Tom Dunne: How Aladdin Sane made David Bowie one of the most famous people on earth

Bowie's album turns 50 this year and marked a pivotal turning point in the star's music career

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

Bowie’s Aladdin Sane celebrated its 50th anniversary last April. True to form, with everything about that album, its reissue is only arriving now. That’s how it is with Aladdin Sane: ignoring Pin Ups, and we must, it’s the one between Ziggy and Diamond Dogs, the runt of the litter, the forgotten one.

Not that Bowie would say that. He would say it was his first number one, the album with which all the hard work of the previous 15 months – the unending Ziggy Tour - paid off. It also set him up, almost immediately, for his second number one, Pin Ups, the one we should ignore, for now.