David Bowie & the Story of Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie & The Story of Ziggy Stardust)

40 years ago, in millions of living rooms across the British Isles,

a strange alien creature was beamed onto our television screens.

With bright red hair and a multi-coloured space-suit,

his unearthly appearance shocked the nation.

But for many teenagers

who experienced this tele-visual visitation,

it would change their lives forever.

# Star man waiting in the sky

# He'd like to come and meet us

# But he thinks he'll blow our minds... #

This messianic Martian was with us

only for a year but his impact would be felt for generations to come.

# Cos he knows it's all worth while... #

Music on Planet Earth would never be the same again.

# All the children boogie... #

# Oh... #

Armed with laser-guided melodies and lyrics from another dimension,

Ziggy Stardust heralded a new era of rock music.

# I'm an alligator

# I'm a mama-papa coming for you... #

A time of outlandish fashion...

# People stare at the make-up on his face... #

... outrageous sexuality...

# Wham bam, thank you, ma'am

# Suffragette city... #

... and good old-fashioned, rock 'n' roll music.

# Jean Genie lives on his back

# Jean Genie loves chimney stacks... #

So, what made this mysterious extra-terrestrial

one of the most influential cultural icons of the 20th Century?

# Now Ziggy played guitar. #

This is how Ziggy Stardust blew our minds.

# Well, Annie's pretty neat

# She always eats her meat

# Joe is awful strong

# Bet your life he's putting us on

# Oh Lordy, oh Lordy

# You know I need some loving... #

Ziggy Stardust set David Bowie on course

to becoming one of the world's most famous pop stars.

As the Queen Of The Glam Scene,

he always seemed a step ahead of everyone else.

Where Ziggy walked, others followed,

whether that was his army of screaming fans

or copycat artists struggling to keep up.

David took it to another level. He just wiped the floor with everybody.

It was game-changing.

When we first saw Bowie as Ziggy Stardust,

he looked so complete and so fully-formed.

It almost was as though he appeared from a different planet.

It was extraordinary.

And at that time you didn't realise

that he'd been trying to be successful for ten years.

'I'm just, by nature, a very flighty person.

'I get turned on and off things, all the time, very quickly.'

Born in 1947, David Robert Jones spent his teenage years

trying to make it as a musician.

# Well, I got girl that she's good to me... #

He went through a series of bands playing R'n'B and Rock'n'Roll

before becoming a mod.

# London boy, oh, London boy... #

The belief was, that if you want to do something bad enough,

and you put your mind to it, you can. The trouble is,

he didn't just take one thing.

He took loads of things.

He wanted to be everything.

Aged 20, he changed his name from Jones to Bowie

and released his first solo album on Deram Records.

# Who's that hiding

# In the apple tree... #

It was a strange mix of music hall and whimsical pop.

He even tried his hand at a children's novelty record.

# Ha ha ha

# Hee hee hee

# I'm a laughing gnome and you can't catch me

# Said the laughing gnome

I think he was trying on what can I do, and what do people want,

and going through

the trial and error period.

And there was a lot of error,

you know, with the laughing gnome,

it's like, OK.

# And gave him a fag

# Have you got a light, boy?... #

The laughing gnome

is not a great record,

but it is indicative

of what he was doing at the time

because he was obsessed

with Anthony Newley.

# What kind of fool am I?... #

Anthony Newley was a giant of British popular culture.

As adept as a singer, dancer and entertainer

as he was at creating surreal comedy that paved the way for Monty Python.

I think she fancies me.

He was more than meets the eye,

Anthony Newley, He wasn't just,

"What kind of fool am I?"

Yeah, he wrote that,

but there was many other sides to Anthony Newley.

Films, the Gurney Slade TV thing,

which was ground-breaking when it happened.

So, I think that's what interested David.

It begs the question, if David Bowie had found success

with his Anthony Newley phase, would he have become a light entertainer?

But as both the Laughing Gnome and the Deram album

were the latest in a line of commercial failures,

we'll never know.

But Newley's quirky versatility would certainly later inform

the theatrical DNA of Ziggy Stardust

'I would try and get involved

'in anything that I felt was a useful tool for a narcissistic medium.

'I was trying to be a one-man revolution, you know.'

Around the same time the Deram album was released,

Bowie met Lindsay Kemp,

a British dancer who specialised in mime and avant-garde theatre.

I was endeavouring

to teach him to astonish,

to astonish a public.

I helped him find himself through his movements.

So he could express himself, so he had the right kind of control.

Being my student, he was so keen.

He was like a sponge.

He would absorb anything that took his interest.

Those classes included some mime but mostly dance.

I taught him to dance.

Within a few weeks of meeting,

Kemp and Bowie

had created a stage-play

called Pierrot In Turquoise,

which they toured together around the UK to critical acclaim.

Offstage, they embarked on an affair

the choreographer introducing the young singer

to London's gay intelligentsia.

He had an enormous sexual appetite,

which came across on the stage.

I mean, it's a useful thing to have, if one has an outlet.

But the dance troupe didn't pay the bills.

And nor did his next musical direction,

a folk trio called Feathers.

Bowie turned to acting

to help finance his music,

taking small film roles

and even starring in an ice-cream ad.

And then, seemingly from nowhere,

he hit upon a formula to finally launch his music career.

Put out to coincide with the 1969 lunar landings,

the single rocketed to number five in the UK charts.

# This is ground control

# To Major Tom

# You've really made the grade

# And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear... #

Space Oddity, that was a game changing record,

was the record that inspired me to make the Elton John record.

I said I just want the sound that's on that record,

cos it was so extraordinary.

# This is Major Tom to ground control... #

Although essentially another novelty record,

it was also a masterful piece of songwriting.

But the songs on the self-titled album,

released to cash in on the single's success,

sounded nothing like Space Oddity.

# Spy, spy, pretty girl

# I see you see me through your window. #

The record buying public couldn't understand

what David Bowie was all about.

It was a strange record, because at the time,

he was writing folk songs.

His latest thing was having long hair, going on stage,

crossing his legs, and playing an acoustic guitar.

And, so, consequently,

he didn't really click again, with the public,

because his image was quite confused.

Bowie had shown the world a glimpse of his extraordinary talent,

but it would be three years

until he could recapture Space Oddity's success

with Ziggy Stardust.

And as those years rolled by, Bowie became increasingly worried

he was damned to be a one-hit-wonder.

In 1970 he was

fundamentally depressed.

He had no idea where he was going, he didn't know how he was going to fit.

A serious change of direction was needed.

And that, in part, came from Bowie's bride-to-be, Angie Barnett.

Angela was really a driving force behind David.

She was very influential

with the costumes.

She made him brave.

She would have her hair cut first, if she didn't think he'd like it.

She made him brave.

She was encouraging and always

on his side and always positive.

She would always encourage

dressing him and help the image,

and I always found her as a very positive force.

Bowie formed a new band called the Hype

and in February 1970, he unleashed a radical new image.

Was going to do a gig, and Angie said,

we're going to dress you all up.

We did the Round House.