I’d c’mon like a regular superstar…
Just in time for the 37th anniversary of the release of Starman (originally released April 28th 1972) the current edition of UNCUT (June 2009) has a three page feature concentrating on the time just before the whole Ziggy thing took off.
The piece, by Rob Hughes, has contributions from Angie Bowie, Ken Scott, Mick Rock and Woody Woodmansey with particular focus on the recording of the song, the Oxford Town Hall ?electric blow-job? and Top Of The Pops.
Here’s an excerpt from each of the contributors…
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KEN SCOTT: I?d worked with David on Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold The World and always thought yes, he was a nice guy and relatively talented. But a superstar? Never. But after he?d asked me to co-produce Hunky Dory with him, his publisher and myself were over at my house going through the demos and it dawned on me for the first time that this guy could be a superstar.
ANGIE BOWIE: They made a great job of Hunky Dory, but ?Ziggy Stardust was when the band came together in a way that everyone had their chops down. And Mick Ronson started to emerge as this amazing guitarist. The band would come over to our place at Haddon Hall and go down into the basement to rehearse. They more or less lived there. [Fashion designer] Freddie Buretti worked for this Greek tailor called Andreas, so I?d brought Freddie and his girlfriend Daniella [Parmar] down to Haddon Hall. David and Freddie then got together and designed those outfits for the Ziggy Stardust thing. David designed the bomber jackets and the tight-fitting pants with the lace-up boots. I bought a lot of clothes for myself but kind of laid them out in a way that, if David nicked them and wore them, it might not be a bad idea.
MICK ?WOODY? WOODMANSEY: The whole Bowie and the Spiders look was David?s idea. We?d watched A Clockwork Orange, seen Alice Cooper live and it was a fusion that fitted the whole space/alien concept. At first we were very reticent about the outfits and the make-up. Mick Ronson hated the outfits. In fact, he packed his bags and left. David asked me to go after him and handle it. I spent a good hour or so on Beckenham train station with him!
MICK ROCK: I think David saw “Starman” as the ultimate follow-up to “Space Oddity”, which had been a hit in ?69. But you can see all that ?star? stuff he was projecting like mad then: “Starman”; “Prettiest Star”; “Moonage Daydream”. He wanted it bad, he really did. At one point when I was interviewing him he said: “Y?know, I?m so focused on what I?m doing, Mick, that if you were to come and tell me my best friend had just died, I?d probably say ?Oh, that?s really sad?, then go right back to work.” That was how he thought of himself. It was important for him to be a star. People forget that Ziggy Stardust was all projection, because he wasn?t a star at the moment he recorded the single and the album. “Starman” was the set-up. That song was the reason there were a thousand people at Oxford Town Hall [June 1972].
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Great stuff and it’s worth reading the whole thing…I’ll leave you with another bit from Woody…I wonder what the Quo thought after the show…
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MICK ?WOODY? WOODMANSEY: “Starman” was the first Bowie song since “Space Oddity” that had mass appeal. It spearheaded the whole Ziggy Stardust concept both musically and visually. Appearing on Top Of The Pops was like reaching the summit of Everest. I recall waiting to go on, standing in a corridor, and Status Quo were opposite us. We were dressed in our clothes and they had on their trademark denim. Francis Rossi looked at me and said: “Shit, you make us feel old”. The success of “Starman” really opened it all up for us. Everything changed.
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See these news stories for further reading: 04.14.2002 SNIPPET: STARMAN RELEASED THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY…NOT! & 04.28.2002 NEWS: STARMAN RELEASED 30 YEARS AGO TODAY!
