In May 1978, he became the drummer of the band Screen Idols, who had success with two albums in the UK. With my life enriched by Bowie, and his death making a major impact as well, I was seriously looking forward to reading this book. Here would be a book that had not been touted as a tell-all, or a mud-slinging gossip piece. This book was written by someone who truly knew Bowie, lived with, created and played music, & toured with him. What can go wrong?... It might be difficult to imagine now, but in early 1970 Bowie seemed like a one-hit wonder. His single ‘Space Oddity’, which got to Number 5 in the charts, had come and gone, and the follow-up, ‘The Prettiest Star’, had flopped. As someone who was close to David Bowie at that time, Woodmansey decided to tell the story from his own perspective; and this is exactly what you get from reading this book – Woodmansey’s unique perspective. Don’t expect big revelations or sensational descriptions about David Bowie’s lifestyle in the ‘70s. This book is merely Woody Woodmansey’s point of view and his sporadic life memoir.

A sad codicil is that, as Woody is writing Chapter 9, he gets the news that Bowie has died from cancer. Woodmansey published his autobiography Spider From Mars: My Life With David Bowie [18] in 2016. It was co-written with author Joel McIver and includes a foreword by Visconti. [19] Discography [ edit ] With David Bowie [ edit ] Drummer Woody Woodmansey is the last surviving member of Bowie’s band The Spiders from Mars which helped launch his Ziggy Stardust persona and made David Bowie a sensation.After the final disbandment of the Spiders, he formed his own band, Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat, with Phil Murray, Frankie Marshall, Phil Plant and eventually Martin Smith, releasing a debut album U Boat in 1977. [13] The album was subsequently re-released in 2006 as Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat ( Castle Music ESMCD895). [14] In hindsight, it was an audacious move. Bowie could have been Ziggy for the rest of his life but he wouldn’t and couldn’t. He was always moving forward, always changing, never predictable. But not so much fun for the Spiders who had to go and find other work. Woody comes across as a lovely man. He was treated shabbily by Bowie and his manager, being unceremoniously booted out of the band, but the two were reconciled in later life and Woody is simply too nice to bear a grudge. O'Leary, Chris (2015). Rebel Rebel: All the Songs of David Bowie from '64 to '76. Winchester: Zero Books. ISBN 978-1-78099-244-0. Often with these kinds of bios (written not by the star but by one of the lesser members) I am left feeling sorry for the person writing as there is that strangely blind loyalty to a person who, while certainly giving him quite an interesting story to tell, also unceremoniously and cruelly dumped him. I'm not looking for Woody to trash Bowie, but he is damn forgiving of the way things went down. The Dennis Dunaway book about his time in the original Alice Cooper is the same. Both of these guys were very important to the bands they were in, but when the leader decided they were not necessary they were deemed disposable. That's business I guess, but they still continued to look at the world in terms of what David or Alice might think of what they are doing, and would likely be on the next plane if a call were to come to have another shot.

But Spider from Mars is a record of a man who’s still in love with music and drumming having worked with the greats and one of the most influential artists of all time. I enjoyed this book. As a big fan of the Spiders-era Bowie music it was nice to read some of the stories about Ronno and Trevor Bolder and how things went down in those early days. Woody Woodmansey is the last living member of the legendary Spiders from Mars who accompanied Ziggy Stardust in his adventures on the planet Earth.

Martian Drummer unravels web of intrigue

The despair of a future in a small town with no opportunities, the discovery of music as a means to escape it, the serendipitous introduction to people who set the wheels in motion... Spiders details the union with Bowie and early days at the now legendary Haddon Hall. Yet, there's nothing in Woodmansey's voice that comes off as salacious. If you're looking for stories of Bowie banging people of various genders on coffee tables or sidewalks, while rolling in a veneer of coke, this isn't the book. Granted, Bowie isn't drawn as a saint here, but Woodmansey's narrative of whatever conflicts he endured with the singer is diplomatic. Wolk, Douglas (4 November 2016). "How David Bowie Realized Theatrical Dreams on 'The Man Who Sold the World' ". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020 . Retrieved 28 March 2023. A phone call from David Bowie changed Woody Woodmansey’s life. Turning down a well-paid factory job, the twenty-year-old drummer from Driffield took a huge leap of faith and joined Bowie’s band, embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

Cann, Kevin (2010). Any Day Now – David Bowie: The London Years: 1947–1974. Croydon, Surrey: Adelita. ISBN 978-0-9552017-7-6. This book is recommended to all Ziggy Stardust fans and it is a good reminder that behind every great man (and David Bowie was one of the greatest), there are many others who have contributed to his success. It is nice to get to know them as well. If anything, in this day and age, Woodmansey’s life story is a good reminder that it’s worth pursuing our dreams for no other reason that we won’t regret later that we haven't tried. First wave U.S. David Bowie fans will immediately recognize the name Woody Woodmansey as the drummer for The Spiders From Mars. For others that didn’t catch on until The Thin White Duke phase or later, this book is an insider account of Bowie’s earliest success and transformation from an English folk singer into Ziggy Stardust – from conception to fame to final bows. A kid says to his mother, ‘When I grow up I want to be a drummer,’ and she says ‘You can’t do both , son.’The book is a real record of the Ziggy era which I remember as being really exciting. Woody mentions the infamous Russell Harty TV interview in which he asks Bowie the most inane questions such as ‘Do you believe in God?’. Bowie is at his most outre and glamorous as he parries Harty and then performs ‘Drive in Saturday’. What would have happened if the Spiders and Bowie had stayed together – where would he have gone next? There are a lot of funny stories in this memoir too – the way the band felt when Bowie first suggested some of the more outrageous stage outfits is amusing. The ways they would wind each other up in the early days just shows how for a time they were just normal young men in a band trying to make it big. There is a real warmth in the way Woodmansey tells his story. After finishing the book I immediately had to listen to the albums from this period out of the Five Years vinyl boxset to really immerse myself, yet again, in the amazing music of David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars Those who claim that the 1970’s were the decade that style forgot weren’t actually there. It was a time of experimentation and a contrast to the hippie dream of the late ‘60’s. How can you shop at Primark after having shopped at Biba?