STYL’ LEADER
“David Bowie plays Stylophone on Space Oddity !” trumpeted the magazine ad, which pictured the curlyheaded singer poised thoughtfully above the device – a miniature toy keyboard played with a pen-like stylus.
Invented by Brian Jarvis in 1967 and promoted on TV by Aussie entertainer Rolf Harris, the “pocket electric organ” sold millions in the early 70s. Kids loved it, as did budding electronic musicians (Kraftwerk, Pulp and Daft Punk were eventual users). But “the greatest craze since the yo-yo” began with Bowie and those interstellar noises on SpaceOddity.
In the darkness of London’s Casino Cinerama, a 21-year-old David Bowie stared at the space embryo floating across the theatre’s huge, 70mm screen. Itreleased in April that year.
