Bowie's 1974 concept album was originally meant to be a musical version of George Orwell's 1984, but apparently Orwell's widow was having none of it. If she imagined it would look something like Bowie's eventual Midnight Special 1973 appearance with some of the most terrifying stage costumes and makeup in recorded history, one can hardly blame her. But some of the songs survived and retained the dystopian attitude of Orwell, shaped by William Burroughs' cutup method and the spacey weirdness of Bowie's Ziggy/Aladdin Sane  albums.