Strange Fascination

'You must think we out-of-towners are a strange and crazy bunch. Well, I guess we are. We dance a furious boredom', a young David Bowle wrote from his provincial bedroom to DJ John Peel in 1969. Five years later this driven, questing and flawed soul created his androgynous, fantastical rock star Ziggy Stardust as the ultimate revenge of the suburbs. Bowie's subsequent pioneering sexual experimentation, cracked actor showmanship and ability to embrace every musical genre from glam rock to drum'n'bass have made him into the biggest commercial success in rock history since the Beatles and the Stones. He is as much an icon in 2005 as he was during the '70s.