“Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo”
Back on 8th January we ran a piece regarding David’s 25th birthday party at his then home, Haddon Hall. In it, we suggested that he welcomed guests as his latest creation, even if he hadn't given himself the Ziggy label just yet.
The very same day as his 25th, Melody Maker (MM) ran a full-page Hunky Dory advert, though Bowie’s focus was now fully on aforementioned latest creation.
Twelve days later on Thursday the 20th January (fifty years ago today) MM (with a publish date of 22nd January*), ran their first Bowie cover feature, the now famous 'Oh You Pretty Thing' interview by Michael Watts.
Featuring Barry Wentzell’s images taken during the interview at the Gem offices in Regent Street (albeit printed back to front), we’re pretty sure that this feature boasts the very first mention of the album in print, even though it wouldn’t be released for another six months...
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“Bowie is talking in an office at Gem Music, from where his management operates. A tape machine is playing his next album, "The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars," which is about this fictitious pop group. The music has got a very hard-edged sound, like "The Man Who Sold The World." They're releasing it shortly, even though "Hunky Dory" has only just come out.”
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The feature became known as the “I’m gay” interview, even though Watts had already pointed out earlier in the piece: “He supposes he’s what people call bisexual.” As unimportant as either of those statements may seem today, fifty years ago it was a bigger deal, and some would even say brave.
Though it’s a playful piece, it’s clear that Watts was eager to emphasise the brilliance of the music and the fact that David Bowie’s time had come…
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“They call David a lot of things. In the states he's been referred to as the English Bob Dylan and an avant garde outrage, all rolled up together. The New York Times talks of his "coherent and brilliant vision." They like him a lot there. Back home in the very stiff upper lip UK, where people are outraged by Alice Cooper even, there ain't too many who have picked up on him. His last but one album "The Man Who Sold The World," cleared 50.000 copies in the States; here it sold about five copies, and Bowie bought them. Yes, but before this year is out all those of you who puked up on Alice are going to be focusing your passions on Mr. Bowie, and those who know where it's at will be thrilling to a voice that seemingly undergoes brilliant metamorphosis from song to song, a songwriting ability that will enslave the heart, and a sense of theatrics that will make the ablest thespians gnaw on their sticks of eyeliner in envy. All this and an amazingly accomplished band, featuring super-lead guitarist Mick Ronson, that can smack you round the skull with their heaviness and soothe the savage breasts with their delicacy. Oh, to be young again.”
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You can read the full interview over on the brilliant resource that is The ZIGGY STARDUST Companion.
* In the UK, music weeklies were in the shops on a Thursday with the following Saturday’s date on the cover.
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