This performance made him a super star . Top of the pops millions were watching.

Hard for us to imagine how radical this was for the time.

This was voted the greatest Top of the Pops performance of all time; Britain was culturally changed forever after this moment -- and Bowie became its biggest star. Every British and Irish pop star of the late 1970s and 1980s was born due to this performance -- from Morrissey to Boy George from Gary Numan to Bono.

as a 16-year-old seeing this for the first time on TOTP, I was completely blown away. RIP Bowie. Rock God.

I saw this on Top of The Pops. Superb musical artists. Go Bowie and the Spiders, go.

It’s was a bit scandalous for the older folks of the time when Bowie put his arm around his guitarist Mick Ronson. That kind of display of affection between two men was a bit taboo for its time. Also, every teenager who saw this live fell madly in love when Bowie looked into the camera, singing”I had to phone someone so I picked on YOU.” and then pointed into the camera. I was convinced he was pointing at me and only me. Lol!

So fine reaction of yours! I just love Bowie! But a so crazy ditty! Take care and stay safe! And keep on with this channel you have got ❤ ! Greetings from Jonas, Gothenburg Sweden.

This is my all time favorite David Bowie song. It gives me such a euphoric feeling of hope. R.I.P. King David

One of Bowie's best, brilliant. An innovator, writer and musician above everyone, he changed music forever.

Awesome reaction! The one and only David Bowie, there will never be another like him. He was ahead of his time for his entire career. Haven't seen this performance in years. Thank you 😁

OHHHHH GIRL!!!!!!! I was 12 years old at the time and I became a lifelong die hard Bowie fan to this day. I am now 62. 50 years of his genius. Love watching your reactions to him. That look on your face... PRICELESS! Maybe "Theatrical" is the word you're looking for? May I just add a little observation... HE's SO FREAKING GORGEOUS!!! hee hee Will you please react to this performance of "Fame". I have heard Fame 1000 times but not like this. This is at the Howard Stern B'day party. Unbelievable..you'll love it. Here's the link. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rMuSl9ly3ZiVZHk.html

I remember seeing on this on tv when I was seven, it made a lasting impression.

Thanks, girl! David was incredible.. and this is just about my favorite by DB... but still there are so many... I'm glad you watched this amazing video... look forward to more of your reactions...

Top of the Pops (pop songs) was a weekly BBC TV programme playing songs from the current charts. It's recorded in the studios in London and the public could get tickets to go and watch and dance. It was always popular and there was always great excitement knowing they could be so close to their favourite bands. I know because I was working there at the time!!!😊🇬🇧

My brother called me over and said have a look at this bloke it was Bowie playing starman i though wtf and have loved him ever since I’m now 62 ..RIP starman 🇬🇧

Brilliant reaction , I've all my mothers David Bowie Lp's I still listen to

Proper music 👌

Bowie’s Vocals & Songwriting along with Mick Ronson’s Other Worldly Guitar made them a Lethal Combination Ronson also Played Piano & did the String Arraignments on this Song and the entire Ziggy Stardust Album

Wonderful. 'He'd like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds' says that mankind isn't ready for aliens (Bowie's characters and style too I guess). This was shocking when it came out, this performance. Great choice!!

I watched this on TV (yes, I’m old) my big brother was a HUGE fan so he made me watch, I was 7

This was a magic moment for people of a certain age but there is a tendancy to overstate its importance.

Musician's Union rules stated that bands could only mime to specially recorded tracks but many bands would simply make a few changes to their original recordings and pass them off as new. Bowie did actually record a new backing track for the programme and provided live vocals on the night. Two weeks earlier they'd appeared on the children's music show "Lift-Off with Ayesha" which helped the song climb the charts and led to the Top of the Pops appearance. A few years ago a domestic video recording of the Lift-Off performance was said to have been found but sadly nothing seems to have come of it. Presumably they weren't able to recover anything from the tape. Many British stars have cited the TOTP performance as having huge impact on them. Bowie and the band had also appeared on the late-night show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" earlier in the year when Bowie was still transitioning from his Hunky Dory look - he had his Ziggy haircut but had not yet dyed it red. In January 1973 they performed The Jean Genie on TOTP with the whole band playing live. The master tapes were wiped and for years it was a lost performance but in 2011 one of the cameramen returned a broadcast-quality copy he'd had made at the time (he'd used a new fisheye lens on the show).

He was so beautiful.❤

maan granted it was well before my time but I have an incredibly vast repertoire of music from like 1950s - current era and I was SUCH a late comer to Bowie... he's really really great, The Man Who Sold The World is great, Ziggy Stardust fabulous - Queen/Bowie Under Pressure - one of the best songs every written - pretty tragic story too my music lecturer in college told me Sony BMG got him addicted to hard drugs and basically wouldn't supply him unless he produced albums for them, I also heard he used to write his lyrics by taking newspaper snippets and trying to kind of congruently merge them together into something resembling a coherent song, really interesting character, pleased you're checking him out, there's not enough Bowie in 2022.

Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to his classic hit 'Starman' sold for more than £200,000 (US $241,000 ) at auction (earlier this year)

When he pointed into the camera, he was saying yeah you

Top of the Pops was a music TV show that started in the mid 1960's and ran for 42 yrs, the show always ended with that weeks number 1 selling single ... Even though artists were live, the show was recorded with a studio audience & there was plenty really, really bad miming ... can't go wrong with most of Bowie music, good one Randi ☺

It was Glamrock at that time (Bowie, Slade, The rubettes, …), it was brand new, but while the rest of it was kinda superficial, Bowie was on another level. He was so committed, he turned it into a philosophy and fashion (ziggy Stardust era) and renewed himself every other album. React to "Life On Mars" with the official video. It's a song/video that still gives me goosebumps after all these years, - and I wasn't even a fan. Even the story in the song is very interesting.

'Starman' from the album 'Ziggy Stardust' - the album was not going to get released as the record company said that there was not a single on it? I believe that Bowie went away and over the weekend wrote this song introduced it to the band, recorded it and then the album was released! This whole album was all done and dusted in less than 2 weeks (the lot). Nowadays some bands take 2, 3, 4 years between albums.

a very perceptive reaction (as was Moonage Daydream) i really recommend his early albums - Space Oddity/Hunky Dory/ Ziggy Stardust (this one) Aladin Sane and Diamond Dogs - soundtracks to my early youth. oops - forgot Man Who Sold the World.😊

Been watching your Patrice reactions. Unfortunately, without question his best work was on his appearances on the Opie & Anthony show. There are around 145 episodes anywhere from an hour and a half and four hours. There do exist shorter clips you could react to on KZfaq. He also had 12 episodes of his own radio show called the Black Phillip Show

Next up...David Bowie - Wild Is The Wind (Official Video)...One of the greatest vocal performances of our time. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j9mhn7uc0KuvqH0.html

I could see a young american missing out on this it was a very euro thing

Top of the pops ran from the mid 60s till the mid 00 , it was like American banstand . Chart show top 40 . Thursday then Friday evening 7pm it was religious viewing for a couple of generations. , it made , a version of led zeppelin's whole lota love was the theme music .

Can't really dislike Bowie's music. OKit can be strange, but even that seems to make sense when we understand his styles. I like his outfit on this show, he looks like he's dressed up as Cadbury's cream egg. (Brit's would know what I'm on about). Did anyone else see the lead guitar man miss his cue to take the mike with David? His voice is added in the chorus, but he was later turning up in the first singing of it. I'll tell you what, some of the live, live performances came on and the troubles would mount up sometimes. I can't give examples, but I do remember red faces now an again, as tech staff were sweating trying to put the wrongs right. It didn't happen often, but when it did 2 things happened in my home: I would laugh along with my dad, and my mum would get in a mood when she was singing along, and ended up going solo. I miss those days. Life was easy when I was a clueless kid. Nive one Randi, as ever. I love seeing your character coming to the for in these reactions. Take care. TTFN

The 'youth' in the hoop jersey who makes sure he's always in the background whenever possible, is UK chat show host Jonathan Ross in his younger years - as annoying then as he still is to this day!

It's hard to overstate how important this performance on TOTP was. Bowie putting his arm around Mick Ronson might seem like a small thing now but Homosexuality had only been legal in the UK for 5 years at this point. To see an outrageously dressed, effeminate man put his arm affectionately around another was a big deal for a lot of people. There were only 3 tv channels in the uk at the time and Top of the Pops was one of the biggest shows on TV, almost everyone would of watched this.