Memories of the young Bowie are of his glamour, otherworldliness, and gay / bisexual advocacy. But that's not the whole story – another part being quietly forgotten by a sanitising media.
Brilliant piece on reclaiming the menace that got sanitized out of Bowie's legacy. The Sombrero Club detail really adds weight to the argument, showing how the droog aesthetic wasn't just Kubrick cosplay but rooted in actual proximity to violence and precarity. I remmeber bootboys from that era myself, and this queering of hooligan culture through glam was way more subversive than the corporate "reinvention" narrative we get fed now. Seems like punk inherited both sides: the theatrical outsider pose and that undercurrent of genuine threat.
I didn't see her name but to me it really looks like her. It's a tenuous connection at best but I know that Vivienne Westwood lived in Clapham Old town in Nightingale Lane before moving up the road to her posh address. I lived quite near there for quite a few years and can vouch for the fact that Clapham Old Town had it's fair share of idiosyncratic inhabitants - I recall going with a friend from art school to an address there to buy a strait jacket for a performance piece he was making, the place was just a typical victorian townhouse but inside was a real cottage industry of people making bondage and fetish gear. - you never know? KLF's Trans Central was just down the road too - I had a job in Lansdowne way (near RER/These Records) and one day heard a racket outside so looked out to see a pink armoured car clattering past, you just new it was them! There are so many microhistories of the time and place worth investigating.
As I'm currently wading through a couple of Bowie biographies I'll get back to you with my thoughts in a few days, but thanks for writing this Andy and inspiring me to re look at the history in the first place!
I have long argued that the real split in Bowie‘s career is between before and after getting his teeth fixed. Apparently the dates don’t quite line up , but it would be very hard to dissuade me about this :-)
I think you're right. Interestingly I think that the second person in the Queen of Clapham feature is Helen Wallington - Lloyd, actress who worked with Derek Jarman and hanger on at Sex / Seditionaries?
That would be awesome if it were Helen, but I’m not sure. Did you see her name in the text anywhere?
And now I think about it, it was remiss of me not to mention the sex pistols own connections with the gay counterculture, playing the first gig (IIRC) at Andrew Logan’s Valentines extravaganza in Spring 1976.
Brilliant piece on reclaiming the menace that got sanitized out of Bowie's legacy. The Sombrero Club detail really adds weight to the argument, showing how the droog aesthetic wasn't just Kubrick cosplay but rooted in actual proximity to violence and precarity. I remmeber bootboys from that era myself, and this queering of hooligan culture through glam was way more subversive than the corporate "reinvention" narrative we get fed now. Seems like punk inherited both sides: the theatrical outsider pose and that undercurrent of genuine threat.
Swastika as two criss crossed Z's
I didn't see her name but to me it really looks like her. It's a tenuous connection at best but I know that Vivienne Westwood lived in Clapham Old town in Nightingale Lane before moving up the road to her posh address. I lived quite near there for quite a few years and can vouch for the fact that Clapham Old Town had it's fair share of idiosyncratic inhabitants - I recall going with a friend from art school to an address there to buy a strait jacket for a performance piece he was making, the place was just a typical victorian townhouse but inside was a real cottage industry of people making bondage and fetish gear. - you never know? KLF's Trans Central was just down the road too - I had a job in Lansdowne way (near RER/These Records) and one day heard a racket outside so looked out to see a pink armoured car clattering past, you just new it was them! There are so many microhistories of the time and place worth investigating.
As I'm currently wading through a couple of Bowie biographies I'll get back to you with my thoughts in a few days, but thanks for writing this Andy and inspiring me to re look at the history in the first place!
"some queers are really rough, and some roughs are really queer" Quenten Crisp.
Remarkable. All that chaotic energy swallowed up by the post-liberal simulation of life. All aesthetics are consumed, packaged, and collateralized.
Side question: when did he get braces?!?
Ironically, the braces only go on when he becomes the Thin White Duke, and by then they have different meaning.
I meant the teeth straightening. Man he had bad 70s English teeth hard!
I have long argued that the real split in Bowie‘s career is between before and after getting his teeth fixed. Apparently the dates don’t quite line up , but it would be very hard to dissuade me about this :-)
Sorry to lower the tone of the discussion but I can't help seeing that photo of Bowie and Freddie Buretti as a ventriloquist act...
I did wonder if that’s deliberate. Check out the original magazine feature
https://ebay.us/m/JIYFh9
I think you're right. Interestingly I think that the second person in the Queen of Clapham feature is Helen Wallington - Lloyd, actress who worked with Derek Jarman and hanger on at Sex / Seditionaries?
That would be awesome if it were Helen, but I’m not sure. Did you see her name in the text anywhere?
And now I think about it, it was remiss of me not to mention the sex pistols own connections with the gay counterculture, playing the first gig (IIRC) at Andrew Logan’s Valentines extravaganza in Spring 1976.
http://www.philjens.plus.com/pistols/pistols/press_cuttings_AndrewLogan.htm