Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story

Of course, I have been a Bowie fan since hearing "Changes", "Space Oddity" and Ziggy Stardust, which means that i have been a Mick Ronson fan for that time, as Mick's guitar really defined Bowie's sound. Bowie certainly would have made a name for himself without Ronno, but he wouldn't have been the Rock Star that he became with his Main Man.

This documentary tells the tale of the gent from Hull and how he went from playing with a relatively nondescript (but fun) combo with the generic name the Rats to literal fame'n'fortune with Bowie and beyond. Of course, the Ronno biography goes into far more detail than any hour and a half docu can cover, but this has lots of interviews with Mick, Bowie, Angela, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed and the vast cast of supporting characters, as well as plenty of fantastic performance footage.

Pretty much everyone knows the basic story but bringing it to life in this most visual way for a most visual musical artist, really does give it a breath of fresh air. Ronno was just a likable bloke from Hull (along with the other Spiders From Mars), who wanted to be Jeff Beck and he fell into the Bowie camp and became the perfect down-to-earth foil for Bowie's outer space fantasies.

While he wasn't cut out to be a front man himself, he did do well backing the likes of Mott the Hoople (a shame they never recorded anything) and Ian Hunter solo, as well as producing various artists. Of course, he was cut down literally in his prime by liver cancer and was never able to truly capitalize on his talent.

All rock'n'rollers should see this doc to see what a truly talented  man is capable of, even while being (relatively) behind the scenes. Still a major influence to this day, his legend lives on!