Intellectualism as rock revolution

I'm listening to "ALADDIN SANE" by DAVID BOWIE today, drawn to some classic glam rock by a forecast of three days of dreary rain.
It's difficult now to relate to the sensation Bowie caused as he rocketed to stardom in the early 1970s, setting a different course for pop with his changing personas from album to album.
Writing in the NME in 1973, Ian MacDonald defended Bowie against critics who couldn't see beyond the artifice -- or couldn't recognize the artifice as an experiment in pop culture:
"They feel that he is being more than pretentious, he is being callous -- enjoying a huge ego trip at the expense of people, feelings and situations. He is, in fact, as far from the singer-songwriter ethos -- as embodied by its initiator, Bob Dylan -- as you can comfortably get, and he's alone in taking up this position. For good or ill, David Bowie's intellectualism is a revolution in rock."
All I know is that "Aladdin Sane" still sounds great, 38 years after its release.