Bowie on Bowie: Interviews and Encounters with David Bowie

by Sean Egan (Editor)

Overview

Over the Rainbow Selection 2016

David Bowie has been one of pop music’s greatest interviewees since January 1972, when he famously risked career death by asserting to Melody Maker that he was gay. Although he wasn’t yet a big star, it was a groundbreaking moment. And over the years, Bowie has failed to give an uninteresting interview. It might be said that he has habitually used the media for his own ends, but he has paradoxically also been searingly honest, declining to ever be coy about his ambitions, his private life, and even his occasional ennui.
 
Bowie on Bowie presents some of the best interviews Bowie has granted in his near five-decade career. Each interview traces a new step in his unique journey, successively freezing him in time as young novelty hit-maker, hairy hippie, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, plastic soul man, fragile Germanic exile, godfather of the New Romantics, eighties sellout, Tin Machinist, and, finally, permanently, artistically reborn beloved elder statesman of challenging popular music. In all of these iterations he is remarkably articulate. He is also preternaturally polite—almost every interviewer remarks upon his charm.
 
The features in this book come from outlets both prestigious (MelodyMaker, Mojo, New Musical Express,Q, Rolling Stone) and less well-known (The Drummer, Guitar,Ikon, Mr. Showbiz). In all cases, Bowie enables the reader to approach the nerve center of his ferociously creative and prolific output.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781569769775
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/01/2015
Series:	Musicians in Their Own Words , #8
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Sean Egan is an author and journalist who has interviewed members of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Kinks, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols, the Velvet Underground, the Who, and many others. He is the author or editor of several books, including Keith Richards on Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix and the Making of Are You Experienced, Defining Moments in Music, The Mammoth Book of the Beatles, The Rough Guide to the Rolling Stones, and David Bowie: Ever Changing Hero.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Don't Dig Too Deep, Pleads Oddity David Bowie Gordon Coxhill

November 15, 1969: New Musical Express (UK) 1

Oh You Pretty Thing Michael Watts

January 22, 1972: Melody Maker (UK) 5

David at the Dorchester Charles Shaar Murray

July 22 and 29, 1972: New Musical Express (UK) 12

Goodbye Ziggy and a Big Hello to Aladdin Sane Charles Shaar Murray

January 27, 1973: New Musical Express (UK) 25

Bowie Finds His Voice Robert Hilburn

September 14, 1974: Melody Maker (UK) 36

Bowie Meets Springsteen Mike McGrath

November 26, 1974: The Drummer (US) 45

Bowie: Now I'm a Businessman Robert Hilburn

February 28, 1976: Melody Maker (UK) 54

Goodbye to Ziggy and All That… Allan Jones

October 29, 1977: Melody Maker (UK) 61

12 Minutes with David Bowie John Tobler

January 1978: ZigZag (UK) 70

Confessions of an Elitist Michael Watts

February 18, 1978: Melody Maker (UK) 77

The Future Isn't What It Used To Be Angus MacKinnon

September 13, 1980: New Musical Express (UK) 102

The Face Interview David Thomas

May 1983: The Face (UK) 140

Sermon from the Savoy Charles Shaar Murray

September 29, 1984: New Musical Express (UK) 159

Boys Keep Swinging Adrian Deevoy

June 1989: Q (UK) 175

Tin Machine II Interview Robin Eggar

August 9, 1991 192

"One Day, Son, All This Could Be Yours…" Steve Sutherland

March 20 and 27, 1993: New Musical Express (UK) 207

Station to Station David Sinclair

June 10, 1993: Rolling Stone (US) 231

Boys Keep Swinging Dominic Wells

August 30-September 6, 1995: Time Out (UK) 249

Action Painting Chris Roberts

October 1995: Ikon (UK) 262

The Artful Codger Steven Wells

November 25, 1995: New Musical Express (UK) 272

No Longer a Lad Insane Hp Newquist

January 1996: Guitar (US) 285

Fashion: Turn To The Left. Fashion: Turn To The Right David Bowie Alexander McQueen

November 1996: Dazed & Confused (UK) 291

A Star Comes Back to Earth Mick Brown

December 14, 1996: Telegraph Magazine (UK) 304

ChangesFiftyBowie David Cavanagh

February 1997: Q (UK) 317

Bowie Retrospective Linda Laban

March 1997: Mr. Showbiz (US) 329

"Now Where Did I Put Those Tunes?" David Quantick

October 1999: Q (UK) 341

Bowie: Most Stylish Man Dylah Jones

October 2000: GQ (UK) 350

"It Means More to Me Than Any Number of Hit Albums, This. Thanks Very Much." John Robinson

December 2, 2000: New Musical Express (UK) 356

Contact Paul Du Noyer

July 2002: Mojo (UK) 365

David Bowie: Life on Earth Ken Scrudato

July 2003: Soma (US) 377

Such a Perfect Day Mike Jollett

July/August 2003: Filter (US) 386

Do You Remember Your First Time? Paul Du Noyer

November 2003: The Word (UK) 394

Credits 410

About the Contributors 413

Index 419

Editorial Reviews

"David Bowie has always been a consummate mythmaker, and this fascinating anthology captures him at his most mysterious and mischievous, laying himself bare and building walls around himself in the same mercurial instant.”—Peter Doggett, author of The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the 1970s


“[T]his is a fascinating journey through the mind of a musician many people claim to “know” but who proves time and again that his own essence is often foreign to himself. An asset for Bowie fans.” —Library Journal


“A must for Bowie fans.” —Booklist


“It’s great fun to browse through. And it’s the closest you’ll get to an actual Bowie autobiography.” —Goldmine, The Music Collector's Magazine

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
David Bowie is best known as an artist in flux, both in his aesthetic and his career. Born in 1947, the British musician's outlandish appearance is matched only by his inimitable music, with its rare ability to reflect the anxieties of his generation while simultaneously expressing nostalgia for an imaginary future and an otherworldly past. This title attempts to pin down the living enigma through his most insightful interviews, spanning his debut in 1969 through 2003, right before his ten-year hiatus from the media and the music industry. Egan's curation places each interview in context, though the editorial language is choppy, giving helpful social reference points and highlighting the musician's notable remarks. Documented identities include Bowie as the brassy, bright-eyed newcomer, the rakish bisexual glam star, the evocative ambient artist using music as rehab, well into his later years as the reserved family man who has little use for the press. VERDICT The repetitive structure of interviews might not make this a quick read; Bowie's penchant for wandering observations, and each journalist's varying level of pretension also render it tough to digest in one sitting. But this is a fascinating journey through the mind of a musician many people claim to "know" but who proves time and again that his own essence is often foreign to himself. An asset for Bowie fans.—Ashleigh Williams, School Library Journal

Library Journal