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Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story


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The LPC and shag haircut, right? Certainly not RR’s playing, which owes more to Roth, Schenker (brothers), Blackmore, classical guitar and the myriad other guitarist peers playing in LA county (Terry Kilgore [Reddy Kilowatt], George Lynch [The Boyz], Carlos Cavazo [Snow], EVH) in the 70’s. 

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David Bowie was cowardly, did not even attend Ronsons funeral. He was never as good as he was with Ronson.

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8 hours ago, RobB said:

The LPC and shag haircut, right? Certainly not RR’s playing, which owes more to Roth, Schenker (brothers), Blackmore, classical guitar and the myriad other guitarist peers playing in LA county (Terry Kilgore [Reddy Kilowatt], George Lynch [The Boyz], Carlos Cavazo [Snow], EVH) in the 70’s. 

Definitely Schenker; you're right. I recall Randy name checking him in an interview.  Pretty clear that Schenker and Roth were major influences on most of those older LA metal players (read: already in their late 20s), and why not? 

From interviews, I surmised that Randy was inspired by Ronson's stage appearance (hair and LPC) and his technique, particularly his sense of melody in crafting solos and his precise string bending technique.  In one interview about Randy's audition for Ozzy, Dana Strum indicated that Randy seemed to be really keen on Ronson's playing and wasn't at all interested in Black Sabbath.  Perhaps he was digging into Ronson's work with both Bowie and Ian Hunter and liked what he heard.  We now know he wasn't likely to stay with Ozzy much longer even if he'd not died so senselessly and tragically.   Who knows what direction he would have taken:  studying classical guitar at university (popular theory); a focus on what would become neoclassical metal; a shift toward pop-rock/metal (we saw this later in guys like Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai)?  Maybe all of those.  

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7 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

Definitely Schenker; you're right. I recall Randy name checking him in an interview.  Pretty clear that Schenker and Roth were major influences on most of those older LA metal players (read: already in their late 20s), and why not? 

From interviews, I surmised that Randy was inspired by Ronson's stage appearance (hair and LPC) and his technique, particularly his sense of melody in crafting solos and his precise string bending technique.  In one interview about Randy's audition for Ozzy, Dana Strum indicated that Randy seemed to be really keen on Ronson's playing and wasn't at all interested in Black Sabbath.  Perhaps he was digging into Ronson's work with both Bowie and Ian Hunter and liked what he heard.  We now know he wasn't likely to stay with Ozzy much longer even if he'd not died so senselessly and tragically.   Who knows what direction he would have taken:  studying classical guitar at university (popular theory); a focus on what would become neoclassical metal; a shift toward pop-rock/metal (we saw this later in guys like Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai)?  Maybe all of those.  

Great info there, Prof. Ronson can school any guitarist about melody ("Hang on to Yourself"). Love his playing with Hunter, just ballsy, kick-ass rock. It takes a lot of skill to play with such taste and restraint.

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On 6/24/2021 at 7:08 AM, 0054 said:

David Bowie was cowardly, did not even attend Ronsons funeral. He was never as good as he was with Ronson.

I lost interest after Diamond Dogs. That tour was my first concert that I used my own money to go see. No Ronson  on that one but I believe Earl Slick was the guitarist on that tour. Pretty good in his own right. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I watched this last night.  Although it seems obvious now, I had no idea what a major influence Mick Ronson was on Bowie's Spiders from Mars era.  Very impressive!

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