Music-Drop Magazine

In 1973 Bowie released Pin Ups , a relatively uninspired cash grab that was meant to capitalise on his newfound success after Ziggy Stardust. The record features 12 covers of Bowie’s favourite songs from artists like The Who, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds. However two of the songs Bowie recorded on the record are covers of a less celebrated band; The Pretty Things. The Pretty Things are a band founded by Phil May & Dick Taylor (A original Rolling Stone) who helped create some of the rawest music of the pre-punk era. They were wild (They were banned from New Zealand due to their tour antics) and boundary pushing (They wrote the first ever rock opera before The Who’s Tommy.) When Bowie was a member of the London scene of the 1960s he was a close follower of The Pretty Things and this in turn lead up to his inclusion of two of their songs on his record. However is that where there relationship ends?   Oh You Pretty Things! Is Bowie’s 1971...

When it comes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I’m a vocal critic of how they continue to induct (& Nominate) 1960s originated rock acts. This year we've see a fair few (Steppenwolf, The Zombies, Joan Baez, etc) being nominated despite not necessarily deserving to be in the hal l. So that made me think ‘Have they ran out of credible 1960s artists to induct?’ The answer I thought would be yes, I think the Monkees deserve a nomination not an induction, but there is one act who it is amazing have not yet been inducted. They were formed by a Rolling Stone, they were admired by David Bowie and were friends with Bob Dylan, those 3 things alone should of inducted them in the 60s-obsessed hall voter's eyes. Photo Credit: Derek Jensen I’m talking about The Pretty Things who were one of the best acts of the 1960s, who helped form the sounds of Psychedelic Rock, Proto-Punk and also had the first concept album in rock. So let’...