Pod Insights American History Tellers History Daily: David Bowie Becomes Ziggy Stardust About this episode February 10, 1972. When his music career begins to stagnate, David Bowie reinvents himself with an alien alter-ego he names Ziggy Stardust.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:09 Lindsay Graham? It's the afternoon of February 12th, 1962, in a hospital waiting room on the outskirts of London, England. Fifteen-year-old schoolboy David Jones brushes his long hair from his face and watches the busy doctors and nurses at work. To pass the time, he begins to drum rhythmically on his leg. Sitting next to David is his school principal. Annoyed by David's incessant drumming, he slaps his hand and David stops. But the pain from the slap is nothing compared to the ache in David's head, the reason he's at the hospital in the middle of a school day. A few hours earlier, David was hit in the face by a classmate. The two were fighting over a girl they both liked, and David got the worst of it.
0:53 Lindsay Graham? He now sports a deepening bruise around his eye and suffers from double vision that won't go away. Finally, a nurse calls David forward and leads him to a separate room to see the doctor. Upon seeing David's long hair, the doctor gives a disapproving shake of his head, then pulls out a small flashlight from his pocket and shines it into David's eyes. David winces as the doctor passes the light back and forth across his face. Then, turning off the flashlight, the doctor explains that the punch David received has caused what could be permanent damage to David's left eye. He then leaves David to inform the school principal. Alone, David rises and peers at himself in the room's mirror.
1:37 Lindsay Graham? He's amazed by what he sees. In the bright light of the examination room, the pupil of his right eye is as small as a pinprick, but the pupil of his left eye is dilated, almost as large as the entire iris. A huge smile spreads across David's lips. He's always wanted to be different, and now he is.
2:01 Lindsay Graham? David's black eye soon fades, but despite several operations, there's no fixing the left eye's pupil. It will remain permanently enlarged, and it gives David an otherworldly look. But it's nothing compared to what is to come. Later, David Jones will change his name to David Bowie and embrace an even stranger look as Ziggy Stardust, a bisexual rock star alien that David will unveil to the world on February 10, 1972.
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3:36 Lindsay Graham? From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.
3:57 Lindsay Graham? History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is February 10, 1972. David Bowie becomes Ziggy Stardust.
4:14 Lindsay Graham? It's March 8, 1965, at BBC Studios in London, England, three years after David Jones was punched by his classmate. David and the rest of his band tune up their instruments. In less than an hour, they're due to perform their latest song on Gad Zook's "It's All Happening," a new British TV show. But a behind-the-scenes argument is holding up production. The show's producer, Barry Langford, has decided that the band can't perform unless they cut their hair. David is furious. Along with his permanently dilated left eye, David's hair is one of his most distinctive features. At 14 inches long, it's taken him three years to grow, and he's not going to cut it off just to please some TV producer. So David
4:58 Lindsay Graham? stands firm. His band won't play unless they can be themselves. David has always dreamed of being a musician. After leaving school at age 15, he joined a number of local bands in South London. First, it was the Conrads, then the King Bees. Neither lasted more than a month or two before David dropped his bandmates and started all over again. But his latest group, The Manish Boys, is the most successful yet. They've already earned themselves a record deal, and now David hopes an appearance on the BBC will set The Manish Boys on a path to becoming another British rock and roll success like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. It's these two bands that David cites in an attempt to settle the standoff with the producer. Nick Jagger and Paul McCartney,
5:43 Lindsay Graham? they both have long hair, and they're allowed to play on the BBC, so David doesn't see why it should be any different for him. Seeing that David won't back down, the producer finally relents, and The Manish Boys are allowed to play as they are. Unfortunately, their performance fails to catapult the Manish Boys to fame and fortune. Not long after this TV appearance, the band breaks up. And without a group or a record deal, David is forced to take on other jobs to get by, but he continues writing new music whenever he can. This hard work leads to a second chance, and it's just what David always wanted: a record deal as a solo artist. But David soon hits another obstacle. When his new label tries to book him gigs, venues seem enthusiastic at first,
6:29 Lindsay Graham? but there's a common misunderstanding. Club owners seem to believe they're booking Davy Jones, a member of the incredibly successful American band The Monkees. When they find out it's a little-known British artist with no hits to his name instead, they pull out. The same thing happens when the record company tries to get David's songs played on the radio. There's interest at first, followed by confusion and then rejection. To combat this depressing pattern, David decides to change his name, and David Jones becomes David Bowie. Under this new name, some success finally comes. In 1969, just days before Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon, David releases a song called "Space Oddity."
7:12 Lindsay Graham? Catching the zeitgeist perfectly, this song reaches number five on the UK charts. But even this hit isn't enough to capture real fame, and the full-length album that the song appears on fails to make a commercial breakthrough. One thing "Space Oddity" does bring David, though, is the attention of a Cypriot-American student living in London named Angie Barnett. Nineteen-year-old Angie takes an immediate shine to David and his distinctive appearance. The two seem cut from the same cloth, already sexually liberated and unafraid to court controversy. The two begin a relationship, and a year later, they decide to get married, though both admit it's a marriage of convenience to enable Angie to get a British work permit. And as the two embark on married life together,
7:56 Lindsay Graham? a new genre known as glam rock starts making waves in the music industry. Performers are combining music and art in ways the world has never seen before, embracing flamboyant outfits and makeup that blur the traditional lines between men and women. Sensing an opportunity for David to relaunch his career, Angie encourages him to embrace this new music scene. And together, the couple opens up their home to fellow musicians. It soon becomes a hub of the glam rock counterculture where artists can meet, party, and create. But it won't be there that David Bowie will take the next giant leap in his career. To find the inspiration he needs, he'll have to travel across an ocean and look to the stars.
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10:11 Lindsay Graham? It's January 1971 at the Electric Circus Music Venue in New York City, 10 months after David Bowie married Angie Barnett. David stands near the front of a cheering crowd as American rock band The Velvet Underground finish their set. As the people around David roar their approval for the band's final song, David turns away and pushes past other fans heading backstage, but there's a security guard at the door. David must wait for the right moment. A teenage girl throwing herself forward and trying to get backstage herself is just the distraction he needs. While the security guard wrestles her away, David slips unseen into the hallway behind him. As the sounds of the still cheering crowd shake the building,
10:54 Lindsay Graham? David finds his way to The Velvet Underground's dressing room. There, he makes himself comfortable, and a few moments later, the door swings open and the band's singer strides in. David introduces himself with enthusiasm and launches into the 100 questions he's prepared. He believes the man he's talking to is Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground's original lead singer, but in fact, David is talking to Doug Yule, Lou's replacement. But Doug doesn't see the need to correct him, and he finds himself charmed by the slender and eccentric Englishman who's broken into his dressing room. Since scoring a hit with Space Oddity in 1969, David has failed to make any real progress in either Britain or internationally. He plays shows constantly, but to what seem to him like smaller and smaller crowds.
11:39 Lindsay Graham? He fears he's being dismissed as a one-hit wonder. David's wife, Angie, believes that to turn his career around, he needs to push both his music and his appearance in bold and unexpected directions. David agrees, but he's unsure exactly how to go about it. So he hopes that he might find inspiration on this trip to New York. Now, David is chatting with what he believes to be Lou Reed. The two talk about music, their influences, and what they like about the industry and what they don't. David leaves the encounter on a high, convinced he's met one of his heroes. But the next day, David meets up with a friend and tells him all about his encounter with Lou Reed. His friend listens, then laughs. Letting David down gently, the friend tells him that Lou Reed left The Velvet Underground six months ago.
12:24 Lindsay Graham? David wasn't speaking to Lou at all, but his replacement. But instead of being embarrassed by this error, David is inspired. Doug Yule had mimicked Lou's voice and mannerisms so brilliantly that it had completely fooled David. He had really believed it was Lou he saw singing. So on his flight home, David begins to wonder if he could become an entirely different person onstage too. Back in England, David's idea begins to crystallize. He announces to his wife and bandmates that his next performance will be as a completely new persona, not David Bowie, but a humanoid creature from outer space, an alien who has brought his planet's rock and roll music to Earth. David names this new creation Ziggy Stardust.
13:10 Lindsay Graham? And to create the look for this new flamboyant character, David trawls the markets and shops of London to find outfits that will bring Ziggy Stardust to life. As a fan of American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, David takes special inspiration from A Clockwork Orange. It's Kubrick's latest movie and his most controversial yet. But it's not the violence of A Clockwork Orange that excites David, it's the look. He decides to dress himself and his bandmates like the main characters from the film, complete without landish eye makeup and giant codpieces. But this isn't strange enough for David or Ziggy Stardust. Next, he looks to the east and more specifically to Japan. For years, David's been fascinated with the Kabuki Theater of Tokyo,
13:52 Lindsay Graham? where men play both male and female roles in elaborate makeup. David takes inspiration and slathers on mascara, lipstick, and blush, accentuating his already androgynous features even further. The final piece in the puzzle is David's hair. He cuts his once-treasured long locks into a short angular pixie cut and dyes it neon orange. This change alongside his permanently dilated left eye gives David a look that's suitably out of this world. With everything finally ready, David Bowie will soon take to the stage as Ziggy Stardust for the first time to discover whether this androgynous new look will make him a strange footnote in the downward spiral of his once-promising career or finally turn him into a rock and roll superstar.
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16:20 Lindsay Graham? It's the evening of February 10th, 1972, at the Toby Jug Pub in London, England, just days after David Bowie finished the look of his new alien persona. Now, for the first time, David and his bandmates will perform as Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars. And to the sound of a tape recording of music and dialogue from the film A Clockwork Orange, they step out on stage in front of an audience of 60. David is dressed in a flamboyant catsuit and sports sparkling makeup around his dilated eye. He strides up to the microphone in platform boots, telling the audience that he's Ziggy Stardust and he's come to Earth to share his music. He then launches into the band's first song, also called Ziggy Stardust after his new creation.
17:05 Lindsay Graham? The crowd in the pub might be small, but for the next two hours, David gives the performance of his life. There's no such thing as an overnight success in music, but David's first appearance as Ziggy comes close. Word of the strangely charismatic performance spreads quickly, and in the summer of 1972, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars are invited onto Britain's premier music show, Top of the Pops. Wearing a quilted jumpsuit, red boots and wielding a blue guitar, David performs his latest single, Starman. The TV appearance is over in under four minutes, but it's a performance that will go down in pop history. Many Top of the Pops viewers think David is just a freak. Others are more intrigued.
17:49 Lindsay Graham? But whether horrified or captivated, no one watching David can forget him. By the end of 1972, Ziggy Stardust has finally made David Bowie a star, and he'll remain a fixture on the global music scene for the rest of his life. But Ziggy Stardust won't. Over the years that follow, David will set his alien persona aside and introduce new characters to replace him, transforming his onstage image again and again. And by the time David Bowie dies in December 2016, he'll be recognized as an icon of not just music, but fashion and film as well. His death will spark spontaneous vigils all over the world, with fans gathering to pay
18:30 Lindsay Graham? tribute to the life of the man whose star was truly born, when David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust on February 10, 1972. Next on History Daily, February 11, 1858. A teenage girl in France causes a religious sensation when she claims to see a vision of the Virgin Mary.
19:03 Lindsay Graham? From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily. Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound design by Gabriel Gould. Music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nichols. Edited by Joel Callen. Managing producer Emily Burke. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.
19:30 Lindsay Graham? American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com.
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