5.

Cockney Rebel – The Psychomodo

For me, with Cockney Rebel, their album before, Human Menagerie, I was like, “Whoah!” For an English band coming out dressed as [A Clockwork Orange] droogs… What the fuck? And the lyrics! I went to see one of their concerts when I was 12 or 13 and I was like, “Wow!”

‘Sebastian’ is one of my favourite songs and I’ve just found footage of Cockney Rebel playing [60s and 70s fashion store] Biba. I remember going to Biba when I was a kid and I bought these gold Wellington boots and David Bowie was there and the New York Dolls were going to play the rooftop gardens upstairs or something. I was about 12 or 13 and then I got see Cockney Rebel at this little festival in Crystal Palace and it was interesting stuff. I was into Bowie and Roxy Music but Cockney Rebel was very, very interesting stuff.

Sometimes I think it’s only me and Morrissey who like Jobriath. You know, what exactly is glam? I kind of know it and I’ve met a lot of people from that period and those from New York who were into it. I find that whole period fascinating. I mean Johnny Thunders wasn’t glam, he was a punk. What is glam? It’s a whole bunch of street punks dressing in women’s clothing for a laugh. For me, it’s edgy. Some of these glam bands were like builders [dressed as women] and they were doing this mad stuff. To walk around dressed as women in those days! I remember when we first started wearing punk clothes and people would come and try to have fights with you so imagine what it must have been like walking around in women’s clothing in the early 70s.