Tag Archive: Ziggy Stardust


The prettiest stars of Glam Rock

Filed under: Books, Gender, Music — Leave a comment
October 31, 2016

SHOCK AND AWE – GLAM ROCK AND ITS LEGACY by Simon Reynolds (Faber & Faber,2016)

“Got your mother in a whirl ‘cos she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl” – David Bowie (Rebel Rebel)
“Even the greatest stars live their lives in the looking glass” – Kraftwork (Hall Of Mirrors)
“There’s something in the air of which we will all be aware yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” – Sweet (Teenage Rampage)
“Whatever happened to the heroes?”- The Stranglers (No More Heroes)

glamIt’s fair to say Glam Rock has never really been taken all that seriously. Being casually dismissed as a joke genre is partly what drove Simon Reynolds to write this impressively weighty tome.

In so doing, he proves that this musical phenomenon deserves to be more than just an amusing footnote in the story of popular music. The author doesn’t claim that all the music tagged as Glam (or Glitter is you’re American) is of a universally high standard yet, even at its most crass and commercial, Reynolds endorses the viewpoint of Noel Coward who once wryly observed : “It’s extraordinary how potent cheap music is”. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

DAVID BOWIE AND THE 1970s

Filed under: Books, Music — 1 Comment
May 25, 2012

THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD  by Peter Doggett (The Bodley Head, 2011)

One of the greatest books on contemporary rock is Revolution In The Head by Ian MacDonald. Subtitled The Beatles’ Records And The Sixties, this illuminating song by song guide to everything the Fab Four recorded is worth buying for the introductory essay alone – ‘Fabled Foursome, Disappearing Decade’. In the space of just 34 pages, MacDonald puts the monumental achievements and legacy of The Beatles into lucid perspective and recognises that we will never see their like again. The way music is made, promoted and consumed has changed beyond all recognition since the heady days of the 60s so the cultural impact the four young men from Liverpool had is unrepeatable.

MacDonald was commissioned to write a similar book on David Bowie but sadly the project floundered n 2003, when he killed himself after a long period of clinical depression. The mantle has passed to Peter Doggett who has himself written a critically praised book on the Beatles, You Never Give Me You Money, which focused on the band’s break up and immediate aftermath.

In his introduction, Doggett admits that Revolution In The Head was the model for his book although the format is not entirely the same and it has to be said that it’s nowhere near as good.

Continue reading →
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

BACKTRACKING #41 : DAVID BOWIE

Filed under: Gender, Music — Leave a comment
December 3, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

DAVID BOWIE – John, I’m Only Dancing b/w Hang On To Yourself (RCA, 1972).

This is the only Bowie single I own, probably because it’s one of the few tracks that didn’t appear on his albums (all of which I have).

There is some speculation that the ‘John’  of the title is Mr Lennon in response to jibes about cross-dressing which sounds a but unlikely to me.

By the time this record came out, it was widely known that , sexually, Bowie swung both ways and the song dispels any lingering doubts. “I’m only dancing” he tells his boyfriend but the fact that he  adds “She turns me on”  is hardly designed to be reassuring.

The openly ‘out’  bisexual message meant that the video directed by Mick Rock never got shown on Top Of The Pops and the single was not even released in the USA.

The B-side is from the Ziggy Stardust album and the video shows Bowie in full Ziggy mode with a hair style that many copied without looking as cool as he did. We see Lindsay Kemp’s mime troupe cavorting suggestively while the three man Spiders From Mars look less at ease in their Glam Rock gear.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comment

SWEENEY TODD – FLYING BLOOD

Filed under: Movies, Music — 2 Comments
March 8, 2008

In their Oscar acceptance speech, the Coen Brothers expressed thanks for being allowed to play in their corner of the sandpit. The other corner is surely reserved for Tim Burton who, like the Coens, has consistently made movies that follow a unique vision and which steadfastly refuse to pander to Hollywood conventions. Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment