8. David BowiePanic In Detroit
I saw Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour which was amazing. I had this little wallet and I’ve still got a ticket for Status Quo and the ticket for David Bowie. I found them a couple years ago and I can’t believe it was still there. It was an amazing gig. There’s this big, androgynous bloke that looks like a woman and there were guys kissing each other when they came out the show. It was like it was alright to kiss your mate, it was cool. That was the pure power and the mystery of Bowie.
This track is on Aladdin Sane. Bowie was an inspiration to [Buzzcocks] like The Beatles were. Speaking about, sense, smells, flavours and evocative images, ‘Panic In Detroit’ reminds me of David Bowie and those American tours where kids were putting them star flashes across their faces. You can tell that on the record he’s describing America like it’s fascinating, but he’s also frightened to death of it.
It just reminds me of how cool Bowie was at that time during Aladdin Sane. The album cover and that symbol has been everywhere. Some of that album speaks to Bowie being on tour in America because to me, there was always a romance when bands went to America. I’ve been there myself, seen every place, but at the time as a kid it was like, wow, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones went over and we thought that’s exotic.
I never thought I’d be going there or be in a band going there. When you get to America, it kind of changes you as a band. We went to America, and realised everything has to be bigger and better. Suddenly you’re playing with the big dogs. I was always aware of that as a kid and it was probably because of those eras, the Andy Warhol’s, Bowie going over there, even Bob Dylan meeting Warhol and that kind of stuff, it became that American, New York scene. It was very romantic for a British kid in rock & roll.
