Happy Anniversary: David Bowie, “Suffragette City”

39 years ago, a four-year-old David Bowie song was released it as a single as part of the promotion for a new greatest-hits collection, but while the song in question was a classic and the collection remains one of the all-time great best-of albums, the single was a complete and utter flop. Funny old world, isn't it?

Having made its debut on the 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars, “Suffragette City” was already a well-established track within Bowie's catalog, but it had also found a brief moment of infamy by being the song that Mott the Hoople could've recorded instead of “All the Young Dudes.” As Ian Hunter recalled in a 2012 interview with the Onion A.V. Club, “We'd had three stuff singles, so radio was close to us, and we knew that the only shot we had would be with something special…and we didn't think 'Suffragette City' was special. We thought it was okay.”

Given the fact that the song didn't manage to chart anywhere when it was released as a single to promote 1976's Changesonebowie, it's easy to argue that Hunter may have had the right idea, but you'd be hard pressed to find many Bowie fans who don't deem “Suffragette City” to be one of the Thin White Duke's greatest hits. Indeed, a cursory glance at Spotify reveals that it can be found on The Best of David Bowie 1969-74, Best of Bowie, Platinum Collection, and Sound & Vision.

In short, it might've not have done much as a single, but “Suffragette City” delivers all the wham, bam, and thank-you-ma'am that you could ask for in a rock 'n' roll song.