Bowie Track of the Day - "Rock'n'Roll Suicide"

"Everybody... this has been one of the greatest tours of our lives. I would like to thank the band. I would like to thank our road crew. I would like to thank our lighting people. Of all of the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you."

Thus David Bowie killed the man, Ziggy Stardust, live on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon - before launching into what is, and always will be, my all-time favourite of Mr B's songs.

As a "late-comer" to the magic and mystery of the great man (my first album was the aforementioned Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, and I sort of worked backwards from there), his early Glam Rock era was something I needed to explore, in order to truly understand him. I was, after all, only nine years old when The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released - thus far too young (and wrapped up with the likes of Donny Osmond, The Sweet and The New Seekers) to know what to make of this ambisexual space-freak first time around.

Sure, the "Bowie/Roxy" nights we went to in '83/'84 at Lazers club in Newport played his heavy-on-the-electronica repertoire from "The Berlin Trilogy", as well as stuff like Rebel Rebel and John, I'm Only Dancing, but what of the music that didn't lend itself so easily to "pointy dancing"?

My journey inevitably led me to the tortured genius of Ziggy, and I began to appreciate exactly why a man with a singing voice reminiscent of Anthony Newley and a penchant for extreme make-up and hair dye could possibly have exploded onto the musical scene with such a huge force as he did. How strong, how clever, how brave, how glamorous! Of course, this was at a particular time in my own life (early 1980s) when I too was "tortured" by confusion, self-denial, fear and uncertainty - mainly about my sexuality - and I felt I wanted desperately to escape the small-town life, the dreariness and the despair, if only I knew how (or had the guts to do something about it). It was then that David Bowie came to my rescue...

...with this song:

David Bowie - Rock'n'Roll Suicide

Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth
You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette
The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget
Oh, how, how, how, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

You're too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a café but you don't eat when you've lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

Chev brakes are snarling as you stumble across the road
But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Don't let the sun blast your shadow
Don't let the milk float ride your mind
You're so natural - religiously unkind

Oh no love! you're not alone
You're watching yourself but you're too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only make you care
Oh no love! you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone!

Just turn on with me and you're not alone
Let's turn on with me and you're not alone (wonderful)
Let's turn on and be not alone (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful (wonderful)
Oh gimme your hands...

He was there for me, and I really appreciate that.

Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!

According to Tilda Swinton in her "open letter to David Bowie", at the launch on Wednesday of the V&A's almost sold-out tribute exhibition David Bowie Is, David was "'tickled'... to knock Elvis – for once! – out of the headlines on [their] shared birthday this year."

And quite right too. This is the Year of David Bowie, or so it would seem. And to that end the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - as always with its eye on the ball (ahem!) - hosted last night's gala We Love David Bowie.

Paul, Jim and I gathered among the hordes of delicious eccentrics parading in their "satin and tat" for the occasion, and settled in for the opening segment - an illustrated talk by that modern-day Ronald Firbank, the admirable Mr Rupert Smith.

Mr Smith has extensive first-hand insight into the enigma that is David Bowie, having met, interviewed and worked with such survivors of the hedonistic Warhol-esque art world that launched Bowie's career as Lindsay Kemp and Jayne County. However even he would not be unequivocal about the sexuality of the great man.



Instead, he took us on a fascinating journey into Bowie's constant toying with the idea - from his declaration that he was "gay, or at least bisexual" in an early interview while at the same time being married (to Angie) with a child, to the Ziggy Stardust era, when his cross-dressing androgyny and on-stage antics such as fellating Mick Ronson's guitar were guaranteed to outrage the establishment and ensured he was rarely out of the papers [a hilarious clip from an early edition of the very mainstream BBC magazine programme Nationwide emphasised this], to his later years, flirting with the ambisexual worlds of Romy Haag, Amanda Lear and Klaus Nomi.



It was this flirtatiousness with the idea of being a "queer icon", Mr Smith argued, which created the "Bowie phenomenon" that steam-rollered the boy from Brixton into a genuine world-dominating superstar, influencing everyone from Mick Jagger to Lou Reed to the New Romantics to today's "alternative" performers. Rupert summed up the huge significance of the man thus:

"Perhaps it was partly for show but ultimately I don't think it matters what he was doing in his private life. He's always been an actor. He clearly knew his way around gay culture in terms of its writing and music and visual art.

"More than anyone else, he blasted the closet-door off its hinges. At the very least in the '70s he was a pioneer of sexual openness in Britain."

And on that note, Rupert ushered in the second part of this extravaganza, a rare big-screen outing for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - the live concert footage from Hammersmith Odeon in 1973, after which he "killed the man". And here are just a few clips from this stunning performance:

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie - Moonage Daydream

David Bowie - My Death

David Bowie - Rock'n'Roll Suicide

Oh, how we wished we could have been there...

However, this was a celebration, and as with all good celebrations we had a party to attend! In the packed-to-the-brim sweat-box of the BFI's "Blue Room" we went on to dance the night away, as our DJs Jonathan Kemp (author of the award-winning London Triptych, no less) and Sadie Lee treated us to back-to-back non-stop Bowieness (all his hits, and others influenced by him) to a backdrop of moving slide images and video footage of the man projected on the walls.





It was an ecstatic experience, even if I feel a bit like "the man who fell to earth" this morning...

Among the many blogs I have done about Mr Bowie, read my tributes for his 65th birthday:

• Part One
• Part Two

David Bowie website

Became the special man

From the BBC:

David Bowie's glam rock alter-ego Ziggy Stardust will be celebrated with a plaque, 40 years after he appeared on the cover of Bowie's 1972 album.

The plaque will be placed on Heddon Street in central London, where Bowie was first photographed as Ziggy.

The shot was used for the front cover of his album The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.

Forty years? Inconceivable...

Well overdue and well-deserved recognition for one of the most iconic [how I hate that word] pop images of the 20th century.

Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp will unveil the plaque this morning.

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust (live 1973)

Ziggy played guitar
Jamming good with Weird and Gilly
And the Spiders From Mars
He played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man
Then we were Ziggy's band

Ziggy really sang
Screwed up eyes and screwed down hair-do
Like some cat from Japan
He could lick 'em by smiling
He could leave them to hang
Came on so loaded man
Well hung and snow-white tan

So where were the Spiders
While the flies tried to break our balls
Just the beer light to guide us
So we bitch about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands

Ziggy played for time
Jiving us that we were voodoo
But the kids were just crass
He was the nazz, with God-given ass
He took it all too far
But boy, could he play guitar

Making love with his ego
Ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man
We had to break up the band

Now Ziggy played guitar...

Read my comprehensive tribute(s) to David Bowie on the occasion of his 65th birthday here and here

Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful

My ultimate icon David Bowie was born humble David Jones, in Brixton, on this day 65 years ago.

His chameleon-like career has been the stuff of legend. His influence, even five decades on from the start of his career with Space Oddity in the late 60s, is everywhere - from Bolan and Eno to Kate Bush and Gary Numan to Boy George and Marc Almond to Goldfrapp and even Madonna.

I feel the need to pay a little tribute to such a superior being.

Indeed Mr Bowie is the latest "exhibit" in the Dolores Delargo Towers - Museum of Camp.

Yes, I know I have written about my love for him before (back in 2008) but...

My adoration of Mr Bowie began many years after I had first liked one of his records (embarrassingly The Laughing Gnome in '73 - but then again, I was only 10). Of course it began when I was old enough to understand that the style and artistry of Mr Numan and of the emerging New Romantics in the late '70s and early '80s was not entirely their own idea. There was more music to explore, more to the early '70s than just Glam Rock, there was a wealth of Bowie album material to appreciate.


Hunky Dory, "Produced by Ken Scott (assisted by the actor)"

Mr B's third album (his first, self-titled and his second The Man Who Sold the World being relatively obscure) Hunky Dory was released on 17th December 1971. Long acknowledged as one of the greatest albums of the late 20th century, at the time of its release, despite critical acclaim (Melody Maker called it "the most inventive piece of song-writing to have appeared on record in a considerable time") and a fantastic single Changes (released 40 years ago yesterday), it was not a huge commercial success. To me, it is far and away his finest work:

David Bowie - Oh You Pretty Things

David Bowie - Changes

David Bowie - Queen Bitch

The album cover photograph was taken outside furriers "K. West" at 23 Heddon Street, London, W1

It wasn't until the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on 6th June 1972 that "Bowie the Phenomenon" really began to take over the musical world. Many and varied are the legends that allegedly led David to transform himself into the monstrous stage persona of "Ziggy", but, quite simply, there had been nothing quite like this before! And as concept albums go, it is the very best (and indeed spawned my favourite of all Bowie songs, Rock'n'Roll Suicide). Stunning.

David Bowie - Suffragette City

David Bowie - Starman

David Bowie - Rock'n'Roll Suicide

Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth
You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette
The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget
Ohhh how how how, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

You're too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a cafe but you don't eat when you've lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

Chev brakes are snarling as you stumble across the road
But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Don't let the sun blast your shadow
Don't let the milk float ride your mind
You're so natural - religiously unkind

Oh no love! you're not alone
You're watching yourself but you're too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only
make you care
Oh no love! you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone

Just turn on with me and you're not alone
Let's turn on with me and you're not alone (wonderful)
Let's turn on and be not alone (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause you're wonderful (wonderful)
Oh gimme your hands.

A lad insane?

Contrary to popular belief, it was in fact the photo used for the cover of Aladdin Sane, released on 13th April 1973, not Ziggy Stardust that people most associate with this era of Bowie's constantly-transforming image in the 70s. The album itself was (remarkably) Mr B's first Number 1, and - despite the man's near-breakdown and the "killing" of Ziggy - produced some massively-successful classics.

David Bowie - Jean Genie

David Bowie - The Prettiest Star

David Bowie - Cracked Actor

"A marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world"

In the midst of Bowie's well-documented "breakdown" (and the release of his album of cover versions Pin-Ups) he managed to produce the last, and most apocalyptic of his "dark Glam" albums Diamond Dogs, released on 24th April 1974. From it came another all-time classic:

David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

Evidently (as always) with an eye on the zeitgeist, Bowie knew it was time for a change - and indeed it was from the ashes of the post-Glam world that he made a fateful trip to Philadelphia in 1974, home of the burgeoning "Soul" sound, and that, dear reader, is the subject of another blog...

David Bowie official website