It's fair to say that my very first 'Pop Idol' was indeed David Bowie. 'John I'm Only Dancing' was one of the very first single's I ever bought and is still a staple on my jukebox (along with b side 'Hang On To Yourself') 44 years later. Ouch! Of course that lead me to the album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' and as they say the rest is history as I went back through Bowie's entire back catalogue - the stand-out for me easily being 'Hunky Dory'. The adjective 'unique' is much overused in Rock circles but in Bowie's case it was spot on. Not only was his music and lifestyle different to the traditional 70's fayre but his memorable lyrics still effortlessly roll off the tongue all these years later. He was also the master of reinvention and despite me honestly losing the plot after 'Aladdin Sane' there were still sniffs of the old Bowie that I loved so much in the singles 'Rebel Rebel', 'Heroes' and in particularly 'Ashes To Ashes'. It pains me to say it but we were at the Isle Of Wight festival in 2004 with Bowie playing on the Sunday night (Vid Of The Day) but we never made it (that's another story) - so I never actually saw him live. Although, ironically we did see perhaps my favourite Bowie track of all time 'All The Young Dudes' performed of course by Ian Hunter with Spiders From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson just before Ronson's death in 1993. David you were one cool dude man.
AJ.