STARMAN
Illustration by Chloe Heffernan
Other work by Chloe at https://www.facebook.com/freelancedoeillustrates/
Prints available to purchase at http://www.redbubble.com/people/freelancedoe
When you hear a new kind of music for the first time, it can evoke any one of a huge array of reactions - displeasure, uncertainty, awe. On the day that David Bowie died he was a hero and inspiration to many, and it’s easy to question how one man can have such a profound effect. In 1972, Britain was hit by something that they had never seen before, a kind of music that was so alien to them that even today David Bowie is described as having been beamed down from outer space. Ziggy Stardust revolutionised music and fashion in a way that no pop star has managed to recreate to this day, inspiring musicians for decades to come.
In the late 1960s, a new revolution began, headed by Andy Warhol’s factory in New York. Because of his success as a pop artist, the avant garde subcultures of the city were given visibility and a chance to reveal the new sounds that were emerging. One phenomenon that grew out of this was Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, featuring the newly emerging Velvet Underground. At the same time, back in London, a failing Bowie was desperately searching for a new sound, and soon became a fan of the VU. It was at this time that Bowie fell in with the cast of one of Warhol’s plays - Pork. From their psychedelic clothing and over-sexualised behaviour, Bowie formed the idea of “an instant star, just add water and stir.” He decided he would invent a character so otherworldly that the Earth would fall in love with him. Ziggy Stardust was born through a haphazard haircut, vivid dye job and space boots in primary colours. Dressed in jump suits modelled off the Clockwork Orange Droogs and sewn from fabric that originally came from cheap curtains, Bowie and his “Spiders from Mars” walked onto the stage of BBCs Top of the Pops on the 5th July 1972, delivering a performance that would alter the history of music. The next day, when “Starman” was broadcast, the effect was instantaneous. Bowie was the chosen messiah of the next generation, inspiring the boys to wear makeup and the girls to cut off their hair in jagged mullets. At the time, many were unprepared for Bowie’s eccentricity, and his coming out as gay. Being one of the first pop stars to state this openly, before Elton John and Freddy Mercury, he gave people warrant to express themselves. Though it wasn’t really true.
Bowie took the world by storm, and then after only one year, left Ziggy behind. He is the time lord of the music industry - characterised by his constant innovation and reinvention; Glam Rock’s chameleon has always kept his fans on their toes. In commemoration of his time as Ziggy, a constellation has been created in his honour- in the shape of an iconic lightning bolt. Though he is no longer living, he will always be fondly remembered as the Starman who blew our minds.
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