ROCK Sex: "Brand New Cadillac" - Vince Taylor > The Clash > Ziggy Stardust

ROCK Sex puts the rubber to the road.

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UK Rockabilly rebel Vince Taylor should have been his country's Elvis. Instead he ended up having two powerful impacts on the future.

Firstly he recorded this slamming classic:

VINCE TAYLOR & THE PLAYBOYS -"Brand New Cadillac" (1958)



This was propelled to international status with The Clash's stellar cover on the crucial London Calling album:

THE CLASH -"Brand New Cadillac" (1979)


This led to other great versions in the chain by Brian Setzer, The Kelpies, Os Catalepticos, and Joe Strummer himself.

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Taylor was a volatile personality whose charisma onstage was matched by self-destructiveness backstage.

He was poised for another surge of fame in the mid-'60s, including opening for The Rolling Stones, when these both combined for the worst. Binging on acid, speed, and drink, he proclaimed himself a prophet onstage and sermonized the audience about UFOs and Jesus in white robes before abruptly tearing up the stage.

This theatrical meltdown, essentially a live Pop career suicide akin to performance art, had a huge impact on David Bowie, which inspired him to combine the incident with the feral implosion of Iggy Pop and The Stooges (and a sprinkle of Alvin Stardust) to create the breakthrough concept album, Ziggy Stardust.

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During the Punk days, Adam Ant came by a gold chain once owned by Vince Taylor and later wrote a song about it.

ADAM ANT -"Vince Taylor" (2013)



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• 1950s PUNK: Sex, Thugs, and Rock'n'Roll!

• Rolling Stones > The Clash > Garbage

• "Time Is Tight!" - Booker T > The Clash > Elvis Costello > Squeeze

• "I Fought the Law and I Won!" - The Crickets > Bobby Fuller > The Clash > Metric

• "Police and Thieves" - Junior Murvin > The Clash

• "Straight To Hell" - The Clash > Alex Cox > Lilly Allen > MIA

• "I CAN'T EXPLAIN" - The Who > David Bowie > The Clash > Fatboy Slim > The Hives

• "Charlie Don't Surf" - APOCALYPSE NOW > The Clash > Tears For Fears

• "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie > Bauhaus


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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