The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - Part 1
Added 2025-05-12 21:35:27 +0000 UTCFive Years - https://youtu.be/2ObjtVdsV3I?si=49648sOjPipsVhsm
Soul Love - https://youtu.be/mAoSRZsRwKg?si=SENY44wLQvM_boe3
Moonage Daydream - https://youtu.be/RPUAldgS7Sg?si=6wzUOMmr56-c7LmM
Starman (Top Of The Pops, 1972) -https://youtu.be/oOKWF3IHu0I?si=ZJ438E4xCvJ94JCb
Comments
David Bowie went to the same school I went to a few years before I went there. His friend Peter Frampton (check out Frampton Comes Alive) also went to the school. His Dad - Owen Frampton was my art teacher. Bowie was a genius. He refused to be stuck in one style of music. I kind of remember Space Oddity, then Man Who Sold The World - but Top of The Pops (1972) the performance of Starman - was when I sat up and took notice. Who was this guy? The non heterosexuality vibe was just like wow! When I got to school, everyone was talking about the performance and then the realisation of the fact he was a former school colleague of ours. There was a group school photograph. You could pick him out, despite it being in black and white. The young man around 15 with a shock of blond (white) hair. The impact on me and my school mates was incredible. Just as you describe it Jess so brilliantly. This album is stellar! I think it's a kind of concept album alongside Sergeant Pepper. I first heard this when I was 14 in 1973. It completely blew me away. I can remember exactly where - in my school friend Martin Thomas bedroom. He had just bought it. Omg.
David Bingham
2025-05-19 00:06:08 +0000 UTC"Glam Rock" was the term used to describe the "look" of artists through the 70's, which is exactly what the costumes, make-up, hair ect demonstrates. Marc Bolan another great musician who sadly passed far to young, was a pioneer of glam rock with his band T.Rex
Bee_Nipple
2025-05-14 04:55:30 +0000 UTCReally was once in a lifetime artist singer!
Theloyalmuppet
2025-05-13 21:43:12 +0000 UTCAmazing record, amazing man. Claim to fame: my dad attended the same school as David Bowie. David Jones back then of course. And my dad is 8 years younger than Bowie, so didn't attend at the same time.
Ash Jeffries
2025-05-13 15:00:08 +0000 UTCFYI, all of the Top Of the Pops BBC TV performances were mimed to the studio recording. Top Of The Pops was a chart-based show on the BBC nationwide from 1964 to 2006 on Thursday nights as I remember. They had acts in the studio miming or they showed promo films/videos or in the 1970's when neither were available they had a dance troupe do a routine to the just the playback.
Fordy7169
2025-05-13 14:29:41 +0000 UTCLiterally an old favourite of mine, watched it the other night actually lol
Brucey Mitchell (Cheeky)
2025-05-13 13:13:26 +0000 UTCGreat song. I'm not a Bowie expert at all but I think that song and Space Oddity would be good singles to check out from his early stuff in their journey. There are probably many more as I don't know the albums at all
Richard Stokes
2025-05-13 12:35:01 +0000 UTCIf you think this is good wait until you listen to The Laughing Gnome.
Terrahawk
2025-05-13 11:30:37 +0000 UTCA man who has never listened to whole early Queen albums. Obviously not just a 'pop' band. Easily the the best act IMO of all the bands listed. You may not like a band but don't be disingenuous about their material. You're sounding like a 'right-on' NME journo, LOL
Fordy7169
2025-05-13 11:07:15 +0000 UTCGlam rock was a mixture of quality rock in the early 70s (early T.Rex, Bowie, Roxy Music, Mott The Hoople) and pop acts (Slade, Sweet, Alvin Stardust and Qu**n).
Thomas
2025-05-13 10:14:55 +0000 UTCOne Bowie song many Americans are familiar with but don’t necessarily associate with him in The Man Who Sold The World. I think the live Unplugged version by Seattle band Nirvana is more famous than the Bowie original from 1970.
Thomas
2025-05-13 08:56:38 +0000 UTCI got a few non YouTube friendly David Bowie videos, including the Infamous "Cracked Actor" documentary from the 70s, which was filmed whilst he was heavy into drugs, if it's any good for you to check out in future. Really worth watching. Just from memory I've got documentaries on Ziggy Stardust, Sound and Vision, Fame, a BBC career retrospective, and one on the last 5 years of his career plus a couple of others
Danny
2025-05-13 08:31:09 +0000 UTCYou may remember him as an actor - especially in Labyrinth, think you've mentioned watching that before, Jess?
Daz Parker
2025-05-13 08:19:46 +0000 UTCK. West on the Ziggy album cover was a random furriers shop in Heddon Street, just off Regent Street in central London. I occasionally use Heddon Street as a cut-through and always take time to stop at the blue Ziggy plaque that marks the spot. It’s only a couple of hundred yards from a place featured in one of Mike and Jess’s Beatles reactions, the rooftop concert above Apple in Savile Row.
Thomas
2025-05-13 00:35:30 +0000 UTCTop of the Pops was similar to the American show Soul Train, except the American audience had rhythm 🤣. Bowie was one of the first white artists to appear on Soul Train in 1975, by which time he had completely changed his image and music style. He performed Golden Years, which was pure funk, and the mainly black audience loved it.
Thomas
2025-05-13 00:05:40 +0000 UTCDavid Bowie’s son was called Zowie Bowie, but now goes by Duncan Jones (Bowie was born David Jones but changed his name because the lead singer of The Monkees was Davy Jones). Duncan Jones is a movie director, whose credits include Moon, Source Code, Warcraft and Mute.
Thomas
2025-05-12 23:56:31 +0000 UTCWhat added to Bowie’s alien look is that his eyes appear to be different colours. They aren’t but he was punched in the eye in a school playground fight over a girl, and it left one of his pupils permanently dilated. The boy who punched him became a lifelong friend.
Thomas
2025-05-12 23:42:07 +0000 UTCNeed to check out more of his live stuff! Especially from the Ziggy tour. Groundbreaking stuff for the time
DG
2025-05-12 23:37:02 +0000 UTCI remember those red boots because they were six inches away from my face in May 1972, six weeks before that Top of the Pops performance. It was a still relatively unknown David Bowie playing in a college just off that roundabout in the opening credits of The Office. I was so close to the stage because, being only 14, I wasn’t allowed into the bar and my older brother just told me to ‘bugger off in there’ pointing to the dance hall. It was my first gig so I didn’t know what to do and my big brother didn’t really want to be seen with me. But I loved Hunky Dory, the previous album, and demanded he take me to the concert. It turned out to be one of the greatest moments in my life!
Thomas
2025-05-12 23:36:06 +0000 UTCRonsons guitar solo on the end of Moonage Daydream is top tier
Luke Gale9
2025-05-12 23:03:08 +0000 UTCThanks for posting this reaction, Mike & Jess - I know you've both been super-busy lately and we all really appreciate it! I was 13 years old when this particular 'Top of The Pops' was aired - the show was the highlight of the week for most teens in the UK back then. I'm 66 now, so probably one of your older followers LOL! Keep up the fantastic reactions! xxx
Carol
2025-05-12 22:57:11 +0000 UTCIncredible album! Looking forward to part two
Ollie
2025-05-12 22:48:30 +0000 UTCMike and Jess - loving your reactions to hearing Bowie properly for the first time! It is arguably the greatest rock album of all time - certainly up there with the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper etc - and one of my personal all-time faves! Mike, you're correct in thinking you had heard Moonage Daydream on Guardians of the Galaxy (one of my favourite movies too!) See this short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHMlH7tnTj4 Something I haven't seen anybody else mention, I think, is that Bowie was unusual not just in his incredible, insatiable creativity, but also in not simply adopting an American accent the way most British musical artists did but in keeping his London accent. It's particularly noticeable on Moonage Daydream.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-12 22:45:34 +0000 UTCI was ten at the time, but for some reason don't remember seeing it, even though I was seriously into glam rock, including The Sweet and Slade. I do remember thge first TOTP performance of Roxy Music's Virginia Plain with Bryan Ferry singing and Brian Eno on synth, of course, though. That had a huge impact on me, like seeing The Specials' Gangsters or The Stranglers' No More Heroes.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-12 22:38:13 +0000 UTCMoonage daydream you would have heard from guardians of galaxy as you say. Awesome mix vol.1, great movie soundtrack
Jay Lo
2025-05-12 22:34:12 +0000 UTCWhen I saw him in concert in 2003, he started the encore with Five Years. I wasn’t expecting to hear that song, it was pretty awesome.
Julian T
2025-05-12 22:30:09 +0000 UTCGreat reaction! Cool to see you two experiencing this album for the first time. The Top Of The Pops performance was like a bolt from the blue for us as young teens - utterly new, fantastically exciting, thrillingly different. The guy in the gold jumpsuit is Mick Ronson, who played a huge role on the album, not only the guitarist but also the arranger, a major influence on how the album sounded. When Bowie put his arms around Mick’s shoulders it was deemed very risqué for the time. After that Thursday evening Bowie was our new hero, and it was the start of a journey through the 70s as he changed his sound constantly. This album is up there amongst the best albums ever made. Enjoy the rest!
Tim Pindar
2025-05-12 22:26:27 +0000 UTCWow, that was fantastic, the nostalgia trip was awesome. Thanks guys :)
Brucey Mitchell (Cheeky)
2025-05-12 22:16:29 +0000 UTCThat was great 👍 and the best is still to come #happydays
Dango247
2025-05-12 21:51:40 +0000 UTCBOW IE NOT BO WIE 😉 your welcome ,I wasn't shouting it just thought it would help 👏 love the channel it's outstanding 👏
david haggart
2025-05-12 21:48:56 +0000 UTCStop being a dick mate, they are catching up in order, just as they said in the last post!
Brucey Mitchell (Cheeky)
2025-05-12 21:39:51 +0000 UTCInbetweeners?????
Moody Marco
2025-05-12 21:36:39 +0000 UTC
