David Bowie & the Story of Ziggy Stardust Page #3

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We did the Round House.

I was supposedly Cowboy man

cos I had a cowboy hat on, and a

frilly shirt with some tassels on.

We were just thrown together,

but David's was like, he had

the big knee-high leather boots.

And we just did this gig dressed up,

you know. Theatre.

The London audience wasn't ready

for superheroes playing heavy rock

and The Hype bombed.

With hindsight, it seems

Bowie was just ahead of his time.

Especially when you consider

the Hype's makeup and costumes

pre-date Marc Bolan's

first glam-rock TV appearance

by over a year.

Bowie's plan to create

his famous alter-ego

was beginning to take shape.

The proto-glam band

the Hype are most notable

because it's the first time

David Bowie worked with Mick Ronson,

the guitarist who would become

part of the sound of Ziggy Stardust.

Their first studio collaboration

was on Bowie's next album,

the heavy, guitar-based

The Man Who Sold The World.

But what shocked people the most,

wasn't the new hard rock sound,

but the image on the sleeve.

He sells it by positioning himself

on the front cover in the very long,

flowing, pre-Raphaelite dress,

which was the least macho,

least hard rock image imaginable.

And it's hard to think now

how shocking that actually was.

It wasn't until David and Angela

walked down Beckenham High Street,

David in a dress and Angela

looking remarkably boy-like

that we all started

taking notice of him.

I mean, people would recoil.

Literally, the old girls

would kind of go, "My God!"

Shocking was what he wanted to be,

and shocking was what he was.

The rock scene in 1970 was

very much the colour of blue jeans.

Everybody wore denim,

everybody had long hair

and the music very much reflected

that sort of monotoned culture.

I'm sure that's why the album

wasn't a hit in this country

was because anybody who was

interested in the music

picked up the cover and said, "No way

I'm getting involved in that."

This was not an era when men

flirted with camp imagery at all.

Three albums in and Bowie was

still failing to find his audience.

He desperately needed someone

who could turn his undeniable

talent into record sales.

Somebody did come along and grab me

by the empty wallet and said,

"I'm Tony De Fries and

I'm going to make you a star."

I said, "Oh, yeah?"

David was great, yes he was,

but he hadn't gotten very far

until he'd met Tony.

He was struggling. Tony had a master

plan and things started to happen.

"Yeah, you want to be

Elvis Presley? I can do that.

"It can be done, David.

It can be done."

He financed it, that was

the most important thing.

Everything that Bowie did,

there was Tony De Fries

with the money to pay for it.

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