"Five Years" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
According to Doggett, "by the finale, the orchestral players were fighting for air against amplified guitar static, scraping despairingly at their own instruments while the last of the human race screamed around them.
[2][6] In Ziggyology, Simon Goddard also cites the influence of On the Road by Jack Kerouac, one of Bowie's favourite books which contains the similar line "woulda killed him if they hadn't drug me off".
[5] Bowie observes us blissfully unaware of our fate through "jump cuts" of urban decay, including in fantasies of Americana using stereotypes: – the Cadillac, the "black", the "queer" and a girl carelessly enjoying a milkshake in an ice cream parlor.
[8] Pegg writes: "It's a classic example of the dexterity and economy of Bowie's best songwriting: with its scant few lines 'Five Years' drips with implication.
"[2] The track ends with Bowie screaming the title as the Spiders join in, transforming the "histrionics" into "jolly pub chant.
"[2] Spitz and Doggett both note the thematic resemblance to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 1963 song "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", which also describes an impending disaster.
[5][10] In 1973, Bowie elaborated on the scenario described in "Five Years" in an interview with Rolling Stone: It has been announced that the world will end because of lack of natural resources.
[11]In The Complete David Bowie, Pegg attributes Bowie's "half-sung, half-spoken" vocal performance to American musician Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, notes that the "gathering omens of doom" are similar to the William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, and directly correlates the "violent images of societal breakdown" to The War of the Worlds and The Day of the Triffids.
[2] He believes these violent images signals essence in Bowie's new subject matter: "human longing and bruised relationships, expressed in the poignantly tacky idiom of British sci-fi.
"[2] He further writes that the theatrical process of "dissimulation" mirrors Bowie's own sense of alienation, noting that on his previous album Hunky Dory, he was "living in a silent film",[12] but now "feels like an actor" as, "Frankenstein-like", he breathes life into his new creation: Ziggy Stardust.
[13] "Five Years" was released as the opening track on Bowie's fifth studio album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on 16 June 1972 by RCA Records.
"[18] Ian Fortnam of Classic Rock, when ranking every track on the album from worst to best, placed the song at number three, praising Bowie's ability to speak directly to the listener and bring them into the "heart of the narrative.
"[19] Reviewing the album for its 40th anniversary, Jordan Blum of PopMatters praised Bowie's songwriting, calling the melody and harmonies "superbly restrained and affective".
"[20] "Five Years" has since been called one of Bowie's greatest songs by multiple publications, including by Mojo magazine, who listed it as his 26th best track in 2015.
[25] Bowie recorded "Five Years" for the BBC radio programme Sounds of the 70s: Bob Harris on 18 January 1972 and this performance was broadcast on 7 February 1972.
[30][31] The track was to be the closing number of Bowie's 1985 Live Aid set at London's Wembley Stadium but was dropped the day before the concert to allow time for the broadcast of the famous appeal video featuring "Drive" by the Cars as its soundtrack.