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.

David Bowie tribute band remove unvaccinated drummer Woody Woodmansey". NME. 31 January 2022 . Retrieved 3 May 2022. 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.’ 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.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? The book begins with an introduction from Tony Visconti, a long time Bowie collaborator, who discusses the recording of The Ma Who Sold the World. This and the Ziggy era has been described as the most creative time of Bowie’s career. He saw his chance and he went for it full throttle. The prologue discusses the legendary rediscovered Top of the Pops performance of the Jean Genie form the 4 Jan 1973 which was re broadcast at Christmas 2011. I remember it vividly as it was Bowie and the Spiders at their very best. Absolutely mesmerising. So here we are, blood, toil, tears and sweat - and not a lot of cash... but then great things are seldom accomplished without casualties. 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?... Pegg, Nicholas (2016). The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updateded.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0.

As someone who became a teenager in that decade I remember waiting for our culture to happen, for a new idol to worship. Too young for the Beatles and punk was too far away in the future. But a supposed ‘one-hit wonder’ who had had a huge hit around the time of the Moon landings and then nothing. A man had had a lot of false starts in the music business but had kept going until the stars finally aligned and it was his time at last. Woody Woodmansey is the last living member of the legendary Spiders from Mars who accompanied Ziggy Stardust in his adventures on the planet Earth. Woodmansey has also played with Art Garfunkel, [15] was a member of the band Cybernauts, [16] and is currently the featured drummer with 3-D. He also co-led, with Visconti, the supergroup Holy Holy, performing Bowie songs from the 1970s, including the full The Man Who Sold the World album. Woodmansey toured with Holy Holy in September 2014, and followed up with tours of the UK, US and Japan during the following two years. The group has featured Erdal Kızılçay, Glenn Gregory, Steve Norman, Marc Almond and James Stevenson. [ citation needed] It was announced that Woodmansey would not be participating in the 2022 Holy Holy tour, due to his being unvaccinated with regard to COVID-19. Woodsmansey said he had a "medical exemption" from the vaccine while saying he harbouring no "negative feelings" towards the band and a spokesperson for the band issued a statement that "It is incredibly sad that personal beliefs over the vaccine has lead[ sic] to the break-up of the original incarnation of the band". [17] The anecdotes that are related in the book are mainly not ones that a person would expect to be told by a man in his early twenties (at the time) regarding the massive impact that this group of musicians had on the world in general who toured the entire planet. But that time period is now 40 or fifty years gone. 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.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.