h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just trying to get a few points to give us a good start to the entry we'll be doing on this. How did Bowie get started? Who 'doscovered' him, as it were? And how long was it before he had his first hit single?

Bowie's first album was aptly titled David Bowie; it was released in 1967 when Bowie was only 20 years old. I believe his first hit single was Space Oddity, released in 1969. Which means it was 2 years between his start and his first hit. The album Space Oddity was released on was also called, confusingly enough, David Bowie for its UK edition. For the US edition it was titled Man of Words/Man of Music. In its later edition released November 1, 1972 it was called Space Oddity, which is the name the album still goes by. This was not only Bowie's first successful album, but it was the first to be produced by Tony Visconti, and Mick Ronson played guitar on one of the bonus tracks. True, it was only his second album so those aren't really brilliant statistics, but it is interesting to note how early on Bowie began collaborating with those two.

I think it was after Space Oddity had been a hit for the second time,a track that was either cut as a single or from his first album became a hit.The song in question - The Laughing Gnome - has David sounding similar to Tony Newley.I think David was somewhat embarrased at this track surfacing as I think he was into his Ziggy Stardust by then.

Wasn't "John I'm Only Dancing" the first single?

He was David Jones to begin with, but not wanting to be confused with a Mancunian Monkee, he became David Bowie. First up, his name is pronounced with a "bow" as in bow-tie, not as in "bowing before the Queen". People who are genuine fans probably already know this. As for his first hit single it was definitely Space Oddity in 1969. A different version was a hit in the mid-1970s, but the original is best. However, I recommend the Langley Schools Music Project's cover version. There's not much weirder than hearing Canadian schoolchildren making it sound sinister...
I once karaoke-d Ziggy Stardust on the Strip at Las Vegas, which wasn't quite the success I hoped it would be. Oh well.

David Bowie did indeed start his career using his own name - Davy Jones. He formed a series of RnB bands - The Mannish Boys, Davy Jones and the Lower Third, etc. It was in 1967 that he decided on a new direction. From now on he had various different ideas of how he'd become successful. He learned mime, attempted to work as an actor, auditioned as a dancer, did session work, performed in his own Brecht influenced cabaret show etc. He also made pop records, influenced by Anthony Newly and Tommy Steele in particular, none of which was particularly successful, possibly because David remained unfocused and wouldn't put the required effort into promoting the records; his arty stage show tended to put potential fans off.
David's manager, Ken Pitt, was pulling his hair out by the late 60s. He'd been trying to turn David into a sort of Dylan figure for the UK. Pitt had been responsible for Dylan's first appearances in Britain, and managed his UK interests; also introduced the young David Jones to Dylan.
David Jones in 1968 and into 1969 began to focus more on his pop music; reinvented himself yet again as an English Dylan, with a folky style on his second LP in 1969. A chance hit "Space Oddity" was never followed up.
But importantly - the lack of success over the next few years enabled Bowie to develop his style through the heavy rock of "Man Who Sold THe World", the accoustic styled doodlings of Hunky Dory, and finally into a fully formed futuristic rock messiah that was Ziggy Stardust.
But it wasn't till the 80s that Bowie found the success he had always desired, a world stadium tour, a new record contract & regaining control over his back catalogue. Bowie never sold enough record to satsify his record company RCA, but over the 1970s built up an unprecedented cult following, with his credibilty being unsurpassed by any other popstar. He was hailed as a major influence by most punks; and became the Godfather of the New Romantics.

It's not something many fans like me (or Bowie himself, I should imagine) like to remember but his first outing on vinyl was "The Laughing Gnome" on the Deram label in 1967.

Consisting of The Duke speaking to a speeded-up version of himself and engineer Gus Dudgeon with a variety of painful puns ("Haven't you got a gnome to go to?"), it failed, perhaps unsurprisingly, to garner either kudos or chart success (except on its re-issue in 1973, due, most likely, purely to the strength of the "Ziggy Stardust LP).New Musical Express had little hesitation in pronouncing it to be "Undoubtedly the most embarrassing example of Bowie juvenalia..."[