Celebrate the life and career of a true music icon in this Classic Rock Special. Learn about the man behind Ziggy Stardust, from the people who knew him the best. Follow his meteoric rise from a boy from Brixton, to an inspirational superstar. Discover the stories behind the songs, and uncover the fascinating truth behind the man we know as simply as Bowie.
Classic Rock Special: Bowie
Editors Note
WATCH THAT MAN • Rock’n’roller, mod, mime artist, hippie – the young David Bowie tried everything in the search for fame before a sci-fi epic inspired his breakthrough hit. But even that would be a false start.
David Bowie Space Oddity • Intergalactic lullaby, break-up tune, moonshot tie-in, the five-minute, wildly inventive story song began Bowie’s fertile decade of ground-breaking pop.
THE MAN WHO SAW THE FUTURE • In 1970, David Bowie the one-hit wonder was on the brink of becoming David Bowie the decade-defining artist. The Man Who Sold The World was the album that helped him recalibrate his sound and vision.
AMAZING ONE-ON-ONES WITH LEGENDS OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL • Discover a wealth of up-close-and-personal interviews with some of the icons who built the music we all love. From Slash and Jimmy Page to Freddie Mercury and Angus Young, all the greats are here.
THE BIRTH OF GLAM • The audience at 1970’s Atomic Sunrise Festival was largely indifferent to David Bowie’s new band, Hype, with their Lurex outfits and make-up. But one man wasn’t: Marc Bolan.
REGULAR SUPERSTAR • How David Bowie met Mick Ronson – and an unlikely partnership was born.
The Freakiest Show
David Bowie Changes • How a young Bowie’s artistic manifesto was captured in three and a half perfect minutes.
LOVING THE ALIEN • By 1972, glam rock was kicking in but Bowie was still waiting for his big break. And then he hit on the character that would redefine him forever. This is an oral history of The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
ZIGGY IN AMERICA • Just under a year after Ziggy Stardust, Bowie released Aladdin Sane. His last album with the Spiders From Mars, it was a record written on the road, inspired by the USA and steeped in sex, drugs and ruthless ambition.
LINDA LEWIS • The backing singer
TREVOR BOLDER • The bass player
ZIGGY’S SUMMER HOLIDAY • After killing Ziggy and breaking up the band, David Bowie holed up in a French castle to record an album of fan-pleasing, critic-baiting 60s covers. This is the inside story of Pin Ups’ creation.
HIS BARK MATERIALS • Diamond Dogs was the point at which an unsettled David Bowie was shedding his glam-rock skin and shaping up to become the ‘plastic soul’ man of his next album. It was also, he said, “my most difficult album”.
CLASSIC ROCK’S DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO QUEEN • After more than 45 years, Queen remain one of the biggest names in rock. Packed with exclusive interviews and retrospectives, this special edition is your ultimate guide to the music and legacy of Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor.
Reborn In The USA • Glam rock was on its last legs when David Bowie fell hard for soul music, R&B and cocaine. The result was 1975’s Young Americans – the “plastic soul” masterpiece that put him on the map in the US.
David Bowie Fame & Golden Years • Before his move to Berlin, Bowie got seriously funky on these two tracks, thanks to inspiration from Aretha Franklin, James Brown and his own 17-year-old mistress…
“We were both out of it, all the time” • He’s the guitar hero who connected a milk and cocainefuelled David Bowie with rock’n’roll during the Thin White Duke period. Earl Slick recalls the making of Station To Station, Bowie’s experimental masterpiece.
ACHTUNG BABY! • Holed up in Germany with partner-incrime Iggy...