Modern Man Owes Everything To Ziggy

Well I am just a modern guy…

The Sunday Times in the UK has a page in its STYLE section illustrated with a beautiful Mick Rock shot (above) that asks the important question: Where would modern men be without Bowie?

Here’s an excerpt from the piece in which Colin McDowell attempts to answer the question.

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The Sunday Times – Style – Colin McDowell’s fashion moment: David Bowie

Where would modern men be without Bowie? As a sexual trailblazer, his importance can?t be exaggerated. His 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, was a first, in that the image was even more influential than the music. Although Bowie quickly killed off Ziggy Stardust as a musical alter ego, the influence of his creation continued, not because he wore jump suits, shiny platforms and red hair, but because he came to personify changing attitudes to dress and sexuality.

A good five years before the new romantics, Bowie had spearheaded a fresh approach to the male psyche. After Ziggy, young men ? mainly teenagers ? realised that a flamboyant appearance didn?t necessarily mean effeminacy. Perhaps more significantly, their girlfriends didn?t think so, either.

It is a form of subversion that continues today. After all, without Ziggy, Brandon Flowers of the Killers might never have discovered eyeliner.

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Subversion indeed. My English teacher at school didn’t take too kindly to me sitting at my desk sporting my approximation of the woodland creature outfit knitted by mother!* Anyway, you can read the full Sunday Times article here.

Speaking of Ziggy’s influence on The Killers, the band have been ending their recent shows in style with a very convincing version of Moonage Daydream, apparently much to Brandon Flowers‘ obvious delight.

*This tale is based mainly on lies.