His first flirtation with fame came in 1969 when his single "Space Oddity" was released to coincide with the first moon landing. This ballad was the story of what was often called Bowie's first dual-subject and role, Major Tom, an astronaut who becomes lost in space. It became a UK hit record. Its corresponding album was originally titled David Bowie and has caused some confusion, as both of Bowie's first and second albums were released with that name in the UK. In the US the second album bore the title Man of Words, Man of Music. While the album is not as hard to find as the original David Bowie, the highlights of the album are hardly well known. In 1972, the second album was re-released as Space Oddity.

On March 19, 1970, David married Mary Angela Barnett (Angie/Angela Bowie) in Kent, England. Later that year, Bowie released The Man Who Sold the World, rejecting the acoustic guitar sound of the previous album and replacing it with the heavy rock backing provided by Mick Ronson, who would be a major collaborator through 1973. Much of the album resembles British hard rock of the period, but the album provided some interesting musical detours, such as the title track's use of Latin sounds to hold the melody. The track provided an unlikely hit for UK pop singer Lulu and would be covered by many bands over the years, including Nirvana. The cover of the first release of this album, on which Bowie is seen reclining in a dress, was an early indication of his interest in exploiting his androgynous appearance.

His next record, Hunky Dory (1971) saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity," with light fare such as the droll "Kooks" (dedicated to his young son known to the world as Zowie Bowie but legally named Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones). Other places, the album included some of his most harrowing lyrics on tracks such as "Oh! You Pretty Things" (this song was also taken to UK #12 by Herman's Hermits' Peter Noone in 1971), the semi-autobiographical "The Bewlay Brothers" and the Buddhist-influenced "Quicksand". Lyrically, the young songwriter also paid unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol," and "Queen Bitch," which Bowie's somewhat cryptic liner notes indicate as a Velvet Underground pastiche. As with the single "Changes", Hunky Dory was not a big hit but it laid the groundwork for the move that would shortly lift Bowie into the first rank of stars, giving him four top 10 albums and eight top ten singles in the UK in 18 months between 1972 and 1973.

Among Bowie's activities the next year were promoting and producing his rock and roll heroes. Former Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed's solo breakthrough Transformer was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson. And Iggy Pop and his band The Stooges also signed with Bowie's management, MainMan Productions, and recorded their ultimate album, Raw Power, in London. Though he was not present for the tracking of the album, Bowie later performed its much debated mix. Arguably, these credits did more to legitimize David Bowie as a rock music artist than any of his recordings to date. At the start of this intense period came Bowie's most highly regarded work, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

 
David Bowie performing Rebel Rebel 1974Bowie's androgynous image was taken a step further in June 1972 with the seminal Ziggy Stardust, a concept album around the career of an extraterrestrial rock singer. The album's sound returns to the hard rock lineup of Man Who Sold the World, but the feel is lighter and faster, typifying glam rock as pioneered by Marc Bolan. Many of the album's songs became rock classics, including "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Daydream," "Hang On To Yourself," and "Suffragette City". Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character became the basis for his first tour beginning in 1972, where Bowie donned his famous red, flaming hair and wild outfits. The tour featured a three-piece band representing the "Spiders from Mars": Ronson on guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums. The album flew to #5 in the UK on the strength of the #10 placing of the single "Starman", as well as an interview where Bowie, as the first rock singer ever, freely admitted to being gay (though 'bisexual' was probably more accurate). The success of the album made Bowie a star, and soon the one-year-old Hunky Dory album went forth and eclipsed Ziggy Stardust, when it peaked at #3 on the UK chart. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing" peaked at UK #12, and "All the Young Dudes", a song he had given to, and produced for, Mott The Hoople, made UK #3.

The same musicians came together on 1973's Aladdin Sane, another conceptual work about the disintegration of society, and Bowie's first #1 album in the UK. The album is sometimes called Bowie's "On the Road" album, because he wrote all the new songs on ship, bus or trains during the Ziggy Stardust tour. The album's cover, featuring Bowie shirtless with Ziggy hair and a red, black, and blue lightning bolt across his face, is one of the most famous covers of all time. Aladdin Sane included the UK #2 hit "Jean Genie", the UK #3 hit "Drive-In Saturday", and a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together". Mike Garson joined Bowie to play piano on this album, and his performance has been called the album's highlight. As of 2005, Garson often plays in Bowie's band.

Bowie's later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane records as well as a few earlier tracks like "Changes" and "Width of a Circle", were ultra-theatrical affairs, filled with some rather shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating fellatio with Ronson's guitar. Bowie took the character to extremes, touring and giving press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt onstage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1973. His famous announcement -- "Not only is this the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do" -- was preserved as part of a live recording of the show, released as a double album under the title Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture.

Pin Ups, a collection of cover versions of 1960s hits, was released in 1973, spawning a UK #3 hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at #1, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. By that time, the "Spiders from Mars" were long split, and Bowie was trying to escape from his Ziggy persona. Bowie's own back catalogue was now highly sought. The Man Who Sold the World had been rereleased in 1972 along with the second David Bowie album (Space Oddity), whilst Hunky Dory's "Life on Mars?" was released as a single in 1973 and made #3 in the UK, the same year Bowie's nonsense record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome," hit #6.

The androgynous public and stage persona Bowie affected during this period sold records, but its popularity in gay culture and the emerging gay rights movement created controversy both in the US and in Britain, where homosexuality had only been legal since 1967. Bowie further stirred up controversy by publicly proclaiming himself bisexual, a claim he has since retracted and distanced himself from.