Bowie seems to confirm this interpretation with his 1980 follow up to "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes", where Ground control eventually receives a message from Major Tom: "I'm happy, hope you're happy too". Drug users, specifically those who experiment with hallucinogens, find the song took on new meaning following Bowie's battle with drugs in the 1970s. In "Ashes to Ashes", Major Tom's communication failure could be reinterpreted as losing human contact due to drugs. Space Oddity is often interpreted as "a bad trip". At the start of the song Major Tom takes pills ("take your protein pills and put your helmet on"), those pills have their effect ("and I'm floating in a most peculiar way / and the stars look very different today") but eventually Major Tom fails to come out of his trip.