Subject: Re: F50 (what else) ...Bowie

[Martin Wheatley]

>but i think Peel has gone one record as saying he isn't keen on Bowie...

There is some friction between the two.  Peel has several times told 
a story on air about lending Bowie money to fund an Arts Lab
project which he never paid back.  This was in the post-Space Oddity
pre-Ziggie period when you couldn't give away Bowie records.
I saw a concert which Peel compered in Croydon which was headlined by
Tyrannosurus Rex.  Bowie was the opening act.  He performed as a mime
- that's not miming to records but walking-against-the-wind type mime!
I would guess that Marc Bolan was the mutual friend who introduced 
Bowie to Peel.  Bowie used Peel to get some much needed credibility.
(in those days 'Space Oddity' was regarded as a one-off novelty record 
not a classic!)
Bowie has always been the career opportunist supreme and as soon as
Ziggy hit he dropped his 'struggling artist' persona and all the people
that went with it to be Ziggy fulltime


martinw