From: perek@ccsg.tau.ac.il (Eyal Perek)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.david-bowie
Subject: Bowie FAQ 2.15
Date: 4 Mar 1996 08:02:17 GMT
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If you have anything to comment, send e-mail to perek@zoot.tau.ac.il
To search for additions/changes made since the previous version, find
/.
Many thanks to those who contributed since the previous release:
Jen , Gerry Lowe , Karamasov
, Stephen Carter , ??
, James Dada , Jorgen Claesson
, Matthew Muilenburg , ??
, Craig Peacock , ??
, SherryLin , Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski
, Philip Obbard ,
Carsten Weise , Clare O'Brien
<100754.1527@compuserve.com>
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The official Bowie FAQ, written and maintained
by Eyal Perek, perek@zoot.tau.ac.il
Description: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (and non-Frequently Asked
Questions) about Bowie and the alt.fan.david-bowie newsgroup.
Version: 2.15
Last modified: March 3rd, 1996
Next post: April 1st, 1996 (hopefully)
Legal disclaimer:
It has been proven that this text may cause changes in the outcome of your
favourite war. Another symptom that was reported in some cases after reading
this article is wRiTiNg In ThAt StUpId WaY. You have been warned!!!
I'm not too generous when it comes to using smileys. If you read something
really REALLY ridiculous it probably means that I again spent too much time in
rec.humor. If you see a sentence ending with a :-) (or is it AN :-)) it
either means I wrote something I thought was funny (you may, or you may not
share my sentiments), or I just thought of a joke and the smiley was typed
without intention.
I therefore announce I will take no responsibility for any damage caused by
use, or misuse of this document, either direct or indirect.
If this product fails to work, check to see you've installed the batteries
right (not supplied in the original package). To be on the safe side, keep
out of reach of children and pets: it may explode in contact with non-Bowie
fans and water; if under pressure (and I quote from the Queen/Bowie song
Under Pressure: 'under pressure, pressure, pressure'); or if bent.
Any opinion expressed in this whole document is strictly mine, but can be
exchanged in return for a rare Bowie bootleg.
Why are you reading this anyway? Do you find it amusing reading legal notices?
For the narrow minded people: I was just joking, it is not THAT serious (or is
it?)
TOC section (Table of contents):
Part 1. Introduction (welcome to alt.fan.david-bowie)
1.1 Requests, thanks, wishes and (surprisingly) an introduction
1.2 The proper posting algorithm. Basic guidelines. YOU MUST READ THIS.
(In case you weren't good in computer class at school, algorithm = a
way of doing things. Sorta.)
Part 2. Bowie facts. Contains answers to questions you shouldn't ask, and will
probably get you flamed if you insist on asking.
2.1 Facts listed in chronological order
2.2 Facts of no known dates
2.3 Misc., gossip, what other people have to say about the man
2.4 Bowie quotes (sometimes controversial, sometimes not so famous,
sometimes pointless)
Part 3. Discography, filmography, and the rest of the gang. A discussion of
Bowie's work.
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Official albums
3.3 Re-releases
3.4 Singles (any single Bowie participated in its making)
3.5 Filmography
3.6 Videos
3.7 Books
3.7.1 Where can I read about Bowie?
3.7.2 Song Books
3.7.3 Related books
3.7.4 What else?
3.8 Other releases
3.9 Important notes
3.10 What's next?
Part 4. Song discussion. Talks about meanings and correctness of lyrics,
different interpretations, notes on specific songs, etc.
4.1 Love You Till Tuesday
4.2 When I Live My Dream
4.3 Space Oddity
4.4 Letter To Hermione
4.5 Conversation Piece
4.6 Memory Of A Free Festival
4.7 All The Madmen
4.8 London Bye Ta-Ta
4.9 Life On Mars
4.10 The Bewlay Brothers
4.11 Kooks
4.12 Quicksand
4.13 Five Years
4.14 Rock 'n Roll Suicide
4.15 John, I'm Only Dancing
4.16 Song For Bob Dylan
4.17 Andy Warhol
4.18 Queen Bitch
4.19 Velvet Goldmine
4.20 What That Man
4.21 The Jean Genie
4.22 My Death
4.23 Diamond dogs
4.24 1984
4.25 Dodo
4.26 Candidate (demo)
4.27 Young Americans
4.28 Fame
4.29 Station To Station
4.30 TVC15
4.31 Warszawa
4.32 Heroes
4.33 Helden
4.34 Joe The Lion
4.35 V-2 Schneider
4.36 Red Money
4.37 It's No Game
4.38 Ashes To Ashes
4.39 Scream Like A Baby
4.40 Crystal Japan
4.41 China Girl
4.42 This Is Not America
4.43 Dancing In The Streets
4.44 Day In Day Out
4.45 Fame '90
4.46 The Buddha Of Suburbia
4.47 Leon Takes Us Outside
4.48 Outside
4.49 The Heart's Filthy Lesson
4.50 Segue - Baby Grace
4.51 The Motel
4.52 Segue - Algeria Touchshriek
4.53 Segue - Nathan Adler
4.54 Through These Architect's Eyes
Part 5. Bowie resources on the (inter)net. Where to find more information
about Bowie, in case you reached the (clever) conclusion that this FAQ
doesn't cover everything (nor it should).
5.1 Newsgroups
5.2 FTP sites
5.3 Web sites
5.4 Gopher
Part 6. Contact addresses
Part 7. Credits. Self explanatory.
Part 8. Who is the best solo artist in the whole human history?
In this part you will find out who is the best solo artist in the
whole human history. Try to guess and then check to see if you guessed
it right.
==============================================================================
Part 1. Introduction
1.1 Requests, thanks, wishes and (surprisingly) an introduction
o Welcome to the Bowie FAQ.
o I wrote some of the stuff you'll find here myself, but I also used info
from postings written by other people. Their names are included in the
credits section. I also used some biographic details from Evan's site (see
section 5.3). The people who have helped writing this biographic
information are also credited.
o I also used the biographies included in the Early On and Sound + Vision
compilations.
o If you think you can contribute to this FAQ, in any way (even correcting
typos), please do!
o HELP!!! I need:
- The exact quote about Bowie and Angie living on Mars (posted a long time
ago);
- Details about The Singles Collection (differences between the three
versions), posted waaay back;
- Details about Bowie's son;
- Details about the album Rough Power. Was it published *only* because
Iggy Pop fans said Bowie ruined Raw Power with his mixing?;
- Details about Queen's The Ultimate Collection - Rarities, Oddities
And Cover Versions (that featured Bowie);
- More information about the biographies (section 3.7). Which of them are
out of print?;
- The name of the female singer who recently covered Changes;
- Short reviews of Bowie's albums. The reviews should be general, and
should not include items like descriptions of specific songs, release
details and musician info. Finally: I don't need personal opinions, I
can write those myself.
A one sentence reviews (something like 'a glam-rock album') would be
just fine.
- Details about his nomination for the Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame museum.
Was he nominated the first time around 1987?
- The different versions of the lyrics to Sweet Head. This was discussed in
the newsgroup a long time ago.
o I know, this is too long for a FAQ. I'm thinking of releasing a shorter
version. Meanwhile, you can call this text a biography, an anthology, or
whatever you like!
o If you have a question but can't find the answer, and the table of contents
doesn't help, try using a text search.
o The FAQ is split into three parts, because some newsreaders can't handle
files larger than 60K.
1.2 The proper posting algorithm
o Every now and then, a new person gets an internet account. This person,
given the right conditions (being a Bowie fan, hearing about the Usenet),
sooner or later discovers the alt.fan.david-bowie newsgroup. Occasionally,
he would post an annoying question that some of us got tired of seeing.
o Conclusion: Before you post a question with a header that goes 'I'm new to
this newsgroup, and this question was probably already brought up, but
I would still like to know...' READ THE WHOLE FAQ. You will then prevent
the ('logical') possibility of being flamed or being hated.
o In particular, these questions should NEVER be asked:
'Are his eyes really differently coloured???!!!?###'
'Is he REALLY gay??!!?????&&'
'Did he do something prior to Let's Dance?!?#######@@@??????!!!'
o When posting rumours, clearly specify it's a rumour, preferably in the
subject. Something like 'RUMOUR: Bowie used to date my cat'.
o If you have intentions of posting something that is not related to Bowie
(how to make money fast, etc.), let me help you.
We'll read the name of the newsgroup together. alt.FAN.DAVID-BOWIE, that's
right, alt.FAN.DAVID-BOWIE. More slowly. alt.F-A-N.D-A-V-I-D---B-O-W-I-E.
Not alt.being.gay.is.disgusting, not alt.I.want.to.become.a.male.lesbian,
it's alt.fan.david-bowie.
We will now go over the MEANING of the name. The meaning is that only
posts about Bowie should be made.
And there's an appropriate newsgroup for posting stuff about Brian Eno
(alt.music.brian-eno). Here, we're only interested in Bowie-Eno facts.
o Don't get way off topic, (or even a bit off topic, unless it's very
interesting). It may lead to a flame war.
Note the example of 'are drugs used as a medicine for mental illnesses'
or something that was discussed in the newsgroup. I can't remember the
original question, which proves my point.
o Ignore irrelevant postings (How to make money fast, Get HOT SEX here),
and people who are searching for flame wars.
I ignore all flamers, I suggest that you do the same.
o Avoid posting a general question asking for an opinion like 'What is
Bowie's best album?'. This may lead to an endless, confusing thread, with
mixed replies, too many different thoughts, and no one can keep track who
said what to whom. In the end, even YOU wouldn't get a satisfactory answer.
You can, instead, ask people to mail their opinions directly to you. It
would be nice, though, if you later post a statistical report that will
make sense to us all (how many votes you got for each album in the case of
the given example).
o Avoid personal insults. No need to explain, is there?
o Some people (including me) find postings formatted to more than 80 columns
irritating (same goes for postings formatted to less than 20 columns :-)).
But more important than that, some newsreaders can't handle them (you DO
want other people to read your posts, don't you?).
==============================================================================
Part 2. Bowie Facts
2.1 Facts listed in chronological order
o David Bowie is David Robert Jones, born in Stanfield Road, Brixton, south
London, on the 8th of January 1947 to Peggy (whose real name was Margaret)
and John (whose real name was Haywood Stenton) Jones.
He changed his stage name from Jones to Bowie in 1966 because of the
success of Davy Jones on the London stage. That was prior to the success
of the Monkees (with Davy Jones).
He decided to choose a last name that was also the name of a knife because
he liked Mick Jagger (jagger means knife). He chose the name Bowie from the
American frontiersman, Texan soldier Jim Bowie, who the knife is named for.
He wanted to choose the name of an American, because he's always been
interested in that country.
o He had an older half brother, Terry, through his mother, that suffered many
years from the mental illness with the long name Schizophrenia and was in a
mental hospital for that reason. Terry committed a suicide in 1985 (this
was after many attempts that failed). Bowie did not come to his funeral.
o Bowie also has a step sister named Annette through his father.
o When he was young he had an accident in which he broke his two legs. He
still has a big scar on one of his legs, a result of that accident.
o Bowie moved to Bromley, and studied art and graphic design in the Bromley
Technical School.
o Owen Frampton was his teacher. Owen's son, Peter Frampton, who was studying
in the same school, and is three years younger than David, was a member in
the band that played behind him in the Glass Spider tour (1987). They used
to sing Sons Of The Silent Age as a duet.
o Bowie's eyes are of different colour. His right eye is blue, his left eye
is either brown or green, depending on the light. This is a common trait
amoung people with differently coloured eyes. When he was born both of his
eyes were blue.
I've heard contradicting stories explaining this. I will summarize them
in one sentence (pick what you think might be the best explanation):
He had a {car accident/eye infection/street fight/fight with a high school
friend over a girl} and {his left eye became paralyzed/his left eye was
damaged in an operation/the doctors transplanted a wrong coloured pupil in
an operation}
Total of 4*2=8 combinations (I haven't heard about pupil transplants).
The most common belief is that Bowie's left eye was damaged in a school
fight with longtime friend George Underwood circa 1962. His pupil was
paralyzed and subsequently could not adjust to light properly.
In an interview in Atlanta, October '95, David said, himself, that at the
age of about 13, he and another guy liked the same girl, and the other guy
socked David in the eye, making for a permanently enlarged pupil, which
appears to be an eye of a different colour than the other eye.
The scientific explanation is that when the iris is compressed it appears
darker.
In the picture on Black Tie White Noise and several other pictures in
recent interviews, Bowie is wearing blue contact lenses.
o Bowie still keeps a white acrylic alto saxophone his parents bought him
when he was twelve years old. That was his first instrument. He took
lessons from Ronnie Ros, who introduced him to the jazz saxophonist Charlie
Parker.
o Bowie was influenced by Rhythm & Blues, a relatively new music style that
started in America. Bowie's favourite singer was Little Richard. He also
liked John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and King Curtis.
o His half brother, Terry, introduced him to progressive jazz, and to
American poet Jack Kerouac.
o The Konrads was Bowie's first group. The name he suggested was Ghost
Riders. A known Konrads song is I Never Dreamed (written by Jones, Ferris,
and Dodds), in which Bowie sings backing vocals.
o He left them because they didn't want to play R&B.
o Then he formed Reds & Blues (with friend painter George Underwood), a band
that played many covers.
o Bowie graduated high school with an A in art.
o He took a job at the London agency as a commercial artist.
o In November '63 Bowie formed his first recording band Davie Jones and the
King Bees. The name originated from the Louisiana's blues singer Slip Harpo
song I'm A King Bee. They were: Bowie (vocals, tenor. alto sax), Roger
Bluck (lead guitar), George Underwood (rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals),
Dave Howard (bass), Bob Allen (drums).
o To raise money Bowie sent a letter to a rich English entrepreneur, John
Bloom, who was in the washing machines business. Since he had nothing to do
with music, he passed Bowie's request to Less Conn (who was managing Doris
Day's music publishing company, Melcher music, and doing talent scouting
for the Dick James Organization). Conn suggested that they play at Bloom's
wedding anniversary. He accepted, and they played Got My Mojo Working and
Hoochie Coochie Man in that party. Conn then decided to become their
manager.
o They recorded the very first Bowie single Liza Jane (an old Negro
spiritual but Conn was credited as the composer)/Louie Louie Go Home
(composed by Paul Revere & The Raiders). The single was recorder at Decca
studios, West Hampstead and was released on a subsidiary label Vocalion
Pop on the 5th of June, '64.
Bowie and his band gave performances in Marquee Club, Cafe Des Artists, the
Roundhouse, and several universities.
They also performed this single on the Juke Box Jury show, and on the BBC2
show The Beat Room.
o Since they weren't gaining any popularity Bowie decided to leave the band,
on August '64, and they broke up.
o Immediately afterwards Bowie joined The Manish Boys (The name originated
from a Muddy Waters song), an R&G band from Maidstone, whose name used
to change very often (Band Seven and The Jazz Gentlemen were amoung their
previous names). They were: Bowie (vocals, tenor, alto sax), Johnny Flux
(lead guitar), John Watson (bass, rhythm guitar, vocals), Mick White
(drums), Bob Solly (organ), Paul Rodriguez (tenor sax, trumpet, bass),
Woolf Byrne (baritone sax, harmonica).
o After they'd heard David's copy of The James Brown Show Live At The
Apollo, and under David's influence, they changed their music style.
o On November 12, '64 Bowie gave his first known television interview on
BBC's Cliff Michelmore's Tonight show about the organization he founded for
'The Prevention Of Cruelty To Long Haired Men'.
Bowie: 'Well, I think we're all fairly tolerant, but for the last two
years, we've had comments like "Darling" and "Can I carry your handbag?"
thrown at us, and I think it just has to stop now'.
o The Manish boys signed with the Arthur Howes Agency. They played six shows
as backup for Gene Pitney - Gerry & The Pacemakers tour, starting December
1st.
o In Regent studios they recorded for Decca a cover of Barbara Lewis's
song Hello Stranger (that was never released) and Love Is Strange. Mike
Smith was the producer.
o Then they met the producer Shel Talmy (who was producing The Kinks, The
Who, Manfred Mann at the time), that after hearing them, decided to produce
them.
Talmy: 'I really liked David because of the fact that he was, I thought, a
head of the game'.
o In IBC Studios they recorded the single I Pity The Fool (an Early '60 hit
by American R&B singer Bobby 'Blue' Bland/Take My Tip (The first Bowie
composition recorded. Jimmy Page appeared as a guest guitarist. The song
was covered by Kenny Miller as an A-side)
The single was released on March 5th.
o Leslie Conn arranged that they perform I Pity The Fool on the BBC show
Gadzooks! It's All Happening. Producer Barry Langford insisted that Bowie
cuts his hair. He, of course, refused. Conn organized fans to parade around
the BBC with banners like 'Be Fair To Long Hair'. Bowie also sent a letter
to a local newspaper in which he claimed 'people with long hair have rights
too'. The story was told in many other local newspapers. BBC Then decided
to let him appear on the show, in condition that if they get complaints the
band's fee will to to charity. No complaints were received :-)
o in April '65 The Manish Boys broke up.
o In March '65 Bowie met the band The Lower Third in Giaconda coffee bar, on
Denmark St., a popular hangout for musicians. He became their lead singer.
They were: Bowie (vocals, tenor, alto sax), Devis 'Tea Cup' Taylor (lead
guitar), Graham Rivens (bass), Les Mighall (drums) (who left before the
release of their first single, and was replaced by Phil Lancaster).
Nicky Hopkins played piano in several sessions.
The band was mainly influenced by The Who.
o They appeared regularly on each Saturday at the R&B club La Discotheque.
o In Central Sound Studio, on Denmark St. they recorded several demos,
including Born Of The Night (that was never released) and two radio
jingles for the U.S. including Youthquake Clothing (that David and Denis
wrote when they arrived at the studio).
o Their first single (and second Bowie single to be produced by Talmy) was
released on 20th of August under EMI's Parlophone label. You've Got A Habit
Of Leaving (influenced by The Who)/Baby Loves That Way (that David admitted
it was a take off on Herman's Hermits. On backing vocals: Less Conn, Shel
Talmy, two engineers and the band as monks).
On the press release of this single David said that he likes Sammy Davis
Jr.
They band also recorded Over The Wall We Go - that was covered by Oscar.
o Graham: 'David used to sit at home and strum a guitar and write some
lyrics. We then used to sit down together as a group and make the whole
thing something feasible and bring the whole tune together. A lot of the
early stuff we did with him, apart from the basic tune and lyrics, was very
much a joint effort'.
o Talmy: 'David and I went straight to monaural tape on those demos.
Certainly that wasn't multitrack. We did it specifically to do demos. They
were things he had that we were talking about recording at a future date.
And it was always nice to get them down on tape so we could have a listen'.
o Ralph Horton (who was working for the agent Terry King, managing Screaming
Lord Sutch and The Casuals, and who worked as a driver for The Moody Blues)
became Bowie's first official manager.
He arranged a few shows. The first - as a support to the Moody Blues at
the Bromel club in Bromley. Other shows included Summer weekend engagement
at the winter gardens in Ventnor, and support for Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
on the Isle Of Wight.
o They also did a series of afternoon concerts at the Marquee Inecto Show,
that were broadcasted by a pirated radio station Radio London, sponsored
by the makers of Inecto shampoo. They used to sing songs by The Kinks,
Chim Chim Cheree (from Mary Poppins), and Mars (from Holst's Planet
suite, the theme music from the British television serial The Quartermass
Experiment).
o Horton phoned Ken Pitt, who later on became Bowie's 2nd manager, at the
end of '66, (and at the time, was managing Manfred Mann, Crispian St.
Peters) because the band had financial difficulties. Pitt had no time, but
he did suggest that Bowie changes his name. And he did (on November '65).
o On November 2nd they band was auditioned at BBC but they were turned down.
That was explained in '87: '...Like the Rolling Stones before him, the 19
year old Bowie's performance was not suitable for the BBC's purposes. The
talent selection group were particularly surprised by the inclusion of the
Lower Third's version of Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins, and as for
Bowie's singing..."a Cockney type, but not outstanding", "A singer devoid
of personality", "sing wrong notes" and "Out of tune" were just some of
the comments. But two years later, Bowie was back at the beeb with a
complete change of style and a trial broadcast'.
o The year ended with the first performances outside of England, including
two shows at the Golfe Drouot in Paris, one on New Year's Eve (On The Bill
with Arthur Brown), and the other one on January 2nd, '66.
o In the end of '65 the band signed with Pye records.
o On January 14th the first single under the new name was released, produced
by Tony Hatch, head of A&R for Pye. Can't Help Thinking About Me/And I
Say To Myself. That was the first Bowie single to be released in the U.S.
(on the Warner Brothers label, in May)
o Since they didn't have any success, The Lower Third broke up, January
'66.
o Bowie then joined The Buzz (named by a radio station DJ).
David Bowie and The Buzz were: Bowie (vocals), John Hutchinson 'Hutch'
(lead guitar), Derek Fearnley 'Dek' (bass), John Eager 'Ego' (drums), Derek
Boyes 'Chow' (organ).
Hutchinson was replaced after four months with Billy Gray 'Haggis', but
rejoined Bowie two years later with Feathers.
o They were auditioned at February 3rd, in the Marquee club.
o Their first performances were on the 10th of February, in Leicester
University with the Graham Bond Organization and Jimmy James & The
Vagabonds, and a day later in the Marquee club.
o They recorded a few songs, including That's A Promise (written by Bowie).
This song was only released on a bootleg single, and bootleg albums, one
of which is Pierrot In Torquoise.
o In March They performed The Lower Third's song Can't Help Thinking About
Me on Ready, Ready, Go! and reached #26 on the Melody Makers chart.
o In March 7th they recorded Do Anything You Say/Good Morning Girl (with Tony
Hatch as the producer), that was released on April 1st.
o They gave some successful performances in Scotland, and, at the Marquee -
Bowie did a Sunday afternoon series of his own The Bowie Showboat (from
the 10th of April '66 to the 12th of June), and it became apparent that
Bowie had a group of devoted fans.
o In the second The Bowie Showboat show Bowie met his next producer Ken
Pitt.
o I Dig Everything/I'm Not Losing Sleep was recorded on June 6th, and
released August 19th. Band unknown. Producer Hatch thought the songs needed
rearranging and used session musicians.
o Hatch: 'David was then extremely conservative, good to get on with and
excellent in the studio. His material was good, although I thought he wrote
too much about London dustbins. Those were his formative years and he
hadn't reached maturity, but he was unusual, unique'.
o In December, '66, The Buzz broke up.
o In 1967 Bowie signed with Deram, a Decca subsidiary, and released Rubber
Band and Love You Till Tuesday, that both later appeared on his debut album
David Bowie.
o This album was released without We Are Hunger Men and Maid Of Bond
Street in the U.S.
o A year after he released his song The Laughing Gnome, in 1967, Roni
Hilton wrote an orchestral version to that song.
The song was later (in 1973) re-released on a collection, and reached
the sixth place on the british charts.
o Around this period, Bowie made an unsuccessful attempt to become a family
entertainer.
o After that, Tony Visconti became his producer, and they recorded Let Me
Sleep Beside You and London Bye Ta Ta but no company wanted to release
these songs.
o His first role as an actor in the cinema was in a short half hour art film
called The Image, in which he portrayed a corpse. In one of the scenes,
Bowie lies on a window sill and someone pours water on him to create the
illusion of rain. The film was shown as a 'filler' in seedy Soho cinemas.
o In 1968 Bowie wrote a four page play called Ernie Jones. It tells the story
of a man, Ernie, that wants to commit suicide, so he decides on having a
'suicide party'. The play never acted on stage.
o In they same year, the famous choreographer Lindsay Kemp let young Bowie
(who, by then, was a mime with Kemp's dance troupe) appear on his show, in
return for sex. Before one of the performances Bowie disappeared with the
beautiful scene decorator Natasha Korlinov and Kemp tried to commit suicide
by cutting his wrists, but he was saved. Two months later Bowie came back
to him, then Natasha tried to kill herself with sleeping pills. She was
also saved.
o Bowie: 'Lindsay gave me lessons in exchange for writing music for them. He
introduced me to a lot of extraordinary things - artaud, theatre of the
absurd, all that kind of thing. A lot of my attitude toward the stage, and
staging, really came from Lindsay. He was my mentor'.
o Bowie then opened up for the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex (with Marc Bolan),
a band Visconti was producing, as a mime (as a Buddhist priest).
o As a pantomimist, he presented his own version of the chinese invasion to
Tibet.
o He also appeared as an extra in the movie The Virgin Soldiers.
o He won 2nd place in the Maltese Song Festival with his song When I Live My
Dream.
o After that, he formed a mixed media band called Feathers with John
Hutchinson and ballet dancer Harmione Farthingale that he was dating, and
who was studying with Kemp. They combined original songs with Jackques
Brel songs, poetry and mime acts.
o Very shortly after, Farthingale dumped him. He wrote the song Letter To
Hermione about it, that is included in his album Space Oddity.
o In February 2nd, '69 he recorded the song Space Oddity with Hutchinson.
o In the first recordings of Space Oddity, Bowie tried to make the sound of
the spaceship by himself. It sounded bad. (He also did this on stage, in
1972. The live version is available in Santa Monica '72, or in any bootleg
of that performance).
If you don't have any of these recordings, try to imagine how they sounded,
for everlasting amusement.
o Bowie: 'Hermione had run off with a dancer. I was totally head-over-heels
in loved with her, and it really sort of demolished me. That event, plus
the 2001 movie, sort of set me off on the Space Oddity song'.
o Space Oddity, plus some tracks from the album David Bowie were used in the
promo film Love You Till Tuesday. The film and the soundtrack were
released in 1984.
o The film didn't succeed.
o Because of the American moon landing on July 20th, Mercury signed with
Bowie, and they wanted him to re-record Space Oddity.
o Bowie: 'John Hutchinson was going to record it with me. In fact, on the
demo, Hutch is singing the first verse. We had intended making an album
together, and we had demoed quite a few songs. This single was going to be
"Bowie and Hutch". But then, two or three days before the session, Hutch
said that he really didn't think that we were going to make it in rock. He
was married, and he had a kid up in Yorkshire, and he decided he was going
home. So I ended up doing the whole thing myself. I was heart broken. I
mean, I'd built up a whole thing around the idea of duets'.
o Space Oddity was re-recorded in June 20th with Gus Dudgeon as a producer
(who was the engineer in the recordings of the album David Bowie) and with
Paul Buckmaster's arranging.
o Space Oddity became Bowie's first big hit (reaching #5 in the UK). The
interesting fact is that Bowie's producer at that time, Tony Visconti,
rejected the song. Bowie HAD to give the song to another producer - Gus
Dudgeon.
Bowie produced an alternative version to the song in '79.
o Space Oddity was used by the BBC as the theme song of the U.S. moon
landing.
o Because of the big success, Mercury agreed to produce Bowie's next album in
the early seventies. It was released as David Bowie in Britain in Britain
(note: there's no typing mistake here), and as Man Of Words/Man Of Music
in the U.S. This album was later on re-released as Space Oddity, in 1972,
without the song Don't Sit Down. (but the song was included again in the
Ryko 1990 re-release).
o Bowie also recorded an Italian version of Space Oddity - Ragazzo Solo,
Ragazza Sola (lonely boy, lonely girl) and a French version that I don't
know its name, but the English translation is 'A man who disappears in the
sky'.
o Space Oddity is about Major Tom, an astronaut who gets lost in space.
David returned to Major Tom in his hit single Ashes To Ashes, that is
included in his album Scary Monsters (in '80). The Ryko re-release of the
album includes a performance of Space Oddity from the 31st of December,
'79.
o Space Oddity only became a hit in America in 1973 (after the Ziggy tour),
when the single was re-released, reaching #15 on the charts.
o Bowie organized an art festival in Bromley, and a music festival.
The song Memory of A Free Festival from the album Space Oddity is about
that festival.
o Bowie, talking about Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud: 'That, for me at the
time, was the most fully developed song that I'd written. It had the
narrative form, a loose mythology. It was a portent of what I was going to
be doing later on'.
o According to a rumour, Bowie attempted to enter U.S.S.R. around '69, but
he was denied as he was found to have been carrying national socialist
propaganda.
o In January '70 - Bowie recorded the original version of Prettiest Star
(that later appeared on his album Aladdin Sane) in London's Trident
studios with Marc Bolan on guitar (who was about to become a superstar with
T. Rex).
Bowie: 'There was quite a lot of rivalry between Marc and myself. We had a
sparring relationship. We both knew we were going to be doing something in
the future, but he was a few rungs up - he was really starting to happen.
But he decided that he wanted to contribute to something that I was doing,
and so he played guitar on this one. I don't think we were talking to each
other that day. I can't remember why, but I remember a very strange
attitude in the studio. we were never in the same room at the same time.
You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. We eventually became the
tightest of buddies until his tragic death in 1978'.
o Bowie and Bolan were also members of the band Dib Cochran.
o Afterwards, Bowie set a backup band: Tony Visconti (bass), his friend John
Cambridge (drums) and Cambridge's friend, classically trained from Hull,
Mick Ronson (guitar). Their first session was at the Roundhouse, London,
February '70.
Bowie: 'I thought It would be really interesting if each of us adopted a
persona of some kind. I remember Cambridge was a cowboy, and Tony Visconti
wore a Superman outfit. I can't remember what I wore, but it was very
spacey, and there was a lot of Lurex-y material in it. Bolan was there, and
he was open-mouthed that we had the balls to camp it up so much. I think
that was the first glam-rock performance. I was all jeans and long hair at
that time, and we got booed all the way through the show. People hated it.
They absolutely loathed what we were doing. It was great!'.
o In March 20th he was married to Mary Angela 'Angie' Barnett. Their son,
Zowie, was born in May 28th.
o In the early seventies, Bowie used to wear dresses ('a man's dresses'). He
wasn't the only one (see Mick Jagger's little white 'party dress'), but
still it was very odd.
o A Texan man pointed a gun at Bowie once because he was wearing a dress.
o His next band was called Hype: Tony Visconti (bass), Woody Woodmansey, who
was the drummer in Ronson's band The Rats (drums), Mick Ronson (guitar).
Bowie himself acted as The Rainbow Man.
Bowie: 'Hype was a super band to be in. It didn't come to much, it was a
shame actually. I enjoyed everything that we did. It was the embryo of what
was to become the spiders'.
o With the band, Bowie recorded his next album, The Man Who Sold The World.
o Marc Bolan appeared as a guest guitarist on Black Country Rock (released
November '70).
o In January '71 Mercury arranged that Bowie meets the American press.
o On the original cover of his album The Man Who Sold The World Bowie
appeared wearing a dress. Mercury rejected the cover, and it was replaced
with a cartoon drawing of a cowboy holding a rifle with a shot out clock
tower behind him (designed by Bowie's artist friend). Later on, after the
album was already released, they replaced this with the black and white
Ziggy picture. The album was published with different covers in other
countries.
The album was not sold very well so Mercury decided to fire him.
(All the covers appear in the Ryko re-release of the album, BTW).
o Later that year, Bowie signed with RCA in the U.S.
o In New York he met Andy Warhol, and Lou Reed. Lou Reed introduced him to
Iggy Pop, and the three of them became good friends. There is a picture of
them hanging out together.
o Bowie has always been a Lou Reed fan. He recorded two cover versions of his
songs: White Light/White Heat and Waiting For The Man. He also sang these
songs a few times in the sixties.
o In 1970 He recorded what's known to be the first song he ever wrote, Tired
Of My Life. The song can be found on the boolegs Lost In Our Vaults Until
Now and The Shadow Man.
o Bowie had a Riley car which he used to call Rupert. He wrote a song about
it - Rupert the Riley - which wasn't officially released, but can
be found on the bootleg The Shadow Man.
o With previously The Rats member Trevor Bolder on bass and Rick Wakeman
(who later on joined Yes) on keyboards, and his old band, Bowie recorded
his next album Hunky Dory, that was produced by him and Ken Scott
and released in November (after Wakeman had left).
o One song became a big hit, Changes. It reached #66 on the U.S charts.
Bowie: 'I really started to feel at home as a songwriter in Hunky Dory. I
really felt that I knew how to write songs at that point. There were couple
of things that attempted to sort of transplant the brain of a cabaret song
onto a piece of rock writing. One was Life on Mars and the other one was
Changes. Changes started out as a parody of a nightclub song, a kind of
throwaway. But it turned into the monster that nobody would stop asking for
at concerts. "Dye-vid, Dye-vid - do Changes". I had no idea it would become
such a popular thing'.
o Hunky Dory reached #93 on the U.S charts.
o The album featured tribute songs to Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, and Velvet
Underground (Queen Bitch).
o According to several resources Andy Warhol hated the song Bowie wrote for
him (Andy Warhol). They met, Andy listened to the song and sat and stared
at David for a while, then said 'I like your shoes'.
In a recent interview, to the radio program Modern Rock Live, Bowie said
Warhol wasn't terribly communicative and how they basically stood there and
looked at each other before having a conversation about shoes.
o Talking about Oh! You Pretty Things Bowie said he tried to play the piano
part, but had to stop after every couple of notes because his fingers hurt.
o Peter Noone reached #12 on the UK charts with Bowie's song Oh! You Pretty
Things.
o Bowie once appeared with a circus elephant called Changes on stage.
o Two tracks, Moonage Daydream and Hang Onto Yourself were released under the
name Arnold Corns (originated from the Pink Floyd song Arnold Layne) in
'71. The dress designer Freddi Burette was supposedly the lead singer.
These tracks were later re-worked for the album Ziggy Stardust.
o In 1972 Bowie invented Ziggy Stardust, a science fiction story with a hero
by the same name. He created a concept album based on it.
This album is considered to be Bowie's most influential and famous album,
and one of the best albums ever made, by any artist. It was chosen as
the most influential album of the seventies by Melody Maker.
o The album was released on June 6th and stayed more than a year on the U.S.
charts.
o It reached #5 on the UK charts and #75 on the U.S charts.
o The first single from the album, Starman, reached #10 on the UK charts and
#65 on the U.S. charts.
o Bowie said to a Radio 1 DJ that Starman was based on Somewhere Over The
Rainbow from Wizard Of Oz.
o The band that played behind him in the years 1972-73 (until their last
concert in Hammersmith Odeon) was called The Spiders. The members:
Mick Ronson (guitar), Woody Woodmansey (drums), Trevor Bolder (bass).
This is what happened after they broke up:
Mick Ronson released a couple of solo albums (now available as a double
on MainMan/Trident). He then worked for many years with Mott the Hoople.
He played on their final single (Saturday Gigs), and on their European
tour in October/November '74. He then worked with their writer/singer Ian
Hunter on and off for the next 20 years.
He has many productions with credits to his name, some of which are: The
Morrissey album with I Know It's Gonna Happen on it, an Andi Sex-Gang
single Seven Ways To Kill A Man, Dalbello's album Who Man Four Says.
He also worked with some minor UK punk bands. For example, he produced and
played on the Slaughter and the Dog's first album.
Ronson had been living in the U.S. for some time. He died of liver cancer
in 1993.
Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder went on to release a Spiders From Mars
album with unknown guitarist and vocalist.
Woody Woodmansey then released another album (the name of the band was
Wood Woodmansey's U-Boat) (The album has a 'cartoon' cover, BTW).
They were touted as having 'the biggest drum kit in the world' - Woody
promptly fell off it and broke his wrists!
Bolder and his band played a mini concert in 1977 during a street party to
commemorate the Queens silver jubilee.
He was playing bass for Uriah Heep at Reading Festival around 1987. He's
still playing for them now.
His dad used to have a record shop, but that was closed many years ago and
is now a cafe. His brother also had a brief musical career.
o The home town of the Spiders from Mars is the city of Hull, North
Humberside.
o Ziggy Stardust - the character Bowie played, is an amalgam of Vince Taylor,
the insane rocker, who used to dress up like Jesus on stage; Iggy
Pop/Twiggy; and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, a failed one-time performer
on TV.
o Bowie: 'Vince was American and came to England, then went to France and
became a star of dirge. But then he came back to England and we spoke of
our findings. He wore a white robe and sandals and we sat in the busy
London street with a map of the world and tried to find the people who were
passing by and scowling at us. They were nowhere on the map. Vince went
back to France, then I heard about the famous show where he had told his
band to go home and appeared in front of the curtains in that old white
robe and sandals telling the French people about the comings and goings due
upon us. He was banned from performing.
My records were selling and I was being a man in demand. I thought of Vince
and wrote Ziggy Stardust. I thought of my brother and wrote Five Years.
Then my friend came to mind, standing the way we stood in Bewlay Bros. and
I wrote Moonage Daydream'.
o Some say Ziggy Stardust is David's self portrait (and that he did that
intentionally). Examples: Lady Stardust is about a man who is rejected by
the environment because of his makeup and long hair (other interpretations
are that the song is about Vince Taylor, or Marc Bolan). Ziggy Stardust
(the song) is about a man who wants to become a famous rock star. John,
I'm Only Dancing (which was released as a single at the time) deals with
bisexuality (note: there is another interpretation that he's telling his
friend he's not trying to steal his girlfriend).
Some people claim that Ziggy is Jimi Hendrix. To prove their theory all
they can say is that they are both left handed. Of course, it didn't occur
to them that Bowie is also left handed.
In an interview, in December 90, Mick Ronson said that Ziggy 'was really
David and Angela's idea'. When asked about who Ziggy is based on he said
'Some people say Jimi Hendrix'.
Other people say Ziggy is not a human, and that David always claimed he was
an actor, implying that he roles (so Ziggy is only a fruit of his
imagination).
o When John, I'm Only Dancing was released in September 1st in Britain,
it reached #12 on the charts. But RCA America didn't want to release it,
and it was banned from some radio stations because of it's suggestive
lyrics.
The song was released in America in '76 in the compilation album
ChangesOneBowie.
o Bowie was one of the first rock stars to admit he's bisexual. Some claim he
was the very first. In January '72, in a Melody Maker interview he said:
'I'm gay, and always have been'.
In '83 with Let's Dance and his foray into the mainstream he went from
admitting it to denying it. He's now claiming it was just an experimental
act.
Quotes that are worth mentioning:
'probably the most provocative thing one could say in 1972. Drug talk was
positively establishment and this sort of felt like the era of self
invention coming up'.
E Entertainment: He told that he was trisexual ('I'll try anything once').
Out: 'I was fairly forthcoming about the fact that I was bisexual. I don't
think there was any question about me being ambiguous, was there?'
Details: He said he had admitted he was bisexual because he didn't want
someone else to discover it.
o Bowie's ex-wife, Angie, claims she caught her husband in bed with Mick
Jagger. Bowie's response (US magazine, 1995): 'About 15 or 16 years
ago, I really got pretty tired of fending off questions about what I used
to do with my [penis] in the early seventies. My suggestion for people with
prurient interests is to go through the 30 or 40 bios on me and pick out
the rumour of their choice'.
o For the tour that followed the Ziggy Stardust album, Bowie created a show
with glamorous costumes and stage effects (with The Spiders and American
Jazz pianist Mike Garson) (and dyed his hair red :-) ). In one performance
Bowie sent his tongue to Mick Ronson's guitar, while touching his thighs.
The media interpreted it as if Bowie was trying to send his tongue to
Ronson's loins. This caused a big scandal and Ronson threatened in
resignation.
Bowie supposedly licking Ronson's groin was commonly termed 'the electric
blowjob' and he did it quite frequently in Ziggy shows. He also did this a
few years before the Ziggy tour, at a concert in Northern England. He
wasn't the one who invented it, by the way.
You can see this act in Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. It basically
looks like he's trying to perform fellatio on the guitar.
o Bowie was once left only in his underwear when fans tore his clothes and
took them as souvenirs.
o Ronson initially didn't want to wear the costume-y glitter garb Bowie
wanted him to as one of the Spiders. Bowie joked many times that he finally
convinced Ronson and the others by telling them they'd 'pull more girls'
that way.
o The phone booth that appears in one of the photos on the cover of Bowie's
album 'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars' was
torn from its place and was sold to an American fan in the late seventies.
There was nothing special about that phone booth.
o The picture for the cover of Ziggy Stardust was taken in Soho.
o The K. West sign shown on the cover of Ziggy Stardust was stolen by a
Bowie fanatic (never to be found). K. West was an agent / theatrical
supplier.
o Still in 1972, Bowie produced Lou Reed's album Transformer. This album
includes the song Wagon Wheel that Bowie claims to have written.
o Lou Reed appeared as a guest singer in a Bowie performance in London, the
same year. They performed Reed's Sweet Jane as a duet.
o Bowie surprised his fans in the last concert of the Ziggy Stardust tour,
as he performed the Beatles song Love Me Do as part of a medley with
The Jean Genie. Jeff Beck appeared as a guest guitarist.
The resulting performance was, however, left out of the original release
from the concert (Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture) but can be found on
the old vinyl bootleg His Master's Voice, along with a few others.
o Bowie is afraid of spiders as a result of a trauma he had when he was a
child. He told in an interview that he remembers saying to himself:
'Spiders, creatures from the darkness, I need to turn into a spider in
order to fight crimes'.
o Bowie had many successes that year. Hunky Dory reached #3 on the UK charts.
The Man Who Sold The World was re-released and reached #26 on the UK
charts and #105 in the U.S. Man Of Words/Man Of Music was re-released as
Space Oddity and reached #17 on the UK charts and #16 in the U.S.
In addition, Mott The Hoople reached #3 on the UK charts with a song Bowie
had written for them, All The Young Dudes.
o His next album was Aladdin Sane.
o The name Aladdin Sane is actually A Lad Insane.
o The first single from the album, Jean Genie, reached #2 on the UK charts
and #71 on the U.S. charts.
o Bowie: 'It was a sort of a half hearted effort to leave Ziggy alone. It
wasn't very committed. It was a case of not wanting to let go of something
that was successful, yet another part of me really wanted to go home. Also,
I had a ... not a falling out, really, but a loss of enthusiasm with the
spiders. They didn't really wanted to go where I wanted to go. I was
already developing a great interest in soul music, and experimental forms.
They were pretty much into playing this straightforward rock. Which was
understandable - they played it very well'.
o He originally wrote the song Drive In Saturday, that was included in this
album, for Mott The Hoople as a follow up to the song All The Young Dudes
that he had previously written and produced for them (he produced the whole
All The Young Dudes album).
Bowie: 'They never used Drive In Saturday. I don't know why'.
o Aladdin Sane was originaly supposed to included a re-recording of John, I'm
Only Dancing (available on Sound+Vision, as well as other compilations),
but eventaully didn't, because the album already contained another
re-recording (of Prettiest Star).
o In the seventies, there was a lot of gossip concerning his favourites in
sex. They included: Japanese and black females, white and Japanese males,
women of African extraction.
o Bowie told proudly he saw four couples making love in his performance in
Glasgow, in 1973.
o There were dozens of Ziggy doubles in every concert Bowie gave during his
Ziggy tours.
o In one of the nights during the Aladdin Sane tour the surrealist painter
Salvador Dali was in the audience.
o His most famous quote is probably 'Not only is it the last show of the
tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you'. He said that
at the last concert of the Aladdin Sane tour, in July 3rd, 1973,
Hammersmith Odeon.
Many Bowie fans believe that he meant THE SPIDERS will never perform again.
It's a known fact, however, that he and his company, RCA had a disagreement
about the money they let him spend.
o And then he released Pin-Ups, a cover-versions-only album for songs from
the London '64-'67 club scene.
Bowie: 'Pin-ups was really my way of shaking Ziggy completely, while
retaining excitement in the music. It really was treading water, but it
happens to be one of my favourite albums. I think there's some terrific
stuff in it. I had it in the back of my mind to do a volume two, and cover
the American scene. I would've done Velvets and early Iggy things, The
Seeds, Pearls Before Swine. There were some great things I was gonna dig up
and do'.
o Lou Reed's White Light/White Heat was recorded for Pin-Ups, but was never
released.
o In '73 Bowie also remixed Iggy Pop's album Raw Power.
o He sang Sonny Bono's I Got You Babe as a duet with Marianne Faithful in the
1980 Floor Show in October (available on the Dollars In Drag bootleg).
o Bowie produced Lulu's single from 1974 Watch That Man/The Man Who Sold The
World (both songs previously written by Bowie). He's also provided backing
vocals, and his band was playing in the background.
o In 1974 he wrote and recorded a song called You Can Have Her, I Don't Want
Her, She's Too Fat For Me. After the recordings, he burned the tapes.
o David had wanted to make a theatrical production of 1984, but the Orwell
estate denied the rights. So he turned his original idea into what became
the Diamond Dogs album, that was released in June '74.
Bowie: 'I was stuck with a partially written musical. And I converted it
into something more Borroughsian. That was when I really started playing
around with cut-up techniques, and that really opened up a whole new
avenue of songwriting to me, a whole approach creating different
atmospheres. Because that was the crux of what rock was to me. It wasn't so
much what rock said. It was just the attitude and the atmosphere that it
created. I was trying to define my version of rock-personally, in the way
that I felt it, as a more stage oriented, theatrical kind of artist'.
o The album cover of Diamond Dogs originally showed a half dog, half Bowie
figure. The offending parts were censored in the American release of the
album. It is now available in the U.S. with the original cover.
o One song that didn't make it to the album was Dodo. It was attempted with
The Spiders, and with a soul arrangement. Bowie: 'I also had Lulu cover it,
but that never came out either'.
The song is available in the Ryko re-release, and the Sound+Vision CD set
as part of a medly 1984/Dodo. Even prior to these releases, this song was
available on many bootlegs.
o The first single from the album, Rebel Rebel was the first song the
American press really liked.
o Eventually, the album reached #5 in the U.S. album charts.
o The tour that followed was glamorous. On the stage there was a big movable
bridge, and a giant diamond that opened up to reveal a giant hand.
Bowie: 'The set was unbelievably expensive. We were stoney broke. It wiped
me out for a few years. But it was definitely worth doing'.
o In 1974 journalists took pictures of him with Lou Reed in a crowded room.
It was interpreted as a passionate kiss by some in the media, others think
they were just talking closely.
o The band that played behind him on the first half of the 1974 tour almost
started a strike. They claimed they are not getting enough exposure, and
that their fee is low. The threatened strike was settled only hours before
the David Live album was recorded.
o David Live was recorded in Philadelphia. When David was there, he took his
time to record some songs at Sigma Sound, a soul music centre. He used the
guitarist Carlos Alomar, who he have seen at Harlem's Apollo theatre, and
the backup singer Luther Vandruss (and co-wrote Fascination with him).
o To his shows around the world he used to take a library that he built
all by himself.
o He took that library together with his 1000 book collection to the set
of Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell To Earth, in which he had a big
part portraying an alien.
o The Man Who Fell To Earth includes full frontal nudity on Bowie's part.
(Bowie later on also appeared nude in his video clip of China Girl. Most TV
stations broadcast a censored version of this video. But I've seen the
uncensored version myself on MTV/Europe. MTV/America shows the
censored version. I don't know about other MTVs :-) ).
o The movie The Man Who Fell To Earth is based on the novel by Walter Tevis
(by the same name), published 1963, and still in print! (the movie edition,
however, isn't). Walter Tevis is best knows as the writer of the Scorseze
movie, The Colour Of Money.
o In 1976 Bowie adopted a new persona: The Thin White Duke.
o With this new persona, he released Station To Station.
o Rumours say Bowie originally wrote Golden Years for Elvis Presley, who
didn't want the song.
o Golden Years was the only hit single from Station To Station, and it
reached #10 on the charts.
o Station To Station additionally included a cover of Wild Is The Wind, a
ballad by Johnny Mathis. Bowie: 'I'm a sucker for a very romantic song'.
o That year, at the Grammy Awards, Aretha said 'I'm so happy I could almost
kiss David Bowie'. According to Ava Cherry (a member in Bowie's band),
after the awards show they went somewhere and she put on an Aretha record,
and began to dance to it, and David smashed it.
o Bowie: 'I was really trying to push my musicians into experimental music.
I really didn't succeeded that much, except that I got some quite
extraordinary things out of Earl Slick. I think it captured his
imagination to make noises on guitar, and textures, rather than playing the
right notes. Station To Station was really the rock-format version of what
was to come Low and Heroes. I was at the time well into German electronic
music - Con, and all that. And Kraftwerk had made a big impression on me.
I thought they were quite wonderful'.
o The Station To Station tour began on February '76.
o Bowie: 'I wanted to go back to a kind of Expressionist German-film look. A
feeling of a Berlinesque performer-black waistcoat, black trousers, white
shirt, and the lighting of, say, Fritz Lang, or Pabst. A
black-and-white-movies look, but with an intensity that was sort of
aggressive. I think for me, personally, theatrically, that was the most
successful tour I've ever done'.
o After the tour, he moved to Switzerland.
o Around this time, he was using drugs quite heavily.
o In Paris, he co-wrote with Iggy Pop his (Iggy's) album The Idiot.
Bowie: 'Poor Jim [Jimmy Osterberg is Pop's real name], in a way, became a
guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound. I didn't have the material
at the time, and I didn't feel like writing it all. I felt much more like
laying back and getting behind someone else's work, so that album was
opportune, creatively'.
Bowie also co-wrote with Iggy some of the songs in Lust For Life.
Both of these albums were released in 1977. See section 3.8 for details.
He used a few of the songs on these albums later on in his '80s albums.
The most famous covers are for Tonight and China Girl.
o Two of the band members on Lust For Life (the Sales brothers, Hunt and
Tony) formed Tin Machine (with Bowie and Reeves Gabrels) many years later.
o In October '76 Bowie and Iggy moved to Berlin. Bowie: 'I thought I'd take
the stage set, throw it away, and go and live in the real thing'.
o In Berlin, Bowie met Brian Eno (Brian Eno was Roxy Music's keyboard player
prior to that), today's most important (according to music critics) and
rich (fact) producer in the world.
In the years 1977-79 Bowie collaborated with him in a trilogy of albums:
Low, "Heroes", Lodger, knows as the synthesizer trilogy, or the Eno
trilogy.
(note: lately, they renewed this collaboration)
o Bowie: 'One day in Berlin, Eno came running in and said "I've heard the
sound of the future" and I said "Come on, we're supposed to be doing it
right now". He said "No listen to this", and he puts on I Feel Love by
Donna Summer. Eno had gone bonkers over it, absolutely bonkers. He said
"This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of
club music for the next fifteen years" which was more or less right'.
Yet another quote:
'I guess I should mention that on Low, "Heroes", and Lodger, Brian and I
utilized his "Oblique Strategies" cards quite a bit. I mean, if we got to
an impasse, we'd just turn over one of his cards, and whatever the
instruction said on it, we'd obey-which led to some hilarious musical
insights. We would write out arbitrary chords and then put them up on a
board, and then Eno would point to a different chords on the wall and the
band would have to follow them. We just did everything we could to break
the rules of what playing rock music was supposed to be about'.
o Low, released January '77, included poppy songs and ambient tracks.
o The album Low was originally supposed to be called New Music Night And Day.
o The cover of Low is a visual pun. The picture is of Bowie in profile, so
the cover reads: low profile.
When Low came out an interviewer asked Bowie the significance of the
title. He sorta gotta bit cross, as if it was obvious, his play on words:
i.e. he was keeping a low profile, hence the picture.
o Nick Lowe, a singer, thought that the title Low was his name with the 'e'
dropped and promptly produced an EP called Bowi. (get it? Bowie with the
'e' dropped)
o Some of the tracks from Low (including Art Decade and Weeping Wall) were
originally written for the soundtrack of The Man Who Fell To Earth.
o Bowie played the piano on the Iggy Pop 1977 tour.
o He returned to Berlin to record "Heroes".
o On "Heroes", Robert Fripp, the leader of King Crimson, appeared as a
guest playing a clarion guitar.
o The album included tributes to American performance artist Chris Burden
(Joe The Lion) and Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider (V2-Schneider).
o In September Bowie returned to Britain to appear on the Marc Bolan show,
(and play the song "Heroes").
o For the Marc Bolan show, Bowie and Bolan rehearsed two songs they wrote
together: Sleeping Next To You and Madman. Eventually, only a small part of
the former was transmitted, but these songs can be found on several
bootlegs, including Alarm, Sleeping Next To You, and Ziggy 2.
o In 1977 Bowie sang Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy (written by
Gorssman, Fraser, Kohan-Simeone, Onorati, Davis, and Shawnee) as a duet
with Bing Crosby. It was released as a single in 1982, and in many
Christmas compilations.
o Between the recording and broadcast of both shows (with Marc Bolan and
Bing Crosby), they both died!
o In 1978 he toured again (the name of the tour was Heroes), with Roger
Powell of Utopia on synthesizers, and Adrian Belew. He released Stage, a
life performance from the tour.
o The same year, Bowie and Lou Reed had a fight in a restaurant and Reed hit
Bowie. They are not friends since then.
o Bowie's next album, Lodger, was recorded in various cities: New York,
London, Zurich, and Berlin.
o On one track Boys Keep Swinging, guitarist Carlos Alomar played drums and
Dennis Davis, Bowie's drummer, played bass. Tony Visconti also played bass
at the end, and to clean-up Davis' mistakes.
o In 1979 Angie Bowie got depressed, and tried to commit suicide. David saved
her.
o They broke up at the end of the year. They divorced in '80. According to
Angie's biography, they have been seperated since '77.
o Angie sued bowie for 30,000 pounds when they broke up, then for another
million.
o Bowie had a big drug crisis in the late seventies. He claims he was saved
only because of his son Zowie, who used to look at him strangely as he
(Bowie) was crawling on the floor.
He DIDN'T USE DRUGS AS A CURE TO A MENTAL ILLNESS HE HAD, as opposed to
what some people think (and post).
o Bowie: 'I suppose I've been knocking on heaven's door for about eleven
years now, with one sort of high or another. The only kinds of drugs I
use, though, are ones that keep me working for longer periods of time.
I haven't gotten involved in anything heavy since '68. I had a silly
flirtation with smack then, but it was only for the mystery and enigma
of trying it'. (1979)
o Bowie wrote and recorded two tracks with John Cale. Piano La and Velvet
Church. They weren't released on any official album. (only on the bootleg
single Two Gentlemen In New York).
o In December, Bowie appeared in Saturday Night Live and played The Man
Who Sold The World, TVC15, and Boys Keep Swinging. These versions can be
found on the bootlegs Naked And Wired and 1980 Floor Show.
o The alternative (1979) version of Space Oddity was presented on The Kenny
Everett show, January 31st 1979. It starts off with Bowie sitting on a
stool with a guitar. In the silence when the takeoff happens, he puts
down his guitar, strolls across to a padded cell, sits down and sings
the rest.
o He had the lead role in the Broadway show The Elephant Man.
o Bowie commented about mental breakdowns he had had in LA. That was around
'80 (the comment, not the breakdowns).
o Bowie: 'What can I say? I'm bored and I'm retiring for good' (circa '81
interview).
I haven't heard a good explanation for this one.
o Bowie and Queen recorded a song called Under Pressure together. The bass
line from this song later became a hit in America when Vanilla Ice used it
in his song Ice Ice Baby.
Bowie also participated on a Queen outtake Cool Cat that can be found on
Queen's The Ultimate Collection- Rarities, Oddities And Cover Versions.
o In 1981 he changed his style and image. He stopped using drugs and any
homosexual relations (recently, he said that he had returned to using drugs
for a while after that, and that he drank fairly heavily during the '80s).
He also drew back from his declarations about socialism.
All music critics agree that it was also a change from sophistication and
quality to commercial poppy music. In the last years he returned to
quality.
Bowie, lately admitted himself, that he wasn't creative for most of the
eighties.
o He broke with RCA in 1982 and signed with EMI.
o Let's Dance, released in 1983, is his best seller (produced by Nile
Rodgers).
o Bowie had a fight with Tony Visconti, the producer of his seventies albums.
Visconti said that he originally was supposed to produce Let's Dance, but
that without notifying him Bowie suddenly decided that he preferred Nile
Rodgers. He also said he had lost a big sum of money because of that.
Bowie has said in an interview it was because Tony made remarks about
his family to the press.
According to Tony's wife (who sometimes posts to the newsgroup, BTW): They
invited Bowie to their wedding but he declined. Tony is unclear as to why
David has not spoken with him and has tried to reach him a number of times.
It was not a bitter break, just a break without a word from David.
o The working title of the album Let's Dance was Vampires Of Human Flesh.
o A very succesful world tour (Serious Moonlight) followed the release of
Let's Dance.
o Stevie Ray was originally supposed to play on the Serious Moonlight tour
but he was replaced with Earl Slick because of a disagreement over money.
He also wanted to open the shows, but that was not the problem.
o Bowie was in a hotel in Osaka, Japan, when an earthquake started. He
hysterically ran down 22 floors. This happened during the Serious
Moonlight tour. David joked that it was EMI's promotion for Shake It.
o Bowie has a world record for being the singer who got the biggest sum of
money for only one performance - He earned one and half million dollars in
1983 for the concert he did at the Regional Park in California, in a
festival.
o Bowie: [NOT AN EXACT QUOTE]: 'I was a cult artist, never really in the
mainstream ... having said that, it was a very [big] cult ... these songs
show I can make good pop songs'.
(in an interview, around the Let's Dance release)
o In '84 he released Tonight. The album includes a duet with Tina Turner
(Tonight).
o The first version of Tonight (on Iggy's album) included the lines:
'I saw my baby, she was turning blue
I knew that soon, her young life was through
And so I got down on my knees, down by her bed
And these are the words, to her I said'
When Bowie sang the song with Tina Turner, he removed these lines.
o One of the advertisement planes for the album Tonight crashed on a house.
o In 1985, Bowie participated in the Live Aid concert. He sang on the finale
Do They Know It's Christmas. He also appeared on the single B-side, in
a song called Feed The World. Both songs were written by Geldoff and Ure.
For the event, he also recorded a cover version of Dancing In The Streets
(written by Ivy Jo Hunter, William Stevenson and Marvin Gaye) with Mick
Jagger.
o Bowie dated the ballet dancer Melissa Harley a couple of years (until
1990). The official break-up reason: Melissa got hurt from stories Angie
told about her married life with Bowie.
o In 1987 he released Never Let Me Down. An album that critics simply HATED.
o He originally wrote Girls (that later on appeared on the album re-release)
for Tina Turner (in 1986).
o A world tour, Glass Spider, followed.
o Because Pepsi sponsored the Glass Spider Tour, Bowie did a commercial for
them. The music of the song Modern Love was used (with altered lyrics).
In the TV commercial, a man (Bowie) is falling asleep in front of his
computer, and the song is playing, then a woman (Tina Turner) appears and
gives him a Pepsi.
o Bowie is known to be an artist of the Shock Art stream. His video for the
single Day In Day Out showed a whore pissing on Ronald Reagan's portrait.
The video was censored.
o In 1987 he refused an offer to play Frank Sinatra in a movie.
o La La La Human Steps (an artistic dance group) appeared with Bowie twice
in 1988. They included Bowie's song Look Back In Anger in these
performances.
o In 1989 Bowie formed Tin Machine with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and Hunt and
Tony Sales.
That was a big surprise because Bowie announced many times in the past
he would never form a band because 'One man cannot break up'.
o His 1990 greatest hits tour (Sound & Vision) was a great success.
o Before the tour actually started Bowie announced: 'This will be the last
time ever for the old material'.
Bowie only played a few songs from his old repertoire in the 1995 tour.
Songs that he had never performed in a concert before (Teenage Wildlife,
The Man Who Sold The World are examples).
o Before his 1990 tour he opened a fans' phone line. It was used to vote for
what songs the fans wanted to hear on his tour. The profits of the
organization went to charity.
o Bowie was one of the artists that participated in The Freddie Mercury
Tribute Concert. He sang "Heroes" alone, All The Young Dudes with Mott The
Hoople, and Under Pressure with Annie Lennox. These songs (and the whole
concert) can be found on the bootleg 'Thank You', Freddie.
o In 1992 Tin Machine's second album, Tin Machine II, was released. A more
melodic album than their first one. Critics were diverged in their
opinions.
o Five producers refused to produce Tin Machine II.
o The cover shows four naked male statues. This enraged many American
organizations, that demanded to ban the record. The statues' genitals
were then airbrushed (on the U.S. cover).
o At the same time, a live Tin Machine album was released (Oh Vey, Baby)
o In 1992 Bowie married Somalian supermodel Iman, in Switzerland. Bowie gave
her a 3.5 million dollars worth castle in Ireland as a wedding gift.
o David's got a step-daughter through his marriage to Iman (from her
previous marriage).
o Bowie currently owns houses in Ireland, Africa, Switzerland, London,
New-York, Los-Angeles and the Mastic Islands in the Caribbean.
o In 1993 Bowie resumed his solo career with his album Black Tie, White Noise
(produced by Nile Rodgers), which has a jazzy atmosphere to it. It includes
songs written for his wedding with Iman - The Wedding, The Wedding Song,
and a song dedicated to his half brother who killed himself - Jump They
Say (In some interviews Bowie said that the song was about the metaphysical
need to jump).
One of the artists participating in the album is called Lester Bowie
(who isn't a relative of Bowie). In one interview Bowie made a humourous
remark about the 'reunion' of the 'Bowie brothers' for the first time.
o Mick Ronson and Mike Garson participated in the making of the album.
o Bowie wrote the score for The Buddha Of Suburbia, a TV series based on
Hanif Kureishi's autobiographic book by the same name, published by Faber
and Faber.
Bowie and Kureishi met because Kureishi though of using songs of Bowie's
from the seventies in the TV series, and to use instrumentals such as those
on Low as a soundtrack. Instead, Bowie offered to write new material
inspired by the seventies.
It is very probable that one of the main characters (the rock star wannabe)
is based on David Bowie. It's also probable that he's a Bowie wannabe. In
one scene, he says that he knows his own music is nothing special and says
'I know I'm no Bowie'.
o Rumour: Iman is now carrying Bowie's 2nd child.
o In 1995 Bowie held a painting exhibition in Kate Chertavian Gallery, a
retrospective of his last twenty years of painting. The exhibition included
painting, sculpture and various installations, including a number of recent
works made in collaboration with South African artists. Bowie also
presented a new line of wallpaper manufactured by Laura Ashley. One of the
details in the wallpaper is a minotaur whose genitals were censored by the
Laura Ashley company.
o In 1995, Bowie was sued by the American photographer Dona Ann McAdams.
Bowie did a computer-generated print of performance artist Ron Athey,
that appeared in the January 1995 of Q Magazine. The print was based on
a photograph by McAdams that accompanied a review of Athey's performance
appearing in The New York Times, 1994. McAdams was granted exclusive
photographic access to the performance. Bowie used the print base on the
McAdams' photograph in connection with his fiction/non-fiction story.
McAdams did not participate in or approve of Bowie's print.
They've reached an agreement on May, 1995.
Under the settlement Bowie publicly acknowledged McAdams' photograph as the
source on which the computer-generated print was based.
o 1995. Bowie releases his concept album Outside, co-written and produced
by old friend-collaborator Brian Eno.
o Bowie invited Brain Eno to his wedding with Iman, in 1992. They talked,
and discovered they're working on similar projects. That's how the album
started.
o Many musicians who've worked with him in the past are participating: Mike
Garson, the pianist (Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs), Carlos Alomar, the
guitarist (Station To Station through Scary Monsters), Reeves Gabrels, the
guitarist (Tin Machine), Sterling Campbell, the drummer (Black Tie White
Noise) - now works with Soul Asylum, and Erdal Kizilcay,
multi-instrumentalist (Never Let Me Down, Glass Spider Tour, Buddha Of
Suburbia). (Side note: Yossi Fine, the bass player, is an Israeli).
Bowie: '...It was important to choose those who were not weighed down with
musical cliche, who had terrific control over their abilities yet were a
bit loony'.
o The music is influenced by modern styles and combines elements from his own
previous albums: funk, rock, disco, ambient, techno, jungle and jazz.
o Bowie also used the computer equivalent of William Burroughs' cut-up
technique, when writing the lyrics.
o The album is based on a short story written by Bowie himself, titled The
Diary of Nathan Adler. It lasts from 1977 to the last day of the 20th
century. The subtitle on the cover is The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper
Cycle. Inside the slick digi-pak, the subtitle reads The Diary Of Nathan
Adler Or The Art-Ritual Murder Of Baby Grace Blue. A Non-Linear Gothic
Drama Hyper-Cycle.
Q-magazine had wanted Bowie to write what he was doing the last few days
but instead he wrote the story.
The story is about Nathan Adler's investigation of the Art-murder of the
14-year old Baby Grace Blue. Part of the story is based on the S&M
performance artist Ron Athey with AIDS who pierces and ritually mutilates
himself and others onstage, then hangs the bloody pieces of cloth above the
heads of the audience. He is still performing that show in Manhattan.
Most of the references from the parts in the story set in '94 and before
are true. He also refers to his current partner-in-art-crime Damien
Hirst's work as well.
This is a multi-viewpoint plot. In the album itself, each song is sung by
one of the seven characters (performed by Bowie).
o In the booklet that comes with the album you can see pictures of the
characters. They're all Bowie pictures altered with computers. Each picture
has the name of the character written on it.
o Bowie: 'Outside is about what it is to be an outsider, not only where and
how outsiders live, but how the fact of being an outsider makes them feel.
As befits the multiphrenic nature of outsider art and emotions'.
'Having decorated the Mountain room with crazed color pieces of fabric
brought from London by Brian, I equipped it with paints, charcoal scissors,
paper and canvas to give us something to fly away on when not playing. I
also brought in my computer complete with new program developed by an
aquaintance that had the ability to randomize my writing line by line,
three-word block by three-word block, and deliver up totally different
composites of image and description from that which I had programmed in. A
sort of electronic Bill Burroughs cut-ups machine. It did in seconds what
since 1973 I had been doing with scissors and glue.
The first major session was on the 12th of March 1994. Brian set up his
various gizmos, rhythm machines, toy pianos, clocks, samplers, radio etc.
and gave each musician a flash card. On it he had written a brief
character description. "You're the latest remaining survivor of a
catastrophic event and you will endeavor to play in such a way as to
prevent feelings of loneliness developing within yourself"; Or "You are a
disgruntled ex-member of a South-African rock band. Play the notes they
won't allow". I've made these up but you get the idea. Our musicians were
then enjoined to play within the parameters of those roles as was humanly
possible.
My card informed me that I was a soothsayer and town-crier, bringing
stories and news to a society where information networks had broken down.
We started playing around twelve noon and didn't stop for three hours, new
ideas and new rhythms being thrown in every few minutes by Brian or another
of the band. I had a table in front of me covered with regular lyrics and
randomized pieces from which I would improve either in song or in dialogue
both as narrator and character.
Out of this first day came the bedrock of what was to be Adler's diaries.
Nathan Adler, Ramona A. Stone and Algeria came almost fully formed from
these sessions, the other characters developing over the next few days. To
me it was a revelation that I could slip back into musical character after
not working in that framework since 1976's Thin White Duke, let alone
fragment into six or seven personae. The strange location, New Oxford Town,
also hinted strongly at the disorganized psychic rubble that was Diamond
Dogs'.
o Here are two examples of what was written on the cards Eno gave the
players. He gave such characters to 8 people, including the engineer and
the assistant engineer.
For David Bowie:
'You are a member of an early 21st Century "Art and Language" band. You
make incantations, permutations of something between speech and singing.
The langauge you use is mysterious and rich - and you use a melange of
several languages, since anyway most of your audience now speak a patois
that effortlessly blends English, Spanish, Chinese and Wolog.
Using on-stage computers, instant sampling techniques and long delay echo
systems, you are able to build up dense clouds of coloured words during
performance. Your audience regards you as the greatest exponent of live
abstract poetry.
Samuel Beckett is a big influence'.
For Reeves Gabrel:
'It's 2008. You are a musician in one of the new "Neo-Science" bands,
playing in an underground club in the Afro-Chinese ghetto in Osaka, not far
from the University. The whole audience is high on "Dreamwater," an
auditory hallucinogen so powerful that it can be transmitted by sweat
condensation alone. You are also feeling its effects, finding yourself
fascinated by intricate single-note rhythm patterns, shard-like Rosetta
Stone sonic hieroglyphs. You are in no particular key - making random
bursts of data which you beam into the performance. You are lost in the
abstracted rational beauty of a system no one understands. You are a great
artist and the audience is expecting something intellectually challenging
from you.
As a kid, your favourite record (in your Dad's record collection) was
Trout Mask Replica'.
o In the early eighties there was a TV show Fame.
In the very end of one episode someone performed a cover of Fame. At the
very next episode co-stared Milton Berle as a famous director, called
Nathan Adler.
o Outside was chosen to be the 7th best album of 1995, according to a readers
survey in mid October, by Rolling Stone.
o Bowie appeared two times on AOL. The first, prior to the release of
Outside (with someone claiming he's Harry Maslin, the producer of Station
To Station). The second, after the release of Outside. He also appeared
once on Prodigy. Furthermore, he said that he and his band often check out
the alt.fan.david-bowie newsgroup.
o Mountain View (Silicon Graphics) hosted David Bowie, who seemed very
interested in their computers.
o Bowie's web page was created with the help of a Silicon Graphics employee.
o Bowie, in a Bowie/Eno interview in Musician magazine said: 'We stretched it
to 75 [minutes]. But it was edited down, you're not going to believe this,
from something like 22 hours of material. Not finished, necessarily. But
something like 22 hours that we accomplished during the three weeks that
Brian and I and the musicians worked. It was, I think, one of the most
incredible experiences of my life in the studio'.
o Outside was released in many versions:
Jewel case with see-through tray; plastic jewel; cardboard case
(with different artwork); Japanese version (with extra track Get Real).
o On the June 1995 issue of Vogue, There's a fashion spread of Bowie and
Iman together.
o A young man (don't know his name) went around asking superstars to pose
with a wooden sign that says 'LOVE' in red letters. He has made a book of
these pictures called Love. The book includes a picture of Bowie and Iman.
o Nine Inch Nails appeared with Bowie as 'very special guests' on the
Outside American tour. Bowie played his new material, a few numbers
from his earlier work, plus some songs by Nine Inch Nails.
Other band members included guitarist Reeves Gabrels, guitarist Carlos
Alomar and pianist Mike Garson.
o Different signs have been hung above the stage in each show of the
Outside tour. They included: Free Vulva, Strange Hand Music: Listen to the
Limbs!, Street Vulcan, Ouvre Le Chein, Open The Dog, Shake Meat Dies Away,
and Street Vulva Match Me.
o David Bowie has invited a host of top celebrities to a warehouse in a
seedy area of hollywood to celebrate the end of his North American tour,
including: Bon Jovi, Keanu Reeves, Seal, Rod Stewart and Brad Pitt.
o Adam Curry's Sleaze on the WWW reports that at least 1,000 fans 'stormed'
out of Wembley after Bowie refused to play any of his classic hits in his
Outside tour. One spectator was quoted as saying she got tired of waiting
for Changes and so on and was never so bored at a Bowie show.
o Morrissey appeared with Bowie on the Outside European tour.
o In an interview for the January '96 issue of Guitar Bowie hints he may
be working with guitarist Jeff Beck in the future. He says that they talked
about doing a project together.
o Bowie had said he would no longer appear in films: '...I don't enjoy the
process. Unless you're the director, it's extremely boring and I'm not a
born actor in terms of film'.
He recently contradicted himself in a German interview he gave to the
Berlin magazine Tip.
o Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in January, 1996.
He didn't attend the event because he was touring.
Bowie has been a vocal critic of the Hall of Fame, saying music should
not be treated like the Olympics. He told Reuters in Los Angeles:
'I think it's very nice, I don't give it much thought actually'.
He told MTV: 'I don't really think I feel anything much. I just am very
anti-institution, of any nature. I don't know ... Frankly, I don't really
know what it means'.
o At the induction, Marianne Faithful performed Rebel Rebel.
o Bowie wrote the music for a Kodak commercial.
2.2 Facts of no known dates
o Bowie managed to get over his flight fright. He suggested that everyone
that has fright fright should enter the cockpit before takeoff and
before landing.
o Bowie is known for his weakness in remembering names. In one of his press
conferences he made mistakes mentioning the songs Panic in Detroit, Space
Oddity and Queen Bitch.
o According to rumours, Bowie was seen at 3am at a police station in London
with Pete Townsend and John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). The three were
totally drunk and they said they wanted to arrest the policemen.
o Bowie refused the offer of the Homosexual Liberation Movement to write
their hymn.
o A maniac sent Bowie a dummy bomb, with a note saying he wants to become
a member of Bowie's band.
o Bowie was offered to appear as Peter Pan In the Royal Shakespeare Company
and he turned it down - too much work pressure.
o Bowie described himself as a chameleon, and indeed he appeared as Ziggy
Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke, A one eyed pirate (in Rebel
Rebel), A clown, and many other roles.
Some of the bootlegs of Bowie are called The Chameleon Chronicles.
Critics refer to him many times as 'The Chameleon Of Pop'.
o Bowie refused to give an interview to a U.S.A TV network through satellite
when he found out that the interview would be cut to show people from
Spain mourning the death of Franco (the dictator).
o David was supposed to appear on The Muppet Show, but he didn't eventaully.
o Bowie once described himself as a Xerox Machine.
2.3 Misc., gossip, what other people have to say about the man
o David's Height: 5' 10"
o David played in many movies:
The Man Who Fell To Earth, Labyrinth, Absolute Beginners, Twin Peaks: Fire
Walk With Me, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Hunger, Into The Night
(with Michelle Pfeiffer), Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (considered by most
people to be Bowie's best film), The Linguini Incident!, Just A Gigolo
(with Marlene Dietrich), and in Yellowbeard (with appearances of the
Pythons Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle).
He played in The Elephant Man in the theatre.
He played in Baal, a musical that was recorded in a studio by the BBC.
The songs from the play were released on an album more orchestrated than
the version actually in the play, which were just sung by Bowie
accompanying himself with a banjo-type instrument.
o In Bowie's videos Boys Keep Swinging, China Girl, and Fame '90 he smears
his lipstick. The smearing of lipstick is done by drag acts at the end of
a performance. Bowie saw a few of these while in Berlin when he was mixing
with the Transvestites. He mentioned the source of this once in an
interview about the time of Boys Keep Swinging.
o The song Bowie likes the most from his large repertoire is "Heroes". He
recorded the song in many versions - English, French, German, and live.
o Bowie claims he goes to sleep at 22:30 and gets up at 6:30.
o Bowie draws, paints, sculpts, and writes in his spare time. He also does
computer generated pictures, by feeding charcoal drawings through them.
o He has a collection of rare german wood cuttings.
o Paulina Poritzkova (a famous supermodel and an actress) defined the
perfect man as a combination of Mr. Spock (from Star-Trek), David Bowie,
Jesus, and Chopin.
o Bowie was once chosen to be the worst dressed woman in America.
o Bowie sometimes disguised himself using a hat, dark glasses and a fake
moustache when he went out.
o His ex-wife, Angie wrote a book on their life together called Free
Spirit. She also wrote Backstage Passes, which Bowie claims is just
Free Spirit with the addition of the Dave-slept-with-Mick-Jagger story.
o Many artist have recorded cover-versions for his songs:
([] - released as)
1984 Tina Turner
After All Human Drama
Aladdin Sane EBN (Homicidal Schizophrenic), [A Lad Insane]
All The Young Dudes Angel
Adam Bomb
Bruce Dickinson
Casino Steel/Carlene Carter/Claudia Scott/John Payne
Chanter Sisters
Ian Hunter
Mott The Hoople
Mott The Hoople (live)
Skids
The Damned
Andy Warhol Dana Gillespie
Hitchcock's Scream
Zzzang Tumb
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots (live)
Ashes To Ashes Happy Rhodes
Tears For Fears
Backed A Loser Dana Gillespie
Black Country Rock T. Tex Edwards and the Swingin' Cornflake Killers
Boys Keep Swinging Associates
Susanna Hoffs
The Gay Sportscasters
Shihad
Candidate Dramarama
Can't Help Thinking About Me The Great Imposters
Davy Jones' Mannish Ideals
Purple Hearts
Cat People (Putting Out Fire) Tina Turner
Cracked Actor Duff McKagan
Diamond Dogs Dramarama
Duran Duran
Blind Willie's Johnson
Do Anything You Say The Great Imposters
Drive-in Saturday The Diamonds
Everything Is You Beatstalkers
Fame Duran Duran
Feelies
George Michael (live)
Infectious Grooves
Love and Money
Vanilla Ice
FuckEmos
Fascination Fat Larry's Band
Five Years Fish
The Outcasts
Funky Music (Fascination) Luther Vandross
Funtime Bebe Buell
Funtime Peter Murphy
R.E.M.
Boy George
The Cars
Girls Tina Turner
Golden Years Loose Ends
Amberjack Rice, Walter Traggert & Breakfastime
Growing Up And I'm Fine Mick Ronson
Gunman Adrian Belew
Hang On To Yourself Arnold Corns (Bowie)
Contraband
The Pocket FishRMen
Heroes Big Ben Tribe
Blondie (live with R.Fripp)
Nico (live)
Nico
Strange Boutique
The County Lines
Billy Preston
Big Drag
Hey Ma Get Papa Mick Ronson
Holy Holy Shadow Project
I Am A Laser Ava Cherry and the Astronettes
I Am Divine Ava Cherry and the Astronettes
I Dig Everything The Great Imposters [I Dig Anything]
I'm Not Losing Sleep The Great Imposters
In The Heat of the Morning Dan Tillberg [Innan morgonen nalkas]
Jean Genie The Diamonds
The Psycho Timebombs
Van Halen
John I'm Only Dancing Polecats
The Chameleons
The Hormones
Lady Grinning Soul Ulf Lundell [Elden]
Laughing Gnome Ronnie Hilton
Let's Dance Kex
Les Dantz & His Orchestra [Louie Louie]
Let's Dance Tina Turner
Let Me Sleep Beside You Siren Song
Life On Mars? Annifrid Lyngstad [Liv pa Mars?]
Barbra Streisand
London Symphony Orchestra
Manhattan Transfer
The Diamonds
The King Singers
Wall Street Crash
Love Always Dee Dee
Lust For Life Bad Livers
Madman Blue For Two
Cuddly Toys
Man Who Sold The World Dinosaur Junior
Here and Now
Lulu
Midge Ure
Nirvana
Nirvana ("electric" version)
Richard Barone
Moonage Daydream Arnold Corns (Bowie)
10,000 Maniacs
Racer X
Sass Jordan
Music Is Lethal (Eng. Lyrics) Mick Ronson
Nightclubbing Grace Jones
Human League
Oh! You Pretty Things Peter Noone
Over The Wall We Go Ivor Bird
Oscar
Panic In Detroit Christian Death
Shadow Project
The Psyclones
People From Bad Homes Ava Cherry and the Astronettes
Prettiest Star Jonathan Kay
Simon Turner
Pretty Pink Rose Adrian Belew
Queen Bitch Eater
Green River
Se
Quicksand Dinosaur Jr.
Les Zazous
Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola Computers
Rebel Rebel Bay City Rollers
Donna Destri
Double You
Duran Duran
The Great Imposters
Joan Jett
International Chrysis
Legion of Dynamic Diskord
Magnus Uggla
Rick Derringer
Rickie Lee Jones
Shawn Cassidy
The Diamonds
Niels [Punkjavel]
Sigue Sigue Sputnick
DNA [Rebel Woman]
Lyn Tod
Van Halen
Bryan Adams
Slant 6
Lithium X-Mas [Rebel Skeletal]
Repetition Au Pairs
Au Pairs (live version)
Revolutionary Song The Rebels (Bowie)
Right On Mother Peter Noone
Rock 'n Roll Suicide Tina Turner
Saviour Machine Redd Kross
Vice Squad
Secret Life of Arabia Billy Mackenzie
Nina Hagen
She Shook Me Cold Pain Teens
Silly Boy Blue Billy Fury
Silver Tree Top School For Boys | Beatstalkers
Slender Plenty
Some Are Philip Glass
Soul Love Marti Jones
Mick Ronson [Stone Love]
Sound & Vision 808 State
Space Oddity Flying Pickets
Jonathan King
Rudy Grant
Saigon Kick
Vienna Symphonic Orchestra
Speed of Life ST-37
Starman 10,000 Maniacs
Happy Rhodes
Loopside
The Diamonds
Subterraneans Philip Glass
Success Duran Duran
Duran Duran (live version)
Suffragette City Big Audio Dynamite
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Hazel O'Connor
Himuro Kyosuke
Steve Jones
Rose of Victory
Toni Basil
Andy Taylor
L.A. Guns
V.O.A.
Wounded Turkey
Supermen Doctor Mix And The Remix
Micky Faust
TVC15 Comateens
Duran Duran
The Wannabes
Take My Tip Kenny Miller
Things To Do Ava Cherry and the Astronettes
Time Hazel O'Connor
Tonight Tina Turner
Under Pressure Queen (with Bowie)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vanilla Ice [Ice Ice Baby]
Annie Lennox (with Bowie)
Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed | The Bare-Ass Minimums
Wagon Wheel Lou Reed
Warszawa Philip Glass
Watch That Man Lulu
We Are The Dead Duran Duran (unreleased)
What In The World Gary Jones
When I'm Five Beatstalkers
When You Rock and Roll With Me | Donovan
Yassasin Litfiba
Young Americans The Cure
Ziggy Stardust Bauhaus
Exploding Boy
Nina Hagen
Hootie and the Blowfish
and I guess that some others :-)
In addition, several other performers like to include Bowie songs in their
shows. For example, Phish played covers of The Man Who Sold The World and
Life On Mars.
o On many of the old vinyls 'strange' notes are printed. Some examples:
Scary Monsters: A-side: 'I can't think...'; B-side: '..of anything'.
Lodger: 'Nonsense is better than none at all'.
Boys Keep Swinging (single): A-side: 'Your Bicameral Mind'; B-side: 'Mind
Your Bicameral'.
John I'm Only Dancing Again (single): A-side: 'At Last...'; B-side: 'Shape
Of Things...'.
o Bauhaus members are Bowie fans. They covered Ziggy Stardust in the
late seventies. Peter Murphy, the lead singer, often quotes Bowie lyrics.
He's quoted Pretty Things, Lady Stardust and other songs. He used to walk
around school dressed as Ziggy. Side note: The song Bela Lugosi's Dead that
was written by Bauhaus in 1979 was included on the soundtrack of Hunger, in
which Bowie plays the main character.
o Zowie, his son, changed his name to Joe. He hated his old name.
o Zowie (Joe), his son, now goes by Duncan Jones. He's just finished his
doctorate in Philosophy. (graduated from the College of Wooster, in
Wooster, Ohio).
There's a photo of Bowie at his son's graduation. Bowie was with his son
who was wearing his cap. He was looking on while smoking a cigarette. He
said he was quite proud.
o Bowie said that his son is good at math.
o Talking about his son, in an interview, Bowie once said, 'I wanted to know
what he was doing up in his room for so long ... I know what *I* used to do
[laughs]'.
o Bowie's fortune is estimated in 20 million dollars.
o There's a band called Panic in Detroit that performs Bowie's material
from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters. Each Panic in Detroit show focuses
on a different Bowie era.
o Yes, David still smokes.
o David DID NOT try to imitate Iggy Pop, never (as opposed to what many
people think).
o Someone posted something that he heard somewhere that Bowie met Jim
Morrison around '70-'71 someplace, and that Mick Jagger introduced them.
There were some responses, all saying they haven't heard about it, they
are not sure, but it doesn't sound right.
o David Gahan, Depeche Mode's lead singer is known to be a Bowie fan. When
the other group members tested him in the very beginning, he sang "Heroes".
o Trent Reznor is a big fan of Scary Monsters.
o 'I wish David Bowie was killed by a car accident right after he finished
making Low' - Morrissey.
o In a radio show (XFM radio station), Robert Smith (The Cure lead singer)
and Bowie interviewed each other. Robert said that he listens to The
Buddha Of Suburbia.
o There's a reference to Bowie's song Life On Mars? (from Hunky Dory) in
Bush's song Everything Zen: 'Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow, Dave's on
sale again'.
o Madonna said that Bowie was the man who most inspired her with his
superstar blend of androgyny and perversity. She also said he was the man
who made her what she is today. She called him 'a beautiful androgynous
man'.
o Oasis refused to be the warm-up band for Bowie's Outside tour.
o Bowie, as a christmas present for his friends made a CD, titled All Saints.
Only about 1,000 copies were made.
o Bowie is not a U.S. citizen.
2.4 Bowie quotes
o 'I'd done a lot of pills ever since I was a kid. Thirteen or fourteen...
But the first time I got stoned on grass was with John Paul Jones of Led
Zeppelin many, many years ago...I had done cocaine before but never grass'
(1972).
o 'I never wanted to be a Rock 'n Roll star' (1974, quote from the film
'Cracked Actor')
He indeed, initially, didn't want to become a rock star. He wanted to be an
artist, and he was in art school for that reason.
o 'My brother Terry's in an asylum right now. I'd like to believe that the
insanity is because our family is all genius, but I'm afraid that's not
true. Some of them - a good many - are just nobodies. I'm quite fond of the
insanity actually. It's a nice thing to throw out at parties, don't you
think? Everybody find empathy in a nutty family. Everybody says, "Oh, yes,
my family is quite mad". Mine really is. No fucking about, boy. Most of
them are nutty-in, just out of or going into an institution. Or dead'
(1976).
o 'Yeah, I'm not into love songs, I wouldn't write one' (1984, in a Rolling
Stone interview).
o 'This is the first chance I've had to play much of the later '70's
material I did with Eno, including the Scary Monsters tracks' (1987,
Entertainment Tonight, Bowie in Giant's Stadium).
This is weird. He had the chances in his 1978 and 1983 tours.
o 'The performer is simply a product of the public's imagination. We're just
a reflection of what the people want'.
o In response to the question 'Do you think there are any movies that have
really captured rock 'n roll on film?' on a Rolling Stone interview, 1986:
'I think probably Sid & Nancy, in a strangely macabre way. I thought the
characterizations of some of the people around Sid were awful. I though
Iggy was ridiculous. It was incredible. The guy was like Neil Diamond or
something. And Johnny Rotten was terrible. But Gary Oldman was good as Sid.
I only met Sid twice, I think'
o Snippets from the Prodigy(R) Interactive Personal Service session with
Bowie, 1995.
The transcript is available at Kenter's pages, see section 5.3 for details.
'I wouldn't give up any one aspect of what I do. One isn't more important
than the others, I find them all reciprocating mediums, they give and get
from each other in very different ways. I've always sort of sketched,
especially in and around any period when I was working on an album. It's
just that it's intensified to the point where during the last recording I
literally took stuff into the studio; we had canvasses and sketchboards
and charcoal all over the place. It's a great process for thinking'.
'I've been doing computer prints for the past two years. It's not as spacey
and cosmic as a lot of computer art tends to look, I keep it very organic.
It resembles more multi-media collage work than anything else, I guess.
There are a lot of wonderful young painters in England now, and I did a
20,000 word interview with the painter Balthus for Modern Painters
magazine and the Sunday Telegraph in England. We became firm friends, and
he's lovely, absolutely delightful'.
'I wouldn't think of trying to present any of my new songs theatrically
until we put it in a context that makes sense, and they'd be augmented with
things I've never allowed myself to play onstage, like Teenage Wildlife,
which I've always wanted to do. We're putting lists of songs together now,
but I won't do any of the songs I did on the Sound & Vision tour which
really make up the crop if what's called the hit things. You can hear those
on the album, not live'
'My career was more about style, I think. I had a particular style, but I
was never very aware that my style was necessarily anybody else's,
especially in America, because it seemed fairly foreign to the American
sensibility, the way I tried to do things. It was kind of Eurocentric, to
say the least'.
'I like Tricky, I like PJ Harvey a lot, I think she's fabulous. The best
album that came out this year in terms of being an adventurous album was
Scott Walker's Tilt which of course died after about a week. It was bought
by three people, me being one of them, and was absolutely an extraordinary
piece of work. I do keep up with all the new music, and it's very easy to
do because so much of it is muck'.
'I certainly think I made some of my best records with Brian Eno, who has
just produced my new one. Low, "Heroes" and Lodger, those three are almost
bookends with Scary Monsters, which I also think is a great album'.
Talking about Kurt Cobain:
'I didn't meet him, but I was flattered that he liked my stuff. I hadn't
been aware that there had been much of an influence of my particular music
on the newer generation of bands. When it became apparent, like Trent
Reznor talking about the Low album and the Smashing Pumpkins saying
something or other, it started to dawn on me that the cycle had come
around'.
And also:
'I was flattered that he liked my work; I don't think I can add anything to
the wealth of material that's been written about all that. I like Courtney
Love very much, I thought she was a very nice girl'.
'I have been doing quite a bit of journalism these days, for the Sunday
Telegraph in England and for Modern Painters magazine. I did a piece on the
Johannesburg Biennale and a long interview with the painter Balthus'.
'I've always had the best collaborations with people who are almost at the
opposite end of the spectrum to me. Brian Eno, for example, he takes pieces
of low art and elevates them to high art, and I do exactly the opposite, I
take pieces of high art and demean them to low vulgarity, which is why we
work so well together. Carlos Alomar, also, for example. We're very
different people, but working with him I find is a wonderful experience
because he comes from the letter Z, and I come from A, and we meet
somewhere in the middle of the alphabet'.
'The most recent book I read was the biography of an obscure English
painter named Christopher Wood. It wouldn't mean anything to anybody else,
probably'.
Talking about his best songs/albums:
'I can't remember individual tracks, it all becomes a blur, but I Am A
DJ ... the Lodger album, the Scary Monsters album, and Low and "Heroes",
which I did with Brian Eno'.
o Bowie defined himself (relating to his work as a painter):
'a populist of mediocre art', and a 'post-modern Buddhist surfing on the
chaos of a dying 20th century'.
o About his material from the Outside sessions:
'Some of it I'd like to put out as a companion piece to Outside, a sort
of archival, limited-edition album. I really want to get back in the studio
and start recording again. As much as I dearly love this new album, my
attention span...it's like I've done it. Once I've done it, I don't care to
sit around for hour after hour listening to the end result. It's like, I've
heard it a couple of times, yes I get it, very good, let's go onto
something else now. There's all kind of other novel ideas I've had that I'd
like to indulge in. I wouldn't mind producing someone else for a change. I
haven't done that in a long time'.
o About his plans for the next years:
'Our over-riding ambition is to keep working. I'm not sure whether it'll be
an annual event, but during the course of the next five years, up until
1999, we want to make a cycle of records which use Adler and his world as
a framework for really writing a musical diary of the last five years of
the '90's and indeed of this millenium. It's quite an adventurous thing to
do. I don't think anyone's done it in music before'.
o About his planes for theatrical production of his Adler albums:
'...The basic idea is that once you have four or five albums you will sort
of be able to map your own way through and invent a story of your own.
There are complications and plenty of ifs and alternative ways of thinking
about it. I want it to be eight hours long and for everybody to bring their
sandwiches'.
o Snippets from the AOL first interview, 1995. The whole interview can be
found on Kenter's pages. See section 5.3 for details.
About the BowieEno CD-ROM:
'It's particularly complex as it's extremely revolutionary hopefully in its
inception and has all the inherent problems that pertain to this kind
of creative situation'.
'The BowieEno CD-ROM contains music specifically written for this medium'.
'Videos long ago ceased to hold any interest at all for me. CD-ROMs at the
moment in the main seem to be little more than catalogue devices and have
quickly become boring. The potential is huge, but inventive manipulation is
absolutely essential if it is not to become the quad of the end of the
millennium'.
'I'm trying to build a stronger interrelationship between music, theatre,
the plastic arts like painting and stuff, and CD-ROMs themselves. It's a
bit like spinning plates with food on them!'
'I've decided that this is the only way to do
interviews/correspondence. I shall now only be available on this medium'.
About the spiritual side of his music:
'...A very early example, I suppose, is Space Oddity. A more obvious
example would be Word On A Wing, ... More recently, the underlying thread
of Black Tie White Noise tried to unify a sort of passion and the spiritual
font from which it flowed: the wedding thing. I find in my very present
work a more anxious cloud is appearing on the horizon. Golly!'.
About his collaborations:
'It's always something that I've found to be one of the most fulfilling
situations to be in. There's nothing more exciting than bouncing ideas off
the head that contains half a mind. As long as one's self has the other
half, a good idea can often unite said brain'.
'He and Beck in fact are two of the more interesting artists
working at the moment'.
###
Subject: DISCOGRAPHY: 12"
From: k21721@kyyppari.hkkk.fi (Jarkko Orjatsalo)
Date: 14 Jul 1996 13:02:50 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
David Bowie Discography. 12". July 1996
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE (in alphabetical order)
Song list
Catal.numb. company,country release date
(?) denotes a missing variable
all records below a songlist contain same songs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
VS 838-12 DJ Virgin UK 1986 Promo
(full lenght version) // (dub mix)
602205-213 Virgin Germany Mar 1986
VS 838-12 Virgin UK Mar 1986
VSG 838-12 Virgin UK 1986 G/F
MXSVIRG 18014 Virgin Yugoslavia 1986
ALABAMA SONG
Alabama Song / Space Oddity / Amsterdam
PC 9854 RCA Germany Jul 1982
ASHES TO ASHES
Ashes to Ashes // Alabama Song
PC 9631 RCA Germany 1980
BABY UNIVERSAL
Baby Universal / A Big Hurt (live BBC) / Baby Universal (live BBC)
LONX 310 London UK Oct 1991 with print
BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE
(Dangers trance mix) / (extended remix) / (DaJazz mix) / (club mix) /
(dub mix) / (trance mix)
Black 1 UK 1993 Promo
(supa pump mix) / (Digi Flunky's lush mix) / (trance mix) / (extended
urban remix)
US 1993 Promo
(extended remix) / (trance mix) / (album version) // (club mix) / (extended
urban remix)
74321 14868 1 Savage Holland Jun 1993
BLUE JEAN
(ext. dance mix) // Dancing With the Big Boys (ext. dance mix) / Dancing
With the Big Boys (ext. dub mix)
2003336 EMI Germany Sep 1984
12 EA 181 EMI UK Sep 1984
CAT PEOPLE
Cat People // Cat People
L33-1759 Backstreet US 1982 Promo
Cat People // Paul's Theme
??? Backstreet Germany 1982
MCAT 770 Backstreet UK Apr 1982
MCAT 770 Backstreet UK Nov 1982
CHINA GIRL
China Girl // Shake It (remix)
186689 EMI Holland May 1983
12 EA 157 EMI UK May 1983
DANCING IN THE STREET
(Bowie with Mick Jagger)
SPRO 9476 EMI US 1985 Promo
(Steve Thompson mix) // (dub version) / (edit)
2007886 EMI Holland Aug 1985
12 EA 204 EMI UK Aug 1985
DAVID BOWIE MEGAMIX (?)
DMC 8811 ??? 19??
DAY-IN DAY-OUT
951036 EMI Brazil 1987 Promo
(single version) // (single version)
SPRO 9985 EMI US 1987 Promo
(ext. dance mix) // (ext. dub mix) / Julie
2017156 EMI Holland Mar 1987
12 EA 230 EMI UK Mar 1987
V 19234 EMI US Mar 1987
(remix) // (ext. dub mix) / Julie
2018156 EMI Germany Apr 1987
12 EAX 230 EMI UK Apr 1987 Black sleeve w/sticker
DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS
(remixed by Trevor Horn) // (standard mix) / Feed the World
(Bowie only on Feed the World)
880 502-1 Mercury Holland 1984
FAME 90
??? EMI Spain 1990 Promo
12 FAME DJ 90 EMI UK 1990 Promo
12 FAMES 90 EMI UK 1990 Ltd.Ed.
(house mix) / (hip hop mix) / Queen Latifah's rap version) / (bonus beats
instrumental) / (Acapulco rap)
SPRO 4547 EMI US 1990 Promo
(house mix) // (hip hop mix) / (Gass mix)
2038056 EMI Holland Mar 1990
12 FAME 90 EMI UK Mar 1990
12 FAME 90 EMI UK Apr 1990 Black sl.w/sticker
12 FAME D 90 A EMI UK 1990 Promo
(with Queen Latifah) / (house mix) / (Gass mix) // (hip hop mix) /
(absolutely nothing premeditated/epic mix)
V-56163 US 1990
FASHION
(single version) // (album version)
JD 12140 US 1980 Promo
Fashion // Scream Like a Baby
BOW T 7 RCA UK Oct 1980
HEAVEN'S IN HERE
(lp version) // (edited version)
SPRO 4374 EMI US 1989 Promo
HEROES
??? RCA Australia 19??
??? RCA Spain 19?? 10"
PC 1121 RCA Spain 1977
(german) // (french)
PC 9821 RCA Germany 1977
JOHN I'M ONLY DANCING
(again) (1975) // (1972)
BOW 12-4 RCA UK Dec 1979 Ltd.Ed. 50.000
(again) (1975) // Golden Years
PD 11886 RCA US Dec 1979
JUMP THEY SAY
(Brothers in Rhythm mix) // (Brothers in Rhythm instrumental)
B.I.R 1 Savage UK Mar 1993 Promo
(Leftfield 12" vocal) / (instrumental) // (hard hands mix) / (dub oddity
mix)
LEFT 1 Savage UK Mar 1993 Promo
(club hart remix) / (JAE-E remix) / (JAE-E dub) // (Leftfield remix) / (dub
oddity mix) / Pallas Athena (don't stop praying mix)
74321 13696 1 BMG Holland Mar 1993
(hard hands mix) / (full album version) // (Leftfield 12" vocal) / (dub
oddity mix)
74321 13932 1 BMG UK Mar 1993
(dub oddity mix) / (club hart remix) / (JAE-E dub) / (remix)
SADJ 50039 US 1993 Promo
LET'S DANCE
Let's Dance (long version)
SPRO 9904 EMI US Promo 1983
Let's Dance // Cat People
86660 EMI Germany Mar 1983
12 EA 152 EMI UK Mar 1983
7805 EMI US Mar 1983
LONDON BOYS
London Boys / Love You till Tuesday // The Laughing Gnome / Maid of Bond
Street
TOF 105 Castle UK Aug 1986 Ltd.Ed 7.500
LOVING THE ALIEN
(extended dance mix) // Don't Look Down (extended dance mix) / Loving the
Alien (extended dub mix)
12 EA 195 EMI UK May 1985 G/F with poster
12 EA 195 EMI UK May 1985 G/F
12 EAP 195 EMI UK Jun 1985 Pic disc
MAGIC DANCE
ED 224 Australia 1987
Canada
(dance mix) // (dub mix) / Within You
V-19217 US Jan 1987
MAGGIE'S FARM
see "TIN MACHINE"
MAJOR TOM 1969-1980
Space Oddity / Ashes to Ashes
PASH 2989 Israel 198? Ltd.Ed.250 Promo
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Man in the Middle // Looking For a Friend / Hang Onto Yourself
(Arnold Corns versions)
PAST 2 KrazyKat Norway May 1985
MIRACLE GOODNIGHT
4 trk
MG 1 BMG UK 1993 Promo
(blunted 2) / (make believe mix) // (12" 2 chord philly mix) /
(dance dub)
74321 16226 1 BMG UK Oct 1993
MODERN LOVE
Modern Love // Modern Love (live)
12 EA 158 EMI UK Sep 1983 some with poster
NEVER LET ME DOWN
9951052 EMI Brazil 1987 Promo
(album version) // (album version)
SPRO 79090 EMI US 1987 Promo
(ext. dance mix) // '87 and Cry (edit) / Never Let Me Down (dub) / Never
Let Me Down (acapella)
2020306 EMI Holland Aug 1987
12 EA 239 EMI UK Aug 1987
PALLAS ATHENA
??? US 1993 Promo
PAUL'S THEME (?)
Paul's Theme // Cat People
MCAT 770 MCA UK Jul 1982
PEACE ON EARTH
Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy / Fantastic Voyage
BOW T12 RCA UK Nov 1982
PETER AND THE WOLF
??? RCA US 1978 Promo 1-side
PRESS CONFERENCE (1987) (GLASS SPIDER)
??? ??? 198? Pic disc
PRESS CONFERENCE LA ROXY 1990
??? ??? 1990 Red disc,Ltd.Ed.500
PRETTY PINK ROSE
(lp version) // Heartbeat / Oh Daddy
(Bowie and Adrian Belew on lp version, other tracks Belew alone)
A 7904 T Atlantic May 1990
PRISONER OF LOVE
??? EMI US 1989 Promo
(lp version) / Baby Can Dance (live) / Crack City (live)
12 MT 76 EMI UK Oct 1989
REAL COOL WORLD
(12" club mix) / (cool dub thing #2) // (cool dub thing #1) / (cool dub
overture)
WO 127 T Warner Bros Germany 1992
940575-0 Warner Bros US 1992
SCARY MONSTERS
Scary Monsters // Because You're Young
PC 9657 RCA Germany Jan 1981
SOUND + VISION
(808 giftmix) / (808 'lectric blue remix) // (David Richards remix 1991) /
(original version)
(808 state vs Bowie Remixes)
TB 510 Tommy Boy/RYKO US 1991
SPACE ODDITY
'The Continuing Story of Major Tom':
Space Oddity (original version) / Ashes to Ashes (edited version)
DJL 1-3795 RCA US Aug 1980 Promo
STAR
Star // What in the World / Breaking Glass
DJL 1-3255 RCA US Nov 1978 white disc, promo
THE HEARTS FILTHY LESSON
(alt mix) / (bowie mix) // (rubber mix) / (simple text mix) / (filthy mix)
743213 139012 BMG UK 1995 pic disc
BMG UK 1995
(alt mix)
OUT1 BMG UK 1995 1-side Promo
(simple text mix) / (filthy mix) / (rubber mix)
OUT2 BMG UK 1995 Promo
THIS IS NOT AMERICA
(Bowie with Pat Metheny group)
This Is Not America // (instrumental)
2004826 EMI Germany Jan 1985
12 EA 190 EMI UK Jan 1985
12 EA 190 EMI UK Jan 1985 Black sleeve
TIN MACHINE
Tin Machine // Maggie's Farm (live) / I Can't Read (live)
12 MTP 73 EMI UK Aug 1989 Ltd.Ed. poster sleeve
TIME WILL CRAWL
??? US 1987 Promo
4 trk
V 19247 US 1987
(ext. dance mix) // (lp version) / Girls (ext. edit)
2018836 EMI Holland Jun 1987
12 EA 237 EMI UK Jun 1987
(dance crew mix) // (dub) / Girls (Japanese version)
12 EAX 237 EMI UK Jun 1987 (deleted after 5 days)
TONIGHT
(vocal dance mix) // Tumble and Twirl (ext. dance mix) / Tonight (dub mix)
(Bowie with Tina Turner on 'Tonight', 'Tumble and Twirl' Bowie alone)
2004576 EMI Holland Nov 1984
12 EA 187 EMI UK Nov 1984
SPRO 9295 EMI US 1984 Promo
TOO DIZZY
??? EMI US 19?? Promo
UNDER PRESSURE
Under Pressure // Soul Brother
(Bowie and Queen on 'Under Pressure', 'Soul Brother' Queen alone)
006-64626 Germany Nov? 1981
EMI 5250 EMI UK Oct 1981
47235 ELETRA US Oct 1981
UNDER THE GOD
Under the God // Under the God
SPRO 4282 EMI US 1989 Promo
Under the God / Sacrifice Yourself // The Interview (with Scott Muni)
2034156 EMI Germany Jun 1989
10 MT 68 EMI UK Jun 1989 10"
12 MT 68 EMI UK Jun 1989
UNDERGROUND
??? New Zealand 1986 Green disc
??? New Zealand 1986 Yellow disc
South Africa Promo, Pink disc
(ext. dance mix) // (dub) / (instrumental)
2012886 Holland Jun 1986
12 EA 216 UK Jun 1986
SPRO 9670 US 1986 Promo
UP THE HILL BACKWARDS
Up the Hill Backwards // Chrystal Japan
PD 12249 RCA US 1981 with set of stamps
WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
(ext. mix) // (instrumental)
009066 Virgin France Oct 1986
608613-213 Virgin Germany Oct 1986
VS 906 12 Virgin UK Oct 1986
VSDJ 906 Virgin UK 1986 Promo
WILD IS THE WIND
Wild Is the Wind // Golden Years
BOW T 10 RCA UK Nov 1981
YOU BELONG IN ROCK'N' ROLL
You Belong in Rock'n' Roll // Amlapura
LONX 305 London UK Aug 1991
=========================================================================
Sources (copied without permission):
Sheldon Cooper Ian Davey
A.R. Distefano Theodore Dreger
Sven Gusevik Scott Hannon
Jay Jodie
B.Larson The Machman
Marlene Christian Michelsen
Matthew Muilenburg Eric Morel
Greg O. Philip Obbard
Ian Rogers Eric Salo
Jim Sheppard Matthias Stieglitz
Una Persson Eiichi Yoshimura
"David Bowie
World 7" Records Discography" by Marshall Jarman
"Moonage Daydream" by Dave Thompson
"'Changes' An Illustrated Biography" by Stuart Hoggard
"David Bowie Black Book" by Barry Miles
"David Bowie - An Illustrated Record" by Roy Carr and
Charles Shaar Murray
Record Collector issues 103/116/131/137/153/159/172/185
Goldmine issue 368
------------------------------------------------------------------------
###
Subject: DISCOGRAPHY: 7"
From: k21721@kyyppari.hkkk.fi (Jarkko Orjatsalo)
Date: 14 Jul 1996 13:02:27 GMT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Bowie Discography. 7". July 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE (in alphabetical order)
song list
Catal.numb. company,country release date
(?) denotes a missing variable
all records below a songlist contain same songs
ps stands for picture sleeve
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1984
(mono) // (stereo)
JH 10026 RCA US Jul 1974 Promo
1984 // Queen Bitch
PB 10026 RCA US Jul 1974
1984 // Lady Grinning Soul
SS-2404 RCA Japan Oct 1974 ps
1984 / You Didn't Hear It from Me // Rebel Rebel
BFC-1/2 Fan club US 1974 pic label
1984 // TVC15
PB 3769 RCA Germany 1984 ps
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
??? Virgin New Zealand 1986
??? Virgin Japan 1986 Promo
Absolute Beginners // Absolute Beginners (Dub version)
DM 107937-100 Virgin Germany Mar 1986 ps
VS 838 Virgin UK Mar 1986 ps
VSS 838 Virgin UK Mar 1986 Shaped pic
ALABAMA SONG
Alabama Song // Space Oddity (1979 version)
PB 9510 RCA France Feb 1980 ps
PB 9510 RCA Germany Feb 1980 ps
PB 9510 RCA Holland Feb 1980 ps
PB 9510 RCA Spain 1980 ps
BOW 5 RCA UK Feb 1980 Poster sleeve,
some w/pink vinyl
SRCA 89010 RCA Yugoslavia Feb 1980 ps
ALL THE MADMEN
(mono) // (stereo)
DJ 311 Mercury US Dec 1970 Promo
All the Madmen // Janine
73173 Mercury US Dec 1970
All the Madmen // Soul Love
??? RCA Eastern Europe Jun 1973
ALL THE YOUNG DUDES
All the Young Dudes / Cracked Actor // It's Gonna Be Me
(Live versions 1974)
BOW 1 ??? 19?? ps,white label
ASHES TO ASHES
Ashes to Ashes // Move On
103671 RCA Australia Aug 1980 ps
PB 9575 RCA Belgium Aug 1980 ps
101-4106 RCA Brazil Aug 1980 ps
PB 9575 RCA France Aug 1980 ps
PB 9575 RCA Germany Aug 1980 ps
PB 9575 RCA Holland Aug 1980 ps
PB 9575 RCA Italy Aug 1980 ps
103671 RCA New Zealand Aug 1980
PB 9575 RCA Portugal Aug 1980 ps
42-1001 RCA South Africa Aug 1980
PB 9575 RCA Spain Aug 1980 ps
BOW 6 RCA UK Aug 1980 3 different sleeves,
each Ltd.Ed of 6000, w/ 4 diff.stamps,
some discs dark red.
(mono) // (stereo)
JH 12078 RCA US Aug 1980
Ashes to Ashes // It's No Game
31039 RCA Chile Aug 1980
PB 12078 RCA US Aug 1980 ps
Ashes to Ashes // Fashion
SSD-3011 RCA Japan Aug 1980 Promo, ps
BAAL
Baal's Hymn / Remembering Marie A. // Ballad of the Adventurers / The
Drowned Girl / The Dirty Song
BOW 11 RCA UK Feb 1982 ps, G/F
BABY UNIVERSAL
Baby Universal // You Belong in Rock'n' Roll
LON 310 London UK Oct 1991
BE MY WIFE
(mono) // (stereo)
JH 11017 RCA US Jun 1977 Promo
Be my Wife // Speed of Life
102937 RCA Australia Jun 1977
PB 1017 RCA Belgium Jun 1977 ps
PB 11017 RCA Canada Jun 1977
PB 1017 RCA France Jun 1977 ps
PB 1017 RCA Germany Jun 1977 ps
PB 1017 RCA Holland Jun 1977 ps
SS-3104 RCA Japan Sep 1977 ps
PB 1017 RCA Portugal Jun 1977 ps
PB 1017 RCA Spain Jun 1977 ps
PB 1017 RCA UK Jun 1977
BOW 511 RCA UK Jun 1983 ps
PB 11017 RCA US Jun 1977
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
(mono) // (stereo)
JH 11190 RCA US Jan 1978 Promo
Beauty and the Beast // Sense of Doubt
103071 RCA Australia Jan 1978
PB 1190 RCA Belgium Jan 1978 ps
PB 11190 RCA Canada Jan 1978
PB 1190 RCA France Jan 1978 ps
PB 1190 RCA Germany Jan 1978 ps
PB 1190 RCA Holland Apr 1978
PB 1190 RCA UK Jan 1978 ps
BOW 512 RCA UK Jun 1983
PB 11190 RCA US Jan 1978
BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE
Black Tie White Noise (radio edit) // You've Been Around (Dangers mix)
74321 139432 BMG UK 1993 ps
BMG Germany 1993
BLUE JEAN
EYS 17476 Japan 1984
Blue Jean // Dancing With the Big Boys
2003227 EMI Holland Sep 1984 p