Bowie Style

ock a potent spokesman.” A year later, the same
magazine anticipated Bowie’s Earl’s Court show
with a cover story that claimed: “17, 000 of us will be
there!”
The publicity served Bowie well. He fanned the
debate by adopting an increasingly androgynous
look, and showing a keen interest in costume and
theatre. But the pop news story of 1972 was
encapsulated in a single photograph: Mick Rock’s
shot of Bowie on his knees and ‘fellating’ Mick
Ronson’s guitar was quickly distributed and has
since become the defining image of Glam Rock.
Fans who scoured
Edinburgh, May 1973. Twenty years later he recalled his
Melody Maker interview: “I had been bisexual for many years
before I made that statement but it was perceived like it was a
great gimmick. I found out I wasn’t truly a bisexual but I loved
the flirtation with it, I enjoyed the excitement of being involved in
an area that had had been perceived as a social taboo. That
excited me a lot.”