Keeping alive the glorious spirit of 1976
I was always going to enjoy this read. Whilst it is undoubtedly the case that David Bowie enjoyed the services of some of the most talented musicians alive throughout his long and distinguished career, the Spiders period was the closest he ever came (Tin Machine excepted) to being thought of as the leader of a band as opposed to a strictly solo artist supported by a sometimes ephemeral backing cast.
Continue ReadingWhen submitting an old manuscript to a traditional book publisher some years back I was told that I ought to make my work “less autobiographical”. She didn’t want to hurt my feelings and so she was tactful, but what her advice amounted to was that no-one much wants to read the autobiography of somebody who is not a household name. The Glam Rock Files flies defiantly in the face of this advice,
Continue ReadingMy introduction to “pop” music came, peculiarly, in the person of Michael Jackson. We were at primary school, I was ten years old. For reasons which I cannot recall, one particular day was declared to be a “free” day – no lessons, no classwork, no booky stuff. Instead we were invited to bring in our 45s, to be played to the class on the old record player brought into school by the teacher.
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