Speaker 1: Off the Record was a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Seventeen
Speaker 1: year old David Bowie knew that distinctively. That's why he
Speaker 1: ended up on television talking passionately about his hair. It
Speaker 1: was nineteen sixty four, a time when long locks on
Speaker 1: men seemed to signal a total breakdown of law and order,
Speaker 1: the end of Western civilization as we know it. The
Speaker 1: Beatles on the Rolling Stones had caused a cultural uproar
Speaker 1: with their shaggy mop tops. But David Bowie was not
Speaker 1: a Beatle or a Stone, not even close. Hell, he
Speaker 1: wasn't even David Bowie. He was stuck living life as
Speaker 1: Davy Jones, frontman for an endless string of doomed R
Speaker 1: and B outfits. David had met Paul McCartney once in
Speaker 1: the mid sixties, but definitely not as a peer. He
Speaker 1: camped outside Maca's London pad with the other group He's
Speaker 1: hoping to catch a glimpse. Amazingly, this earned David and
Speaker 1: audience with the cute one, who invited him to come inside.
Speaker 1: Paul politely listened to some of David's demos before wishing
Speaker 1: him well and sending him on his way. That was
Speaker 1: about the extent of David's fastness. The incident was fitting.
Speaker 1: If Swinging London was a party, David hadn't been invited. Instead,
Speaker 1: he was outside in the cold, nose pressed against the glass,
Speaker 1: watching all the fund go down without him. Betrailing. The
Speaker 1: pack of pop stars did have an advantage. It allowed
Speaker 1: David to study them intently, reverse engineering the image and
Speaker 1: affectations that came to them so naturally. So if the
Speaker 1: Beatles and the Stones had long hair, he'd simply grow
Speaker 1: his longer. Some slick talk led to an appearance on
Speaker 1: a BBC Current affairs program called Tonight, where David heralded
Speaker 1: the rebellion of the long hairs. The grainy black and
Speaker 1: white footage, among the earliest filmed appearances of David known
Speaker 1: to exist, shows him poised, stern and unsmiling, with his
Speaker 1: mismatched dies peering out from underneath his flaxen fringe. He's
Speaker 1: promoting not his band, but his club, the Society for
Speaker 1: the Prevention of Cruelty to Long Haired Men. David somehow
Speaker 1: managed to keep a straight face as he railed against
Speaker 1: the injustices faced by both himself and this hairsuit brethren.
Speaker 1: We're all fairly tolerant, he deadpans, but for the last
Speaker 1: two years we've had comments like darling and can I
Speaker 1: carry your handbag? Thrown at us. It has to stop.
Speaker 1: The bemused host asks if David modeled his hair after
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones. David's strenuous denial comes a little too quickly.
Speaker 1: The clip is hilarious, and the funniest part, the Club's
Speaker 1: not even real. At age seventeen, David had already learned
Speaker 1: how to cultivate an image and use it to manipulate
Speaker 1: the national media. You can't help but be impressed. His
Speaker 1: day job at an advertising agency left him particularly well
Speaker 1: suited to sell this most important of products himself. He'd
Speaker 1: perfect the technique and used to come viewed today. The
Speaker 1: Tonight clip is a kind the watching an early rocket
Speaker 1: test for a mission that would ultimately launch David out
Speaker 1: of the stratosphere. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
Speaker 1: to Long Haired Man Sham is admittedly very, very silly,
Speaker 1: but hey, David had finagle himself a spot on the
Speaker 1: Tube that alone gave him at least a shred of cred.
Speaker 1: But the other show biz wannabes yet When it came
Speaker 1: to David's music, no one wanted to know he'd returned
Speaker 1: to the BBC within a year with his band. While
Speaker 1: auditioned for a performance spot on the radio, the judge's
Speaker 1: responses were unanimous. I don't think the group will get
Speaker 1: better with rehearsal. The singer's not particularly exciting, the routines
Speaker 1: dull and inoffensive, pleasant, nothing. There's no entertainment value in
Speaker 1: anything they do. It's just a group, and a very
Speaker 1: ordinary one too, backing a singer devoid of personality. Vicious absolutely,
Speaker 1: But in a way the stuffed suits at the network
Speaker 1: weren't wrong. David was so successful at mimicking successful people
Speaker 1: that he muted all the things that made him unique.
Speaker 1: He was all bluff but no heart, all image but
Speaker 1: no substance. Not yet. At least it was a learning
Speaker 1: period to the future star. Before he's Supernova and the
Speaker 1: David Bowie, he was David Jones, a follower and a fan,
Speaker 1: just another one of the London boys. Hello and welcome
Speaker 1: to Off the Record, the show that goes beyond the
Speaker 1: songs and into the hearts and minds of rocks, grateus Legends.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jordan run Talk. This season explores the
Speaker 1: life or should we say lives of David Bowen. In
Speaker 1: this episode, We're gonna talk about David the Maud, the
Speaker 1: relentlessly ambitious team struggling to find his place in the
Speaker 1: pop pecking order of sixties London, August, a major day
Speaker 1: in the history of popular music. Today, the future David
Speaker 1: Bowie has his first recording session. Think of all the
Speaker 1: incredible albums to come, Hunky Dorry, Ziggy, Start Us Station,
Speaker 1: The Station, Low Heroes, Young Americans, it can all be
Speaker 1: traced to the single day. Unfortunately, the day in question
Speaker 1: was an unmitigated catastrophe. It all started off so promising, too,
Speaker 1: like something out of a movie. The assistant for a
Speaker 1: big time agent happened to catch David's high school band,
Speaker 1: the Conrads, performing at a youth fair and liked what
Speaker 1: he heard. This guy had recently signed another local band
Speaker 1: called the Rolling Stones, and he thought, maybe, just maybe,
Speaker 1: the Conrads might be the next big thing, so he
Speaker 1: invited the group to audition at Decca, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest record labels in the country. It all seemed too
Speaker 1: good to be true, and it kind of was. David
Speaker 1: may have had nerves of steel, but the rest of
Speaker 1: the band were nervous wrecks. Studios at the time, we're
Speaker 1: not the zan candlelit music haven's that we know today.
Speaker 1: Back then they were more like top secret laboratories, cold
Speaker 1: and clinical, complete with engineers clad an ominous white coats,
Speaker 1: not exactly conducive to making rock and roll. The Conrads
Speaker 1: recorded just one track, an original called I Never Dreamed.
Speaker 1: The results were so shambolic that the engineers didn't even
Speaker 1: bother playing it back. David Bowie's first studio recording was
Speaker 1: unceremoniously erased, but a copy did miraculously turned up half
Speaker 1: a century later, found in an old bread bin. By
Speaker 1: the time Decade formally rejected the Conrads, David had quit
Speaker 1: the band and a spectacular huff. His bandmates must have
Speaker 1: seen it coming. David wasn't really a group gay. It's
Speaker 1: true the Condras fan base had grown since David made
Speaker 1: his onstage debut with them a year earlier, rocking a
Speaker 1: PTA event with this classy white saxophone and sky high pompadour,
Speaker 1: But it was obvious to David that this was strictly
Speaker 1: a suburban venture destined only for church halls, pubs and
Speaker 1: the odd birthday gig near their hometown of Bromley, England.
Speaker 1: This realization was hammered home after they suffered a humiliating
Speaker 1: defeat on a TV talent contest, losing out to a
Speaker 1: younger former classmate named Peter Frampton. Of all people. Musical
Speaker 1: differences added the David's frustrations. He wanted to push the
Speaker 1: Contrads towards the R and B sounds of Marvin Gay,
Speaker 1: but the others wanted to stay with the same tried
Speaker 1: and true Top forty covers. He tried to get them
Speaker 1: to cover an old folk song called House of the
Speaker 1: Rising Sun, but the band refused. David was royally peeved
Speaker 1: when it became a global hit for the Animals within
Speaker 1: the year. David was about to walk when the band
Speaker 1: got their DECA audition. After that one up and smoked,
Speaker 1: he had no reason to stick around. Now sixteen, he'd
Speaker 1: finished school with very little a show for it. One
Speaker 1: report card described them as a pleasant idler. By the
Speaker 1: time he left Bromley Tech that June, he'd failed every
Speaker 1: single one of his final tests except for art. Not
Speaker 1: that he cared for David. His future was obvious when
Speaker 1: a school guidance counselor asked him what he wanted to
Speaker 1: do for a living. David's response was immediate, be a
Speaker 1: sax player in a modern jazz quartet. The well meaning
Speaker 1: counselor found him a job in a local harp factory,
Speaker 1: but that wasn't exactly the kind of career of music
Speaker 1: David had in mind. His father, always willing to pull
Speaker 1: some strings, got him a job as an electricians assistant,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't long before he quit. He didn't resign,
Speaker 1: and as much as he just stopped going. David's parents
Speaker 1: were understandably worried. Mother Peggy was openly critical about her
Speaker 1: son's musical ambitions. She was frustrated by his inability to
Speaker 1: find a real job to entangle himself from the family finances.
Speaker 1: The Jones is small Bromley home felt even more cramped
Speaker 1: with her overgrown boy living there too. These musical shenanigans
Speaker 1: were just a passing fad. She thought David needed some
Speaker 1: stable grounding to fall back on. This was, after all,
Speaker 1: the sixties, a time when job security was inconceivably strong,
Speaker 1: and then he worked at the same company from graduation
Speaker 1: to retirement. David's father John, however, was more encouraging of
Speaker 1: his ambitions. John was cut from the same showbiz cloth
Speaker 1: as David, and even tried to launch a cabaret act
Speaker 1: of his own as a young man. He followed David's
Speaker 1: music career closely, like a dutiful stage dad, offering advice
Speaker 1: when he could. Needless to say, this created some tension
Speaker 1: with his less indulgent wife. Eventually, David secured a job
Speaker 1: at an advertising agency in central London. It wasn't as
Speaker 1: glamorous as the rather lofty title of junior visualizer made
Speaker 1: it seem. David spent his days sketching ads and commercial
Speaker 1: story boards for things like raincoats and a dietary cookie
Speaker 1: with a deeply unfortunate name, Aids. The nine to five
Speaker 1: slog kept his parents happy, but David hated it and
Speaker 1: moaned about his bloom and job constantly. There was only
Speaker 1: one upside. The offices were a short walk from Doubles,
Speaker 1: the best record shop in London. David's lunch hour would
Speaker 1: stretch into two as he scoured the shelves. It was
Speaker 1: there that he first bought records by Bob Dylan and
Speaker 1: Johnny Lee Hooker, two artists who would have a huge
Speaker 1: impact on the young musician. David was definitely in need
Speaker 1: of some fresh inspiration. By nine three, the first wave
Speaker 1: of rock and roll with crested and many of the
Speaker 1: biggest stars were sidelined. Little Richard to become a born
Speaker 1: again Christian and swore off the Devil's mu for a time.
Speaker 1: At least. Buddy Holly had been killed in the Midwest
Speaker 1: plane wreck that also claimed the lives of Richie Vallence
Speaker 1: and the Big Bopper. Jerry Lee Lewis's career floundered after
Speaker 1: news leaked of his big amous marriage to his thirteen
Speaker 1: year old cousin, and Chuck Berry was similarly shunned for
Speaker 1: transporting a fourteen year old girl across state lines. And
Speaker 1: then there was Elvis. He'd been drafted into the army,
Speaker 1: and after two years stationed abroad, the King of Rock
Speaker 1: emerged and neutered and lobotomized peddler of terrible films and
Speaker 1: schlocky pop. Within the space of just a few years,
Speaker 1: the airwaves have been scrubbed with the rough and ready
Speaker 1: sounds of the American South and the inner cities in
Speaker 1: their place for syrupy confections cranked out by hit making
Speaker 1: factories with the help of any half whit with a
Speaker 1: hip haircut who could carry a tune. These teen idols
Speaker 1: ruled the charts, but for serious music fans, pop was passe.
Speaker 1: Rhythm and blues now that was where it was at.
Speaker 1: R and B was the truth. Rock and roll in
Speaker 1: his most pure form. Blues artists like Sonny Boy, Williamson,
Speaker 1: Muddy Waters and Freddie King were the new heroes for
Speaker 1: the switched on cool kids. You know who they were.
Speaker 1: Instantly David seethed with envy as he sat next to
Speaker 1: them on the train from Bromley to London. They were
Speaker 1: the ones dressed in the tight three button mohair jackets
Speaker 1: with slim ties and even slimmer pants, haircut short and neat,
Speaker 1: often in a meticulously groomed fringe. Everything about them was crisp,
Speaker 1: clean and cool. Who needed rock of cessed teddy boys
Speaker 1: with their feeble attempts to mimic American grease or styles.
Speaker 1: They were stuck in the fifties. It was a new
Speaker 1: decade and this emerging subculture embraced its newness along with
Speaker 1: anything cutting edge, different and above all modern. That's why
Speaker 1: they called themselves mods. Unlike the beats who were beelled
Speaker 1: against the materialism of middle class America. Mods were shameless consumers,
Speaker 1: gleefully sampling the fruits of postwar prosperity that had finally
Speaker 1: come their way. Like proud, pilled up peacocks, they were
Speaker 1: eager to one up their friends and rivals with the
Speaker 1: latest looks and records. Unlike the rockers who rigidly divided
Speaker 1: the sexes into casts and chicks, Mods flirted with androgyny.
Speaker 1: Men used makeup and eyeshadow to sharpen the top lines
Speaker 1: of their bones structure to match the sharp lines of
Speaker 1: their tailored Italian suits. Zipping around on tricked out Lambretta scooters.
Speaker 1: These kids lived for the weekend, when they packed in
Speaker 1: the sweaty basement clubs and jive to jazz ska on
Speaker 1: R and B. They're all night raves were helped along
Speaker 1: by a kaleidoscope of pills, French blues, black bombers, and
Speaker 1: purple hearts. SOHO grew jammed with image conscious, gender bending,
Speaker 1: nonconformist kids who worshiped American black music and continental fashion.
Speaker 1: Needless to say, this was David's crowd. He was a mod.
Speaker 1: Before mods existence, the term seemed to sum up as
Speaker 1: boundless creativity and restless pursuit of the new. He joined
Speaker 1: the throngs of ace faces and high numbers who turned
Speaker 1: out on the weekends to hear homegrown bands try their
Speaker 1: hand at R and B the soundtrack to their exceedingly
Speaker 1: well dressed rebellion. The scene was crammed with musical upstarts
Speaker 1: fine for attention from labels who were tossing out recording
Speaker 1: contracts left right and center. The British music industry was
Speaker 1: generating the modern equivalent of nearly two and a half
Speaker 1: billion dollars annually. With that kind of payoff, record companies
Speaker 1: were more than happy to comb through the twenty thousand
Speaker 1: British beat groups that had formed by nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 1: The deceptively simple blues riffs proved just as alluring as
Speaker 1: the d i y friendly sounds of skiffle years prior.
Speaker 1: It didn't take much this trauma one, four or five
Speaker 1: pattern or hanker harmonica, but capturing the emotional complexities of
Speaker 1: the blues proved a little more elusive to these British
Speaker 1: white boys. As Seinster in Future Yardbirds manager Simon Napier
Speaker 1: Bell later observed when a down trodden black Southerner saying
Speaker 1: I'm a man. He meant I'm a human being when
Speaker 1: Mick Jaggers sang and he meant I've got a heart on.
Speaker 1: David sold the Rolling Stones in action when they opened
Speaker 1: for a Little Richard in nineteen sixty three. That same night,
Speaker 1: Mick gave David a crucial lesson in Front Man One
Speaker 1: on one. Now, the Stones had yet to be crowned
Speaker 1: the world's greatest rock and roll band. At this point,
Speaker 1: by David's estimation, their fan base could be counted on
Speaker 1: one hand. One particularly square spectator wasn't picking up with
Speaker 1: the band. Were laying down. Hey you, he shouted to
Speaker 1: make from his seat, get your haircut mixed air the
Speaker 1: heckler down and oh so coolly replied what and looked
Speaker 1: like you. The line with forever rank among David's all
Speaker 1: time favorite putdowns. David decided to get in on the
Speaker 1: British beet Binanza, a venerable gold rush for young rock
Speaker 1: hope calls. All he needed now was his own Rolling
Speaker 1: Stones to have his back. Seventeen year old David Jones
Speaker 1: probably wondered how he wound up singing got my mojo
Speaker 1: working to a bunch of tuxedo sixty somethings at a
Speaker 1: posh London nightclub. It was a fair question. Hell the
Speaker 1: tuxedo sixties somethings were wondering the same thing. This was
Speaker 1: definitely not the ideal audience for the king Bes. David's
Speaker 1: new R and B group, the T shirt and denim
Speaker 1: clad Quintet, made it through just two numbers before David
Speaker 1: received the tap on the shoulder and was politely but
Speaker 1: firmly asked to leave the stage. Usually he was pretty
Speaker 1: skilled at weathering these set back, but this time the
Speaker 1: young singer's confidence deserted him. As soon as he was
Speaker 1: out of view, he promptly burst into tears. It was
Speaker 1: the prime example of David's mile wide ambitious streak biting
Speaker 1: him in the ass. He and his school friend George
Speaker 1: Underwood had formed the king Bees in the spring of
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four to try and ride the R and
Speaker 1: B wave of sweeping London. The success of bands like
Speaker 1: The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Kings
Speaker 1: had sparked the record labeled gold Rush, prompting groups from
Speaker 1: across the country to grab a harmonica and stake their claim.
Speaker 1: The Rolling Stones influence, and the king Be's was clear.
Speaker 1: They got their name from a slim harpo song that
Speaker 1: Mix sang on their debut LP, and much of the
Speaker 1: king Best set was made up of the same Muddy
Speaker 1: Waters and Elmore James songs the Stones frequently covered. David
Speaker 1: took his self appointed roles the group's leader, very seriously
Speaker 1: and set about trying to secure management for the king Bees.
Speaker 1: In typical style, he aimed high. Egged on by his father,
Speaker 1: David wrote a letter to John Bloom, a flamboy and
Speaker 1: entrepreneur whose washing machine empire made him one of Britain's
Speaker 1: wealthiest men. David really laid it on thick. The complete
Speaker 1: at or has tragically been lost to history, but it
Speaker 1: did include this gem, Brian Epstein's got the Beatles You
Speaker 1: need Us? Big talk for a kid who's who lived
Speaker 1: at home with his parents. Now. John Bloom had no
Speaker 1: interest in becoming a rock and psario, but he was
Speaker 1: amused by the kids spunk and passed the note along
Speaker 1: with his friend Leslie Kahn. Leslie actually did know a
Speaker 1: thing or two about music. By day, he managed Doris
Speaker 1: Day's song publishing and boasted relationships with a host of
Speaker 1: hot young producers. He could make things happen to. One
Speaker 1: client described Khan as a man who could set fire
Speaker 1: to a bucket of sand. Les wanted to get a
Speaker 1: look at the band and booked them to play a
Speaker 1: set at John Bloom's anniversary party, which is how David
Speaker 1: Jones wound up singing got my Mojo work into a
Speaker 1: bunch of tuxedoed sixty somethings at a posh London nightclub.
Speaker 1: The performance was a disaster from beginning to premature end.
Speaker 1: Most of the money glitterati covered their ears in a
Speaker 1: desperate attempt to block out the deafening noise, so loud
Speaker 1: that the band didn't hear John Bloom shouting get him off.
Speaker 1: They're ruining my party. In fact, the only person that
Speaker 1: the gig was impressed by the King Bees was Lesliekhn himself,
Speaker 1: who agreed to take them on as full time clients.
Speaker 1: David left his dreaded junior visualizer day job and threw
Speaker 1: himself into the group full time. Unfortunately, there was next
Speaker 1: to no demand for the band, so he spent most
Speaker 1: of his days hanging out aimlessly at Kahn's headquarters. Les
Speaker 1: put him to work painting his office, along with another
Speaker 1: of his young, slightly hopeless clients, a South London boy
Speaker 1: named Mark Feld, who soon changed his name to Mark Bowland,
Speaker 1: later to front t Rex. In ten years, Bowling and
Speaker 1: David will be dukes of the British glam rock scene.
Speaker 1: But for now, they went up to each other while
Speaker 1: they whitewashed their manager's office. Where'd you get those shoes? Man?
Speaker 1: Who'd you get your shirt? I'm gonna be a singer
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna be so big you're not gonna believe it. Man.
Speaker 1: All right, well, I'll probably write a musical for you
Speaker 1: one day, because I'm gonna be the greatest writer ever.
Speaker 1: David was just as good at hyping himself and the
Speaker 1: press releases he wrote for Lez. Here's one sample from
Speaker 1: the summer of sixty four. David just likes Adam's apples
Speaker 1: and lists his interest as baseball, American football, and collecting boots.
Speaker 1: A handsome six foot or with a warm and engaging personality,
Speaker 1: Davy Jones as all it takes to get to the
Speaker 1: show business heights, including talent. Unfortunately, this talent was not
Speaker 1: on display when the kingbes entered Decca Studios that summer
Speaker 1: to record their debut single, Liza Jane. David and George
Speaker 1: had written the song in fifteen minutes, and it shows
Speaker 1: the B side a cover of Paul Revere in The Raiders.
Speaker 1: Louis Louis Go Home was exactly a great piece of
Speaker 1: work either. The rest of the band suffered from nervous jitters,
Speaker 1: but David was undaunted. You'd better get used to this,
Speaker 1: he teased the others as he approached the mike to
Speaker 1: Unlesha Cockney John Lennon impression. Liza Jane was a totally
Speaker 1: derivative rush job, a transparent attempt to cash in on
Speaker 1: the R and B boom. But it had attitude. But
Speaker 1: attitude alone doesn't sell records. Leslie Cohen had to call
Speaker 1: in some serious favors just to get it released in June.
Speaker 1: It marked an inauspicious beginning for the future David Bowie's
Speaker 1: recording career. Appearances on early rock TV shows like Jukebox,
Speaker 1: Jury Ready, Steady Go in the beat Room couldn't lift
Speaker 1: Liza Jane out than other regions of the charts. David's father,
Speaker 1: John delivered perhaps the most astute assessment of his boy's achievement.
Speaker 1: I think he sounds terrible, but he must be some
Speaker 1: good because he's made a record. The failure sour David
Speaker 1: on the Kingbyes once and for all, And in July
Speaker 1: n six four he dramatically informed his bandmates he was
Speaker 1: quitting The other Kingbs couldn't have been too surprised. David
Speaker 1: had always been rather shamelessly out for self nothink personal.
Speaker 1: You understand. He had a favorite expression which summed up
Speaker 1: his cheerful selfishness perfectly. Numero Uno mate, That's who he
Speaker 1: was looking out for. Leslie Khen quickly found him a
Speaker 1: new bandy he could beat Numero Uno. They were the
Speaker 1: Manished Boys, another acting is stable on the surface. It
Speaker 1: was a good fit, with their name borrowed from a
Speaker 1: muddy Waters to The Managed Boys shared David's passion for
Speaker 1: four and the floor horn driven R and B. But
Speaker 1: the group had been together for years and they weren't
Speaker 1: thrilled about letting some young interloper into their midst les
Speaker 1: Kohen had to do some fast talking. He's been on TV,
Speaker 1: he's got a record, big news in the mid sixties.
Speaker 1: But when David walked into rehearsal flat on a buckskin
Speaker 1: fringe jacket and thigh high boots. The man Wished boys
Speaker 1: knew they had their man. Who cares what he sounded like?
Speaker 1: He looked like a rock star. Any lingering doubts vanished
Speaker 1: when David pulled had his cream colored sacks and blew
Speaker 1: them away with King Curtis riffs. Needless to say, he
Speaker 1: got the gig. David spent much of the next year
Speaker 1: crammed in the back of a beat up Bedford band
Speaker 1: bound for pubs, clubs, and US Air Force bases across
Speaker 1: southern Britain. It was the first serious touring that he
Speaker 1: had ever done, and his skills as a frontman improved greatly.
Speaker 1: David learned to use the microphone like a pro and
Speaker 1: smashed moroccas like a man possessed as usual. He quickly
Speaker 1: assumed creative control of the band, pushing for covers from
Speaker 1: his beloved copy of James Brown Live with the Apollo,
Speaker 1: as well as songs by Ray Charles, Solomon Burke and
Speaker 1: Conway Twitty. He also gave the Mannished Boys a style makeover,
Speaker 1: stealing clothes from the trash bins outside the trendy boutiques
Speaker 1: on Carnebi Street. The billowing Russian peasant shirts knee length
Speaker 1: suede boots, leather vests and longer than long hair certainly
Speaker 1: caught people's attention, especially women. David's skills at seduction were
Speaker 1: also honed on the road. His pursuit of women bordered
Speaker 1: on the obsessive. As soon as gigs ended, he made
Speaker 1: a bee line to the dance floor to chat up
Speaker 1: the girls before his bandmates had a chance to move in.
Speaker 1: On one occasion, he brought a lady up to the
Speaker 1: bed and breakfast room they all shared. No one slept
Speaker 1: much that night. During the Manished Boys debut performance at
Speaker 1: Soho's Marquee Club in November of nineteen sixty four, David
Speaker 1: caught the eye of an aspiring singer named Dana Gillespie.
Speaker 1: David also liked what he saw. He found her after
Speaker 1: the show, casually brushing her waist length hair. David wordlessly
Speaker 1: took the brush and tenderly carried on brushing it for her.
Speaker 1: Moving right along, he asked Danna if he could walk
Speaker 1: her home. Dana was hip to this polite euphemism and
Speaker 1: immediately accepted. David may have given her some half hearted
Speaker 1: excuse about missing the last train home to Bromley, but
Speaker 1: there was no need for corny lines. She was happy
Speaker 1: to share her single bed. After a night of what
Speaker 1: Dana later referred to as quote exploration sex, she brought
Speaker 1: her new bow downstairs to meet her father. It was
Speaker 1: the bohemian household and sex was hardly shocking, But what
Speaker 1: gave them paused was the unruly length of David's hair,
Speaker 1: which hung to his shoulders in a blonde Veronica Lake
Speaker 1: like swoop. The Beatles mop top was funny, but this
Speaker 1: was something else entirely It's on sorrel transvesticism. Dana's parents
Speaker 1: were genuinely unsure whether David was a boy or a
Speaker 1: girl until he opened his mouth to speak. It's hard
Speaker 1: to imagine now, but too many in the mid sixties
Speaker 1: long hair on manmos sin is a serious threat to
Speaker 1: God and country, which was precisely why David insisted on
Speaker 1: keeping his hair longer than even those bad boys in
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones. It singled amount as a certain type
Speaker 1: of undesirable and caused a great deal of hassle for
Speaker 1: the band. One club promoter declared the managed boys have
Speaker 1: seen because of David's hair and is increasingly faye on
Speaker 1: stage mannerisms. Another gig ended with the band fleeing for
Speaker 1: their lives, while a gang of heavies followed in hot pursuit,
Speaker 1: shouting various homophobic slurs along the way. The harassment was
Speaker 1: indeed ugly, but it inspired David's first major public relations coupe.
Speaker 1: The ever indulgent John Jones had called in a favor
Speaker 1: and Nedda David an interview with a London newspaper. Never
Speaker 1: won the miss an opportunity for self promotion, David was
Speaker 1: determined to give the reporter a better story than the
Speaker 1: old wanna be rock star singer angle. In addition to
Speaker 1: his musical ventures, David claimed to be the president of
Speaker 1: the International League for the Preservation of Animal Filament translation
Speaker 1: a club from men with long Hair. He declared his
Speaker 1: intent to approach fellow long hairs like the Beatles and
Speaker 1: the Stones, for potential membership. It was obvious to the
Speaker 1: reporter that this club was a complete and utter fiction
Speaker 1: and David was lying through his teeth, but he went
Speaker 1: along with it anyway. It made great copy. The BBC
Speaker 1: caught wind of the story and invited David to appear
Speaker 1: on the nationally broadcast current affairs program Tonight. The Cliff
Speaker 1: Mitchell Moore Flanked by his fellow Managed Boys, David touted
Speaker 1: his non existing club, which had been given a much
Speaker 1: more media friendly name, the Society for the Prevention of
Speaker 1: Cruelty a Long Haired Man. It was a masterful performance,
Speaker 1: and the network conspired with David and Les Khan for
Speaker 1: an encore A few months later. In early nineteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: the Mannished Boys were booked to perform on the music
Speaker 1: show gad Zooks It's All Happening, but the BBC publicly
Speaker 1: claimed that they wouldn't let them appear until David cut
Speaker 1: his luscious locks. It was a totally manufactured controversy, shamelessly
Speaker 1: ripping off similar stunts pooled by the Rolling Stones, but
Speaker 1: the Manished Boys really leaned into it. They printed up
Speaker 1: placards with indignant slogans like let's be faired to long
Speaker 1: Hair and paraded around the BBC headquarters until the producers
Speaker 1: supposedly caved. The Escapador and David press is some of
Speaker 1: London's biggest newspapers. It could have been the band's big break,
Speaker 1: but within two weeks of the gad Zook's appearance, David
Speaker 1: abruptly quit the Mannished Boys. It was all because of
Speaker 1: their new single, a cover of soul singer Bobby Blands
Speaker 1: I Pity the Fool. On the surface, the song had
Speaker 1: a lot going for it. Shell Tell Me, who worked
Speaker 1: on recent hits by The Who and The Kinks, was
Speaker 1: called them to produce, and it featured guitar work by
Speaker 1: a young hotshot session player called Jimmy Page. But as
Speaker 1: the future led Zeppelin God packed up his Fender Telecaster,
Speaker 1: he frostily informed the group that the song was fine,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a hit, and he was right. I
Speaker 1: Pity the Fool flopped, adding insult to injury for David.
Speaker 1: The single was credited simply to The Manished Boys, rather
Speaker 1: than David Jones and the Mannished Boys as he had
Speaker 1: been promised, So, just as he had with The Conrads
Speaker 1: and The King Bees, David left the Manished Boys with
Speaker 1: little fanfare. His bandmates last saw him after a gig
Speaker 1: in April, heading off into the night with a female fan.
Speaker 1: Typical young David Jones has struck out with three different
Speaker 1: bands in as many years. That's enough to make most
Speaker 1: want to be rockers give up and enroll on accountancy school,
Speaker 1: but the experience seemed to bolster David's self belief and
Speaker 1: stoke his impatience with those who weren't helping him get
Speaker 1: to where he wanted to go. Danna Gillespie, who becomes
Speaker 1: something of a steady girlfriend at this point, recalls as
Speaker 1: unshakable self confidence. David just had to keep going until
Speaker 1: eventually somebody got it. She later said, he wasn't going
Speaker 1: to just stop and get a job in a shop
Speaker 1: for Christ's sake. David was already a start to Danna's classmates,
Speaker 1: who pressed their noses against the window to catch a
Speaker 1: glimpse of the sharp dress singer with the prince valiant haircut,
Speaker 1: who picked her up from school and gallantly carried her
Speaker 1: ballet slippers. They usually went to her parents house, but
Speaker 1: once David took her out to Bromley to see his folks,
Speaker 1: the visit provided an unsettling insight into what drove David's
Speaker 1: limitless ambition. Danna described Jones home as cold and soulless,
Speaker 1: a claustrophobic suburban hell be rift of joy and color.
Speaker 1: David's parents worthlessly munch tuna sandwiches and stared at the
Speaker 1: TV set, sharing nothing but space. Dana later said there
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be any love in the house. When
Speaker 1: his parents left the room, David turned to Dana and said,
Speaker 1: whatever it takes, I want to get out of here,
Speaker 1: but there weren't a lot of options. Leslie Cohn had
Speaker 1: grown weary of David's deevi a tendencies, and soon he
Speaker 1: was out of the picture. George Underwood, David's old musical comrade,
Speaker 1: was busy at art school. Without much else to do,
Speaker 1: David frequented the Giaconda Coffee Bar, the hip hop for
Speaker 1: music hopefuls deepened the heart of London's Tin Pan Alley.
Speaker 1: David spent hours there nursing a single cappuccino, hoping that
Speaker 1: someone from one of the nearby song publishers be need
Speaker 1: a background singer to help with a demo. Unfortunately, they
Speaker 1: rarely did. Then, one day David noticed a group of
Speaker 1: men gopping at him in a good way, not just
Speaker 1: because of his hair. It was a case of mistake
Speaker 1: and identity. They thought he was a member of the Yardbirds.
Speaker 1: David admitted they had the wrong guy, but inform them
Speaker 1: that he was, in fact an experienced singer of some renown.
Speaker 1: As luck would have it, they were in a band
Speaker 1: actively looking for a singer they invited him to audition
Speaker 1: for their group, the Lower Third. The next day at
Speaker 1: a nearby club. David showed up with a friend for
Speaker 1: moral support, Steve Marriott, later of The Small Pass and
Speaker 1: Humble Pie. He proceeded to blow them away with this
Speaker 1: musical talent and most importantly, his outfit. David became one
Speaker 1: of the Lower Third. He dove into the group with
Speaker 1: his usual enthusiasm. Days after joining, he signed a playful
Speaker 1: pledge written on the back of a napkin, I David
Speaker 1: Jones hereby, I promise not to become too big headed
Speaker 1: while I'm famous, Signed this glorious day, the tenth of May.
Speaker 1: If David thought the Lower Third was his ticket to
Speaker 1: instant fame, he was sorely mistaken. He spent most days
Speaker 1: crammed into the back of a converted ambulance that served
Speaker 1: as the band's touring van, speeding to and from their
Speaker 1: latest small time gigs at ice, skating rinks or pubs.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the most comfortable ride, but the siren came
Speaker 1: in handy if they were ever running late, which was
Speaker 1: often considering. An ambulance filled with a bunch of long
Speaker 1: hairs was something of a cop magnet. The mattresses piled
Speaker 1: on the back were good for those late nights when
Speaker 1: David couldn't make it back to Bromley, or for brief
Speaker 1: affairs with fans after shows. Many brainstorming sessions went down
Speaker 1: in the back of that ambulance as David tried to
Speaker 1: convince the others to update the band's image. They embraced
Speaker 1: some of his or fashion forward ideas, like sharp suits,
Speaker 1: sculpted hair and Italian loafers, but any talk of oaring
Speaker 1: makeup on stage was halted with an immediate hell no
Speaker 1: or where's that effect. They were a bit more receptive
Speaker 1: to David's musical suggestions, which could get pretty far out.
Speaker 1: Not many bands were performing chim Chimmery from Mary Poppins
Speaker 1: or rocked up version of the Mars movement from Gustav
Speaker 1: Holtz's orchestral suite The Planets. For the most part, they
Speaker 1: played ear splitting covers from Tamla Motown, the Detroit label
Speaker 1: that cranked out irresistible R and B with a poppy Veneer.
Speaker 1: They also played songs by Maud standard bearers like The
Speaker 1: Who and The Kinks. The Who in particular were a
Speaker 1: great influence inspiring the Lower Thirds, noisy experiments with feedback,
Speaker 1: and David fledgling attempts at songwriting. The band's first single,
Speaker 1: a David original called You've Got a Habit of Leaving Me,
Speaker 1: sounded so much like a Who's song that Pete Townsend
Speaker 1: once approached them in a gig and angrily asked, was
Speaker 1: that one of my songs you played? You've Got a
Speaker 1: Habit of Leaving Me tanked on the charts. What's worse,
Speaker 1: they also bombed that audition the BBC and endured a
Speaker 1: volley of insults from a squad of the network's sharp
Speaker 1: tongue talent selection group. Lame material, lack of any entertainment,
Speaker 1: out of tuned vocalists, devoid of personality. Usually this was
Speaker 1: Davids q to quit the group in a fit of peak,
Speaker 1: but he held out hope for the Lower Third. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: there was discontent in their ranks. David's bandmates were less
Speaker 1: than thrilled when You've Got to Have It of Leaving
Speaker 1: Me was credited solely to Davy Jones and not the
Speaker 1: Lower Third. What's more, it was becoming obvious that David
Speaker 1: was the favorite of their new manager, a guy by
Speaker 1: the name of Ralph Horton. David had met the former
Speaker 1: Moody Blues roadie several months earlier at the Jaconda Coffee
Speaker 1: Bar and hired him to look after the group. Soon
Speaker 1: it was abundantly clear that Ralph's interest in their flaxen
Speaker 1: haired frontman extended the more than just business. Ralph was
Speaker 1: completely besotted with David and paraded as attractive new client
Speaker 1: around the clubs like a prize show pony. David, for
Speaker 1: his part, was only too happy to indulge him. He
Speaker 1: began staying overnight at Ralph's apartment, where his bandmates noted
Speaker 1: there was only one bed. David often told people he
Speaker 1: was bisexual, even during his days in the Conrads. Considering
Speaker 1: that homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom until nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty seven, this was a fairly shocking claim. Social attitudes
Speaker 1: towards same sex partnerships were not exactly enlightened in the
Speaker 1: mid sixties. The Nason LGBTQ community was centered around the
Speaker 1: underground gay clubs and SOHO literal and metaphorical neighbors to
Speaker 1: the mod jazz clubs. David slight build, handsome face, flamboyant fashion,
Speaker 1: and intentionally campy mannerisms allowed him to move freely between
Speaker 1: these overlapping scenes, which lent him a certain credibility In
Speaker 1: the mod music world. Homosexuality was considered taboo and dangerous,
Speaker 1: the ultimate subversion. As The Who's Pete Townsend explained, we
Speaker 1: thought David Bowie was gay. We thought all cool people
Speaker 1: were gay. It's unclear how much of David's alleged homosexuality
Speaker 1: was exaggerated to cultivate an image is of boldly experimental
Speaker 1: air to the Beats and other radicals, There's far more
Speaker 1: evidence of David's heterosexual exploits around this period. His colleagues
Speaker 1: in the Lower Third bore witness to many of these liaisons,
Speaker 1: as did his band made some prior groups too many
Speaker 1: you knew him. David was neither heterosexual, homosexual, or even bisexual,
Speaker 1: but merely sexual. It seemed to ooze out of him.
Speaker 1: He was a gleefully on apologetic libertine who delighted in
Speaker 1: both the psychological chase and the sheer sensual thrill. Moreover,
Speaker 1: he was fearless about displaying his prodigious physical attributes and
Speaker 1: pants so tight they may as well been painted on.
Speaker 1: One earlier review featured this memorable description to David's manhood
Speaker 1: as quote unusually large, almost inhuman. David certainly knew how
Speaker 1: to flirt when the needs suited him, and in the
Speaker 1: budding business of British rock, he could work it through
Speaker 1: his advantage. Once, as a member of the Managed Boys,
Speaker 1: a club promoter called him over the talk man and
Speaker 1: the man which way do you swing? He asked David
Speaker 1: that question meant only one thing, and David's response was
Speaker 1: instant boys. Of course, that sort of thing happened all
Speaker 1: the time. If you were young and desperate for a break,
Speaker 1: you knew the right answer. It's unknown of David used
Speaker 1: his powers of seduction to score extra point. It's in
Speaker 1: his management deal with Ralph Horton, but he would have
Speaker 1: hardly been the first struggling musician he traded sex for favors.
Speaker 1: Simon Napier Bell, manager of the Yardbirds, claimed that Ralph
Speaker 1: Horton once approached him to co manage David. To sweeten
Speaker 1: the deal, Ralph supposedly promised Simon sex with a young
Speaker 1: musician who sat demurely with an earshot of the entire
Speaker 1: conversation and raised no objection. Simon knew his credit to
Speaker 1: climb the offer, or so he says. Ralph Horton's blatant
Speaker 1: pro david bias grew harder for the other members of
Speaker 1: the lower third of Tolerate, and a rift began the
Speaker 1: form well. The rest of the band continued to take
Speaker 1: their second hand ambulance to gigs. Ralph schauffeured the singer
Speaker 1: personally in a flashy Jaguar sports car rather than helped
Speaker 1: load up the heavy amplifiers and gear. After gigs, David
Speaker 1: regally sat and watched. At industry events, Ralph always directed
Speaker 1: the press to David, ignoring the others completely. A showdown
Speaker 1: between the band and singer seemed imminent. It occurred on
Speaker 1: January nine, sixty six, as the group prepared to take
Speaker 1: the stage at a club in Bromley. David was excited
Speaker 1: to play the hometown hero, but there was a snag.
Speaker 1: Just before showtime. Ralph informed the band that they would
Speaker 1: not be getting paid that night. Their wages were going
Speaker 1: towards promotional expenses. The band wouldn't hear of it, no pay,
Speaker 1: no play. A standoff ensued, but David caught in the middle,
Speaker 1: pacing nervously as his old friends and classmates waited expectantly.
Speaker 1: In the crowd. His silence damned him in the eyes
Speaker 1: of his soon to be ex bandmates. They walked, David cried,
Speaker 1: and that was the end of Davy Jones and the
Speaker 1: Lower Third, but they still had a record to promote.
Speaker 1: Earlier that month, the Lower Third released a second single,
Speaker 1: another David original, called Can't Help Thinking About Me. The
Speaker 1: title was braddy enough to stand a chance with the
Speaker 1: supremely narcissistic Mods, but the laughably conceded words masked a
Speaker 1: more personal meaning. Can't Help Thinking About Me had its
Speaker 1: roots in those unhappy evenings at his parents house in Bromley,
Speaker 1: grappling with feelings of alienation and dissatisfaction. The character in
Speaker 1: the song ultimately leaves town for never never Land, after
Speaker 1: having apparently blackened the family name. The narrative can be
Speaker 1: vague at times. David forgot the lyric sheet on the
Speaker 1: day of the recording session and had to make up
Speaker 1: words on the spot. But Can't Help Thinking about Me
Speaker 1: does feature a particularly telling line when he had no
Speaker 1: trouble recalling I've got a long way to go. I
Speaker 1: hope I make it on my own. The image of
Speaker 1: a lonely traveler leaving home for the first time reflects
Speaker 1: his own creative quest, which had so far been fruitless.
Speaker 1: The song had substance. Even David, notoriously harsh critic of
Speaker 1: his own work, recalled can't help thinking about me fondly
Speaker 1: in later years, referring to it as quote an interesting
Speaker 1: little piece. David wrote another interesting piece in late nineteen,
Speaker 1: but it would take years before it would see the
Speaker 1: light of day. He was called The London Boys, a
Speaker 1: bright lights, big city tune about a seventeen year old
Speaker 1: fleeing the suffocating boredom of the suburbs for the adventure
Speaker 1: and excitement of the capitol. Once they're the sharp dress
Speaker 1: character falls in with the mod scene, pops pills, jettison's
Speaker 1: their dead end job and sleeps on the street. Those
Speaker 1: who a lynching look at the perils of chasing the
Speaker 1: hip life. It's a strangely non judgmental song, yet it
Speaker 1: ends on a decidedly downbeat note. Now you'd wish you'd
Speaker 1: never left your home. You've got what you wanted, but
Speaker 1: you're on your own now you've met the London Boys.
Speaker 1: Whether or not the song was an intentional self portrait
Speaker 1: is immaterial. David has spent the last few years living
Speaker 1: the lyrics. He hadn't formally moved out of his parents home,
Speaker 1: but emotionally he was already gone, a suburban kid living
Speaker 1: in exile, lonely, ambitious, and desperate to fit in with
Speaker 1: the London Boys. Producers were scandalized by the drug references
Speaker 1: and the song was temporarily shelved. David wrote, Can't Help
Speaker 1: Thinking About Me is something of a spiritual sequel, but
Speaker 1: it barely registered on the charts. Can't Help Thinking about
Speaker 1: Me it was David's most impressive work to date. It's
Speaker 1: fitting that his first mature artistic statement marked the birth
Speaker 1: of his artistic identity. You see, the record wasn't credited
Speaker 1: to Davy Jones, but to someone else. He knew early
Speaker 1: on that Davy Jones would never do as a showbiz moniker.
Speaker 1: That name belonged to the shy boy he was determined
Speaker 1: to leave behind him, Bromley. He briefly tried out many
Speaker 1: aliasis before tossing them aside, like ill fitting clothes. Much
Speaker 1: like his Stints and the Conrads, the King Bees, the
Speaker 1: Mannished Boys and the Lower Third, they were doomed exercises
Speaker 1: and self discovery. Who was he? David had to figure
Speaker 1: it out. He got a nudge in the fall of
Speaker 1: sixty five when management advised him to change his name
Speaker 1: to avoid confusion with another Davy Jones, an actor and
Speaker 1: singer soon have become famous worldwide as one of the Monkeys.
Speaker 1: David considered Tom Jones for a bit, but then some
Speaker 1: well singer hit the scene and that was the end
Speaker 1: of that. So we thought back to a John Wayne
Speaker 1: film he saw a few years earlier, The Alamo. He'd
Speaker 1: been drawn to the name of one of the characters,
Speaker 1: Jim Bowie, a real life figure who tried in vain
Speaker 1: to defend the title four. Adding the historical pedigree. Jim
Speaker 1: Bowie gave his name to the Bowie Knife, which lends
Speaker 1: a certain dangerous alert of the surname. It was kind
Speaker 1: of cool knives, cutting edge get It also helped him
Speaker 1: compete with the Rolling Stones front man, who been dubbed
Speaker 1: Jagger Dagger in the press in later years. David with
Speaker 1: wax poetic about this new moniker. It is the medium
Speaker 1: for a conglomerate of statements and illusions, he said, But
Speaker 1: come on, more than anything else, you liked how it sounded. Bowie,
Speaker 1: His friends and bandmates thought the name was stupid and
Speaker 1: tried to talk him out of it. It's ludicrous, it
Speaker 1: will never catch on, and the insisted. But ever the rebel,
Speaker 1: he stuck to his guns. Can't help thinking about me.
Speaker 1: Hit shelves in January sixty six, just after the singer's
Speaker 1: nineteenth birthday. For David glimpsing the record that bore this
Speaker 1: new name was like seeing his reflection for the first time.
Speaker 1: After years of trying on persona's styles and faces, this
Speaker 1: one fit, yeah, he thought, David Bowie, Let's see who
Speaker 1: this guy is. Off the Record is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. The executive producers are Noel Brown and
Speaker 1: shan Ty Tone. The supervising producers so Taylor Skoyn and
Speaker 1: Tristan McNeil. The show was written and hosted by me
Speaker 1: Jordan run Tug and edited, scored and sound designed by
Speaker 1: Tristan McNeil. If you liked what you heard, please subscribe
Speaker 1: and leave us a review. For more podcasts from My
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.