Speaker 1: Off the record is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: It would take more than a little rain the scare away.
Speaker 1: The dozen kids camped outside of Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Recording studios,
Speaker 1: After all, David Bowie was inside. It was just after
Speaker 1: midnight on August. Two weeks earlier, Richard Nixon had become
Speaker 1: the first US president to resign from office. But there
Speaker 1: was much bigger news for these teens, their heroes in
Speaker 1: town to record a new album. As word got out,
Speaker 1: the local contingent of Bowie fans snapped into action, establishing
Speaker 1: a communications system that would put the FBI to shame.
Speaker 1: They seem to know where David was at all hours.
Speaker 1: For days, a rotating group waited outside his hotel and
Speaker 1: then tailed them to the studio, sometimes beating his Cadillac limousine.
Speaker 1: Bowie and his entourage were used to crowds, but few
Speaker 1: of such unwavering dedication. They'd wait for hours on the
Speaker 1: hard sidewalk ledge for word, a smile, even just a
Speaker 1: glimpse rain or shine. Night or day. There they were
Speaker 1: a tribe of teenage Martians holding vigil in an alley
Speaker 1: just off a skid row. Many couldn't even drive Lord
Speaker 1: only knows what they told their parents. They formed a
Speaker 1: small community with their own etiquette and hierarchy. Some brought blankets,
Speaker 1: others radios. Most wore glittery jackets and spiky hairdos dyed
Speaker 1: fluorescent shades of red. Their classmates called them freaks. They
Speaker 1: had adopt a different name for themselves, the devotes. They
Speaker 1: came from all over town, united by their love of
Speaker 1: their favorite alien rock star. Bowie spoke to whatever it
Speaker 1: was that made them feel different, other and isolated. Sexuality, intelligence,
Speaker 1: social values, creative aspirations, or even just pure rebellion. They
Speaker 1: weren't groupies. They didn't want sex. They didn't want anything
Speaker 1: other than the odds cigarette but or strand of hair
Speaker 1: collected from inside his limo. But other than that, just
Speaker 1: being near him was enough. Or rather than feeling stalked,
Speaker 1: Bowie was touched. They were sweet. He began to look
Speaker 1: for them each day and a friendship started to develop.
Speaker 1: He dubbed them the Sigma Kids. Sometimes he'd opened the
Speaker 1: window of the control room, allowing them to hear a
Speaker 1: playback or what he was working on, a small thank
Speaker 1: you for their devotion. But today he had something special
Speaker 1: for them. If you're still out here when I come out,
Speaker 1: he told them earlier that evening. Then I'll have a
Speaker 1: surprise for you, but don't tell anyone. And so the
Speaker 1: faithful few waited through the rainy night. They just received
Speaker 1: an invitation from David Bowie. What would you do? It
Speaker 1: was almost dawned when Bowie's bodyguard ushering them inside the studio.
Speaker 1: Chairs and refreshments have been arranged on the studio floor
Speaker 1: for the twelve or so lucky ones, all laid out
Speaker 1: in front of a pair of massive speakers. The underaged
Speaker 1: kids made a grab for the wine and champagne, but
Speaker 1: most were way too nervous to pick up the corns
Speaker 1: beef sandwiches. Once Bowie made his entrance, he traded his
Speaker 1: astral attire up the prior year for an ultracool pastel blazer,
Speaker 1: loose tie, and hip tinted aviators. David posed for photos
Speaker 1: and signed autographs, and even politely declined one girl's marriage proposal.
Speaker 1: He thanked them all for being so wonderful and supportive.
Speaker 1: Then he asked if they wanted to hear his latest
Speaker 1: work in progress, as if that was even a question,
Speaker 1: but he was serious. The music was unlike any he'd
Speaker 1: ever made, and he wanted their feedback. David sat in
Speaker 1: the back of the room as they listened, biting his
Speaker 1: nails anxiously. He was worried. These weren't record labeled yes
Speaker 1: man or people on his payroll. These were his most
Speaker 1: dedicated fans. They'd proven it over the last few days.
Speaker 1: Would they like it or would he let them down?
Speaker 1: Most came dressed as ziggy star dust and this was
Speaker 1: anything but. David had come the Sigma Studios in search
Speaker 1: of the sound of Philadelphia, known R and wide as
Speaker 1: Philly Soul, the smooth, sonic blend that was being hailed
Speaker 1: as the second coming of Motown, a bridge between funk
Speaker 1: and disco. Philly Soul hits were burning up the American charts,
Speaker 1: crossing over from black radio to white audiences. Bowie was
Speaker 1: just one of the many fans of this jubilant music.
Speaker 1: For all of his fame, he hadn't had a top
Speaker 1: forty hit in the United States. He hoped these new
Speaker 1: R and B tinged tracks would be his breakthrough, but
Speaker 1: it was a gamble what audiences accepted or was he
Speaker 1: just some liney trying in vain the same music that
Speaker 1: didn't belong to him? After all, it took a certain
Speaker 1: amount of goal for a brit to sing a song
Speaker 1: called Young Americans to a bunch of actual young Americans.
Speaker 1: David studied their young faces closely, looking for some kind
Speaker 1: of reaction that they were inscrutable. When it was over,
Speaker 1: a stunned silence fell over the room. For these sleep
Speaker 1: deprived kids, that all felt like a dream. They were
Speaker 1: in the studio with David Bowie, listening to his latest music,
Speaker 1: and it was totally unlike anything they'd ever heard from him.
Speaker 1: How could they respond to this most magical moment in
Speaker 1: their lives? For one brief, awful moment, David thought they
Speaker 1: hated it. Then one of them screamed, play it again.
Speaker 1: David's face lit up. Really, he asked with a sheepish grin.
Speaker 1: The kids yelled in the affirmative yes. The night ended
Speaker 1: in a dance party. Bowie and his fans did the
Speaker 1: stomp and the bump as the sun rose over Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: It was a new day. Hello, and welcome to Off
Speaker 1: the Record, the show that goes beyond the songs and
Speaker 1: into the hearts and minds of rock's greatest legends. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Jordan Runtug. This season explores the life, or
Speaker 1: rather lives of David Bowie. Today's episode looks at David,
Speaker 1: the young American. He'd arrived on US Shores in the
Speaker 1: spring of four to launch The Man Am a Diamond
Speaker 1: Dogs Tour, the Broadway style production inspired by Orwell and
Speaker 1: his own unnerving trip behind the Iron Curtain. The show
Speaker 1: was his most elaborate venture to date, epitomizing the dystopian
Speaker 1: drama that had made him a star. Yet, as David
Speaker 1: spent more and more time in the States, he found
Speaker 1: himself reconnecting with the music that enthralled him as a
Speaker 1: young boy American soul on R and B. This radical
Speaker 1: departure brought the risk of alienating his fans, who all
Speaker 1: but worshiped David's sci fi characters, But with the help
Speaker 1: of some of the finest funk players of the era,
Speaker 1: plus a Beatle, it became his biggest success to date.
Speaker 1: Trading choreographed theater for genuine emotion proved to be a
Speaker 1: revelation for David and a major artistic leap forward, But
Speaker 1: his escalating cocaine used threatened everything his career, his marriage,
Speaker 1: and even his life. David Bowie hadn't planned to conclude
Speaker 1: the Asian leg of a Ziggy Stardust tour and a
Speaker 1: Siberian ghoulaw, but that was looking increasingly likely. It had
Speaker 1: all been going so well too. It was April three,
Speaker 1: and he just wrapped the triumphant series of dates in Japan.
Speaker 1: Rather than fly home, the notoriously plain Phillibic David decided
Speaker 1: to take the scenic route, an eight day, six thousand
Speaker 1: mile train journey across Russia. The luxurious Trans Siberian Express
Speaker 1: looked like a holdover from the days of the Czar,
Speaker 1: with opulent golden mirrors, soft developed couches, and polished dark
Speaker 1: wood paneling. The elegance of David's quarters made the poverty
Speaker 1: outside all the more shocking. As the train whisked them
Speaker 1: through the grim, colorless terrain, Cold dust filled the air
Speaker 1: and even infiltrated the car, leading David to joke about
Speaker 1: changing his name to Ziggy soot Dust. The tracks were
Speaker 1: lined with ramshackle structures of rotted wood and frayed rope
Speaker 1: homes for the peasants who eked out a living in
Speaker 1: the barren Soviet countryside. Outside, David spotted an elderly woman,
Speaker 1: old and a to be a grandmother ramming railroad spikes
Speaker 1: with a sledgehammer. The vision disturbed him. The entire journey
Speaker 1: was tinged with an uneasiness. Life in the communist Eastern
Speaker 1: Bloc was rigidly controlled, with checkpoints and endless paperwork enforced
Speaker 1: by steely eyed, on smiling officials. David pushed his luck
Speaker 1: one day when he ventured outside the train during a
Speaker 1: brief stop at a small town. Playing the tourist, he
Speaker 1: began to film the scene with this home movie camera.
Speaker 1: This didn't sit well with two uniformed guards, who immediately
Speaker 1: descended on him. Before they could shove him into a
Speaker 1: waiting armored car, he was rescued by a pair of
Speaker 1: train attendants who physically carried him back to the train
Speaker 1: and out of harm's way. I've never been so damn
Speaker 1: scared in my entire life, David would later say. The
Speaker 1: first hand experience with a totalitarian regime would help inspire
Speaker 1: his next album of new material. Initially, David planned to
Speaker 1: go full well in adapting the novel four into a
Speaker 1: stage musical tenively titled We Are the Dead, but author
Speaker 1: George Orwell's widow was horrified at the thought of putting
Speaker 1: the book to music, especially rock music, and refused to
Speaker 1: give David the rights. Annoyed but undeterred, David took the
Speaker 1: songs he'd written and adapted the idea in new his
Speaker 1: own dystopian tale, Diamond Dogs Orwell's London became the post
Speaker 1: apocalyptic Hunger City, where teenage punks on rusty skates lived
Speaker 1: on roofs and marauding dogs with red mutint eyes proud
Speaker 1: the decaying streets. The lyrics told the story of a
Speaker 1: new character, Halloween Jack, a real cool cat who lived
Speaker 1: on the top of Manhattan Chase Bank, above the ravage
Speaker 1: urban healthscape. Hunger City wasn't far removed from reality. In
Speaker 1: the fall of nineteentree, Urban America had descended into ruin
Speaker 1: New York was heading full speed towards the financial collapse
Speaker 1: that would overwhelm the city in just a few years,
Speaker 1: leaving the metropolis bankrupt burning. The Watergate scandal was gaining momentum,
Speaker 1: exposing the paranoia and deception at the heart of the
Speaker 1: world's leading democracy. Gas shortages meant lengthy lines and the
Speaker 1: most extreme rationing since the Second World War. In England,
Speaker 1: a minor strike and oil embargo left millions freezing and
Speaker 1: unheeded offices and factories. For the first time in living memory,
Speaker 1: quality of life seemed to be getting demonstrably worse instead
Speaker 1: of better. Had the world taken a wrong turn? David's
Speaker 1: obtuse lyrics with the result of a new approach to
Speaker 1: his writing borrowed from William S. Burrows. David met the
Speaker 1: legendary author as part of a joint interview for Rolling
Speaker 1: Stone That Fall and grew fascinated by burrows cut and
Speaker 1: paste composition technique, with words pulled from a basket at
Speaker 1: random and threaded together to create a fresh spur of
Speaker 1: the moment thought. David would describe it as sort of
Speaker 1: a Western terror. There was a beauty in the spontaneity,
Speaker 1: and he was fascinated by a quote the wonder House
Speaker 1: of Strange Shapes, colors, tastes and feelings that created That
Speaker 1: wasn't the only change to his working methods, Diamond Dogs
Speaker 1: found David Leaving tried An Studios, his creative home since
Speaker 1: the days of Space Oddity, in favor of Olympic Studios.
Speaker 1: He also dispensed with two of his most crucial collaborators.
Speaker 1: One was producer Ken Scott, who had overseen his remarkable
Speaker 1: run from Hunky Dorry to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin, saying
Speaker 1: the other was Mick Ronson. More than just the lead
Speaker 1: guitarists for the so called Spiders from Mars, Ronson had
Speaker 1: been David's musical arranger, on stage, sparring partner, and artistic
Speaker 1: soul brother. Publicly, David blamed the split on musical differences,
Speaker 1: citing Ronson's obsession with Jeff Beck as a hindrance to
Speaker 1: his own artistic journey. But the truth was more complex.
Speaker 1: David wanted to make a clean break with his past,
Speaker 1: new studio, new producer, new musicians. The fact that Ronson
Speaker 1: had recently released a solo album, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Speaker 1: also rubbed David the wrong way. For years, Ronson had
Speaker 1: resided on the edge of David's spotlight. Now he was
Speaker 1: fifty ft tall on a Times square billboard paid for
Speaker 1: by David's own management company, Maine Man. David felt, on
Speaker 1: some level betrayed that Ronson was now trying to be
Speaker 1: at the Star. This explains why David, never the most
Speaker 1: nimble fingered of players, handled most of the guitar parts
Speaker 1: on Diamond Dogs himself. If Rono was going to play
Speaker 1: the front man, David would try his hand at being
Speaker 1: the guitar god. The end result of both ventures were mixed.
Speaker 1: Ronson's solo album tanked, and David struggled onto the workload writing,
Speaker 1: producing and singing the material, as well as playing guitar, saxophone,
Speaker 1: and a host of keyboards, all by himself. I was
Speaker 1: very much on my own, he would later say of
Speaker 1: the sessions, it was my most difficult album. The situation
Speaker 1: was made worse when Olympic Studios gave David the boot
Speaker 1: for failure to pay for the sessions. The blame fell
Speaker 1: on Maine Man, which was spending money significantly faster than
Speaker 1: they earned it. Just the American branch of main Man
Speaker 1: employed some twenty people throughout multiple offices spread across prime
Speaker 1: Manhattan real estate. On call, limousines, private jets, and even
Speaker 1: helicopters got employees where they needed to go and expense
Speaker 1: accounts at Bloomingdale's ensured that they looked fabulous as they
Speaker 1: did so vanity projects, cases of Don Pere, Young champagne, rodeo,
Speaker 1: drive shopping sprees. Everything was being paid for by the
Speaker 1: company's sole successful artist, David Bowie, not that he knew
Speaker 1: anything about it. He was far too focused on completing
Speaker 1: Diamond Dogs and set off to a recording studio in
Speaker 1: the Netherlands to finish it. When it came time to
Speaker 1: mix the record, he called on his old friend Tony Vasconti.
Speaker 1: The pair hadn't worked together since Visconti produced the Difficult
Speaker 1: Sessions for The Man Who Sold the World more than
Speaker 1: three years earlier. David visited Tony at his new home studio,
Speaker 1: which was little more than a construction site at that time.
Speaker 1: Instead of chairs, they had to sit on old sawhorses.
Speaker 1: The following day, Tony saw a huge truck pull up.
Speaker 1: Out came tables, chairs, and a sofa. Within minutes, the
Speaker 1: whole place was furnished. Then David showed up with a
Speaker 1: big grin. That's kind of my studio warming present, he said.
Speaker 1: The moment of levity offset an otherwise maccabb album, characterized,
Speaker 1: in David's words by quote, a quality of obsession. It's desperate,
Speaker 1: almost panicked. He cited Diamond Dogs as his attempt at
Speaker 1: a protest record, but the optimistic we shall overcome spirit
Speaker 1: of the sixties had curdled into something darker and more sinister.
Speaker 1: You can't preach it people anymore, he said, at the time,
Speaker 1: you have to adopt a position of almost indifference. You
Speaker 1: have to be super cool nowadays. Released in April of
Speaker 1: it became David's highest charting album in the States to date,
Speaker 1: but it left many critics confused. The review and Rolling
Speaker 1: Stone read most of the songs are obscure tangles of perversion, degradation, fear,
Speaker 1: and self pity. The grotesque visions are presented in full
Speaker 1: in the album sleeve, depicting Bowie is a half man,
Speaker 1: half greyhound beast in a circus freak show. It's genitals
Speaker 1: air brushed out at the last minute in a ridiculous
Speaker 1: and costly nod the puritanical censorship. The painting had been
Speaker 1: done by bell Joernard's Gy Pilliard at Mick Jagger's recommendation. Well,
Speaker 1: perhaps recommendation isn't quite the right word. David was visiting
Speaker 1: Mick one day when the Rolling Stone frontman let it
Speaker 1: slip that he'd hired the painter to do the cover
Speaker 1: for the band's upcoming album, It's Only Rock and Roll.
Speaker 1: David loved the results so much that he commissioned Pilliard
Speaker 1: to do his own album. Due to hit shelves before
Speaker 1: the Stones, Bowie looked ahead of the curve, and Jagger
Speaker 1: was supremely annoyed. Mick was silly, Bowie cackled a short
Speaker 1: time later. I mean he should have ever showed me
Speaker 1: anything new Mix learned. Now He'll never do that again.
Speaker 1: Threats of legal action came to nothing, but Jagger would
Speaker 1: keep his famous lips shut when Bowie was around. He'd
Speaker 1: later say, be careful the shoes you wear around David,
Speaker 1: because the next time you see him, he'll be wearing them,
Speaker 1: and he'll be wearing them better than you. By this stage,
Speaker 1: Mick Jagger had officially supplanted Mark Bowland as David's rival
Speaker 1: of choice. Their relationship blossomed since Mick attended the Ziggy
Speaker 1: Farewell show in the summer of seventy three, but as
Speaker 1: David Starr continued to ascend, their relationship took on a
Speaker 1: more competitive edge. Five of David's records had reached the
Speaker 1: UK top forty at once, a feat that not even
Speaker 1: The Stones have been able to accomplish. When the band
Speaker 1: played a gig in Newcastle, Jagger couldn't help but feel
Speaker 1: the crowd's attention drifting away from him and towards the
Speaker 1: side of the stage where David was watching the show.
Speaker 1: The symbolism was obvious. David was literally waiting in the wings,
Speaker 1: and Mick had every right to be worried. Bowie saw
Speaker 1: him as the man to beat. As a young Maud
Speaker 1: in the sixties, David had eagerly offered to carry a
Speaker 1: guitar for Rolling Stone Brian Jones, only to be rudely
Speaker 1: told to piss off. Now he posed a serious threat
Speaker 1: to their title was the greatest rock act on the planet.
Speaker 1: David thought the Stones were on their way out. Now
Speaker 1: was his turn on the top of the pop pedestal.
Speaker 1: As David's wife Andrew would say, David wasn't only the
Speaker 1: diamond dog, he was the top dog. Their arrivalry drew
Speaker 1: them together like magnets, each one keeping a close eye
Speaker 1: on the other. Of course, a genuine friendship remained at
Speaker 1: the core, but neither could ever completely let their elegant
Speaker 1: formal persona slip, not when they were on double dates,
Speaker 1: fooling around on song fragments, drinking at any number of
Speaker 1: chic London watering holes, or even when they went to
Speaker 1: the casino to compete over who could lose the most money.
Speaker 1: Some in their circle believe that David was madly in
Speaker 1: love with Mick. It's likely that their mistaking admiration for lust.
Speaker 1: But if this is true, it's highly improbable that the
Speaker 1: feelings were reciprocated, And yet the rumors persist. They're stoked
Speaker 1: in large part by Angie Bowie in memoir. Andie wrote
Speaker 1: evocatively at the time she caught David and Mick and
Speaker 1: bed with one another. It's a tale that's become enshrined
Speaker 1: in rock lore. But most who knew the men doubt
Speaker 1: they could have ever let their guard down enough to
Speaker 1: consummate in the fair. Whether or not they actually shared
Speaker 1: a bed, they shared a great deal else. David's latest
Speaker 1: record drew much from the Stones more than just the
Speaker 1: choice and cover art. Olympic Studios have been the stones
Speaker 1: favorite haunt back in the sixties. David also poached their
Speaker 1: favorite engineer, Keith Harwood, to help with his sessions. Mick
Speaker 1: and employed the William Burrows cut up writing approach on
Speaker 1: the Stones Exile on Main Street album several years earlier.
Speaker 1: Diamond Dogs lead single Rebel. Rebel boasted a guitar riff
Speaker 1: and on beat drum pattern that sounds straight out of satisfaction.
Speaker 1: While recording the song, Bowie explicitly told these musicians, I
Speaker 1: want this to sound like the Stones. During sessions for
Speaker 1: Diamond Dogs, the Bowies moved into a new house just
Speaker 1: a short walk from Jaggers in the upscale London neighborhood
Speaker 1: of Chelsea. The decision to leave the funky Gothic communit
Speaker 1: hadden Hall had been difficult, but necessary. Fans descended on
Speaker 1: the place in droves, making it impossible for David to
Speaker 1: even set foot outside without being mobbed. He complained that
Speaker 1: he felt like a zoo animal in his own home.
Speaker 1: Door knobs and other pieces of the structure were stripped
Speaker 1: away about the Bowie faithful like holy relics. There was
Speaker 1: one terrifying incident when a woman attempted to abduct baby Zoe,
Speaker 1: but the final straw came when the Bowie's dinner was
Speaker 1: interrupted by a teenager who had shimmy through an open
Speaker 1: window totally nude. She approached David and meekly asked if
Speaker 1: she could kiss his foot. Uh, you can kiss my boot,
Speaker 1: he replied awkwardly. Then and you called the police. The
Speaker 1: hadden Hall era was over, but the spirit of artistic
Speaker 1: freakiness was certainly carried over to their new pad on
Speaker 1: Oakley Street. The five story George and Terrace House was
Speaker 1: decorated like a blend of Star Trek, Graceland and the
Speaker 1: Playboy Mansion. There were plastic sofas, glow in the dark sculptures,
Speaker 1: spherical television sets, oversized Dolly style paintings, and airbrush murals
Speaker 1: of sunrises and beach scenes. Hallways were lit by car headlights,
Speaker 1: and the white shag carpeted living room was dominated by
Speaker 1: a four ft deep sunken sitting area done up in
Speaker 1: white leather and finished off with the state of the
Speaker 1: art sound system and video player. And then there was
Speaker 1: the sunken, fur lined king size bed in the master quarters,
Speaker 1: mythologized as the Pit, the very public hub of all
Speaker 1: erotic activities at Shay Bowie, David and Angie through many parties.
Speaker 1: If you were liked, you were invited to end the
Speaker 1: evening in the pit, a venerable sexual cocoon. Whether McJagger
Speaker 1: spent time in the pit as a matter of conjecture,
Speaker 1: but there are many others who did. One frequent guest
Speaker 1: at Oakley Street was David's new girlfriend a young singer
Speaker 1: and model named David Cherry. They met in New York
Speaker 1: that February at a party celebrating Stevie Wonders concert at
Speaker 1: Carnegie Hall. David was drawn to Ava's bleached blonde buzz cut. Immediately,
Speaker 1: he asked her if she was a singer. She didn't
Speaker 1: have any professional experience at the time, but she said yes,
Speaker 1: a gutsy thing to do in a room filled with
Speaker 1: the likes of Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight. On the spot,
Speaker 1: he invited her to be his backing singer on an
Speaker 1: upcoming tour. A brief audition the next day led to dinner,
Speaker 1: a show, and a night in his hotel suite. She
Speaker 1: was awoken in bed the next morning by a knock
Speaker 1: at the door. That's when David introduced Ava to Angie,
Speaker 1: who seemed unnervingly happy to see her. Ava had no
Speaker 1: idea that David was already married, but she quickly got
Speaker 1: used to the idea this just must be how it
Speaker 1: is for rock stars. The backing singer gig fell through,
Speaker 1: but she joined the couple that fall with their new
Speaker 1: London home, the Minajatoi. Worked great for a while, all
Speaker 1: but things soon took a turn when David steered Ava
Speaker 1: into the studio, intent on developing her into another main
Speaker 1: Man star. David had never lavished such attention on Angie's career,
Speaker 1: and the resentment was immense. Lovemaking was one thing, but
Speaker 1: starmaking was quite another. Soon, at Angie's insistence, Ava was
Speaker 1: evicted from Oakley Street. David moved her into an apartment
Speaker 1: down the road, where they carried on their affair. Andie
Speaker 1: was even more bothered by another woman who had entered
Speaker 1: the picture. Unlike most, she would stay by David's side
Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. Her name was Karine Schwab,
Speaker 1: known to one on all as Coco. She'd started off
Speaker 1: as a secretary at Manman, foraging David's autograph for fan
Speaker 1: club photos and doing what she could to fight off
Speaker 1: the hordes of bill collectors. Her background was a bit grander,
Speaker 1: daughter of a distinguished French war photographer. Coco used to
Speaker 1: tell her friends that she was born during her mother's
Speaker 1: shopping trip to Bloomingdale's. Schooled in America, Europe, and Ashmere,
Speaker 1: she entered adulthood fluent in multiple languages and in possession
Speaker 1: of a strong, self assured demeanor. This made her uniquely
Speaker 1: well suited for the everyday chaos of made Man, which
Speaker 1: she handled with grace and an efficiency that intimidated the uninitiated.
Speaker 1: It wasn't long before she was promoted to David's personal assistant,
Speaker 1: a job title that barely hints at the complexity of
Speaker 1: their relationship. Coco became David's right hand, constant, companion, and
Speaker 1: as close as confidant. She shielded him from the outside world,
Speaker 1: at times, acting as his driver, chef, nurse, or manager.
Speaker 1: Her loyalty and devotion were legendary. One friend recalled, David
Speaker 1: has only to utter the words I'm hungry and in
Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere, Coco can cook a meal over
Speaker 1: a candle and put it in front of him. They
Speaker 1: quickly established a morning routine where she roused him each
Speaker 1: day by bringing him coffee and fresh orange juice, lighting
Speaker 1: his cigarette, and handing him his morning papers. She seemed
Speaker 1: to be all things, yet totally anonymous, who on assuming
Speaker 1: quality made her particularly lethal as David's personal pit bull.
Speaker 1: Ready and willing to attack without hesitation, Coco was fiercely protective,
Speaker 1: fending off the leeches, undesirable troublemakers, and anyone deemed a
Speaker 1: distraction or poor influence. This included many of David's old friends,
Speaker 1: who I had Coco with utmost suspicion. They wondered what
Speaker 1: motivated this petite powerhouse who seemed to live and die
Speaker 1: for David. Some thought she was just sad and possessive,
Speaker 1: allowing her own personality to be completely co opted by
Speaker 1: her charge. David. Cherry had a simpler theory. She thought
Speaker 1: Coco was in love with David from day one. Angie agreed,
Speaker 1: and she was kicking herself. It was she who recommended
Speaker 1: Coco for the job as David's assistant in the first place.
Speaker 1: Asie was impressed with Coco's work, ethic, and ferocity. In
Speaker 1: many ways, she reminded Angie of herself. Her instincts were right,
Speaker 1: too right, and now she'd been edged out as david
Speaker 1: co conspirator. She'd prefer to Coco as quote the gatekeeper
Speaker 1: in the assassin, who did David's dirty work for him
Speaker 1: and took all the consequences. As far as Angie was concerned,
Speaker 1: she was a surrogate wife and mother. David's frosty relationship
Speaker 1: with his own mom, Peggy had left him starved from
Speaker 1: eternal attention on affection. He wants a mother, Angie would
Speaker 1: later observe, and Coco was a mother's substitute. They were
Speaker 1: both dominant, tempestuous women, and even looked similar. In Coco,
Speaker 1: David may have received the warmth and attention he'd always
Speaker 1: felt denied, regardless of the precise reasons for his attraction.
Speaker 1: Coco's day to day presence made contact between David and
Speaker 1: Angie all the more infrequent, and the gulf between them
Speaker 1: grew wide. They were driven apart not only by Coco
Speaker 1: but also cocaine. David had never been much of her
Speaker 1: recreational drug user. Counterculture staples like Pott and l S
Speaker 1: d never really did it for him. I hate anything
Speaker 1: that slows me down, he once said. I like fast drugs.
Speaker 1: He'd grown up as one of the London Mods, a
Speaker 1: social scene that subsisted on a kaleidoscope of uppers and speed.
Speaker 1: Cocaine was a logical progression in vogue with the chic
Speaker 1: celebrity set. It served as both a status symbol and
Speaker 1: a tool, providing a burst of energy and creative stimulation.
Speaker 1: That was the thinking, at least at the time. It
Speaker 1: was believed to be non addictive and basically harmless. Plus
Speaker 1: it wasn't hard to find. White powder blanketed the music
Speaker 1: industry like a Peruvian blizzard. Once in a recording studio bathroom,
Speaker 1: someone sidled up to David though he was standing at
Speaker 1: the journal, and slid a bump under his nose. As
Speaker 1: with everything, David threw himself into cocaine with unbridled abandoned.
Speaker 1: It soothed his insecurities, making this shy kid from the
Speaker 1: suburbs feel worthy of his rock star mantle. It also
Speaker 1: helped him keep up with his increasingly hectic workload. By
Speaker 1: the time seventy three turned in nineteen seventy four, he
Speaker 1: was using two US worth of coco day snorted off
Speaker 1: the blade of an antique knight. David's music began to
Speaker 1: hint at his drug use. Tracks on Diamond Dogs included
Speaker 1: references the street deals, shooting up snowstorms, and pattering one's nose,
Speaker 1: but the ego inflating influence of cocaine was most apparent
Speaker 1: on the album's accompanying tour. Not content to merely play
Speaker 1: a concert, he vowed to mount the biggest, most elaborate
Speaker 1: rock and roll stage production that the world had ever seen.
Speaker 1: When Diamond Dogs was released in the spring of ur
Speaker 1: it was touted as a comeback. True, David had never
Speaker 1: gone anywhere, but this was his first new artistic statement
Speaker 1: since Ziggy Stardust over two years earlier. His manager Tony
Speaker 1: DeFreeze mounted a promo campaign befitting the momentous occasion, a
Speaker 1: four hundred thousand dollar advertising blitz that included Times Square billboards,
Speaker 1: multi page magazine spreads, the first ever TV ads for
Speaker 1: a rock album, and specialty made hardcover books sent out
Speaker 1: to five thousand journalists. But these looked positively quaint compared
Speaker 1: to the Diamond Dogs tour. From the start, the album
Speaker 1: had been designed to be performed live. Many of the
Speaker 1: tracks were written for the Aboarded four musical, and David
Speaker 1: never lost the ambition the stage of full Broadway style production.
Speaker 1: I'm just not content writing songs, he told the press.
Speaker 1: I want to make it three dimensional. The idea took
Speaker 1: root on David's twenty seventh birthday of that January when
Speaker 1: he saw Metropolis, the seven silent film epic made by
Speaker 1: German expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lange. The futurist art deco dystopia
Speaker 1: on the screen evoked urban decay through glamour rather than
Speaker 1: the grotesque. David could get down with that. The next day,
Speaker 1: he scoured bookshops for every book he could find on
Speaker 1: Lang and their German new realist directors. He tracked down
Speaker 1: a copy of Metropolis and watched it obsessively at home,
Speaker 1: along with another surreal silent eraic classic nine twenties, the
Speaker 1: Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Even more than Metropolis, Dr Caligary's nightmarish,
Speaker 1: jagged city Escape fueled David's imagination. This was his Hunger City,
Speaker 1: a hellish realm of nihilism and loneliness. To make this
Speaker 1: vision of reality, David hired New York based set designer
Speaker 1: Mark Rabbits, who had recently started working with a new
Speaker 1: band called Kiss. David gave Rabbits three words the go
Speaker 1: off of for his new stage set, Power Nuremberg and
Speaker 1: Fritz Lang's Metropolis. With that and a limitless budget, Rabbits
Speaker 1: was often running over two hundred thousand dollars Later, the
Speaker 1: set began to finally take shape. Weighing six tons and
Speaker 1: consisting of over twenty thousand moving parts, it was unlike
Speaker 1: anything ever seen in the realm of rock and roll.
Speaker 1: It was dumb, needed by an enormous motorized bridge that
Speaker 1: could rise and fall, delivering David to the stage. Also
Speaker 1: at his disposal was an eight sided mirrored cage that
Speaker 1: descended from the ceiling like a giant disco ball. David
Speaker 1: even overcame his fear of heights to sing space oddity
Speaker 1: and a hydraulic cherry picker, which thrust him forty ft
Speaker 1: above the first six rows of the venue. Hunger City
Speaker 1: loomed in the background with thirty foot skyscrapers made of
Speaker 1: silk screened newspaper, each one dripping blood. They were designed
Speaker 1: to be torn down at the end of each performance,
Speaker 1: a dramatic and very literal interpretation of urban decay. The
Speaker 1: complex mechanics brought an assortment of headaches and body aches
Speaker 1: during tech rehearsals that June, David was nearly killed when
Speaker 1: the bridge suddenly collapsed. The crew looked on horrified as
Speaker 1: their star plummeted to the stage. David was saved by
Speaker 1: his catlike reflexes, miraculously jumping at the precise moment the
Speaker 1: structure smacked the ground, thus avoiding serious injury. The technical
Speaker 1: problems were never truly resolved, and David was at constant
Speaker 1: risk of being maimed or electrocuted by his creation. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: the show opened a week later in Canada as scheduled.
Speaker 1: Fans didn't know what to expect as they poured into
Speaker 1: the Montreal Forum in June. It had been less than
Speaker 1: a year since David had retired Ziggy Start Us from
Speaker 1: the stage. Who would he be now? The tape loops
Speaker 1: of animal sounds booming from the p a added to
Speaker 1: their curiosity. Anticipation mounted as the crowd waited for nearly
Speaker 1: an hour. Finally, there he was, leaning, oh so casually
Speaker 1: against the building of the city he'd created. We're in
Speaker 1: his fantasy now. The Wawa funk of Night four enveloped
Speaker 1: the room, though the band was nowhere to be seen.
Speaker 1: Like a Broadway show, the musicians were hidden by screens
Speaker 1: and props. This was far from a normal stand and
Speaker 1: deliver concert. David coolly ignored the audience completely, never breaking
Speaker 1: the fourth wall. Each song was presented as a living
Speaker 1: tableau as David and a fleet of dancers performed steps
Speaker 1: by legendary choreographer Tony Basil. There was no Hello Montreal
Speaker 1: style greeting, no earnest request to put your hands in
Speaker 1: the air, clap or scream. This was theater in the
Speaker 1: classic sense. The audience were merely spectators watching the action unfold,
Speaker 1: and the effect was electrifying. And even bigger shock was
Speaker 1: that Bowie no longer looked like Bowie, or rather Bowie
Speaker 1: no longer looked like Ziggy Gone with a garish kabuki
Speaker 1: style jumpsuits. Instead, David wore an elegant double breasted off
Speaker 1: white blazer, suspenders and a modest white cotton shirt. His
Speaker 1: face bore no obvious trace of makeup. He jettison this
Speaker 1: spiky red peacock hairdo in favor of his natural blonde
Speaker 1: slicked back with a center part like a nineteen forties
Speaker 1: matinee idol. Many fans who had showed up and there's
Speaker 1: zigified glam rock space suits looked like they've gotten the
Speaker 1: wrong invitation. During the intermission, there was a mass exodus
Speaker 1: to the bathroom to wash off face paint and glitter
Speaker 1: to save themselves the embarrassment of wearing last year's Bowie look.
Speaker 1: The musical vignettes were stylish and surreal. The song time
Speaker 1: was a major highlight, as David descended from the heavens
Speaker 1: and his octagonal mirror ball seated in the palm of
Speaker 1: an oversized hand, delivering him to the stage like a
Speaker 1: great disco deity. For cracked actor, he was a young
Speaker 1: hamlet and sunglasses and a cape, singing to a skull
Speaker 1: while a horde of diamond dog dancers powdered his cheeks
Speaker 1: and prepared him for his movie close up. The hounds
Speaker 1: turned the tables on the title track, gleefully hog tying
Speaker 1: David with their leashes. Panic in Detroit found David in
Speaker 1: the middle of a boxing ring, red everlast gloves on
Speaker 1: his balled up fists as he shadow boxed himself and lost.
Speaker 1: He delivered sweet Thing in between drags on a cigarette
Speaker 1: lee against the lamp post and a long trench coat
Speaker 1: like a Sinatra album cover changes. His instant classic from
Speaker 1: Hunky Dorry had been given a cocktail piano makeover, and
Speaker 1: other legacy tracks like Gene Genie and Rock and Roll
Speaker 1: Suicide were revamped as Vegas style production numbers. But Space
Speaker 1: Oddity was a standout. It began in a chair set
Speaker 1: in the window of a nondescript office building. David sang
Speaker 1: as Major Tom into a microphone disguised as a telephone.
Speaker 1: At the liftoff climax, the cherry picker lifted him out
Speaker 1: of the office and over the audience's heads. The width
Speaker 1: of a circle culminated in David dramatically tearing down the
Speaker 1: buildings of Hunger City. When it was all over, there
Speaker 1: was no curtain call or words of thanks from the stage,
Speaker 1: just the voice over the p A system delivering the
Speaker 1: Elvis esque announcement David Bowie has already left the auditorium.
Speaker 1: The implication was clear. There was a new king in town.
Speaker 1: By bringing Broadway sets and aging into a rough and
Speaker 1: ready rock and roll show, Bowie had laid the groundwork
Speaker 1: for every big budget arena rock spectacle to come. But
Speaker 1: it came at a high cost. A crew of fifteen
Speaker 1: roadies toiled for over thirty two hours to assemble the
Speaker 1: set for opening night. Originally, the Diamond Dogs Tour was
Speaker 1: slated to play a week long residency in each city,
Speaker 1: making the work a little more worth it. But when
Speaker 1: the tour morphed into a series of one night stands,
Speaker 1: the elaborate production quickly became a logistical nightmare. One night,
Speaker 1: the hydraulic lift he used during space odd and he
Speaker 1: became stuck, leaving David no choice but to sing the
Speaker 1: next six numbers, suspended in mid air over the crowd,
Speaker 1: which included future singer Brian Adams. When the production was
Speaker 1: headed to Tampa, the truck containing the set wound up
Speaker 1: in a local swamp after the driver was stung by
Speaker 1: a bee. There was talk of canceling the show, but
Speaker 1: David wouldn't hear of it. He delivered a stripped down
Speaker 1: performance that earned him a twenty minute ovation. The technical
Speaker 1: problems were impounded by personal ones, especially with Bowie's band.
Speaker 1: They didn't appreciate being hidden from the audience by big
Speaker 1: black drapes, not after being forced to wear matching suits
Speaker 1: and in some cases cut their hair to match the
Speaker 1: nineteen forties aesthetic. The rigid choreography and complex technical cues
Speaker 1: meant that there was no room for improvisation, and even
Speaker 1: the slightest adelaide was punishable by a fine. The arrangements
Speaker 1: were to be followed note for note, choking every ounce
Speaker 1: of spontaneity out of what was obstensively a rock and
Speaker 1: roll performance. There was also some resentment over the disparity
Speaker 1: in hotels. David and his innermost entourage were put up
Speaker 1: at the shary Netherlands of the Pierre or something equally ritzy.
Speaker 1: The rest of the band may do with holiday inns.
Speaker 1: Relations reached a breaking point in Philadelphia when the band
Speaker 1: found out that the string of dates at the Tower
Speaker 1: Theater was being recorded for a live album. Aware that
Speaker 1: they were lending their services to help record a future smash,
Speaker 1: they demanded to be compensated by more than their meager
Speaker 1: a hundred and ninety dollar per week rate. Shortly before showtime,
Speaker 1: bassist Herbie Flowers informed David that the band would not
Speaker 1: perform without receiving a fee. David's bodyguard claims he was
Speaker 1: so enraged that he threw a chair before screaming for
Speaker 1: the freeze. The band got their fee, but Flowers was
Speaker 1: off the tour soon after. The album in question, David
Speaker 1: Live would rank among Bowie's least favorite releases. He'd remember
Speaker 1: it as quote one of the shoddiest albums I've ever done,
Speaker 1: and admitted that he never played it. The tension it
Speaker 1: must contain must be like vampire's teeth coming down on you,
Speaker 1: he added, And that photo on the cover looks as
Speaker 1: if I just stepped out of the grave. He had
Speaker 1: been looking increasingly thin in recent months, and his face
Speaker 1: had taken on a disturbingly hollow appearance, the effects of
Speaker 1: his increasing reliance on cocaine more than the unflattering cover.
Speaker 1: He hated David Live because it wasn't where he was
Speaker 1: at musically. He would later say, Diamond Dogs scared me
Speaker 1: because that was mutating into something I just didn't believe
Speaker 1: in anymore. That persona has started to feel claustrophobic, and
Speaker 1: I needed a change. Diamond Dogs was making me sick,
Speaker 1: both physically and creatively, and I was shifting into melodrama.
Speaker 1: The characters, though providing armor and artificial confidence in equal measure,
Speaker 1: had started to grow burdensome. He wanted something with a
Speaker 1: little more emotional authenticity, something a little more real. He
Speaker 1: thought back to the spine tingling sounds that ignited his
Speaker 1: own passion for music, soul on R and B. It
Speaker 1: didn't get any more real than that. He had wanted
Speaker 1: to be a little Richard, or at least a reasonable substitute.
Speaker 1: Somewhere along the line his priorities had shifted, but that
Speaker 1: ambition always lay dormant in the back of his consciousness.
Speaker 1: Having made music that connected with millions. He wanted to
Speaker 1: make music that connected with himself, the boy from Bromley
Speaker 1: with his next release. That's exactly what he would do.
Speaker 1: David Bowie's first musical love was rekindled in the spring
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy four when he arrived in New York
Speaker 1: prior to the Diamond Dogs tour. He'd later explained, I
Speaker 1: sunk myself back into the music that I considered the
Speaker 1: bedrock of all popular music, R and B and soul.
Speaker 1: The thrilling sounds were ubiquitous and American dance clubs and
Speaker 1: David couldn't get enough. Diamond Dogs had largely been an
Speaker 1: intellectual enterprise. This music struck right through the heart. They
Speaker 1: called its soul music for a reason. David's new girlfriend,
Speaker 1: Avid Cherry, acted as his personal guide through the American
Speaker 1: R and B scene. Her father had been a musician,
Speaker 1: and she regaled David the tales of life on the
Speaker 1: black blues circuit in nineteen forties Chicago. She even brought
Speaker 1: him some of her dad's old clothes silk ties, baggy
Speaker 1: pleaded pants, and suspenders that have been all the rage
Speaker 1: with black performers of the past. They'd called themselves gowster,
Speaker 1: adopting the style and swagger of the local gangsters with
Speaker 1: ostentatious fedoras and canes. It was all about attitude, pride,
Speaker 1: and hip nous. David knew a thing or two about
Speaker 1: those decked out in any of his father's outfits. He
Speaker 1: wanted to be a Ghoster too. Ava fulfilled David's lifelong
Speaker 1: dream by taking him up to Harlem's iconic Apollo Theater.
Speaker 1: Heads turned is this extremely freaky looking pale dude stepped
Speaker 1: out of a limo and into the predominantly black musical mecca.
Speaker 1: Ignoring the obvious gaux stairs, gaping mouths, and probable profanities,
Speaker 1: he strolled right in. He couldn't have been happier. As
Speaker 1: a teen, he treasured his copy of James Brown Live
Speaker 1: at the Apollo. Now he was inside the hollowed hall himself,
Speaker 1: watching acts like the main Ingredient, The Temptations and The
Speaker 1: Spinners live and in person. David returned to Harlem again
Speaker 1: and again in the coming weeks to hear music or
Speaker 1: just taking the vibe of the vibrant street scene the
Speaker 1: sidewalks for an endless fashion show with wide brimmed hats,
Speaker 1: zoot suits, white patent leather shoes, and lots and lots
Speaker 1: of fur. More often than not, he was joined by
Speaker 1: a talented young guitarist from the Bronx named Carlos Alamar.
Speaker 1: Though he was five years younger than David, he boasted
Speaker 1: a stacked resume that included a spell on the Apollo
Speaker 1: house Band, touring membership and the main ingredient, and a
Speaker 1: lucrative gig as a first call studio player for Our
Speaker 1: c A. They had met that spring at a session
Speaker 1: David was producing for pop singer Lulu, and they quickly
Speaker 1: hit it off. Carlos was alarmed by David's emaciated frame
Speaker 1: and the dark circles under his eyes. Man, you're too skinny,
Speaker 1: he told David with classic New York bluntness, you should
Speaker 1: come out to my house for a decent meal. To
Speaker 1: carlos surprise, David took him up on it. Despite their
Speaker 1: unequal levels of fame, David was the one asking all
Speaker 1: the questions, pressing Carlos for details about hanging out with
Speaker 1: Chuck Barry or Wilson Pickett, or the time he was
Speaker 1: fine as a member of James Brown's backing band for
Speaker 1: missing his hit me que David's trips to Harlem and
Speaker 1: sparked a major record buying spree, and before long he'd
Speaker 1: filled the whole steamer trunk with soul discs from the
Speaker 1: past and present. Most of the new releases were straight
Speaker 1: out of the City of Brotherly Love, the velvety, smooth
Speaker 1: sounds of Penny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records label.
Speaker 1: There was Bad Luck by Harold Melvin in the Blue Notes,
Speaker 1: If You Only Knew by Patti LaBelle Me, and Mrs
Speaker 1: Jones by Billy Paul, When Will I See You Again?
Speaker 1: By the Three Degrees, and of course Love Trained by
Speaker 1: the o Js. David had them all, and he listened obsessively.
Speaker 1: The potent blend of funk rhythms, lush orchestral arrangements, and
Speaker 1: seductive horns forged a new R and B sound with
Speaker 1: lyrics steeped in romanticism and social consciousness. It was slick,
Speaker 1: too slick for some musical purists, but the soulful vocal
Speaker 1: performances were undeniable. Philly Soul was a more mature answer
Speaker 1: to the primal R and B stomps of a decade earlier.
Speaker 1: Motown had famously billed itself as the sound of Young
Speaker 1: America in the sixties. Philadelphia International Records was the grown
Speaker 1: up equivalent for the seventies. As David's love affair with
Speaker 1: Philly Soul intensified, he decided to go straight to the source.
Speaker 1: During a brief break on the Diamond Docks tour of
Speaker 1: that August, he made the pilgrimage the Gamble and Huff
Speaker 1: Song Factory Sigma Sound. He wanted to record with Sigma's
Speaker 1: crack team of studio musicians collectively known as mfs B
Speaker 1: or Mother's Father's Sisters Brothers, but few wanted to make
Speaker 1: time for this bizarrely dressed interloper who descended on their
Speaker 1: musical home. Instead, David enlisted Carlos Alamar as his guitarist
Speaker 1: and band leader. Carlos brought his wife, Robin Clark, and
Speaker 1: a high school friend named Luther Vandross. Long before he
Speaker 1: achieved immortality as the god of bedroom ballads and smooth
Speaker 1: sex jams, Vandros was a timid, pudgy unknown whose biggest
Speaker 1: claim to fame had been a handful of musical appearances
Speaker 1: on the children's TV programs Sesame Street. That would change
Speaker 1: after these sessions. During rehearsals for a new Bowie number
Speaker 1: called Young Americans, Vandros suggested reworking the songs backing vocals
Speaker 1: rather than take offense. David let him take a crack
Speaker 1: at it, and the gospel flavored result wound up on
Speaker 1: the final record. David was impressed and asked with other ideas.
Speaker 1: He had those shy at first. Vandros offered up an
Speaker 1: original composition he called Funky Music. David loved it immediately
Speaker 1: and asked Vandros's permission to record it. On one condition.
Speaker 1: The title had to go. A scrawny, limey rock and
Speaker 1: roll star singing a song called funky Music that was
Speaker 1: asking for trouble with Vandro's mind if he changed the
Speaker 1: title the fascination. Vandros's response was immediate. You're David Bowie.
Speaker 1: I leave at home with my mother. You can do
Speaker 1: whatever you like. The Sigma Sound session continued for nearly
Speaker 1: two weeks, and David was awake for most of it.
Speaker 1: Fueled by his increasing appetite for cocaine and uppers, he
Speaker 1: worked day and night, pushing himself beyond his usual workaholic tendencies.
Speaker 1: The band would curl up in quiet corners of the studio,
Speaker 1: desperate to snag a few moments of rest whenever they could.
Speaker 1: Following one grueling all night session, David threw open the
Speaker 1: studio doors at dawn and invited the camped out, bleary
Speaker 1: eyed fans to come inside for an impromptu listening party.
Speaker 1: These so called Sigma Kids were the first to hear
Speaker 1: tracks for the album that would become Young Americans. The
Speaker 1: rapturous response came as a huge relief to David, who
Speaker 1: was genuinely unsure how his abrupt change in direction would
Speaker 1: be received. Gone were the complex sci fi plot lines
Speaker 1: that had characterized his biggest successes to date. Instead, he
Speaker 1: relied on feelings to drive the music. It's one of
Speaker 1: the first albums I've done that bounds along on a
Speaker 1: most will impact, he said proudly at the time. There's
Speaker 1: not a concept in sight. When released in the spring
Speaker 1: of nine, Young Americans was his first album in years
Speaker 1: to depict David on the cover, and not a ziggy incarnation.
Speaker 1: The songs themselves were an almost total rejection of rock
Speaker 1: and roll, which Bowie declared dead a toothless old woman.
Speaker 1: Whether or not that was actually true in the mid
Speaker 1: seventies is up for debate, but his decision to move
Speaker 1: into a genre like soul seemed to invite ridicule, if
Speaker 1: not outright mockery. Back in the fifties, this was called
Speaker 1: race music. Times had changed, but the cultural implications still
Speaker 1: held firm. What business did a white boy from England
Speaker 1: have singing this music? Some would call the effort potentious
Speaker 1: and fake, but David never pretended to be something he wasn't.
Speaker 1: Though he had soul, he knew he was no soulster.
Speaker 1: David once described young Americans as quote the Phone, East,
Speaker 1: R and B I've ever heard If I ever would
Speaker 1: have had my hot hands on that record when I
Speaker 1: was growing up, I would have cracked it over my knee.
Speaker 1: Over the years, he frequently referred to the album as
Speaker 1: quote plastic soul, presumably to differentiate it from the genuine article.
Speaker 1: The self deprecation is largely an act of self defense,
Speaker 1: but it's also a disservice to the work of Carlos Alamar,
Speaker 1: Robin Clark, Luther Vandros, and the host of other artists
Speaker 1: of color who contributed view Today, young Americans may raise
Speaker 1: questions about the fine line between appropriation and appreciation, but
Speaker 1: Bowie doesn't come across as an impostor. Instead, he's merely
Speaker 1: an outsider role he plays in most of his work.
Speaker 1: In fact, it may not be a role at all.
Speaker 1: After wrapping the Sigma sessions that August, David found himself
Speaker 1: in an awkward position. He was due to continue touring
Speaker 1: Diamond Dogs, an album that no longer interested him musically.
Speaker 1: The obvious solution, whom would be to tweak the set list.
Speaker 1: This wouldn't have been a problem if this were any
Speaker 1: other tour, but Diamond Doggs wasn't just any other tour.
Speaker 1: This was a production, an obscenely expensive one at that
Speaker 1: Every song had complex choreography and an elaborate set. To
Speaker 1: junk the songs more or less meant junking the whole show,
Speaker 1: and so that's exactly what he did. Tony Defreese had
Speaker 1: the grin and bear it, as four hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: worth of sets and props were scrapped, with pieces given
Speaker 1: away to the drama department of a Philadelphia high school. Tragically,
Speaker 1: almost no video footage of the Grand Spectacles known to exist,
Speaker 1: beyond a handful of brief clips from shaky fan filmed
Speaker 1: home movies. David's most ambitious production survives only as a
Speaker 1: cherished memory for the lucky fans who were able to
Speaker 1: experience it live. To Bowie and the band, the Jettison
Speaker 1: set was a relief. It was a costly creative burden.
Speaker 1: With the weight lifted, he could just focus on them music.
Speaker 1: The band, now including Carlos Alamar, Luther Van Dross, Robin Clark,
Speaker 1: Ava Cherry and other Sigma Sound cohorts, emerged from the
Speaker 1: wings to reclaim their place on stage in full view
Speaker 1: of the crowd. David himself took center stage, dressed like
Speaker 1: a Harlem street hustler and tapered zoot suits, baggy pants,
Speaker 1: suspenders and checkered ties, a regular gowster that would do
Speaker 1: Ava Cherry's dad proud, with just a plain white backdrop.
Speaker 1: The stripped down Soul Review playfully dubbed the Philly Dogs
Speaker 1: Tour put the emphasis on the playing rather than the performance.
Speaker 1: This was disappointing to those expecting to see the overblown
Speaker 1: theatrical spectacle they'd heard so much about. They were supposed
Speaker 1: to be selling the entire show on the spectacular set.
Speaker 1: David would later laugh, and the kids would come and
Speaker 1: there was no set, no nothing, and there I was
Speaker 1: singing soul music. Some critics felt slightly cheated, and the
Speaker 1: reviews reflected their resentment. One journalist likened the show to
Speaker 1: a huge, sumptuous birthday cake made out a cardboard with
Speaker 1: a hollow center. Lester Bangs, the most infamous and unsparing
Speaker 1: rock critic of the era, declared the evening a parody
Speaker 1: of a parody in Cream magazine, and David a pasty face, snaggletooth,
Speaker 1: little jitterbug. The lukewarm reviews failed to dissuade the A
Speaker 1: listers who turned out and droves to see David's latest.
Speaker 1: Diana Ross attended the Los Angeles performance, as did fellow
Speaker 1: motown stars the Jackson Five. At the after party at
Speaker 1: Al Green's house, Bowie was seen teaching a teenage Michael
Speaker 1: Jackson a funny backwards step that he learned from Tony Basil,
Speaker 1: who had worked with an early street dance troupe called
Speaker 1: the Lockers. To this day, many cite this as the
Speaker 1: moment that the Starman taught the King of Pop had
Speaker 1: a moonwalk, But it was another meeting that had the
Speaker 1: biggest impact on David's musical trajectory. His gig in Anaheim
Speaker 1: was attended by none other than Elizabeth Taylor, clad in
Speaker 1: a diaphanous purple one humbolt to bring out her violet eyes.
Speaker 1: She was reportedly accompanied by six male escorts. Her relationship
Speaker 1: with David got off to a bumpy start when the
Speaker 1: Silver Screen Icon invited him over for a photo shoot
Speaker 1: and a casual discussion about possibly doing a film together.
Speaker 1: Had the agreed upon time, David was a no show,
Speaker 1: Liz was furious. The tales of her own tardiness were legendary.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever kept Elizabeth Taylor waiting. David showed up hours later,
Speaker 1: looking groggy and worse for the wear, but his considerable
Speaker 1: charm was enough to smooth over the social error. He
Speaker 1: didn't end up taking the role, but they formed the bond,
Speaker 1: speaking regularly on the phone about clothes and makeup, swapping
Speaker 1: showbiz gossip like slightly catty old friends. They were chatting
Speaker 1: together at a birthday party for Dean Martin's son and
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills when she waved over another familiar face, John Lennon.
Speaker 1: David Bowie was not easily starstruck. Hell, he had no
Speaker 1: qualms about standing up Elizabeth Taylor, but the sight of
Speaker 1: a real live Beatle in the flesh sent him into
Speaker 1: an immediate silent panic. Back when David was just another
Speaker 1: struggling London rocker, the Fab Four were the act against
Speaker 1: which all others were measured. Three thoughts flashed across David's
Speaker 1: mind in rapid succession as Lennon ambled over, it's John Lennon.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say. Don't mention the Beatles.
Speaker 1: You look really stupid. John had a decade to get
Speaker 1: used to the supernatural effect that he had on people,
Speaker 1: and did his best to break the ice with a
Speaker 1: friendly Hello, Dave. David blurted out, I've got everything you've
Speaker 1: made except the Beatles. At least that's the story David
Speaker 1: told in later years. John was in l A as
Speaker 1: part of his estrangement from wife Yoko Ono, a debauched
Speaker 1: eighteen month period later mythologized as his lost Weekend. John's
Speaker 1: joined that day by his girlfriend May Pang, who remembers
Speaker 1: David acting a tad bit odd. Seconds after being introduced,
Speaker 1: David supposedly announced I have to go out and excused himself.
Speaker 1: Relations were a bit warmer a few months later, in December,
Speaker 1: when the pair crossed paths of the record planted studios
Speaker 1: in New York. David was putting the finishing touches on
Speaker 1: young Americans and John was working on a covers album
Speaker 1: called Rock and Roll. Bowie invited John over to his
Speaker 1: hotel suite, where they connected by sketching rapid fire caricatures
Speaker 1: of each other. They hung out more frequently after that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they get up to no good, killing bottles of
Speaker 1: kognak or mounds of cocaine the size of the matterhorn.
Speaker 1: Other times they'd go undercover and explore the city, John's
Speaker 1: favorite pastime. They managed to slip through the downtown streets
Speaker 1: largely unnoticed, but every now and then someone would approach them.
Speaker 1: Are you John Lennon, They'd breathlessly ask. He'd always reply, no,
Speaker 1: but I wish I had his money. David loved the
Speaker 1: line and started using it himself. One day, while out
Speaker 1: for a walk alone, heard a voice in his ear,
Speaker 1: Are you David Bowie? No, but I wish I had
Speaker 1: his money, he replied Hugh lying bastard came the response,
Speaker 1: you wish you had my money. The voice belonged to
Speaker 1: John Lennon. As their bonds strengthened, David told John about
Speaker 1: his plan to record a cover of his old Beatles
Speaker 1: composition across the Universe. Lennon never overly sentimental about his
Speaker 1: fab four years. I thought it was a bizarre choice,
Speaker 1: but gave his blessing. He even agreed to come down
Speaker 1: to Electric Ladies Studios that January and played twelve string
Speaker 1: guitar on the session. During a break in the takes,
Speaker 1: Carlos Alamar began playing a hypnotic chicken scratch guitar riff
Speaker 1: he'd been kicking around lately. It had been used for
Speaker 1: David's funky update of an old doo wop tune by
Speaker 1: the Flares called foot Stopping, but the white hot groove
Speaker 1: was destined for more than just an on stage cover.
Speaker 1: Lennon started playing along in his acoustic guitar, absolutely singing
Speaker 1: dummy lyrics borrowed from Shirley and Company's recent disco hit Shame, Shame,
Speaker 1: Shame Shame morphed into a which David interpreted his fame
Speaker 1: a compelling topic for his first collaboration with a Beatle.
Speaker 1: After all, fittingly, fame would become David's very first number
Speaker 1: one a chart topper with John Lennon. It didn't get
Speaker 1: any higher than that and he just recorded a soul
Speaker 1: album in Philadelphia, the vibrant center of the musical universe.
Speaker 1: After making a name for himself as a fiercely individual outsider,
Speaker 1: he'd become a part of the music that had inspired him.
Speaker 1: R and B in the Beatles, and he put his
Speaker 1: own unique spin on both. But David wouldn't get an
Speaker 1: opportunity to say, with the triumph in nearly every sense,
Speaker 1: his life was about to be blown apart. Off The
Speaker 1: Record is a production of I Heart Radio. The executive
Speaker 1: producers are Noel Brown and Shan t. Tongue. The supervising
Speaker 1: producers are Taylor Shaky and Tristan McNeil. The show was
Speaker 1: written and hosted by me Jordan run Tug and ed.
Speaker 1: It had scored and sound designed by Tristan McNeil. If
Speaker 1: you liked what you heard, please subscribe and leave us
Speaker 1: a review. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.