Alastair Riddell - Alastair Riddell (1978)

It’s a Sunday night in 1974 and New Zealand’s only television channel is in black and white. Into the living rooms of the nation strides a tall, androgynous figure with dark tresses, silver eye shadow and white satin bell-bottoms. His scarf trailing almost to the floor, he pouts and preens his way through an ode to a drag queen. Alastair Riddell and his group Space Waltz are making their debut on the New Faces talent quest.
David Bowie – then at the height of his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane phase – had made his way into the record collections of the cognoscenti and playlists of the country’s more daring radio stations, Slade had played Te Rapa, and The Sweet had toured and enjoyed two No.1 hits. However, these were aberrations: much of middle New Zealand remained unaware of the glam rock phenomenon.