Goodbye Ziggy
On 3 July 1973, David Bowie kills off his most famous creation
On the night of 3 July 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, David Bowie steps up to the microphone and addresses his audience. ‘This is not only the last date of the tour,’ he tells his screaming fans, ‘but the last show we will ever do.’
And on that score, he is correct.
Bowie will never again play Ziggy Stardust, the character that catapulted him to fame. That night, Bowie not only kills off his most famous creation, he also puts to the sword the musical genre that Ziggy had come to represent - glam rock.
‘If Sgt Pepper was to culminating statement of the 1960s,’ Creative Loafing magazine once stated, ‘the same can be said of Ziggy in the 1970s.’
Glam Rock begins at the start of the decade, lasts about three years. Glam Rock is a straight beat and drum riffs. Its practitioners pour glitter over their hair, apply makeup to their faces, and stagger around town in platform boots and gaudy, colourful jumpsuits. Glam Rock is a nonsense that produces some great singles. For a man who, since 1966, expressed his desire to put some theatricality into rock and roll, glam rock is the perfect vehicle.
David Bowie’s role in the glam-rock story begins, as all stories do, back in someone’s unknowing past. Vince Taylor was a British rock and roller who operated in the late 50s and early 60s, played venues such as The 2i’s in Soho, wrote great records such as ‘Brand New Cadillac’. He wore a black leather jacket, had greased back hair, and entertained some crazy thoughts. He absolutely believed that there was a link between himself, Jesus, and UFOs. On stage one night, he declared that he was the son of God. His career took a bit of a dip after that pronouncement.
In 1966, Taylor meets a young singer by the name of David Jones. Jones likes Taylor because he parties and he drinks and he has drugs and he does crazy things. Jones recalls sitting on a London pavement watching Taylor point out on a map where the spaceships were about to land.
When David Jones becomes David Bowie, he does not forget about Taylor. Four years later, as he begins putting together the story of the character he named Ziggy Stardust, Bowie draws on Taylor’s life and career. Bowie created Ziggy Stardust in 1970 in America. For Bowie, a man fascinated by style and image, this is a time of great frustration. All around Bowie is long hair and beads and beards and denim - denim everywhere, on the bands, on the fans. Bowie finds it all so dull.
Yet he knows the ways of pop.
