Bowie's Whistle Test

At BBC Television Centre in London, England, on February 8, 1972, the performances by David Bowie and the Spiders, recorded the previous day, featuring "Queen Bitch" and "Five Years" for "The Old Grey Whistle Test," were broadcast.

After Bowie donned a dress for his Top Of The Pops appearance with Peter Noone, the BBC decided against further television appearances for him. Nonetheless, when one of the scheduled acts canceled at the last minute, Bowie was ultimately given the opportunity.

In a small studio, they recorded three songs featuring Bowie performing live vocals over backing tracks, which were specially mixed for the occasion. Similar to their recent radio session, they included a Ziggy Stardust track alongside the Hunky Dory songs.

Aware of BBC censorship, Bowie recorded two versions of 'Oh! You Pretty Things'. In the first version, he replaced the line 'the earth is a bitch' with a repetition of the 'written in pain' lyric. The second version kept the original line.

Aired on February 8 on BBC 2 (excluding 'Oh! You Pretty Things'). Both takes of 'Oh! You Pretty Things' remained unaired until a special episode of Old Grey Whistle Test in 1982, where presenter David Hepworth mentioned that the clip had "evaded the hands of the efficient BBC tape wiper".

All three songs, along with take 1 of 'Oh! You Pretty Things' as a hidden track, were released on the Best Of Bowie DVD (EMI 2002).