Hunky Dory

Nobody was paying attention to Bowie in 1971, and it freed him. He wrote a batch of piano songs about change, his newborn son, and the people he wanted to become, and recorded them at Trident with Rick Wakeman, soon to join Yes, on piano. The album sold almost nothing on release. Then Ziggy made him a star, people went back, and found Changes, Life on Mars? and Queen Bitch sitting there waiting.