Queen Bitch

Hunky Dory, 1971

without the benefit of Rick Wakeman’s piano, Queen Bitch stands out as an unambitious riff-driven anomaly by comparison to Hunky Dory’s more sophisticated material, but it marks a crucial moment in Bowie’s metamorphosis into Ziggy. Musically and stylistically, it owes everything to the Velvet Underground; its lyrics venture tentatively into Lou Reed territory. More Brit camp than NYC dark, it soundtracked Bowie’s dramatic “I’m gay, and always have been” pronouncement to Melody Maker as ’72 dawned. Queen Bitch was a gamechanger, and its pivotal Old Grey Whistle

Test incarnation – alongside Five Years

– marked the moment the 60s finally ended and the 70s truly began.