Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

1970. “Musically it was a great gig,” Visconti writes
in his autobiography. “Although we were heckled
initially, and called a variety of homosexual epithets.”
Disc and Music Echo magazine observed of a
later gig, “David had much more confidence and
stage presence with this backing group, and as his
songs are suitable for grooving to as well as just
listening to, the brightest hope could well change
categories,” but dismissed the show as a “disaster”
in terms of technical execution. Still, it was clear that
Bowie was beginning to come into something with
the Hype. It was a baby step in platform shoes.
“It should have been a complete rethink,”
Stevenson says. “They got the costumes right but
they were still doing old songs. Those little ditties.
They required new songs. The kind he later went on
to write. ‘Fame’ would have been fantastic in those
costumes. The audience were just milling around
waiting for the main act.”
“For me this will always be the very first night of
Glam Rock,” Visconti recalled in his memoir. “Marc
Bolan was visible resting his head on his arms on
the edge of the stage, taking it all in. Bolan never
admitted he even went to the gig.”
In the spring of 1970, T. Rex released the
magnificent, Tony Visconti-produced “Ride a White
Swan” single. It was that rare track that manages to
be both trivial and a model for how to conduct the
rest of your life (“Ride it on out like you were a bird,”
Bolan instructs). It was the first in a series of charttopping
hits that would make him the focal point of a