The enigma that is David Bowie first came to the attention of most of the American public in 1972, with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Admittedly, the album was a remarkable achievement, a careful package that tread somewhere between concept album and rock opera, but would it have been as noticed had Bowie not held his widely publicized interview in which he stated he was gay, just prior to Ziggy Stardust's release? Despite Bowie's frequently reiterated statement that his music only reflects his environment, in this instance he served to make the times….

In retrospect, Bowie's music had little to do with his fame; spectacle and notoriety made his name a household word and, once at the top, he demonstrated enough talent to keep himself there. The curious thing—hindsight does have its peculiar advantages—is how Bowie...