1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: David Bowie are insane. He was obsessed with the occult, 3 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: with Aleister Crowley in The Golden Dawn. It drove him 4 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 1: to near madness, down a dark, excessive wormhole with cocaine, 5 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: narcissistic rockstar excess, orgies, arrests, exorcisms, a weird flirtation with fascism, 6 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: and a dead body. No musical artists better personified the 7 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: hedonism of the seventies than David Bowie. He captivated the 8 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: imaginations of music fans all over the world, not to 9 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: mention fellow artists, some of whom he confounded, alienated, and annoyed, 10 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: Andy Warhol, Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan among them. Bowie 11 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: was unlike any singular rock star before him. He was 12 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: more than just David Bowie. He was a dizzying meld 13 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: of creative alter egos Major Tom Ziggy Stardust in the 14 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: Thin White Duke among the few he gave voice to 15 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: with his great music. Unlike that music I played for 16 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music, 17 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: That was a preset loop for my mellotron called showdown 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: at the OK Space Corral MK one. I played you 19 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the rights to love 20 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: theme from Romeo and Juliet by Henry Mancini. And why 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: would I play you that specific slice of Starcross Lover's Cheese? 22 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 23 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: song in America on July eleventh, nineteen sixty nine, And 24 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: that was the day David Bowie released the single Space Oddity, 25 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: launching into the public consciousness, his first truly great artistic vision, 26 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: the first of many that would significantly alter the future 27 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: of rock and roll. On this episode, Orgies, Exorcisms, Creative 28 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: Altered Egos and David Bowie, I'm Jake Brennan, and this 29 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: this Disgraceland. David Jones made his way through the crush 30 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: of fans and press up the front of the stairs 31 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: to the Public Safety Building at Rochester City Court in 32 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: upstate New York. He was up early on this March 33 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: morning in nineteen seventy six and had arrived early for 34 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: his arraignment. A lucky fan nabbed an autograph from the 35 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: accused outside the courthouse doors. Once inside, one of the 36 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: most recognizable rock stars in the world at the time, 37 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: was ushered into the courtroom and passed half a dozen 38 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: prostitutes awaiting their own arraignment in the hallway. The pros 39 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: erupted into cheers when they saw him pass He gave 40 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: them a polite smile from under his fedora. 41 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 2: Ever the gentleman. 42 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: Inside the courtroom, he settled in the proceedings got under weigh. 43 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: David Jones twenty nine and his fellow defendants James Osterberg 44 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: twenty eight and Dwayne Voz twenty two, were asked by 45 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,679 Speaker 1: Judge Alphonse Cassetti how they pleaded to the charge of 46 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: fifth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance marijuana, about 47 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: half a pound of it. David Jones, in his dapper 48 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: three piece suit, hat in hand at his side, stood 49 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: alone still and politely answered in his proper English accent, 50 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: not guilty, sir. The judge agreed to a two thousand 51 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: dollars bail bond for Jones and an additional two thousand 52 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: dollars for his security guard, Dwayne v Oz, as well 53 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: as for his other friend, James Osterberg, who was popularly 54 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: known by at least some of the record buying public 55 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: as the notorious Iggy pop, one time frontman for the 56 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: late sixties punk rock archetypes the Stooges. David Jones kept 57 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: such interesting friends because he was, of course, not only 58 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: David Jones. He was David Bowie. He was also, most 59 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: famously Ziggy Stardust, the androgynist, bisexual rock star. Prior to Ziggy, 60 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,119 Speaker 1: Major Tom, the junkie astronauts strung out in Heaven's High, 61 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: constantly trying to avoid the all time low. Before Major Tom, 62 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: he was the laughing gnome bent on bringing to the 63 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: masses some sort of Jacques Brell's psychedelic baroque. And before 64 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: that he was Davy Jones, another blue eyed soul singer 65 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: shuffling through London doing his best Bobby Blue Bland via 66 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: Brian Jones as Mick Jagger. But as of late, while 67 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: on tour in support of his tenth album, Stationed a Station, 68 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: he was the thin white duke, and his mugshot for 69 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: the arrest proved it. It's possibly the greatest rock star 70 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: mugshot ever. There he is, and he is indeed thin 71 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: white and with an air of nobility to him. If 72 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: you learned he ruled over a duchy, you would not 73 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: be surprised his eyes are two different colors. He's skeletal, haunting, 74 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: almost transparent, Sticking out of his starched collar and wild lapels. 75 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: He gets the sense that at one point in the 76 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: evening a tie was definitely in the mix. Something wid 77 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: a double winds or not. Perhaps his blonde hair is 78 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: slicked back, but there's one strand slightly askew. It suggests 79 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: a long night, nothing out of control, just long, most 80 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: likely tiring. If he's put out, you can't really tell. 81 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: His expression is dead serious, but not me. He is 82 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: beyond handsome. In a word, the mugshot is compelling. If 83 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: you knew nothing about the photo, or the man in it, 84 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: or his fame, you'd still want to know more. 85 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 2: Who was this dude and what was his deal? 86 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: Which was why one of the non arresting officers working 87 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: the station house that night he was arrested the lug 88 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: shot from the trash when he saw it lying there 89 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: on top, it was too compelling not to give it 90 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: a second look, to not wonder David Bowie had that 91 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 1: kind of image, and his image had that kind of power, 92 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: and he knew it. It was all by design, all 93 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: part of the creative package. It wasn't all about the music. 94 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: It was about so much more. There was a theory 95 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: that one creates a doppelganger and then imbuse that with 96 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: all your faults and guilts and fears, and then eventually 97 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: you destroy him, hopefully destroying all your guilt, fear and paranoia. 98 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: And I often feel that I was doing that unwittingly, 99 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,719 Speaker 1: creating an alternative ego that would take on everything that 100 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: I was insecure about. That's a Bowie quote given a 101 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: journalist Tony Parson some years after the drug arrest in Rochester. 102 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: Were back in seventy six, Bowie was coming to the 103 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: end of the road with a thin white duke and 104 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: was contemplating a move to Berlin to dry out, clean 105 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: up and get his head out of the fame and 106 00:06:57,600 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: into the art. 107 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 2: The drug charge would have been actually. 108 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: Be dismissed by a grand jury, coming to nothing. That 109 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: he was in need of a new inspiration, a new muse, 110 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: hell even a new canvas, and creatively he'd get what 111 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: he needed, no matter what he'd steal if necessary. It 112 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: wasn't beneath him. He'd done it before. Authenticity didn't concern 113 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: him like it did Iggy Thievery was part of the game, 114 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: and he learned by watching one of the greatest art 115 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: thieves of all time. In nineteen sixty four, Yayoi Kusama 116 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: was on her way to becoming the highest paid visual 117 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: artist in the world. She was an innovator in pop art, 118 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: sculpting with soft materials and working with repetition of images 119 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: and symbols. Her pieces now go for an estimated seven 120 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: million dollars each on average. Her net worth is estimated 121 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: somewhere north of twenty million, and naturally, her work is 122 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: highly sought after. In nineteen sixty four, it wasn't just 123 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: collectors and curators who had their. 124 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 2: Eyes on Kusama's art. 125 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: Thieves were circling two one In particular, he cased the 126 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: gallery where Kusama show was happening. That evening in the 127 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: open minimalist space of the Gertrude Stein Gallery was buzzing 128 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: with women in maud fashions and thin men suited up 129 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: in thin ties. Cigarettes smoke spiral through the air. Downtown hipsters, 130 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: a major art critic, zigzag between gallery rooms, taking in 131 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: the latest work from the newest movement in the art world, popart. 132 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: Yayoi Kusama's work was staggering. It knocked the thief out 133 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: it overtook his senses. Kusama's artistic philosophy of self obliteration, 134 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: as she called it, was on full display. As a child, 135 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,080 Speaker 1: Kusama suffered from hallucinations, the result of which was a 136 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,679 Speaker 1: traumatic overtaking of her own senses that she now channeled 137 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: into her art through an applied perspective of what she 138 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: believed the nineteen sixties would bring, a technicolor vision of 139 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: cultural subversion, celebrity, and fame. Her work exploded off of 140 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: the gallery's walls, its floor, and even its ceiling. Her piece, 141 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: entitled Aggregation one thousand Boat Show, was immersive and all encompassing. 142 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: Yayoi Kusama had papered the gallery with the same tiled 143 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: image of a rowboat, over and over and over again. 144 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: A larger sculpture of a rowboat anchored the piece in 145 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: the gallery. It was covered in stuffed and sown phallic protrusions. 146 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: The value of the thest's heist would be infinite. 147 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 2: He knew it. 148 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: He had a plan, a way to procure the goods 149 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: without damaging or devaluing them. He wasn't like some other thieves, 150 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: wasn't about to slash a painting from its frame. With 151 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: a razor and then clumsily roll it up. He wasn't brazen, 152 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: are stupid enough to grab a sculpture in his arms 153 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: and risk dropping and damaging it on escape. No, he 154 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: had a different method, creative appropriation. It was safer to 155 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: just steal another artist's ideas than it was to steal 156 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: her work. So that's what Andy Warhol did. Five months later, 157 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: in April nineteen sixty six, Warhol's exhibition at the Leo 158 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: Castelli Gallery featured a room completely tiled with only one image, 159 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: that of a cow's head in pink and yellow. Colorful playful, 160 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: Warhol's own borrowed contribution to the fast developing technicolor cultural 161 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: subversion of the sixties. When asked where he got the 162 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: inspiration for such a quote unquote unique exhibition, Warhol credited 163 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: an art dealer friend who suggested he play it safe 164 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: and paint some pastoral cows, but that he himself took 165 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: the suggestion to this shocking and now celebrated end. Andy 166 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: Warhol's thievery didn't stop there. Like all great artists, war 167 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: heartily appropriated into his work the influence of others. This 168 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 1: is not lost on David Bowie in nineteen seventy two, 169 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: Bowie set London on fire with the release of the 170 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: Rise of Ziggy, Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which 171 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: was a dizzying, up to that point, incomprehensible and seamless 172 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: melding of a multitude of influences that included Pink Floyd, 173 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:26,239 Speaker 1: Elvis Presley, composer Claudio Monteverdi, and French musical fabulous Michael Polnerev, 174 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: among others. But one year before Ziggy, David Bowie released 175 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,839 Speaker 1: what Is to my Ears nothing less than another masterpiece 176 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: honky Dory. On it, he paid tribute to Andy Warhol 177 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: with the far out, acoustic, driving impossibly original track directly 178 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: titled Andy Warhol and Andy Warhol was not impressed, which 179 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,319 Speaker 1: is ironic given that the song and the album that 180 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: appears on her as originally compelling as any Warhol creation 181 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: before or since. Like Warhol, Bowie appropriated the world of others, 182 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: and also, like Warhol, Bowie funneled that appropriation through a 183 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: thoroughly unique point of view into something original. And again, 184 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: like Warhol, Bowie's originality was not limited to his music. 185 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: In this appearance, his whole approach was unique Bowie was 186 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: obviously eager to meet the man who sold the world, 187 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,719 Speaker 1: the man from whom he appropriated his habit of appropriation. 188 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: At his side that night at Andy Warhol's famed factory 189 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: on Union Square West in Manhattan was his manager main man, 190 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: Tony de Friese Defrieze. Wasn't an ordinary rock and roll manager. 191 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: He demanded his star client live up to his aspiration 192 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: of becoming the greatest rock and roll star on this 193 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: world or any other. 194 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 2: So David Bowie did what he was told. 195 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,839 Speaker 1: He wasn't dressed in alter Ego Ziggi attire that night 196 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: at the factory, but he was affecting the persona of 197 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: a super famous pop star, which, of course, at least 198 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: in America he had yet to become. His records were selling, 199 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: and there was an awareness of who he was and 200 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: what he was doing, but he was far from the 201 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: international music sensation he would become a few years later, 202 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: and in the States he wasn't even yet approaching the 203 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: star status he'd already achieved in London. Nevertheless, he traveled 204 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: everywhere by limousine, and, apart from his band, refused whenever 205 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: possible to avoid leaving his hotel during daylight hours, and 206 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 1: when he did, he did so address to the hilt. 207 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: He avoided restaurants and other public places at all costs. 208 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: He never picked up a bag, an instrument, or even 209 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: opened his own door, instead adopting a tactic of simply 210 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: standing in front of every door he encountered awkwardly until 211 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,679 Speaker 1: someone offered to open it for him. He was privately 212 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: doubted by Bob Dylan, who, upon seeing Bowie once enter 213 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,079 Speaker 1: a party, snidely asked George Harrison, who the thug this 214 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:46,959 Speaker 1: Guynegy is? And he was iced out by Paul and 215 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: Linda McCartney, who, upon a visit to their hotel suite 216 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: from Bowie in a female guest, did all they could 217 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: to avoid eye contact and conversation until it was very 218 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: clear that they'd rather the up and coming space crooner 219 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: take his freaky presence elsewhere. Didn't matter. David Bowie was 220 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: undeterred by the old guard. He had a vision of 221 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: this new decade, the seventies, and it didn't involve Bob 222 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,719 Speaker 1: Dylan or Paul McCartney. It involved him in his multitude 223 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: of creative personalities. As a young adult, David Bowie watched 224 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: his older brother a schizophrenic struggled to navigate this cruel 225 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: world with multiple personalities, and he'd of course witnessed first 226 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: hand his own struggles as an artist throughout the previous decade, 227 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: the sixties, where he'd bounced from one musical style and 228 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: image to another as a folk artist, the blues front man, 229 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: a crooner. None of it worked. Nothing worked until he 230 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: synthesized it all into the supernatural multi image artist named 231 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: David Bowie, whose first real creation, the Ziggy Stardus persona, 232 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: would allow Bowie the space to conquer the seventies with 233 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: an even greater array of creative characters. Unlike the rocks 234 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: stars born from the previous decade, who valued authenticity over 235 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: all else, David Bowie would be a vessel, and he 236 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: would serve that vessel everywhere, all the time, an act 237 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: that would also distinguish him from the theatrical rock artist 238 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: to come, Alice Cooper and Kiss, who wore their characters 239 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: on stage but took the makeup off when the lights 240 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: came on. Boie didn't impersonate. Bowie became so even at 241 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: a time when he couldn't afford it. He and his 242 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: manager kept up the rock star ruse and lavishly spent money. 243 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 2: They did not have record label money. 244 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: He seldom spoke in public unless there was something in 245 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: it for him, and when he did speak, he summoned 246 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: the most proper of British accents. He may not have 247 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: been an actual alien, but compared to the rough trade 248 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: avant garde melding of high and low art at Andy 249 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: Warhol's factory in seventy one, David Bowie was clearly not 250 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: of this world. He glided across the dance floor. Edie 251 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: Sedgwick noticed him, lou reed didn't care. Flash of bulbs 252 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: popped glittered against the tinfoil wrapped silver walls. Andy Warhol, 253 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: the ultimate blank slave, listened to the conversation of others 254 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: in the crowd, dressed in black with his slack silver 255 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: hair cutting. An unimpressive figure compared to well everyone, but 256 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: still radiant is a disco ball in his role was 257 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: center of gravity for the Knight's Downtown Carnival. Tony Defreese 258 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 1: was there that night to lock down Warhol actor Paul 259 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: Morrissey for a film he was producing. David Bowie was 260 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: there to kiss the ring when he met Andy, but 261 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: we awkwardly played him his song Andy Warhol. It was 262 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: clear from the silence afterward that Andy hated it. David Bowie, 263 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: if he was affected by the diss. 264 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 2: Didn't let it show. 265 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: He was going to make it in America, with or 266 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: without Andy Warhol's blessing. Eventually, Ziggy Starred Us broke through 267 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: in the States, and with it a mainstream cult of 268 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: Bowie fanaticism. 269 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 2: Fans would come to. 270 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: Shows just as Bowie's alter ego, faces painted with lightning bolts, 271 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: hair teased or covered with flaming red wigs to mob 272 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: their idol, and a sea of imitations of this version 273 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: of himself Pact Arena sang along to Ziggy tunes on 274 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: mass The image first philosophy of Tony de Friese was 275 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 1: finally paying off. In the summer of nineteen seventy two, 276 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: the album had peaked on the US charts at are 277 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: respectable seventy five on the Billboard two hundred, but by 278 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,920 Speaker 1: the fall, the massively successful Ziggy Stardus Tour had come 279 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: to the US for the start of its North American leg, 280 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: and Bowie was playing Carnegie Hall and inviting Andy war 281 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: Hall in his famed factory entourage to come visit his show. 282 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: And the success, of course, came with perks. To call 283 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: David Bowie sexually adventurous would not be an overstatement, but 284 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: more than that, he was a sexual opportunist. The conquests 285 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: of his wife Angelo Bowie where as notorious as her 286 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,680 Speaker 1: rock star husbands, and sometimes even too much for him 287 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: to handle despite their open marriage. Their home on Street 288 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: in London had what Angie and David's friends referred to 289 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: as the Pit, a sunken room with a big bed 290 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: covered in furs plush carpet, perfect for sexual exhibitionism and voyeurism. 291 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: The orgies of mister and missus David Bowie were the 292 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: stuff of legend, and there it was all twelve inches 293 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: John Binden, the infamous London gangster's famous penis. It was 294 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: every bit as prodigious as Princess Margaret had described. For her, 295 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: John would stack five pint glasses on top of it, 296 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: using its strength and girth to keep the glasses from falling. 297 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: For Angela Bowie, he'd take on five women for the 298 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 1: viewing pleasure of her and her friends, until, of course, 299 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: they could no longer stand the sight of it and 300 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:47,639 Speaker 1: be forced by their own lust to join in on 301 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 1: the fun. Inside the pit. But for David there was 302 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 1: no upside. 303 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 2: In this particular orgy. 304 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: It was all spectacle, lacking an opportunity. There was nothing 305 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: to gain from sex with John Bindon was no magic 306 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: and therefore no power. But he knew of sexual magic, 307 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: and he knew of the power it was rumored to summit. 308 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: The type of power you couldn't find in smart set 309 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: orgies or in Andy Warhol's factory. The type of power 310 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: that brought you closer to the golden dawn. The type 311 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: of power that frightened drew you into the ragged hole 312 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: that tore you between light and dark. The type of 313 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: power that was found in the occult, specifically in the 314 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: writings of Alistair Crowley, dark power. 315 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this work, work work. 316 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: Of all the drugs readily available for rock stars in 317 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, none gave more of a false sense 318 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: of self than cocaine. The drug gave you a blast 319 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: of energy, only to have you crash for days. It 320 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: filled you with confidence before hallowing you out with paranoid 321 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: Nothing felt more real than the way one felt during 322 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: the night spent hoovering Escobar's finest yet made you feel 323 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: like more of a fraud the next morning. Cocaine. It's 324 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: a hell of a drug, so real but so funny. 325 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: This conflict was very much on the mind of David 326 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,360 Speaker 1: Bowie when he set out to record the album Young Americans. 327 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: Having grown up around musicians as a teenager and a 328 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 1: young adult, I have regrettably been on the wrong side 329 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: of five AM in some stranger's kitchen, listening to some 330 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: stone talentless moron blather on about the new record they 331 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: had conceived of that was gonna blow your mind. Man. 332 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: Bowie's Young Americans is what happens when that stone moron 333 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:42,640 Speaker 1: actually has talent and just. 334 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 2: As important ambition. 335 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 1: Young Americans is the five Am Cocaine concept album come 336 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: to life, and it's fucking glorious. The album is unlike 337 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: anything Bowie had attempted before, and in typical David Bowie fashion, 338 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: it sounded like nothing the world but ever heard. It 339 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:03,399 Speaker 1: was Bowie's concept of plastics, a modernized, unapologetically Anglo version 340 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: of seventy soul im poppy as all help, and for 341 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: the recording session, Bowie brought together a murderous row of 342 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: emerging talent to record in Philadelphia with Tony Visconsin's trusted 343 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: production tying it off together. Bowie was in search of 344 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: that Philly soul sound, and to that end, a baby 345 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: faced twenty three year old Carlos Alomar held down the 346 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: guitar while a co writer and vocal arranger named Luther 347 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: Vandros was overheard singing along in the control room and 348 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: hired as an additional backup singer in one of his 349 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: first big breaks. Bowie had a nose for talent, among 350 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:39,159 Speaker 1: other things. Of course, calling his version of soul plastic 351 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,880 Speaker 1: gave the white musical interlope for cover provided a stylish 352 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: slide of hand misdirection to obscure the appropriation. But appropriation aside, 353 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: the album truly doesn't sound like anything before it. The 354 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: songs are so classic now that we take them for 355 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: granted fascination fame, young Americans. We are so accustomed to 356 00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: hearing these songs as part of our rock and roll 357 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,719 Speaker 1: lineage staples of the seventies, that we, especially if we 358 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: were born after the release, are denied the context from 359 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: which those songs first hit the airways. Nothing sounded like 360 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: them before. Now they just sound like David Bowie's songs. 361 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: But in nineteen seventy five on the radio. Anyway, they 362 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: sounded as an alien as Ziggy Stardust had looked in 363 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. And we have cocaine to thank for 364 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: this album. It fueled Bowie during the conception and creation 365 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: of Young Americans, just as it fueled one of Bowie's 366 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: fascinations at the time, occultist Alistair Crowley. The prolific nineteenth 367 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: century writer. Crowley had declared himself a prophet of a 368 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: new religion that glorified the self and the pursuit of 369 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: individual will. Crowley's deep belief in occult magic met his 370 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: vision of freedom and enlightenment. Included ritualistic orgies and mind 371 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:55,199 Speaker 1: expanding drug experiences, And for Crowley, the most tempting drug 372 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: was cocaine. Give cocaine to a man already wise, and 373 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: if he'd be really of himself, it will do him 374 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: no harm, Crowley said, before warning alas the power of 375 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 1: the drug diminishes with a fearful pace, the doses wax, 376 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,880 Speaker 1: the pleasures wan side issues invisible at first arise. They 377 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: were like devils with flaming pitchforks in their hands. Bowie 378 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: sought to explore the mystic depths of Crowley's teachings. He 379 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: began attending seances where he saw clear evidence of the 380 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: activation of. 381 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:26,360 Speaker 2: The dark Arts. 382 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 1: It freaked him out, and the cocaine fueled his paranoia. 383 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,199 Speaker 1: David Bowie wanted to know where the guns were. He 384 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 1: was scared. The cocaine had him wired uptight and fear. 385 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: Paranoia brought on from not just the coke, but some 386 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: twisted sense of guilt. At least it did during that 387 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: dark year nineteen seventy five, pulled up in a drug 388 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: stoopor in Los Angeles, seventy five, La Fame Beyond as 389 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:57,640 Speaker 1: wild as dreams. 390 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,400 Speaker 2: The future was bright, but his head was. 391 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: Dark and stuck back in seventy two, after Carnegie Hall, 392 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: after Springsteen at Maxis, after the Asbury Park pilgrimage, mining 393 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: the Boss's truly unique American gold. It was Philadelphia, the 394 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin Hotel, talk of Freud, holding Coffield, Picasso and 395 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: the Pedophiles. It was before Lori Maddox on the West Coast, 396 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: and there was no. 397 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 2: Excuse for that one. It burned in retrospect. 398 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: She was fifteen, a baby groupie. 399 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 2: He was a man. 400 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: He took a virginity, she willingly obliged. If it wasn't 401 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: going to be him, it was going to be Paige 402 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: or Planned or Rod or Todd. So gross a different time, 403 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: but still so gross, but not as gross as the 404 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: Ben Franklin and Philly back in seventy two, Caruso, that 405 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: Jersey Shore goddess, straight out of wild Billy's back seat, 406 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: Greasy sheets, greasy Lake. Down on the dark side of 407 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: Rude eighty eight, City of Brotherly Love, Generosity, freak Show, 408 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: a true walk on. 409 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 2: The wild Side. 410 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: Lou would approve the hotel's Sweet. Doorbell rang, his security answer. 411 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: He went to see what the fuss was about, and 412 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: there it was. His security guards were shocked into silence, 413 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: so was he, and they just stared at it. The 414 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: fan who brought it up to the Sweet stood wild eyed. 415 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: When the fan spoke, he filled the room with a 416 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: dark insanity that was palpable. See what I did for you? 417 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,719 Speaker 1: You deserve this, You're Bowie man, This is yours. 418 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 2: Take it. 419 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:29,200 Speaker 1: It's for you for sex. David was immediately nauseous. There 420 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: in a suite, just inside the door, a gurney on it, 421 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: a dead body. Still more, he quickly retreated back to 422 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: his hotel suite bedroom to hide under the covers with Crusoe. 423 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: It was horrifying, He asked her, Why would someone do this? 424 00:25:45,600 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 1: Who do they think I am? The memory still gripped him. 425 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 1: It was a bridge too far, a bridge that he 426 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: was still connected to through the dark power of Crowley 427 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: Cocaine in Sex Magic. He tripped some invisible wire. He 428 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: knew it, and now his whole world was unraveling. Dark 429 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,520 Speaker 1: power conjured haphazardly or neglected, can run amok. It can 430 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: consume you, become you. David Bowie's cocaine induced obsession with 431 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,119 Speaker 1: Crowley in the Occult let him around some dark corners. 432 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 2: Particularly to fascism. 433 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: He stayed up into the early morning hours, getting high 434 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: and viewing old, real real Nazi propaganda films. He was 435 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: fascinated by the imagery, the narcissism, the occultish symbolism, the pageantry. 436 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: It had little to do with the politics. It was 437 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: all style, gall hubris. The theater of it all gripped him. 438 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: This around the same time he'd recorded and released The 439 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: Black Inspired Young Americans, an album widely accepted by the 440 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,199 Speaker 1: black record buying public, an album that led to him 441 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:00,719 Speaker 1: being the first white musician to appear on Soul Train Power. 442 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: They work in strange ways. They can consume you, yes, 443 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: and propel you sure, but they can. 444 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 2: Also defeat you. 445 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 1: Bowie knew this, and it's what had him freak the 446 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: fuck out in his Los Angeles home back in seventy five. 447 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,200 Speaker 1: David heard his name whispered at night from out of nowhere. 448 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,400 Speaker 1: He saw things in the sky that weren't there, ghostly 449 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: visions of Aleister Crowley. He felt cold air blow through 450 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: the sweltering summer nights, tasted nothing, sustained himself almost entirely 451 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,640 Speaker 1: on milk, kilapeno peppers, cocaine and cigarettes. He had lost 452 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: touch with himself, whoever that was anyway, who do they 453 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 1: think I am? The power was clearly in the hands 454 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: of someone else. 455 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:47,160 Speaker 2: Now. 456 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: David knew this, so again he wanted the guns. His 457 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: friend slash BFF slash botonic lover slash sometime roommate slash 458 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 1: Coke buddied Glenn Hughes of Deep Purples. 459 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 2: No help. 460 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: Glenn was smart enough to not tell Bowie where he 461 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: kept the guns. But Bowie needed something to fend off 462 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: the demon, the very real demon living among them, possibly 463 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,440 Speaker 1: within him, along with as many other alter egos jockey 464 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: and form position within the vessel that was David Bowie, 465 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: his ego, his super ego, Major Tom, the Laughing Gnome, Ziggi, 466 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,199 Speaker 1: the sin white Duke, all battling it out in subservience 467 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: to his unfettered inn Without guns, another solution was needed, 468 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: so Bowie commenced to have an exorcism in his backyard 469 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: to rid the demon who'd taken up residence in his 470 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: swimming pool. Glenn didn't believe him at first, who would 471 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: It was crazy, but he saw it with his own eyes, 472 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: or at least he saw what he believed to be 473 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: the work of the devil. There they stood Bowie, Glenn, 474 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: o priestess, another witness in Bowie's backyard be a protection 475 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: against the wickedness and snares of the devil. The water 476 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: in the pool was still. May God repeat you, kid, 477 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: we humbly prayed. Then a ripple and do thou, old 478 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: Prince of the heavenly host. The water started to roll slowly. 479 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: Boie's stomach churned with fear. Glenn felt his jaw come 480 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: unhinged by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan. 481 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: Now the water in the pool begin to boil, to thrash, 482 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: small ways crashed into and around each other, and all 483 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: evil spirits who wandered through the world for the ruin 484 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: of souls, and with that an intense thundercloud a blinding 485 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: flash of light. Instinctively, they covered their ears with their hands, 486 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: ducked and looked away. They turned back to the pool, 487 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: and it was once again still calm. A sense of 488 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: relief washed over them all. David Bowie knew it then. 489 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: He needed to pull his head together, pull himself together, 490 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: regain his sense of self, clean up, dry out, and 491 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: exercise his own demons, or he'd be dead before the 492 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: end of the decade. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, 493 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,239 Speaker 1: a late nineteenth early twentieth century secret society, set up 494 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: shop in Great Britain toward the end of the eighteen hundreds. 495 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: Their influence was so great that members of the Golden 496 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 1: Dawn could be found in every class of Victorian society. 497 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: Celebrities of the day included poet William Butler, Yates, actress 498 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: Florence Farr, and, of course, the occultist renaissance man himself, 499 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: Alistair Crowley. Strong dynamic personalities, all their writings, rituals, and 500 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: transgressive behavior would come to dominate the imaginations of many. 501 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: The allure of a new kind of power attainable through 502 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: occult magic drugs, particularly cocaine, and gloriously hedonistic sociosexual ritual 503 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: that encouraged bisexuality in polyamory was, to put it, mildly, 504 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: wildly subversive for the time, which is kind of the point, 505 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: subverting conventional society and norms. It wasn't all that dissimilar 506 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: to popular thinking in the nineteen sixties. England's progressive pull 507 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: from the establishment that began in Swinging London, in America's 508 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: new hippie utopia that sprung from beatenick coffee shops in 509 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: college campuses started with the best of intentions, but by 510 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: the time the nineteen seventies rolled around, that idealism had 511 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: been obliterated by excess nihilism and narcissism, and David Bowie 512 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: was most definitely aware of the hermetic order. He explicitly 513 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: spoke of the Golden Dawn on Honky Dory's Quicksand and 514 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 1: his dedication to the philosophy and its focus on the 515 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: needs of the individual over all else nearly broke him. 516 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: Do what thou wilt is all well and good when 517 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: you're servicing one individual. But in Bowie's case it was 518 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: many Ziggy, the thin white Duke, Little Davy Jones, etc. 519 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,479 Speaker 1: What began as a creative assortment of alter egos had 520 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: become a schizophrenic secret society run amook in his own mind, 521 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: fueled by cocaine, mad for sex, and completely subverting his 522 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: sense of self. It propelled him towards madness. We all 523 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: answer to many masters, or what one guru called the 524 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: many eyes. We think we are one, a singular being 525 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,239 Speaker 1: charting our course in life or our daily rituals, as 526 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: innocuous in comparison to David Bowie or Alistair Crowley's as 527 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: those rituals may be. But the reality is we are 528 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: many people at once. We think of ourselves in the 529 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: singular I am, I want, I do. 530 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 2: Et cetera. 531 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: But the reality is we are constantly conflicted by our 532 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: true desires, our true selves, our many true selves. You 533 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: go to bed at night and pledge to get up 534 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: at six am to exercise. You not only set your alarm, 535 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 1: you even lay your workout, close out and get your 536 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: coffee maker ready. But that alarm goes off, and despite 537 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: your best intentions, the night before the morning version of 538 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: you hit snooze, grabs that extra hour of sleep and 539 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,520 Speaker 1: pledges to work out the next day. You commit to 540 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: reading more nonfiction to educate yourself, put twenty pages into 541 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: that new Eric Larsen book on Churchill, and you're reaching 542 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: for the remote to binge the Flora's Lava on Netflix. 543 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: Are you a hypocrite? Are you weak minded, schizophrenic? No, 544 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: of course not. You're human. We all are, and we 545 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: are not singular beings. We are many eyes, all with 546 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: competing agendas. It's our great challenge to unify our desires, 547 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: our thinking, our beings and attain some sort of conscious peace, 548 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,479 Speaker 1: a proposition that was nearly impossible for David Bowie, for 549 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,960 Speaker 1: as many eyes were incredibly strong manifestations of his wild 550 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,719 Speaker 1: imagination and creativity. Next time you're struggling to get out 551 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: of bed for a six am run, imagine trying to 552 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: do so with ziggy Stardust in your head telling you 553 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: to give it another romp, with the two models lying 554 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,719 Speaker 1: next to you, while the thin white duke chimes in 555 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 1: than in order to do that, more cocaine is needed, 556 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: stat and oh, by the way. The tin Man is calling, 557 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: and Lazarus refuses to be ignored. Tom is floating around 558 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: your bed in his tin can, but David Bowie eventually 559 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,399 Speaker 1: silenced them all. He ended the seventies by drying out 560 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: with his friend Iggy Pop in Berlin and completing a 561 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: trilogy of great long Players, Low Heroes and Lodger. He 562 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: then conquered the age of video in the eighties, a 563 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: medium he was uniquely suited for, and continued throughout the 564 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: nineties and early two thousands to release compelling music up 565 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:27,520 Speaker 1: until his passing in twenty sixteen with the release of 566 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:32,320 Speaker 1: his final album, Blackstar. But before passing from this world 567 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: to the next, David Bowie had some unfinished business. He 568 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,799 Speaker 1: knew his death was coming, but it wasn't the end, 569 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,800 Speaker 1: It was the beginning. Transcending this life to the next. 570 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: Passage on the astral plane is not a given for any, 571 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: and definitely not for many. Unification was necessary. Major Tom 572 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: had ascended some years ago, untethered, yes, but forever bound 573 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: to Boie, Ziggy Stardus had to ended not of this 574 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,719 Speaker 1: world too charismatic to ever fully fade, and the thin 575 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 1: White Duke had pillaged his way out of control, only 576 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,240 Speaker 1: to be excommunicated, but forever capable of ruling an exile 577 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: via proxy. They were still all there with him in 578 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,200 Speaker 1: the end, despite their diminished capacity and influence on his 579 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,359 Speaker 1: life and career over his last few decades, they were 580 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:26,440 Speaker 1: all still there, and so too was Crowley. Incanting an 581 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: occult ritual. On the title track from Blackstar. In the 582 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: first verse from David Bowie's final creative contribution, Bowie sings 583 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:39,800 Speaker 1: about the Villa of Ormon in a solitary candle, solitary singular. 584 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:45,239 Speaker 1: David Bowie was tying together russens, unifying the symbolism of 585 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,760 Speaker 1: Blackstar in its lyrics. In its video, released two days 586 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: before David Bowie died, is filled with references to Bowie's 587 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: many eyes, not to mention to the occult. It was 588 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: directed by self proclaimed Crowley fanatic director Johann Wreck. From 589 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: the Black Star title itself a reference to the occult 590 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: concept of the midnight sun or the spirit of man 591 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 1: shining through the darkness, Bowie sings about something happening on 592 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 1: the day he died and about meter traveling through light, 593 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: meter the length of the path traveled by light, the 594 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:21,439 Speaker 1: midnight sun, man shining through the Darkness the Black Star. 595 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 1: Major Tom Way past one hundred thousand miles forty seven 596 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: years later, finally located dead in a spacesuit on a 597 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:33,240 Speaker 1: distant planet as portrayed in the Blackstar video. The skull 598 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,920 Speaker 1: in Major Tom's helmet is no ordinary skull. It's ornie, 599 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: a gift from the royals, a parting acknowledgment of defeat 600 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:44,280 Speaker 1: from the Duke, the Thin White Duke, a priceless artifact 601 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,040 Speaker 1: of the gods of one god, in particular, the rock 602 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,440 Speaker 1: god Ziggy, a god whose influence on his subject of 603 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: want had finally ceased. Bowie emotes near the song's end 604 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,400 Speaker 1: that it was somebody else who took his place. He sings, 605 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:04,480 Speaker 1: I'm a black Star, a Blackstar. Finally, David Bowie had 606 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: reconciled his alter egos, unified one absolute or, as he said, 607 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: I'm the Great, I am I'm the Blackstar, a conscious 608 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: piece at last, unity fuel for the astral plane. 609 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,359 Speaker 2: Far from this world, Far. 610 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: From Disgrace, I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland 611 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,319 Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership 612 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,440 Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found 613 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If 614 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 1: you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you 615 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: for supporting the show, we really appreciate it, and if not, 616 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:57,360 Speaker 1: you can become a member right now by going to 617 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 1: disgrace lamppod dot com slash memory. Members can listen to 618 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: every episode of disgracelam ad free, Plus you'll get one 619 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,400 Speaker 1: brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, 620 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:14,320 Speaker 1: special audio collections, and early access to merchandise and events. 621 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 1: Visit disgraylampod dot com slash membership for details, rate and 622 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, 623 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,640 Speaker 1: and Facebook at Disgrace lampod and on YouTube at YouTube 624 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:33,760 Speaker 1: dot com slash at Disgraceslampod Rock a Roller, he Thednland