WEBVTT - Chapter Five: Ziggy Stardust (1971-1972) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.239 Off the Record was a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.120 David Bowie was shaking as he paced backstage at the 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:10.360 friars Aylesbury Club. His outfit was partly to blame. He 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.320 arrived wearing nothing but a beige women's jacket over his 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:17.239 otherwise naked torso stylish, yes, but the get up didn't 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.720 provide a lot of warmth. David shyly asked the stage 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.840 crew for a heater, but it was clear to everyone 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.640 that he wasn't just cold. He was uncharacteristically quiet, a 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.920 little shy, no doubt about it. David Bowie was nervous, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.080 and he had good reason. It was September one and 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.440 he was about to play his first full band gig 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.879 in months. The friars Aylesbury was one of the coolest 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.240 venues outside of London, known for his discerning and enthusiastic crowd. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.080 Now it was half full with four hundred punters who 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.280 shelled out fifty pence to see a guy who hadn't 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.920 had a hit in two years. Even worse, David brought 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.640 a new and untested group, Trevor Boulder on base, Woody 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.520 Woodman's on drums, McK ronson on lead, guitar for now. 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.760 They didn't have a name. No one knew it at 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.399 the time, but the Spiders from Mars were making their 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:12.560 concert debut. David took the stage first. His androgynous attire 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.319 and long feminine hair drew gasps from the crowd. They 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.360 place space audity early on in order to, as he says, 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.399 get it over with as quickly as possible. It's a 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.440 bold move to do, is one and only hit right 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.360 off the bat, but the crowd stays with him. The 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.120 atmosphere feels intimate, like a living room. The songs get 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.160 more up tempo, and the momentum begins to build. Bowie 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.959 can feel it. His body floods with relief, joy beaming 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.640 from his face. He packs the rest of the set 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.960 with songs from his recently completed album, Hunky Dorry, Oh 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.920 You Pretty Things, Changes and Queen Bitch. The record isn't 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.920 even out yet, but the crowd eats it up. Bowie's 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.920 nerves are gone. It's working. They close with a breakneck 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.480 cover of the Velvet Undergrounds Waiting for the Man, before 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.840 Bowie strides off stage, arms raised than triumph like a 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:07.760 victorious prize fighter. He's greeted backstage by a handful of fans, 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.560 including sixteen year old Chris Needs, a future rock journalist 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.079 and passionate member of the local Bowie fan club. Bowie 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.280 gives him a warm hello and the two get the talking. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.720 His confidence returned, David makes a declaration that falls somewhere 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.079 between ludicrous boast and statement of fact. I'm gonna be 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.239 a huge rock star, he tells Needs. Next time you 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:33.120 see me, I'll be totally different. Bowie makes good on 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.680 his promise four months later when he returned to the 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:41.320 Friars Aylesbury on January two. Tickets are now sixty pence 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.919 to see Bowie, now amusingly, if not humbly, billed as 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.520 the most beautiful person in the world. The audience has 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.200 doubled since last time, with many kids making the hour 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.000 trek from London. Among them are Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.679 looking for inspiration for their new band Queen. They get 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:03.200 more than they bargained for. The lights dimmed. A proto 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.120 techno version of Ode to Joy from Stanley Kubrick's a 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.799 clockwork orange blares from the p A system. The music 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.680 fills the musty old space building to an ecstatic futuristic 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.600 frenzy of sound and strobe lights. Out of the blinding glare, 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.639 three figures appear. It's Bowie's banned, glammed up in their 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.880 new metallic cat suits modeled after the Gang of Drugs 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.119 from a clockwork orange. They've launched into their opener, Hang 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:32.200 onto yourself, as Bowie himself struts on stage. But is 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.880 it Bowie? Who is? This other worldly vision with spiky 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.680 red hair and unnaturally powered complexion, but diamond patterned onesie 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.600 and red wrestling boots had people at a loss. It 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:45.960 was soon apparent that this wasn't David Bowie at all. 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.920 It was Ziggy Stardust. It was also new, this ambitious 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.920 and audacious blend of costume, choreography and drama, all in 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.680 the context of a rock and roll show. And then, 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.240 of course, there were the songs themselves. Tie was that 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.800 become practically holy scripture to pop fans across the globe 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:08.040 five years Suffragette City and Starman all heard for the 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:12.000 very first time, live and in the flesh. The atmosphere 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.680 was electric as they kicked off their slow burning curtain 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.159 closer another new one called rock and Roll Suicide. You're 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.599 Wonderful give me your hands, Bowie pleaded. At the climactic coda, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.920 the crowd raised their arms in a spontaneous display of solidarity. 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.960 You're not alone, he wailed, and neither was. He Let 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.839 the children boogie, he'd proclaimed, and the children responded in kind. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.840 Backstage was a madhouse as fans swarmed his dressing room. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.720 Some demanded to know where he cut his hair, others 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.640 where he got his clothes. Some just wanted to touch him, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.159 greet him, thank him. One girl was so overcome with 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:51.480 emotion that she punched him. Chris Needs was among the crowd. 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.480 Bowie spotted him right away and waved him over, planting 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.320 a playful kiss on his head. Told you I'd be different, 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:03.119 laughed Bowie. Or was it gigg A star is born? 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:07.040 Proclaimed the local paper the next day. David Bowie wasn't 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.640 one the trade in cliches, but the headline didn't lie. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.159 The effects of that night would ripple outward, touching on 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.080 every aspect of popular culture, not just music, but film, fashion, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.240 social and sexual morays, and the very nature of fame itself. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.000 For many, the friars Aylesbury Show was the night the 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.240 seventies began. Nothing would ever be the same for rock 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.120 and roll again, nothing would ever be the same for 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:38.760 Day of It either. Hello and welcome to Off the Record, 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.159 the show that goes beyond the songs and into the 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.240 hearts and minds of rock's greatest legends. I'm your host, 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.840 Jordan run Todd. This season explores the life, or rather 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:57.039 lives of David Bowie. Today we're gonna discuss the rise 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.719 of Ziggy star Dust. Enough said right, The messianic space 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.160 alien would change David's life and millions of others forever. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.919 So turn it up. This episodes made to be played 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:16.800 at maximum volume. David Bowie might have been English, but 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.960 Ziggy Stardus was born in America. The place had mesmerized 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.880 David as a boy. Now, as an adult, the draw 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.560 was even stronger. In many ways, The US was Bowie's 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:32.839 spiritual home. Gleefully excessive, larger than life, and filled with contradictions. 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.880 You could be whoever you wanted there. It was a 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.240 nation of opportunity, and David was always on the lookout 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.600 for those. He made his first visit to the Promised 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.760 Land in January of one on a pr trip. Now 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.359 in early September, he was going back to inc a 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.400 new record deal with Our c A. The label was 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.800 home to Elvis Presley, with whom David shared a birthday. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.920 David saw himself as heir to the King of Rocks throne. 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:01.800 As soon as the deal was finalized, he called his 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.520 mother Peggy, told her he was about to be bigger 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:10.480 than Elvis. The new deal was the master work of 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:14.320 David's new manager, Tony Defrees, a young but ruthless London 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.960 entertainment clerk. Most people with one of two reactions to 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:22.000 this aggressive but deceptibly soft spoken man. He either feared 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.360 him and liked him, or feared him and didn't like him. 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.720 De Freeze all but worshiped Elvis. Presley's manager, a self 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.080 styled Colonel Tom Parker, the former Carnival Barker, had transformed 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.400 Presley into the biggest act on the planet through a 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.000 mix of audacity, vision and a total lack of scruples. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.160 He had a favorite expression, I want everything bigger than everybody. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.360 The Frieze was hell bent on following in Colonel Tom's 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.560 footsteps by making Bowie the new Elvis and making himself very, 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.040 very rich. De Frize was just as flamboyant as Colonel 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:57.200 Tom pairing huge fur coats with an ever present cigar, 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.760 and he was just a slippery in business. This earned 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.760 De Freeze the not so affectionate nickname Deep Freeze. It 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.360 would take some time before David actually read the fine 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.400 print of the management deal he guilelessly signed with the Freeze, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.520 sowing the seeds of financial chaos that would plague him 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.280 throughout his commercial peak. But for now, David wasn't concerned. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:19.400 The Freeze had showed him a piece of paper. They 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.480 illustrated the fact that he was already a millionaire technically. Sure, 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.760 the hits were hypothetical at this point and the money 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.560 merely conceptual, but the plan was in place. All they 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:34.000 had to do was do it. Since David was already 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.680 a millionaire on paper, the Freeze advised him to start 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.480 acting like it. What is a celebrity really a star 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.040 is simply would others perceive you to be. From now on, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.480 David would travel by limousine. A bodyguard was hired to 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.960 ward off non existent crowds. It was a classic case 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.400 of fake it till you make it. As David would 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.280 later recall, Tony Defreese had this idea that if we 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.760 just told the world that I was super huge and 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.319 entreated me as though I were, then something might happen. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.920 Interviews and press access were strictly limited, not like journals 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.080 were beating down their door anyway. Unauthorized photographers were forbidden. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.920 It was a technique borrowed from the old school Hollywood 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.960 studio system, creating a garbo esque air of mystique distance. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.680 After all breeds demand, David himself put his years of 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.400 celebrity spotting to good use. He adopted a regal persona, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.480 pausing at doors and waiting for others to open them. 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.080 A star can never be bothered with such trivialities. To 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.400 the world at large, he was essentially a nobody, but 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.360 his drummer, Woody Woodman's, they would later say, David would 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:42.680 eat breakfast as a superstar. When he had first gone 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.840 to New York in early n David had stayed in 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.880 the Times Square Holiday Inn, but when he traveled there 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.040 that September to sign his new r c A deal, 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.400 he'd been booked into the Warwick, a plush midtown hotel 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.320 frequented by Elvis and the Beatles. Strolling past the nearby 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.839 Radio City Music Hall, David casually told all on ear 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.240 shot that he'd play there soon. It seemed ridiculous, but 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:11.840 in eighteen months he would. While in New York, David 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.360 visited some new friends, a motley crew of colorful actors, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.680 drag queens, and assorted speed freaks. They had met a 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.400 few weeks earlier when this band of brash New Yorkers 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.160 arrived on the British shores to shock queen and country 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.440 with a controversial play called Pork. It's been described somewhat 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.400 uncharitably as an orgy with already dialogue. The script had 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.720 been written by Andy Warhol, called from over two hours 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.720 of recorded phone conversations with ultra hip factory scensters who 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.679 also made up the cast. The plot, as much as 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.679 it had one, was jam packed with full frontal nudity, masturbation, 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:52.520 homosexuality on stage, douching, and simulated fecal consumption with chocolate pudding. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.160 Something in is the real Thing. Though it earned a 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.760 flattering review in the New York Times, the show proved 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.360 too much for even the downtown scene and closed after 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.559 just two weeks. When the cast arrived in England that August, 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:05.560 the stage of brief run of the production, it was 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:08.520 like a bomb of bad taste that exploded over London. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.960 The pork performers were gleefully provocative, both on stage and off. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.080 As far as they were concerned, even the local drag 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.840 queens were practically nuns to them. The British capital had 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.040 an almighty stick up its rear and was in need 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.880 of a good shake up. One actress flashed her bare 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.400 breasts outside the Queen Mother's residence. What's the big deal? 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.720 She asked. The crowd of Fleet Street reporters who had 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:35.120 gathered the Queen's got him. It seemed only natural that 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.360 such free spirited attention seekers would find their way to David. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.920 In fact, they were some of the only Americans who 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.040 actually knew who he was. They had come across David's 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.760 first major profile and Rolling Stone that spring, the one 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.280 familiar with his music. They were struck by the photos 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.200 of David looking his androgynous best with his long hair 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.560 and Mr Fish dress. So when cast member Lee Black 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.200 Children's came across an ad for one of david shows, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.960 he decided to check him out. Philip castmates Cherry Vanilla 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.079 and Jane County came along from the ride. They got 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.240 in for free by posing as members of the American 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.680 music press, earning them prime seats down front. To their 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.040 great disappointment, they found not a fellow freak, but a 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.640 folky in baggy pants and a floppy hat, performing a 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:24.240 somewhat lackluster acoustic set with Mick Ronson. Jane County later 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:28.280 likened him the Joan bayaz On Downers. Bowie, to his credit, 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.400 recognized his guests and introduced them to the crowd before 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.120 playing his song Andy Warhol. In their honor, Cherry Vanilla 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.640 showed her appreciation by standing up and flashing the crowd. Overall, 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.280 their first impression to David was not great. Their disappointment 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.880 was compounded when they actually met face to face after 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.560 the show. They liked his wife Angie just fine. She was, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.480 like them, a bold and fearless American outgoing in the extreme, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.880 but they're regarded David as a drip who mostly kept 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.439 to himself to surprisingly drab hippie at or was it 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:04.200 odds with their elaborate makeup, gaudy glitter and sexy sleeves. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.599 Out of politeness, they invited the Bowiees to catch a 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.440 performance of Pork the next day at the Roundhouse. To David, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.839 the show was nothing less than a revelation. Just three 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.240 years earlier, British theater was subjected to a censorship board. 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.800 Now these fabulously dressed New Yorkers were flouting every taboo, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:28.320 taking the underground above ground. David and Angie savored the outrageousness. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:33.560 Clearly rules were a thing of the past. David and 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.959 Angie invited the cast to lunch at their Hadn't Hall 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.200 home a few days later. Instead of David the Drip, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.400 they met David Bowie for the first time. He came 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.360 out of his shell, playing the consummate host and leading 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:49.839 the conversation towards his grandest theatrical fantasies. They found the 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.560 kindred spirit. David's new friends would later marvel at his 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.400 ability to turn his charm off and on. Able to 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.920 appear and disappear in a crowd at will, these fact 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.680 red Denizens were characters in the true sense of the word. 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.680 They were always on performing for everyone, even if it 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.720 was just each other. They seemed to transcend the motion 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.960 and even their own humanity, becoming something bigger. They were, 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:18.320 to use Warhol's word superstars. To hear them tell it, 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.720 David became their new pet project. We kind of took 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.160 him under our wing. We all decided to help him out. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.240 Jane County would later say, you know, glam them up, 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.480 make him more outrageous. These full time artificial extroverts helped 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.240 inspire David to create a new persona for himself. Little 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.480 Davy Jones from Bromley had come this far as David Bowie, 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:43.040 But who could he be next? David pondered this on 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.200 his trip to New York that September, where he met 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.960 up with the Port crowd on their home turf. They 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:49.960 even brought him to the factory to say hello to 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.240 their patron. Far from being one of the great artistic 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.560 summits of the seventies, David Bowie's meeting with Andy Warhol 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.480 was by all accounts pretty painful. Secure already at the 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.120 factory had been ramped up since Warhol was nearly killed 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:07.640 in the night assassination attempt. After ringing a doorbell marked 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.880 do not ring, David and company were grilled by the guards. 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.680 The reception was just as chilly when he was finally 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.600 introduced to Warhol himself, who was inexplicably clad and jobber's 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.640 high laced boots and a riding crop. I met this 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.920 man who was the living dead. David remembered he offered 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:29.000 Warhol a friendly handshake. Warhol drew back. This guy's reptilian 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.280 David thought neither man was known for being particularly chatty, 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:37.200 and Warhol thwarted any attempts at small talk. This was 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.480 merely his socially awkward way, but David took it personally. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.080 He desperately wanted to be taken seriously by Warhol and 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.200 was deeply hurt that he wasn't embraced as an artistic peer. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.280 David tried to break the ice by playing the yet 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.280 to be released Hunky Dorry track Andy Warhol in his honor. 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.480 Warhol listened dispassionately before wandering away. Minutes later, one of 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:02.120 the factory lackeys informed David that Andy hated it. The 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.720 only thing that seemed to impress Warhol where David's bright 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.520 yellow patent leather shoes, a gift from his friend and 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:11.360 musical rival, Mark Bowan. Warhol was so intrigued that he 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.120 grabbed his polaroid and began photographing them obsessively, jabbering about 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.800 shoe design the whole time. Before he left, David took 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.720 part in one of Andy's famous screen tests where guests 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.800 are placed in front of a camera and encouraged to 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.960 do whatever comes to mind. David thought back to his 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.560 miming days with Lindsay Kemp and acted out his own disembowment, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.200 ripping out his guts bit by bit. It was pretty 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.320 much how he felt about the visit. Andy stood off camera, murmuring, 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:43.800 oh that's nice in a sickly sing song. David's meeting 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:48.080 with another Warhol associate, Lou Reid, went marginally better. Lou 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.560 had been one of David's ultimate rock heroes since he 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.720 first got his hands on an advanced copy of the 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:57.840 Velvet Undergrounds debut back in six He devoured the album 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.440 and even incorporated several songs and was early set, making 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.920 him likely the first person in England to cover rawl 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.840 rockers like Waiting for the Man in White Light, White Heat. 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.560 David had thought he met Read during his previous visit 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.159 to New York when he caught a Velvet show. It 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.520 was only after that he realized Lou had left the 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.000 band and the man he had been showering with praise 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.879 was actually his replacement, Doug Yule. Now he was sharing 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.399 dinner with the real Lou Read, but he was barely 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.320 a shadow of his former self. Since leaving the Velvet Underground, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.640 Lou had effectively retired from the music world, moving back 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.000 home with his parents on Long Island and taking a 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.760 job as a typist that his father's accountancy firm for 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.760 forty dollars a week. He was clearly going through a 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.399 bad patch, and David found them drunk and sullen. Not 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.360 even some flirtatious whispers from David could bring Lou out 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.840 of his dark mood. That night, the pair ended up 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.040 at Max's Kansas City, the dive bar of choice for 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.119 the downtown glitterati. On any given night, Debbie Harry might 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.800 be your waitress, or you'd share a bathroom line with 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.719 Leamas Burrows, Alan Ginsburg or Robert Rauschenberg. The walls were 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.560 lined with art worth millions today, donated by poor but 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.840 talented customers too hard up to pay off their bar tabs. 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.000 It didn't take money to get into Max's Kansas City. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.600 It took style. One patron would remember, people looked different, 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.840 but everyone looked right. Upstairs was a venue where The 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.800 Velvet Underground had been the house band, and later a 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.720 young Bob Marley would make his New York debut opening 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.359 for an equally green Bruce Springsteen. But the back room 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.520 was the inner sanctum. This was where Andy Warhol and 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.400 his Factory superstars held court at their round table. Dan 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.320 Flavin's massive fluorescent light sculpture permanently bathed the room and 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.040 a sinister but flattering blood red glow. It looked like 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.040 a hip and beautiful version of hell, where the elegant 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:56.560 would get elegantly wasted. Lu departed the scene uncharacteristically early 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.000 that night, but David was about to meet another of 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.840 his heroes, the man who had one day described as 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.639 his twin Adam Iggy Pop. He'd been turned onto the 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.679 Detroit Live Wire during his first trip to America earlier 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.360 in the year, and was instantly entranced by the dark 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.800 and raw rock from his band, The Stooges. More than 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.240 just their sound, David was fascinated by Iggy's persona born 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.960 Jim Osterberg, this shortened shy intellectual had built himself the 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.959 ultimate rock and roll vehicle, an uninhibited diet Nitian demon 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.920 capable of unleashing a torrent of noise and destruction. His 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.960 animalistic stage antics were already legendary, including but not limited 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:40.119 to vomiting, nudity, self mutilation, and inciting riots. Bowie had 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.040 cited Iggy as his favorite singer in a recent British interview, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.560 but now Iggy had fallen on hard times. Drug abuse 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.399 in general bad behavior forced the Stooges record label to 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.800 drop them, and the group soon split. Iggy felt deeper 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.960 into heroin and bounced from crisis to crisis. O d 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.040 s Ban crashes and that time he got stranded in 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.159 the rough Detroit how Projects wearing a pink tutu. Long story. 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.399 His worsening addiction left and barely able to function, and 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:08.480 by the summer of seventy one he was crashing at 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.040 his ex manager's New York apartment. He was there, sprawled 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:13.960 out on the couch in and opiate Hayes when he 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.360 got the call to come down the Maxes and meet 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.880 this visiting englishman who had spoken so highly of him 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.240 in the British press. Iggy had no idea who Bowie was, besides, 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.160 he was too engrossed in the old black and white 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.160 Jimmy Stewart movie on the TV. But after the third 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.919 phone call, he begrudgingly legged it down the max Is 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.800 just before closing time. The meeting changed his life and 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.160 David's too. They connected on two levels. They're self created, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.080 larger than life performance personas and the quiet, intelligent music 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:47.200 nerds they masked by dawn, they were firm friends. Over 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.840 a long breakfast at the Warwick. The next morning, David 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.959 convinced Iggy, who was going on his third night without sleep, 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:57.200 to come to London and signed with Tony Defrees. David 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.760 returned to England, inspired by his new friends and the 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.439 bridled creativity of the New York underground. He hold up 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.639 in his own version of Warhol's factory, Hadden Hall, to 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:18.800 begin assembling his own custom made superstar, Sinky Stardust. In 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.560 the annals of rock and roll history, the band Arnold 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.720 Corns seldom gets a mention. This is hardly surprising. They 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:30.120 released just two singles between ninety one and two, both 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.560 of which are mediocre at best, and both of which 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.879 sank like stones on the chart. But despite their total 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.800 lack of commercial success and a truly horrendous name, Arnold 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:44.520 Corns deserves recognition. Why Because the band was the prototype 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.720 for Siggy Stardust. It all started in the spring of 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.160 nineteen seventy one, just after David returned from his very 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:54.840 first promotional trip to the US. Borrowing a page from 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:58.920 Andy Warhol's playbook, David endeavored to create his own superstar 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:02.680 from scratch. The band would be his human canvas. David 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.600 would write the songs, choose the clothes, even picked their 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.400 new names. It was an inspired move with no risk 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.600 to his own career. David could experiment to his heart's content, 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.720 discarding ideas that didn't work and cherry picking the ones 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.480 that did. For himself. For a frontman, David recruited the 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.080 handsome and charismatic Freddie Barretti, a nineteen year old budding 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.919 clothing designer he knew from London's gay club scene. David 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.320 rechristened him Rudy Valentino and steered him into the studio 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.440 with a ragtag group of musicians he dubbed Arnold Corn's, 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.800 allegedly inspired by David's favorite Pink Floyd song Arnold Lane. 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.159 Freddie Barretti may have looked like Adonis in hot pants, 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:43.840 but it quickly became apparent that he couldn't sing a note, 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.880 and David ultimately handled most of the lead vocals himself. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.360 They tackled two of his new songs moon Age, day 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.960 Dream and Hang Onto Yourself. Both tunes were destined for 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:56.399 greatness as standout tracks on the rise and fall of 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.400 Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars, but these early 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:02.919 versions were hampered by sluggish tempos and meek vocals. To 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:07.800 be blunt, the songs needed a little star dust. Arnold 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:10.399 Corens was a commercial flop, but it was by no 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:13.680 means a failure. It allowed David to toy with alter 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:22.119 egos and high concept pop. David first began talking about 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:25.000 Ziggy Stardust during that same initial trip to the States 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:29.080 in the Winner of Fittingly, it was in Hollywood, that 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.560 land of make believe in movie stars, where anything seemed possible. 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.800 The idea took shape on hotel stationary and cocktail napkins. 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:40.359 It was initially conceived There's a Broadway style production with 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:43.840