David Bowie & Bob Harris – Sounds of the Seventies (1971)
Photo: Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 (editorial use)
Bob Harris was one of the important BBC music broadcasters of the early 1970s, helping to bring new and developing artists to national radio audiences.
His connection with David Bowie is especially significant during the pre-Ziggy period, when Bowie was still moving between folk-rock, art-pop, theatre and the harder-edged sound that would soon lead toward The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
- Session: Sounds of the Seventies: Bob Harris
- Recorded: 21 September 1971
- Broadcast: 4 October 1971
- Location: Studio T1, Kensington House, Shepherd’s Bush, London
- Presenter: Bob Harris
- Producer: John F. Muir
- Engineers: John White and Bill Aitken
- Musicians: David Bowie and Mick Ronson
The Television and Radio Context
In 1971, David Bowie returned to BBC radio as a rapidly evolving artist, appearing on Sounds of the Seventies, the influential programme presented by Bob Harris. These sessions captured Bowie during a crucial phase, after Hunky Dory had been recorded but before the full public arrival of Ziggy Stardust.
Unlike his earlier acoustic appearances, Bowie was now working with a stronger rock sensibility and with Mick Ronson as a central musical partner. The broadcasts documented Bowie in the final stages of transformation from experimental songwriter into a performer capable of defining an entire new era of British rock.
Bob Harris was part of the BBC environment that gave serious space to album artists, singer-songwriters and emerging rock performers. In the early 1970s, radio sessions were essential: they allowed artists to present material in fresh arrangements, often before audiences had fully understood where those artists were heading.
Quick Facts
| Year | 1971 |
| Artist | David Bowie |
| Presenter | Bob Harris |
| Programme | Sounds of the Seventies |
| Recorded | 21 September 1971 |
| Broadcast | 4 October 1971 |
| Location | Studio T1, Kensington House, Shepherd’s Bush, London |
| Format | BBC radio session with David Bowie and Mick Ronson |
| Style | Pre-Ziggy / early glam-era Bowie |
Background
Sounds of the Seventies was one of the BBC’s most forward-looking music programmes, giving exposure to new and developing artists outside the mainstream charts. Bowie’s 1971 appearance came at the exact moment when his songwriting, visual identity and stage persona were beginning to merge into a singular artistic vision.
The BBC recordings feature songs that would soon define Bowie’s next phase, with bolder arrangements, stronger musical focus and increasingly stylised vocal delivery. These sessions are now regarded as an important broadcast bridge between Bowie’s earlier folk-rock identity and the glam explosion that followed in 1972.
The 21 September 1971 session
The session was recorded on 21 September 1971 and broadcast on 4 October 1971. It was produced by John F. Muir and engineered by John White and Bill Aitken.
The location was Studio T1 at Kensington House, Shepherd’s Bush, London. This is an important correction, because the session is sometimes loosely associated with BBC Broadcasting House, but the documented session location was Kensington House.
Recorded songs
The documented songs from the session were “The Supermen”, “Oh! You Pretty Things” / “Eight Line Poem”, “Kooks”, “Fill Your Heart”, “Amsterdam” and “Andy Warhol”.
These choices show Bowie in a fascinating position: still connected to the reflective songwriting of Hunky Dory, but already moving toward a sharper and more theatrical mode of delivery.
Live Performances & Locations
- 21 September 1971 – Studio T1, Kensington House, Shepherd’s Bush, London – Sounds of the Seventies session
- 4 October 1971 – BBC national radio broadcast
Bob Harris and Bowie before Ziggy
Bob Harris later remembered seeing Bowie in the late 1960s and recognising his potential before he became a major star. Harris also appears in Bowie’s recording history as one of the backing vocalists on “Memory of a Free Festival”, alongside Sue Harris, Marc Bolan, Tony Woollcott and others.
This makes Harris more than simply the presenter of one BBC session. He was part of the wider London music environment that saw Bowie developing from a cult figure into a major artist.
Surviving Audio & Video
Recordings of Bowie’s 1971 Bob Harris session survive and have circulated among collectors and later archival releases. They preserve rare broadcast performances from the period just before Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust breakthrough.
Bob Harris on his friendship with David Bowie
Bob Harris’s recollections are valuable because they place Bowie within the wider live and broadcast culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Harris was not a studio collaborator in the usual sense, but he was part of the media world that helped Bowie reach serious music audiences before the mainstream fully caught up.
His memories also underline how unusual Bowie seemed before fame: not yet a proven commercial force, but already an artist whose presence and ambition stood out.
David Bowie – Sounds of the Seventies: Bob Harris
This session captures Bowie in a precise historical moment: close to the completion of Hunky Dory, but before the full Ziggy Stardust identity had taken hold in public.
With Mick Ronson already central to the sound, the performance points toward the more focused and theatrical Bowie that would emerge fully in 1972.
Historical Importance
Bowie’s 1971 Bob Harris session represents one of the final documented broadcast stages before the arrival of Ziggy Stardust. These performances show a confident, restless artist preparing to reinvent both his sound and visual identity on a much larger scale.
Within less than a year, Bowie would return to the BBC as an entirely transformed performer, backed by the Spiders from Mars and fronting one of the most influential rock personae of all time.
The importance of the session lies not in chart success, but in documentation. It allows listeners to hear Bowie in transition: still close to the intimate songwriting of Hunky Dory, but already moving toward the theatrical power of Ziggy.