Before Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie Performed as “Rainbowman” in Strange, Village People-Esque Glam Rock Outfit: “We Died a Death”

David Bowie was the kind of artist who seemed to transform into entirely new identities with each distinct musical era, from his Baroque pop days of the late 1960s to his Thin White Duke era the following decade to his suit-clad persona of the late 2000s. Somewhere amidst these rebirths, Bowie temporarily donned the persona of an extraterrestrial rock ‘n’ roller named Ziggy Stardust. But before even that, Bowie went on stage as “Rainbowman.”

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As “Rainbowman,” Bowie wore multi-colored lurex tights and a dramatic blue cape. Bowie was accompanied on stage by Mick Ronson as “Gangsterman,” clad in Bowie’s “Space Oddity” suit from Love You Till Tuesday, John Cambridge as “Cowboyman” in a frilly shirt and ten-gallon cowboy hat, and Tony Visconti as “Hypeman,” a play on “Superman,” complete with a massive “H” emblazoned on his chest. Visconti bore the name of this flamboyant bunch’s band: Hype.

The project marked a short-lived transitional period between his second album and his third, The Man Who Sold the World. Like the best bands often do, Bowie gathered his group of musicians during impromptu jam sessions and through mutual recommendations. Like most solo artists often do, Bowie chose to form this group after realizing he had less potential to make it on his own.

Unfortunately for Hype, the band wasn’t that much better.

The Band That Foreshadowed David Bowie’s Time As Ziggy Stardust

During its short-lived tenure as a band, Hype performed multiple engagements, the first of which was at an event called Implosion at London’s Roundhouse. Although the performance was a flashy foreshadowing of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it wasn’t necessarily a success. David Bowie would later describe that night by saying, “We died a death,” per Nicholas Pegg’s The Complete David Bowie. To add insult to injury, Visconti (a.k.a. Hypeman) had his clothes stolen while he was in costume, forcing him to return home via public transit in his fake superhero costume. Showbiz, eh?

Walks of shame home aside, Bowie’s first foray into the world of glam rock was enough to convert him. “I knew it was what I wanted to do. And I knew it was what people would want eventually,” Bowie said of his time with Hype.

In the meantime, though, Bowie had to pivot to maintain his footing in the industry. As it turns out, a band named after the notion that all the buzz around them was ill-fated (“The whole thing is just one big hype,” he said to his manager) wasn’t exactly destined to stick around forever. The hype faded. Bandmates began to bicker. Eventually, Bowie created the Spiders from Mars with Hype alum Mick “Gangsterman” Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Woody Woodmansey.

Bowie’s days as the frontman of Hype might have been numbered. But the impact this temporary group had on his career can’t be written off. Without those initial London shows, who knows if Bowie would have been bitten by the glam-rock bug. In any case, we have this Bowie era to thank for some of his best Ziggy tracks, including the eponymous “Ziggy Stardust” and “Moonage Daydream”.

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