Maybe it’s one for our shrinks, but when we look at the lives of famous folk the aspect we find most fascinating is the part before they cross the Rubicon of success.
Perhaps it’s something to do with their motivations, or maybe it's because at that point they’re still to be tainted by commercial considerations and their lives are yet public property. Anyway, it’s early (or late) and this is getting too deep.
Needless to say, David Bowie has a rather colourful backstory. Before his big break in 1972, via his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, he toiled away at the coalface of creativity for quite some time, even having an initial brush with fame in 1969 with his hit Space Oddity.
As the title of Any Day No: David Bowie The London Years (1947-1974) suggests, this book looks at Bowie’s life both before and immediately after megastardom came knocking. To mark its publication we’ve gathered some cracking footage of pre-fame Bowie for your persual.
Bowie’s first TV appearance wasn’t musical, although it did come with some of that wilful idiosyncrasy that would mark his sonic endeavours. As spokesperson for the hilariously-titled Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men, Bowie, still then known by his real name David Jones, was quizzed by eminent BBC broadcaster Cliff Michelmore on the Tonight programme about the abuse chaps with long hair (in reality, shoulder length locks) faced in 1964. Ah, such innocent times.
Austin Bowie
In 1967, Bowie released his first album. Self-titled it didn’t bother the charts although did provide this typically Sixties slice of pop, Love You Till Tuesday. Almost a blueprint for Austin Powers, this clip comes from an experimental film of the same name made two years later. Marvellous.
Deeply dippy hippy
Bowie’s chameleon-like status has long divided opinion – musical opportunism or far-sighted genius – and it was in operation long before he bestrode the glam rock world. Here, in 1969, he’s part of a slightly affected hippy trio, The Feathers, alongside part-time actress Hermione Farthingale (who he happened to be dating at the time and later the inspiration for his song Letter to Hermione) and John Hutchinson. Their track, Ching-a-ling, also taken from the Love You Till Tuesday film, is either a contrived flower power pastiche or a profound art statement. You decide.
Ground control to Major Tom
The final song written for Love You Till Tuesday was inspired by the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001. Space Oddity was Bowie’s first hit – it reached the giddy heights of number five when it was released to time with the moon landings of that year. However, the version featured here is the song in its original whimsical incarnation. Dreamy, very dreamy.
The big time
Although his albums The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory were acclaimed upon release, it wasn’t until Bowie transformed into his Ziggy Stardust guise that commercial success was assured. This track, the lead song from his breakthrough album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, was performed on the BBC’s iconic The Old Grey Whistle Test, two months before the album hit the shops in 1972.
