Bowie – as Ziggy and joined by his band, The Spiders From Mars – can be seen delivering the single from his 1971 record, “Hunky Dory”, during an appearance on the classic BBC music series The Old Grey Whistle Test.
“Oh! You Pretty Things” was one of three songs – alongside “Queen Bitch” from “Hunky Dory” and “Five Years” from “Ziggy Stardust” – that the rocker delivered just days before the launch of the first Ziggy Stardust tour.
“Hunky Dory” had been released less than two months earlier and the Ziggy Stardust album opener wouldn't be available to fans for a few months yet.
“So, of the songs recorded, ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ would probably have been the best advert for the tour, in that it was freshest in the public memory, having spent several weeks on the UK singles chart for Peter Noone the previous May and June, when it peaked at No. 14,” notes Bowie’s team. “However, in their wisdom, the BBC didn't broadcast ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ for another ten years, probably considering the song a little too mainstream (due to the Noone connection) for the often chin-strokingly serious TOGWT.
“All three tracks were eventually released officially on the Best Of Bowie DVD (including an alternate take of Oh! You Pretty Things) and they still look and sounds as fresh and exciting today as they ever did.”
Watch the upgraded broadcast version of “Oh! You Pretty Things” here.
Check out Bowie’s new “Divine Symmetry” box set here.
See also:
David Bowie shares Queen Bitch demo from Divine Symmetry box set
David Bowie streams 1972 UK TV performance of Queen Bitch
David Bowie to release deluxe Hunky Dory era box set
David Bowie streams rare video of 1972 UK TV performance
Search David Bowie at hennemusic
