David Bowie became a sensation not because he was a Serious Artist – but because he captured the teenagers need to be noticedFifteen-year-olds are the purest pop consumers,concerned only with the here and now of an artist, and untroubled by where they’ve been or where they’re going. In the early 70s, and while the rest of the British public were gingerly working out how to deal with the bisexual Martian who had landed in the charts,teenagers were in admire with him. The alchemy Bowie exerted ensured that the front rows of the Ziggy Stardust tour were jammed with them, screaming and clutching at the air between themselves and the stage. A photo of Bowie arriving at the Hammersmith Odeon for the last Ziggy gig on 3 July 1973 shows his car surrounded by a knot of fans, or all of them young and some – bravely,for the time – wearing their hair in adulatory Martian quiffs. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com