Nirvana fans…

…you should probably check out their YouTube channel (you can find it here) as they are posting alternate takes/practice rehearsals from their famous MTV Unplugged session, which featured some brilliant “acoustic” interpretations of their works, as well as the very famous take on David Bowie’s Man Who Sold The World.

Here’s a version of it…

Many, many people were first introduced to this song via Nirvana’s version, and to many of them this is THE version of the song.

It makes sense, of course. The first time you hear a rendition of a song you wind up liking a lot winds up being the version you prefer, even if it isn’t all that different from the original…

For me, the opposite was true.

When David Bowie burst out to worldwide fame with the release of Let’s Dance (album and song), I was mesmerized by his music and immediately started to look into his back catalog.

There were many songs I discovered at that time which I already knew but hadn’t linked Mr. Bowie to them. Songs like Space Oddity, Changes, The Jean Genie, Fame, Fashion, etc. etc.

But there were other songs that hadn’t reached the radio much at that point that were incredible gems.

Like Panic In Detroit

And the incredible Lady Grinning Soul (both songs are from the album Aladdin Sane)…

There were many others (and bear in mind, we are talking about his works released up to the release of Let’s Dance).

But there was one work -you guessed it- the album The Man Who Sold The World, which really spoke to me. Unlike many Bowie works, this album had many covers because the original was so controversial. This is the cover I first saw when I first purchased the album…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

Then, a little later, I found the album with this cover…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

The original cover, and the cover that the album now has (and which you can see in the video of the song above), is this one, which, as I stated, was quite controversial in its time, though not so much anymore…

Image result for the man who sold the world"

The Man Who Sold The World, to my mind, is David Bowie’s first real accomplished album. While he had a bunch of oddball singles and the album Space Oddity before this one, it was with this album that, to my mind, everything came together.

Further, it features Mick Ronson, Bowie’s guitarist through the Ziggy Stardust era, as well as Tony Visconti on Bass (he would be Bowie’s main producer for many of his best albums, including the last he would release), and drummer Woody Woodmansey (also featured through the Ziggy era).

The album is quite dark, thematically. There are songs about insanity, supermen, and alienation.

It was the song the album got its title from, The Man Who Sold The World, that really intrigued me.

If I were to create a “best of” list of David Bowie songs, I may well say that to me this is his absolute best song.

I like it that much.

Sadly, the song didn’t receive all that much airplay or interest, that is, until Nirvana so famously covered it.

Now, its among David Bowie’s best known songs, and for good reason.

Oh, and by the way, that Nirvana version ain’t half-bad either…! 😉