David Bowie wasn't a success right out of the gate. On June 1, 1967, the now-iconic glam rocker released his self-titled debut studio album, which was not well received.
Bowie released his debut album when he was just 20. According to Rolling Stone, Bowie decided that he and Derek "Dek" Fearnley would write the album's orchestrations themselves.
It was a bold move, as Bowie didn't read music, so he and Fearnley had to teach themselves music theory over the course of two weeks, the outlet reported.
"We didn't realize how ludicrous [the scores] must have looked. I guess it was just the audacity of it that none of the guys laughed us out of the studio," Bowie later said, per Far Out. "They actually tried to play our parts and they made sense of them. They're quite nice little string parts - we were writing for bassoon and everything. If Stravinsky can do it, then we can do it."
Leading up to the creation of the album, Bowie was inspired by Anthony Newley, an English actor and musician. Using Newley as the jumping off point, Bowie decided to create colorful character sketches and deliver them in a theatrical way.
Looking back, Bowie was not impressed by his first release.
"Aarrggh, that Tony Newley stuff," he told author Paul Du Noyer. "How cringey. No, I haven't got much to say about that in its favor. There's a naivety there that's not disenchanting, but I'm not very comfortable with it."
"Lyrically I guess it was striving to be something, the short-storyteller. Musically it's quite bizarre," Bowie added. "I don't know where I was at. It seemed to have its roots all over the place, in rock and vaudeville and music hall and I don't know what."
While the album received some positive reviews, commercially it flopped. He ended up leaving his label, Deram Records, the year after David Bowie's release.
In 1969, Bowie released a new single, "Space Oddity," which became his first hit, kicking off his huge career. Bowie went on to sell 100 million records worldwide, win six GRAMMYs, and be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.