This Day in 1970: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” Gets Transmitted Via Satellite

47 years ago today, David Bowie performed “Space Oddity” for what was almost certainly the largest audience of his career up to that point, thanks to a little help from a satellite.

Although he wasn’t yet the superstar that he was destined to become, Bowie certainly did wonders for his profile when he appeared at the Ivor Novello Awards and – accompanied by the Les Reed Orchestra – delivered a live version of “Space Oddity.”

Better yet, the performance was transmitted live via satellite to a number of other countries, among them America, Australia, France, Holland, Spain, and Venezuela, which was a pretty big deal for an up-and-comer like Bowie. Mind you, this meant that an incredible number of people were able to bear witness to the breathtaking bellbottoms he was sporting that day, but if anyone could pull off bellbottoms, it’s fair to say that Bowie could.

It would be a few more years before the Thin White Duke would find his way back into the singles charts again, sadly, but his Ivor Novello Awards performance turned enough heads that his next album, THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD, made it into the UK Top 30. Not bad for a relative newcomer.