Official Blog

"Look out you rock 'n rollers"

Released today in America and Canada, among other places, The Next Day is straight in at #1 on the iTunes chart this morning.

Bowie is also on course for his first #1 album in nearly 20 years in the UK, according to this morning’s Official Charts Company sales data.

If The Next Day can maintain its lead going into the weekend, it will be Bowie’s ninth Number 1 album in the UK, his first since Black Tie White Noise, which topped the Official Albums Chart in April 1993.

The Next Day has also clocked up the biggest first day sale of any album this year (56,000

“I look to the stars” 

And you though we posted a young picture of David Jones yesterday. In this detail from a contact sheet of 48 different images, the baby Bowie is pictured at just ten months old.

The wee nipper is undeniably looking to the stars in the selected frames (well, 1947 was the year of the Roswell incident), and that’s our tenuous link to today’s lyric, Boss Of Me, track number nine from The Next Day.

As we’ve suggested previously, we will endeavour to provide a daily marriage of lyrics from The Next Day to images from the upcoming David Bowie is Exhibition at The V&A. 

“Switch on the TV we may pick him up on channel two”

There has been a pretty impressive billboard and press campaign in the run up to the release of The Next Day.

We’ve decided to post just a few of the more interesting ones over the coming days on here and on the David Bowie (Official) Facebook page. 

The one pictured here is of French origin and utilises the BBC 2 television test card.

But it’s not just any old test card, this is yer actual test card for the BBS channel two, as favoured by one Ziggy Stardust, in the song Starman.

Now that’s either close attention to detail or serendipity.

“I’m seventeen my looks can prove it”

Actually, the teenage David Jones is only sixteen in this picture, a promotional shot taken in 1963 during a Kon-rads’ photo session with Roy Ainsworth.

OK, so we’re on to I’d Rather Be High, track number eight from The Next Day and the story of a young man who’d prefer to be in the shoes of the teenager pictured here than the ones he’s in.

As we said yesterday, we’ve decided to try and illustrate each set of lyrics with images from the upcoming David Bowie is Exhibition at The V&A.