David Bowie, Lou Reed, Blondie, Syd Barrett, Iggy Pop, Queen, Lady Gaga, Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury, and Paul McCartney all posed for Mick Rock, and now never-before-seen images as well as recent works of the legendary photographer can be seen and purchased at EXPOSED, an exhibition on view through the 19th of October at SUMO gallery in Tribeca. FASHION IQ talked to Rock himself and found out everything you want to know about David Bowie, how the photography industry has changed over the past 30 years, and how he earned the name, “The Man Who Shot The Seventies.”
Fashion IQ You are often referred to as “The Man Who Shot the Seventies”, which musician you photographed shocked you the most, and why?
Mick Rock I’ve never been shocked. When I was younger, I was more curious. I was studying world languages at Cambridge University, and that’s where mischief began. I shot a friend of mine, Syd Barrett, the man who started Pink Floyd, but I never wanted to be a photographer. I wanted an adventure. I was not interested in a career. My mother would always give me a lecture about a real job I needed to have. Somehow it started rolling, and people were asking me to take pictures, and it just grew like a monster. I just picked up the camera, I never really studied photography in any way. I never knew much, technically, about photography. It was more just interest, people just found I had a talent which I didn’t know I had. What surprises me, is that what used to be a rebel thing, is now an establishment of the world. It’s hard to be outside or rebel today. We were in a cultural revolution, and that was the buzz.
Fashion IQ Why did you move to New York from London?
Mick Rock In the early 70’s, I was popping in and out. I got an apartment here [New York]. Back in those days, New York was a more dangerous place, and that had a lot more appeal for a young man from London. For example, I could wake up in unfamiliar places. At some point, I sold the house in London and New York became my full-time home. I still love London, but New York is still the most intense place. It’s not as wild as it used to be. You can’t find what you used to find in the East Village. Today it’s different, and you live the life you live. I live in the present.
Fashion IQ How did the exhibition at SUMO gallery come together?
Mick Rock We had so little time. Normally I have few months in a run before the exhibition starts, but it was an interesting experience, and I’m glad everything is settling down. The last days [preparing] were very hectic, however. I hadn’t slept enough, and pulled my back muscles, but now I do a lot of yoga, meditate a lot, and that helps me manage physical things.
Fashion IQ Yes, I read that today you don’t drink, smoke or imbibe any drugs stronger than coffee with sugar and milk, and that you do yoga every day. Do you remember how you spent the first money you earned from selling photos?
Mick Rock I can’t tell you that, love. Remember, it was the chemical days, and it was sexual revolution time. I was just a student, and my parents didn’t have any money, and now when I look back, I don’t really know how it happened—but we were trying a lot things. You know, the title, “The man who shot the 70’s” is not bad. It’s the stuff that people want to buy in the galleries and museums. But I still shoot [musicians], like Snoop Dogg and Janelle Monae for example. I’m still alive, and I’m still active, and I’m enjoying it, from what I can tell!
Fashion IQ Which contemporary musician could you name as your soulmate, and why?
Mick Rock I could name David Bowie and Lou Reed, but it’s a little bit different right now. Coming up on midnight, I start to think that maybe I have to sleep, because I have to get up in the morning, and deal with things. Back in those days, I used to stay up for three or four days. It was a different world back then. Today musicians have so much competition, no matter how talented they are. Back then, photographers didn’t do interviews, nobody wanted to interview a photographer, that would be a ridiculous idea, nowadays it’s a whole different animal.
Fashion IQ So talking about David Bowie…
Mick Rock Oh, David Bowie, we can’t avoid that—not that I want to. When I first met him [Bowie], he was not very well known. He’d just gotten to his Ziggy Stardust moment. I do remember when I met him backstage, in early March, 1972. In Spring 2015, Taschen will release my book with his earliest pictures.
Fashion IQ Please tell us about your most hilarious moment working with David Bowie
Mick Rock We laughed most of the time! It was probably backstage. I shot him when he had a knife in his hand, pretending to slash his wrists. I was just hanging out with him before he got on stage, and made a couple of shots like that, it felt like he was more relaxed having me around—it was big fun from the moment I met him. We were very young, in our early 20’s, and the whole culture was so young and underground in so many ways. Now it’s different. Now there is nothing underground, and the minute anything frankly interesting shows up, it’s on the Internet and popular for only about 3 minutes. It’s a completely different world in terms of information.
Fashion IQ Nowadays, you shoot artists like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Snoop Dogg, Pharell Williams, Jimmy Fallon, The Black Keys, Cee Lo Green, Janelle Monae, and Robin Thicke. What is their main difference from the talents of 70’s?
Mick Rock You could argue that it was more innovative in that day, and that the music was younger and more rebellious. I don’t feel like anybody is threatened by modern music like Miley Cyrus, It’s just a young girl, with emotional problems, that she shows in public. I think Lady Gaga is really cool, and very talented, but I don’t think she shocks anybody. She is having a good time, God bless her!
Fashion IQ How do you think the photography industry will look over the next 10… 20… 30 years?
Mick Rock It’s progressed so quickly. You just wonder, how much further can it go? You wonder how many more iPhones will appear. So many images are produced now, billions of things posted all over the internet, and they never go anyway, they stick around, where a lot of things are disposable. People won’t pay money for dirty, unaesthetic pictures, and in the end, it’s still about memorable images, because this is the thing that people remember over the other. Some people say my work has it. You do remember my photos were around for long time, and it was not always photos of famous people. I can’t predict how long I’m going to be around. If it’ll go well, maybe 30 years more. Maybe things will go even quicker. It’s a very disposable world we are living in today. I put no judgment on it. It’s interesting, you have to live in the time you are living. People go on and on in the past and say it’s more important, but it’s not. Great photos are like great pop songs—Like Elvis Presley, people will listen to him no matter how much new music appears.
Interview by Jeanne Prisyazhnaya / Present Perfect Studio