The FT mailbag has been heaving under the weight of, well, three comments on the David Bowie radio show. Two out of the three were favourable but in the interests of balance and to curry sympathy here’s the hostile one (also it points out some geniune schoolboy errors – one of which was intentional to RILE Bowie pedants but the other of which was me not getting the right T Rex record. I claim moral victory anyway due to correspondent’s use of word “facking”).
“Dear Tom
I listened to you tonight on Radcliffe’s Radio 2 programme “Heroes or Zeroes”. I’m afraid to say you actually did come across as a complete twat, not only a complete twat, but a complete twat with completely wrong facts.
From your “arguments/statements” I counted two that could be justified as factually correct. Even though I disagreed with what you said, they were at least factual.
Arguments are fine – nothing wrong with people having opinions and thoughts, but please get your facts straight before blurting out absolute nonsense.
For the record… here’s 5 you got completely arse about tit…
1. Concerning copying Marc Bolan with the rhyming names… (as if that facking mattered anyway) but for the record Rolan Bolan was born FOUR years AFTER Zowie. (Rolan Bolan 8th October 1975 – Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones 30th May 1971). So if anything it was the other way around wasn’t it now.
2. You say Space Oddity was a novelty song about Major Tom the astronaut. Then DB revives him in Ashes To Ashes and suddenly Tom becomes a junkie? Space Oddity IS ABOUT TAKING HEROIN. It a metaphor. If you think taking heroin is a novelty then fine.
4. Bolan’s Electric Warrior album was released in November 1972, not 1971. Ziggy Stardust was released June 1972, That’s 6 months BEFORE. Not much happening on the “glam rock” scene in 1971 was there.
3. David Bowie had nothing whatsoever to do with Glam Rock.
Cheers, and thanks for a good laugh.
Paul Kinder”