Editing Pin Ups (section)

== Background ==
By 1973, [[David Bowie]] was at his commercial peak. At the end of July, five of his six albums were in the top 40 and three were in the top 15.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|pp=165–171}} Bowie's most recent LP, ''[[Aladdin Sane]]'', came out in April,{{sfn|Cann|2010|p=291}} but his label, [[RCA Records]], wanted a new album by Christmas. Having just completed the [[Ziggy Stardust Tour]], Bowie was exhausted from the extensive touring schedule. His manager at the time, [[Tony Defries]], was negotiating for larger royalties with Bowie's music publisher and recommended he not record any new compositions until negotiations were finished.{{sfn|O'Leary|2015|loc=chap. 7}} Although he had intended his next project to be an adaptation of [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' (1949), he devised a record of cover versions as a "stopgap" album.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|pp=165–171}}

On the final date of the tour, 3&nbsp;July, Bowie unexpectedly announced that "this is the last show we'll ever do".{{efn|Later understood to mean that Bowie was retiring the Ziggy Stardust character.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|pp=165–171}}}} The announcement drove a wedge between Bowie and his backing band, [[the Spiders from Mars]]&nbsp;– [[Mick Ronson]] (guitar), [[Trevor Bolder]] (bass) and [[Mick Woodmansey|Woody Woodmansey]] (drums)&nbsp;– specifically Bolder and Woodmansey, who were unaware of the announcement in advance.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|pp=165–171}}{{sfn|Pegg|2016|pp=364–367}} 
The two were also unhappy upon discovering the pianist [[Mike Garson]], who joined the tour after ''Aladdin Sane'', was being paid more than them.{{sfn|Buckley|2005|pp=165–171}} Shortly after the tour's end, Woodmansey was fired by Garson over a phone call.{{sfn|Pegg|2016|pp=364–367}} To record the covers album, Bowie brought back Garson, Ronson and the ''Aladdin Sane'' players Ken Fordham and [[Warren Peace|Geoffrey MacCormack]]. The session drummer [[Aynsley Dunbar]] replaced Woodmansey and Bolder returned after [[Jack Bruce]] of the band [[Cream (band)|Cream]] declined.{{sfn|Pegg|2016|pp=364–367}}