The Thin White Duke

1976 Although he was a Beckenham boy, I hadn't really connected with David Bowie

In particular all the Ziggy Stardust stuff sailed right over my head. But in early 1976 he was due to play a concert in London coinciding with the release of his new album. All his fans turned up in their Ziggy Stardust gear, only to be confronted with his new, completely different persona. I was seriously impressed, especially when I heard the album, the first one whose music I seriously enjoyed. I didn't understand it at the time, but Bowie was also being drawn to the Continent: "the European pattern is here"

It was probably the most subversive moment in rock'n'roll at that time. I was sent to Northampton, a terminally dull town, to do my obligatory year selling biscuits. The music was generally dull, dull dull. Was it just me? No. Little did I know it in that long hot summer, but an explosion was brewing on the British rock scene