If you caught David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust era, you caught an act that literally changed the trajectory of human history. With his gender-bending, rock and roll alien persona (“There’s a starman waiting in the sky!”), David Bowie lit the London area and the world on fire, with possibilities of imagination and expression that will have ripple effects for generations to come.
Well, some funny news has come out recently, from Sex Pistols’ member, Steve Jones, that came out in a Guardian interview, that he “knicked” some of David Bowie’s bands’ equipment, as well as the microphone David Bowie sang his second to last show of the Ziggy Stardust run, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1973.
“They played two nights, and after the first night they left all the gear up, because they were playing there the next night,” he said. “I knew the Hammersmith Odeon like the back of my hand. I used to bunk in there all the time. I was like the Phantom of Hammersmith Odeon.”
The night before the final show, Jones took cymbals from the drummer, a bass head from the bassist’s amp, and the microphone David Bowie would use: “I got Bowie’s microphone with his lipstick on it!” He said that he told Bowie about it later, and that David Bowie thought that it was funny.
Ziggy Stardust is back in the collective consciousness after Steve Jones' prank
It’s just a reminder that both antics and accidents happen when bands are touring live, and that any night, you might not know what to expect. For sure, bands of that caliber can deal with one or two items going missing, but can you imagine the reaction of the band when they made the discovery? Talk about keeping on your toes!
David Bowie, who went on to create other personas like the goth detective of the Outside album and his final iteration, as the Black Star, has always used his costuming and creativity to express the ineffable and inexpressible.
Ziggy Stardust might have been his most iconic and memorable presentation as an artist. The album has sold an estimated 7.5 million copies and is surprisingly second to his Let’s Dance album in overall sales.
Ziggy Stardust’s last show in 1973, like David Bowie’s death on January 10, 2016, was a momentous moment in rock and roll history. The trickster Steve Jones is bringing the moment back into the forefront of the world’s collective consciousness. Ziggy Stardust changed my and many people’s ideas of what creativity could accomplish in the heart and the world. I’m glad it’s back on people’s minds.