All The Young Dudes...
The latest edition in the excellent
As you all know, David's own "Glam" years were pretty much over after little more than two years as the undisputed King of Glam (in my house at least), from the first public appearances of Ziggy in early '72 to the first performances in June 1974 as Halloween Jack when David had the good sense, and, more importantly, a natural instinct to forge ahead with yet another new sound and look for the Diamond Dogs tour of North America.
There are those that would argue that David unwittingly invented Glam with his performances with The Hype in 1970 as Rainbow Man. By all accounts one person at the front of the stage during a memorable performance by the flamboyantly dressed Hype at The Roundhouse was a young Marc Bolan looking for a new angle himself... perhaps he found one that night.
In a December 1998 BowieNet chat, David himself suggested another possible originator thus: "Wee Willie Harris* started Glam. And I'm not joking".
Whatever the true origins of the movement, it was a great time for rock music that, apart from David, saw the rise of the likes of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Roxy Music, Eno, T Rex, New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, Cockney Rebel and Sparks... all covered in this NME special. Not to mention (shame they had to) Rod, Elton, Slade, The Sweet, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, and, according to NME, the Bay City Rollers!
An ad for the publication claims the NME Glam special boasts: "Ravishing rare photos", "Original 70s interviews" and "Eye-witness reviews". Who among you can resist temptation like that?
*Fifties rocker who dyed his hair pink. By the sixties he'd dyed his hair platinum and got religion!