David Bowie - The Glam Years

Success had come late to David Bowie in the Summer of 1972 when he made his famous appearance on Top Of The Pops singing Starman. This was three years after his first hit with Space Oddity which had coincided with the Apollo 11 moon landing. Following this his career had largely been on hold, with the release of The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory LPs failing to at first make any great impressions on the pop buying public as a whole.

However, the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars had been released the month previous to the TOTP performance and became his big breakthrough. Touring incessantly with his band of Spiders (Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick “Woody” Woodmansey), Bowie as Ziggy took the pop world by storm for the next year before announcing that their performance at the Hammersfield Apollo in early July 1973 would be their last. The LP itself is a kind of concept album about an androgynous pop star who arrives from Mars (!?!) together with his band, rising to incredible fame before burning out in a big way. The title track offers clues to who Ziggy is based on, with Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix and Marc Bolan all being definite candidates:

Three months prior to this Aladdin Sane had been released. Some critics though it a lesser album than Stardust and although it has some standout songs on it, yours truly has always tended to agree. Bowie described Sane as “Ziggy goes to America”, and most of its tracks are indeed reflections on the United States that were written when he travelled through the country on tour in late 1972. My favourite song is Panic In Detroit where the dive bombing guitar of Mick Ronson and the frantic singing of Linda Lewis and Juanita “Honey” Franklin add lustre to Bowie’s Bo Diddley beat tale of John Sinclair and recent riots in the Motor City:

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The American pianist Mike Garson contributed greatly to this album and would become one of David’s main collaborators over the next four decades. The Spiders, however, had fractured by the time Bowie’s next LP Pin Ups was released with Mick Woodmansey replaced on drums by Aynsley Dunbar. An album of cover songs by British bands from the 60s, it was noticeable for the striking cover photo featuring David and the gorgeous Twiggy.

By the time of Diamond Dogs release in 1974, all remaining Spiders had gone. Bowie played guitars, saxophones and keyboards in his own raucously energetic style along with top session musicians on other instruments. The album’s theme was a cross between George Orwell’s 1984 and Bowie’s own post apocalyptic vision, with the Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing(Reprise) section being particularly brilliant musically and lyrically:

I think it was Charles Shaar Murray of the New Musical Express who remarked at the time that the single Rebel Rebel was the final hit being played in the last discotheque left in the ruins of the city. Diamond Dogs was a fitting end to David Bowie’s Glam years. His next move would be to soul and funk and America, before ending up in Berlin. Here is that aforementioned “final hit song”: