I was pleasantly surprised to read Bill mentioned a couple of times in Steve Jones's autobiography. I'd assumed BBD and Bill might have been a bit too refined for a Sex Pistol's taste.
"For music-lovers of taste and discernment, it was becoming more of a struggle to keep up standards by 1974. There was still some great stuff about; you just had to look a bit harder for it. The first Be-Bop Deluxe album, Axe Victim, and Sparks’ Kimono My House were both big albums for me and Cookie [Paul Cook, drummer] – we’d sit in his bedroom for hours listening to them."
"There was stuff around for us to bounce off, like Futurama, the second Be-Bop Deluxe album, a big favourite with both me and Cookie by then. Bill Nelson was a great guitarist who really had the Bowie look down when we saw him live at the Fulham Greyhound."
* OK, wide of the mark about the Bowie look, but definitely a favourite.
It's a good read, Jonsey's autobiography, I like him and he's pretty underestimated as a guitar player...He's also mentioned Bill and Be Bop Deluxe a few times on his radio show, which is always entertaining.
Not sure I'd agree with the Bowie look being wide of the mark. There were definite similarities in the fashion sense and overall look of Bill and the Be Bop Deluxe of that time, i.e. the Axe Victim/first line-up period, with the look of Bowie and Bolan etc, and Be Bop did have a glam vibe with the clothes and make up..and when you look at the Bill of that era, he and Bowie were quite similar, and Bill certainly had the Bowie-style hair going on, so a reasonably accurate comment from Steve Jones...and also, if you look at related photos of Futurama and the Bill of that period, he and Bowie once again have definite similarities in their overall looks, fashion-sense and hairstyles ...I'm not saying Bill copied Bowie (or that Bowie copied Bill Nelson), or anyone else for that matter, in the looks/style department, it's just how things were fashion wise at the time.
Good comment about the book and definitely worth a read...recommended.