Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

men of a certain generation still had buzz cuts or
even short, oiled and neatly groomed hair. The
skinny boys who grew theirs out like a girl remained,
in most places, the object of fear and ridicule.
Having too-long tresses amounted to an easy way
to cast yourself against modern society, and in the
spring of ’65 David Jones realized that in the
absence of an undeniable single, the kind Ray
Davies, Pete Townshend, Jagger and Richards and
Lennon and McCartney seemed to whip up between
toast and jam breaks, he needed to exploit this
outrage while he still could. It would be the first time
his self-fabricated sensation got more attention than
the actual song it was cooked up to promote, but
certainly not the last.
“It’s really for the protection of pop musicians and
those who wear their hair long,” David explained in a
talk show appearance designed to promote his pop
society, the International League for the Preservation
of Animal Filament. “Anyone who has the courage to
wear hair down to his shoulders has to go through
hell. It’s time we united and stood up for our curls.”
The Manish Boys netted a booking on another big
package tour opening up for Gerry and the
Pacemakers, along with Marianne Faithfull and
Gene Pitney. After the tour, and back in London, they
quickly realized that without a radio hit, there was no
way to ride the publicity wave very far. This is
something David Bowie would later realize; the
stunts had to be fabulous but the music needed to be
equally remarkable.