Ebook: Alastair Riddell’s Space Waltz

Alastair Riddell’s band Space Waltz was a short-lived one-album New Zealand glam rock act who achieved a #1 hit single in October 1974 with “Out On The Street”. While this feat may have relegated the band to one-hit-wonder status in the eyes of some, to this day Riddell and Space Waltz epitomize the mid-1970s heyday of glam rock in New Zealand. But in truth their impact went far beyond this. Their generationally divisive nation-wide debut on the hugely popular MOR television talent quest Studio One/New Faces demonstrated the power of mass media exposure – they were instantly signed to a record deal with industry giant EMI - while Riddell’s gender-bending image provided a cultural crossroads that greatly impacted the wider youth culture of Aotearoa New Zealand.