In praise of Mick Ronson

ellangus

Just been watching this and thought I'd share it.

Genius!!

Placidcasual79

Pretty unassuming fella by the look of it - and an incredible guitar player.

 I remember hearing Spiders from Mars for the first time when I 15 years old (1995), stoned, in the flat of an older mate who went to art college. He'd hung playing cards off the roof, had plasma lamps, no telly and movie posters on the wall in his front room.

 Ronson's playing and the lyrics where the first things that struck me - having gotten into Oasis and the like, Spiders seemed like it had been beamed in from another planet, so exotic, strange and exciting..... I can still listen to that incredible album now and go right back to that flat.

A magic record and an incredible guitar player.

Placidcasual79

The lad whose flat it was works in a factory making Calypso ice lollies now.

mburekenge

How to play for the song! What a talent.

pintspiller

What he did with Bowie/MainMan was brilliant. Inspired me in many ways. Funny how I didn't check out his work after

xSkarloey

A lot of the Ian Hunter stuff is great. 

I also have a soft spot for his last album. Heaven and Hull I think it's called. 

Fatfingers

Ronson period Bowie is some of my favourite guitar playing. 

RocknRollDave

I recall a story from one of Morrissey's band when they first met Ronson (he produced the album Your Arsenal), who looked a bit "road worn", let's say. "Blimey, Ronno..." says he (I'm not quoting verbatim, but you get the gist) "..you've let yourself go..Was it the drink, eh?" or words to that effect.


Ronson was at that point in fact suffering from the cancer that took his life the following year.

impmann

FANTASTIC - thanks for sharing. What a loss. His chord voicings are just perfect - no matter what the gear he sounds like Ronno.

ellangus

Brilliant arranger too. String arrangements for Life on Mars and Lou Reed's Transformer album amongst others.

His sister said:
"Mick never made any royalties," she says. For most of his career, in fact, he was living on a weekly sum that would make Iain Duncan Smith wince. But he was never bitter about his lack of money – with Yorkshire stoicism he would say: "I've got two arms and two legs and I can play the guitar."

Uber Talented and a proper down to earth bloke - would love to have met him!