{"id":418816,"date":"2026-01-19T06:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418816\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T06:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:29:12","slug":"how-jeff-beck-foiled-david-bowies-plans-for-ziggy-stardust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418816\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jeff Beck foiled David Bowie’s plans for Ziggy Stardust"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Bowie had an uncanny talent for picking guitarists. He worked with numerous greats over the course of his long career, including Mick Ronson, Carlos Alomar<\/a>, Earl Slick<\/a>, Adrian Belew, Stevie Ray Vaughan<\/a> and Reeves Gabrels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But he never got the one player he always wanted: Jeff Beck. Reportedly, the guitarist was at the top of Bowie\u2019s list in 1969 when he was selecting members for a band in the wake of his success with the single \u201cSpace Oddity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As Beck told Guitarist magazine, \u201cBowie originally wanted me to be in the band, but he got Mick Ronson<\/a>, who he always said was his own Jeff Beck.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bowie considered a few players, including Tim Renwick<\/a>, before deciding on Ronson. The two connected through John Cambridge, who played drums on \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d and performed with Ronson in the Rats, a rock group from Hull, fronted by the singer Benny Marshall.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the bloke who went back to Hull in January 1970 with the brief to find Ronson and bring him to London,\u201d Marshall recalled of Cambridge. \u201cHe found Mick marking out the lines on the municipal football pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"David\n<\/p>\n

Bowie and Mick Ronson perform at a live recording of The 1980 Floor Show for the NBC TV program The Midnight Special, at London\u2019s Marquee Club October 20, 1973. (Image credit: Jack Kay\/Daily Express\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Bowie and Ronson met the next month at London\u2019s Marquee club, where Bowie was playing, February 3, 1970. As it happened, both men were fans of Beck\u2019s 1968 album, Truth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Mick] knew all the licks,\u201d Marshall said, \u201cexcept \u2018Beck\u2019s Boogie,\u2019 which he dissected but couldn\u2019t master. It infuriated him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn 1968, the Rats had supported Beck at the Cat Ballou in Grantham, and afterward Ronno asked him to show him the fast run at the beginning. So Beck plays it, and Mick says, \u2018No, play it slower.\u2019 Beck said, \u2018If I play it any slower, I\u2019ll stop!\u2019 But he was patient, and Mick learned that riff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Bowie wasn\u2019t able to get Beck as his guitarist, he did secure him for one very important gig at London\u2019s Hammersmith Odeon on July 3, 1973: the last night of the tour for his breakout album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.<\/p>\n

\u201cMick says, \u2018No, play it slower.\u2019 Beck said, \u2018If I play it any slower, I\u2019ll stop!\u2019 But he was patient, and Mick learned that riff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Benny Marshall<\/p>\n

It was Bowie\u2019s first major tour, taking place from January 1972 to July 1973. Initially intended to promote Ziggy Stardust as well as its predecessor, Hunky Dory, the tour eventually included songs from Ziggy Stardust\u2019s follow-up, Aladdin Sane.<\/p>\n

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Beck came out for the encore at the Hammersmith show, playing his Oxblood 1954 Gibson Les Paul<\/a>, and adding his own electric guitar<\/a> stylings to those of Ronson, who was playing his modified 1968 Les Paul Custom<\/a>. The group performed \u201cThe Jean Genie,\u201d the debut hit single from Aladdin Sane before segueing into a snippet of the Beatles\u2019 classic \u201cLove Me Do\u201d and concluding with Chuck Berry\u2019s \u201cAround and Around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concert was filmed by director D.A. Pennebaker for the documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.<\/p>\n

\n

\"David\n<\/p>\n

Bowie and Beck attend Les Paul’s 95th Birthday at the Iridium Jazz Club, in New York City, June 8, 2010. (Image credit: Larry Busacca\/Getty Images for Gibson)<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember they were filming, and the cameras panned in on my wah-wah pedal during The Jean Genie and I was wearing these dirty white platform shoes. I went ballistic when they said they were using me in the film, so I refused to sign the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cBowie goes, \u2018Oh, you might as well agree, they\u2019re already showing a bootleg version at the XXX theaters on 42nd Street, and you didn\u2019t look any dafter than me.\u2019 In the end I agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBowie goes, \u2018Oh, you might as well agree, they\u2019re already showing a bootleg version at the Triple XXX theaters on 42nd Street.\u2018\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff Beck<\/p>\n

Except he didn\u2019t. When Pennebaker\u2019s film was finally released in 1979, there was no sign of Beck or the songs on which he performed.<\/p>\n

As the guitarist recalled, the Ziggy Stardust show was his first time playing before such a large audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pitch of teenage screaming at that gig was unbelievable. I\u2019d never experienced that,\u201d he said. \u201cI recall it was someone\u2019s birthday in the group, and I thought I was like a little mascot pressie [present]. But actually Bowie is a big fan, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Beck\u2019s performances were finally reinstated for the 4K remaster<\/a> of the film released in 2023.<\/p>\n

David Bowie | feat. Jeff Beck | The Jean Genie-Love Me Do Excerpt | Hammersmith Odeon | 3 July 1973 – YouTube
\n\"David<\/p>\n

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Bowie wasn\u2019t the only artist who Beck rejected. He also passed up opportunities to work with John Mayall<\/a>, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones<\/a> when they were seeking a replacement for Mick Taylor following his 1974 departure.<\/p>\n

As Beck told Guitarist, \u201cI\u2019m not a \u2018joiner,\u2019 really. Pink Floyd wanted me but they didn\u2019t have the nerve to pop the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the Rolling Stones<\/a>. I told them I don\u2019t do auditions. And I wouldn\u2019t have fitted in. I never had any regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Bowie had an uncanny talent for picking guitarists. He worked with numerous greats over the course of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-418816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}