The Rest Is History Music: The Father of the Blues, Golden Age of Jazz, and David Bowie | History in Photos
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Apr 7, 2026 
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Chris Floyd Found Bowie Sharp and Exacting
- Chris Floyd says photographing David Bowie was stressful but rewarding because Bowie had worked with the best and tolerated little faffing around.
- Bowie was "surgically funny" about famous people and made a pointed, amusing comment about Bryan Ferry.
Aladdin Sane Used Cost as Leverage
- Aladdin Sane's cover was designed to be extravagantly expensive so the record company would feel forced to back Bowie harder.
- Tony Defries pushed Brian Duffy toward elite makeup, Kodak dye-transfer printing, and Swiss production to inflate the bill.
Bowie Turned Image Into the Music
- Dominic Sandbrook and Chris Floyd contrast Bowie's fully constructed stardom with Robert Johnson's pre-image era and jazz's looser self-presentation.
- They argue Bowie turned the musician into a mutable superstar persona, shifting from Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane to the Thin White Duke.