Which 1973 Bowie album introduced the lightning-bolt cover image?

The 1973 David Bowie album that introduced the lightning-bolt cover image is Aladdin Sane.

The cover shows Bowie shirtless, with bright red hair, a red-and-blue lightning bolt splitting his face and a teardrop painted on his chest. Photographer Brian Duffy created the image, with makeup by Pierre Laroche. It became one of the defining visual symbols of Bowie’s career.

Aladdin Sane was released on April 20, 1973, as the follow-up to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie wrote much of it while touring the United States, and the record reflects his fascination with American cities, celebrity and cultural excess.

The title is a pun on “A lad insane,” and Bowie described the project as “Ziggy Stardust goes to America.” The lightning bolt is therefore associated specifically with Aladdin Sane, not with Station to Station, Young Americans or Pin Ups, even though those albums also belong to important periods of Bowie’s career.