Bowie's androgynous alien messiah arrived at precisely the right moment to detonate British pop culture, fusing apocalyptic dread with glitter-dusted salvation. Mick Ronson's scorching guitar work and those glorious string arrangements gave the prophecies their muscle, while the narrative arc from Five Years to Rock 'n' Roll Suicide traced rock stardom as both transcendence and self-immolation.

That Top of the Pops appearance, Bowie's arm draped around Ronson, communicated more about possibility and otherness than a thousand manifestos. Glam rock found its scripture here.