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1969 David Bowie’s Major Tom

Major Tom is unique to the cannon of Bowie’s work because it is the one character that Bowie returned to for the duration of his career. In fact, his career began and ended with Major Tom. The first song that made the public aware of David Bowie (1969) was “Space Oddity.” His final album, Blackstar features the deification of Major Tom in the title track. There are two other concrete instances of Major Tom returning. The character is the protagonist of “Ashes to Ashes” 1980 and the object of question in “Hallo, Spaceboy” 1996.

To fully understand Major Tom each song had to be explored individually, but also contextualized within the album and contemporary events. A complex narrative of Major Tom emerges that twists and distorts with each successive release.