following the largely acoustic and folk rock sound of David Bowie (1969), The Man Who Sold the World marked a shift toward hard rock, with elements of blues rock. The lyrics are darker than his previous releases, exploring themes of insanity, religion, technology and war. None of its songs were released as singles; some tracks appeared as B-sides between 1970 and 1973. Originally titled Metrobolist, a play on the film Metropolis (1927), the title was changed at the last minute by Mercury without Bowie's consultation.
The album was released with different cover artwork in the US and the UK. For the US release, the artwork was a cartoon-like drawing by Michael J. Weller of a cowboy in front of an asylum. The UK cover by Keith MacMillan features Bowie wearing a Michael Fish-designed blue dress. A 1972 reissue by RCA Records featured a black-and-white picture of Bowie's then-current character Ziggy Stardust; reissues since 1990 have revived the original UK artwork.
The Man Who Sold the World was originally better received by music critics in the US than in the UK. Nevertheless, it was a commercial failure in both countries; the 1972 reissue managed to chart in both the US and the UK. Retrospectively, the album has been praised by critics for the band's performance and the unsettling nature of its music and lyrics, being considered by many to be the start of Bowie's "classic period". It has since been reissued multiple times and was remixed in 2020, under its original title Metrobolist, for its 50th anniversary.
Background
David Bowie's breakthrough single "Space Oddity" was released in July 1969, bringing him commercial success and attention. Its parent album, David Bowie (Space Oddity), released later that year, fared worse, partly due to the failure of Philips Records to promote the album efficiently. By 1970, the attention Bowie had garnered from "Space Oddity" had dissipated and his follow-up single, "The Prettiest Star", failed to chart.
Realising that his potential as a solo artist was dwindling, Bowie formed a band, Hype, with the bassist Tony Visconti, one of his Space Oddity collaborators, the drummer John Cambridge, and the guitarist Mick Ronson, whom Bowie met in February 1970. For the group's performances, the members wore flamboyant superhero-like costumes. Bowie halted Hype performances at the end of March 1970 so he could focus on recording and songwriting, and resolve managing disputes with his manager Kenneth Pitt. A new single version of the Space Oddity track "Memory of a Free Festival" and an early attempt at "The Supermen" were recorded during this time.
Cambridge was dismissed from Hype at the end of March, and was replaced by Mick "Woody" Woodmansey. Woodmansey said of Bowie in 2015: "This guy was living and breathing being a rock & roll star." By April 1970, the four members of Hype were living in Haddon Hall, Beckenham, an Edwardian mansion converted to a block of flats that was described by one visitor as having an ambiance "like Dracula's living room". Ronson and Visconti built a makeshift studio under the grand staircase at Haddon Hall, where Bowie recorded many of his early 1970s demos.
Recording
Recording for The Man Who Sold the World began on 17April 1970 at Advision Studios in London, with the group beginning work on "All the Madmen". The next day, Ralph Mace was hired to play a Moog synthesiser