the camera, engaging the audience directly, which one fan recalled, "It was as if Bowie actually singled me out...a chosen one...it was almost a religious experience." Transmitted the following day, the three minute performance launched Bowie to stardom. According to author David Buckley, "Many fans date their conversion to all things Bowie to this Top of the Pops appearance". It embedded Ziggy Stardust in the nation's consciousness, helping push "Starman" to number 10 and the album, released the previous month, to number five. The "Starman" single remained in the UK charts for 11 weeks. In the United States, the single peaked at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1972. The performance was watched by a large audience, including many English musicians before they became famous, including Boy George, Adam Ant, Mick Jones of the Clash, Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, Morrissey and Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Many musicians and groups have recalled seeing the performance and reflected on how it affected their lives. The English gothic rock band Bauhaus recalled that seeing Bowie's performance on Top of the Pops was "a significant and profound turning point in their lives". The band thereafter idolised Bowie and subsequently covered "Ziggy Stardust" in 1982. Reflecting on Bowie's impact on music in 2003, Robert Smith of the Cure said: "He was blatantly different, and everyone of my age remembers the time he played 'Starman' on Top of the Pops." Bono of the Irish rock band U2 told Rolling Stone in 2010: "The first time I saw [Bowie] was singing 'Starman' on television. It was like a creature falling from the sky. Americans put a man on the moon. We had our own British guy from space – with an Irish mother." English singer-songwriter Gary Numan, who saw the performance when he was 15 years old, said: "I think it stands as one of the pivotal moments of modern music, or, if not music, certainly a pivotal moment in show business. It must have taken extraordinary courage and/or a monumental amount of self-belief. To say it stood out is an epic understatement. Even as a hardcore T. Rex fan I knew it was special." Ian McCulloch of the English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen said