Description - When Ziggy Played Guitar by Dylan Jones
And then there was David Bowie, the uber-freak with the mismatched pupils, the low-tech space face from the planet Sparkle. This was Bowie's third appearance on TOTP but this was the one that properly resonated with its audience, the one that would go on to cause a seismic shift in the Zeitgeist. This is the performance that turned Bowie into a star, embedding his Ziggy Stardust persona into the nation's consciousness.
With a tall, flame-orange cockade quiff (stolen from a Kansai Yamamoto model on the cover of Honey), lavishly applied make-up, white nail polish, and wearing a multi-coloured jump-suit that looked as though it were made from fluorescent fish skin (chosen by Ziggy co-shaper, the designer Freddie Buretti), and carrying a brand spanking new, blue acoustic guitar, a bone-thin Bowie appeared not so much as a pop singer, but rather as some sort of benevolent alien, a concept helped along by the provocative appearance of his guitarist, the chicken-headed Mick Ronson, with both of them unapologetically sporting knee-length patent leather wrestler's boots (Bowie's were red). 'Most people are scared of colour,' Bowie said later. 'Their lives are built up in shades of grey. It doesn't matter how straight the style is, make it brightly coloured material and everyone starts acting weird.'
Suddenly Bowie - a man called alias - had the world at his nail-varnished fingertips, and in no time at all he would be the biggest star in the world.
Buy When Ziggy Played Guitar by Dylan Jones from Australia's Online Independent Bookstore, BooksDirect.
Other Editions - When Ziggy Played Guitar by Dylan Jones
A Preview for this title is currently not available.
Checking availability...
Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics
Shiny and New: Ten Moments of Pop Genius that Defined the '80s
Loaded: The Life (and Afterlife) of The Velvet Underground
The Wichita Lineman: Searching in the Sun for the World's Greatest Unfinished Song
