The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell
…as romantic as hell
Most of you will recognise the picture above as a still from the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video, but perhaps there are a few of you who are a bit too young to remember the New Romantic Movement (hi Baby Steve). The chap second in from the left, known to most of us as Steve Strange, was the host of the Blitz club in London from where David Bowie chose his cast of colourful characters to populate aforementioned promo.
The Blitz wasn’t the first of these clubs, it evolved from Bowie nights at a club called Billy’s in Soho, and every one of the beautiful people that risked their lives to wander the streets of London on their way to these nights was a self-confessed Bowie fan. Well, if you weren’t around to witness the bizarre goings-on at the time, you have a chance to glimpse some of the boys and girls that turned the heads of the easily-shocked during the early eighties by tuning into BBC1 here in the UK tonight at 10.35pm (GMT).
Expect contributions to this fifty minute special from Boy George and Culture Club, Duran Duran, ABC, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Spandau Ballet. Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet (perhaps even more famous now as Steve Owen in EastEnders) had this to say: “We were all huge Bowie fans and enjoyed dressing up. People forget that a lot of great bands and songs came from that era.” Hear! Hear!
Tune-in, make-up and sing out. };-)