 This video is brought to you by CuriosityStream. If you sign up to CuriosityStream with the link in the description You'll also get access to Nebula where you can watch all of my videos early and ad-free. Oh, and if you liked this video Maybe subscribe. David Bowie was a man obsessed with aesthetic. Throughout his career He was constantly experimenting with fashion pushing the boundaries of cool and creating new looks each as iconic as the last Today 50 years on from the height of his fame Bowie remains a style icon people within the music world and outside of it are constantly referencing Bowie and Probably will be for another century But of all of Bowie's many many incredible looks the most referenced and most memorable Might be one that he only wore once in his life Welcome to cover stories These days you'll often see people refer to the Aladdin Sane cover shoot as a depiction of Bowie's famous Ziggy Stardust character But that's only kind of correct as you might guess the character depicted on the cover of Aladdin Sane is actually a Different persona called well Aladdin Sane rather than being a new persona entirely though Aladdin Sane is a sort of alter ego or extension of Ziggy Stardust Visually Aladdin Sane remains close to Ziggy with the famous red mullet and pale kabuki inspired makeup In fact the makeup for the Aladdin Sane shoot was done by Pierre Laroche who had also designed Ziggy Stardust's striking golden orb look But while that look was otherworldly and messianic Aladdin Sane is representative of something darker and more ephemeral Bowie developed the concept of Aladdin Sane after touring Ziggy Stardust in America and becoming morbidly Fascinated with the contradictions of that country. He explained Aladdin Sane was my idea of rock and roll America Here I was on this great tour circuit not enjoying it very much So inevitably my writing reflected that this kind of schizophrenia that I was going through Wanting to be up on stage performing my songs But on the other hand not really wanting to be on those buses with all those strange people Being basically a quiet person. It was hard to come to terms with so Aladdin Sane was split down the middle This sort of conflict is present throughout the album It celebrates the glamour and flash of American rock and roll But contrasts it with strange dissonant jazz piano It depicts America as a place of fame and glory, but also a place with a dark strange underbelly This duality is reflected in the look that Bowie and LaRoche created for the artwork The lightning bolt represents the split personality while the color scheme could be a reference to the American flag The bolt itself was actually lifted from an icon on a national Panasonic rice cooker But as a symbol there's a lot you can take from it It represents power and awe But it also hints at the flash in the pan nature of so many rock stars Lighting the world up for a brief moment before fading away There's a depth and a care to LaRoche's makeup look a faint purple wash along with Bowie's gaunt figure Give him a sort of deathly look as though the grueling life of touring America has worn him to the bone But while the makeup was conceptualized and created by Bowie and LaRoche There was a third artist responsible for what might be Bowie's most famous album artwork photographer Brian Duffy It was in Duffy's studio that the album artwork was born after a couple hours of concepting and brainstorming And Duffy had a lot of resources to make his photos pop Bowie's manager had a scheme to ensure that Aladdin sane would get promotion from his label RCA He insisted that Bowie and all of his team make the production of the album as expensive as possible So the label had no choice but to promote it This ethos went all the way down to the album artwork which used a new seven-color system that gave a vibrance and depth to the photo Armed with cutting-edge technology Duffy took a number of photos of Bowie in the makeup In the end he opted for one with Bowie's eyes closed his head down All this adds to the deathly pallor that seems to hang over Aladdin sane It really is depicting a cracked actor seemingly about to break and It is a depiction of a character But the real Bowie is present in there too at the time of the album Bowie was starting to pick up a nasty cocaine habit that would spiral him into some of the darkest years of his career Duffy added one more flair to the photo that really added to the depth of it a silvery drop airbrushed onto Bowie's shoulder While Duffy calls it a teardrop there could be another implication of the drop given how Sexual Aladdin sane is as an album and Bowie's penchant for challenging sexual norms When the album was released it's striking imagery offended some but it wasn't long before it developed into a cult status and Today nearly 50 years after its release the album artwork for Aladdin sane has become one of the single most famous Artworks in all of music history it manages to perfectly capture a singular moment in Bowie's career But it's also become a symbol for the artist as a whole a singular image that captures all that Bowie is the Vision and the talent but also the demons that he carried with him his entire life And it's an image that finds new life with each subsequent generation as people continue to homage and Reimagine this iconic piece of album art. I don't know about you guys But I've just been floored by these new images from the James Webb Space Telescope They make me think of some of Bowie's early career messages about the beauty and danger of the cosmos and the thought that there might be Something else out there if you're like me and you can't stop looking at these you should check out James Webb the ten billion dollar space Telescope on Curiosity stream this documentary explores the creation of this incredible piece of technology and Contextualizes what we might be able to learn using it And of course if you sign up to Curiosity stream with the link in the description You'll also get access to Nebula the streaming platform created by and for creators like me There you'll be able to watch all my videos early and ad-free as well as an increasing number of original series by some of the Best names on YouTube signing up using my link means you can get a year of Curiosity stream and Nebula for less than $15 That means for less than the price of a cup of coffee every month You'll be able to watch all my videos in better quality without having to see ads like this and That money also goes directly to creators with a payout rate That's far better than any other streaming platform So go on over to Curiosity stream comm slash polyphonic to give it a shot today And hey, thanks for watching