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Bowie General > Images Vol. 37

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homebrewPosted at 2025-08-30 15:27:47(12 hrs ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 37)


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These articles appear just as they were posted in the Usenet group alt.fan.david-bowie by group member Jamie Soule aka AladINSAnE. I have made no attempt to alter the formatting, spelling, grammar or edit in any way.

*IMAGES*: *Part* 37


Bowie sometimes went and squared off with RCA in person, and the fight
was usually over the same old matter, the lack of promotion, he thought
he was getting from the label. To get his "point" across at one meeting
he decided not to show up alone. Instead he arrived with an independent
promotional promotional team, insinuating that if RCA could not do the
job, then he would have to go and get "outside" help. During the meeting
Bowie played the *part* of the "artist." It was all posturing, he
deflected all the questions to Coco, or  the Scotti brothers, who made
up the team of independent promoters. Coco berated Pat Gibbons, and
anyone else from RCA who tried to defend their position, on David's
behalf. The meeting accomplished absolutely nothing in the way of a
resolution to Bowie's concerns, and those of RCA. It served only as a
spitting contest, driving the wedge deeper between them. Personally, I
don't know what Bowie expected. If you go and see, as I have, what was
at the top of the charts when Heroes, Low, Lodger, Scary Monsters, and
several of his other albums were released you will see something
immediately. What Bowie was making in terms of music, was so far the
opposite of what the majority of the people were listening to, it is
obvious why his material didn't sell. It is not just that either, his
"look" contributed to the problem immensely. The dresses, the make up,
the gay innuendo, well, all of the bizarreness surrounding him, did
nothing to help his career in North America. Europe has always had a
much more tolerant attitude than North America, because they are exposed
to so many other cultures, therefore, different ideas, customs and
personalities. North America, on the other hand, is anal retentive at
best. Bowie's "act" only did one thing in America, it gained him a
label, as a "freak." Oh, add transvestite, faggot, weirdo, thing and a
host of other defamatory descriptions. I know this full well. Why? The
reason is that the labels were not only applied to Bowie. I am sure that
most listeners of my generation who lived in North America at the time
suffered a few of these references hurled in their direction at some
point in time. I mean, if Bowie was all these things, then his listeners
must be as well. I recall being asked why I listen to "that shit," or
how I can stomach that "faggot" on several too many occasions. The
reason I could listen to Bowie of course was the fact that my head was
not located where theirs was, up their ass. In the eighties it became
"fashionable" to be a Bowie listener, however in North America during
the seventies just the opposite was true. Bowie knew, he had to, that in
order to "break into the market" in America, an artist had to gain
acceptance by the main stream record buyer. Having a reputation as a
freak, and writing music that was the exact opposite of what people
bought, did nothing in the way to help him gain acceptance, as a matter
of fact, it did the opposite. This probably explains the fact that
within a period of four years after Lodger was released, it had sold a
whopping grand total number of 153,364 copies in America. This was more
than Stage, but over 100,000 copies less than Heroes.

Before I say this I want to let you know that I am well aware that there
are two sides to every story, in addition,  there are always some
details, or maybe certain pieces of information that an "outsider" would
not be privy to. I do not know all of the details, but based on what I
have read over all these years it is my opinion that RCA, and not Bowie,
should have been the ones doing all the yelling. I see the behaviour of
RCA as a lesson in tolerance and patience. They are the epitome of the
Biblical lesson of "turning the other cheek." RCA turned the other cheek
on many occasions, and after that they turned another cheek, and another
one, and then another, and another, then they turned that one, they
turned one over here, and those over there. They turned around so many
times they must have been dizzy enough to puke and fall down. I, to this
day, am at a complete loss to explain how in Hell they put up with even
a quarter of some of the antics they did. Tony Defries, on many
occasions, ran up sizeable debts, the unauthorized $100,000.00 hotel
bill for a ten day stay in Los Angeles, being one example, and having
the bill sent to RCA. These "stunts" came at a time when Bowie had not
made one cent of profit for RCA, instead he was a loss according to
their records. These incidences were not uncommon, other labels may just
as well have turfed him, Defries, and the entire MainMan Circus, out the
door. When Bowie violated his MainMan contract and Defries sued him he
had no money, no income, and as a result of a court injunction he was
unable to release Young Americans. RCA was in no way obligated to do
anything, yet they supported him, paid off ALL of MainMan's debts which
allowed them to pay Bowie what he was owed, and handled other
incidentals. RCA was wrong in trying not to release Low, but Bowie was
wrong in refusing to promote it, and instead pull one of his now famous
disappearing acts. Up until 1983, and then signed with a different
label, Bowie was never a large seller in America, and often the figures
were mediocre for an artist of his stature. Based on all of this I think
RCA got a rather "rough" ride, and Bowie had little to complain about,
but there is, after all, the "other" side to all this.

Bowie often set the trend, if not setting it himself he contributed a
wealth of new ideas. In too many instances to name, his work, and his
ideas, were years ahead of their time. Low and Heroes were decades
ahead. I did not pay much close attention to Bowie's early work in video
before I researched this article. I now see that his contribution is
just more proof of how extremely innovative and forward thinking he was
as an artist. I added them up, Bowie had SIX videos made to promote his
work, TWO YEARS BEFORE MTV even started. It had been an extremely busy
two years for Bowie. In June he left New York for London and then to
Australia, doing a few radio interviews along the way to promote Lodger.
After, he went home to Switzerland for a brief rest, and then to Kenya
for a holiday.

Hurrah, a club in New York, was one of the first ones ever to start
screening music videos. Bowie used to drop in from time to time, just to
catch up on the latest fads and trends. He was there on December 16th,
after spending the earlier *part* of the evening watching a play on
Broadway. While he was there someone introduced him to a stage director
by the name of Jack Hofsiss. The two of them hit it off quite well,
engaging in a conversation about characterization, a topic Bowie knew
well. I wonder if Hofsiss realized that he was talking to one. I should
mention that it was Jack Hofsiss who was the director of the play Bowie
had seen earlier in the evening. The play was called The Elephant Man.

The day after Christmas Bowie met Jack Hofsiss again, it was purely a
social occasion, in a restaurant. The conversation once again fell on
the subject of characters. Hofsiss noted that he saw a lot of
similarities between the Elephant Man, and Thomas Jerome Newton, Bowie's
character from the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Hofsiss said that
they were both characters of "isolation," living  apart from society.
Bowie literally had no idea that the star of The Elephant Man, Tony
Award winning actor Philip Anglim, was leaving, until Jack Hofsiss
offered him the role. This must have delighted Bowie to no end, and with
good reason, it was an honour. A *part* in a Broadway production would
certainly give him more credibility, and therefore help him to be taken
more seriously as an actor.

There was a war raging inside Bowie, there had been since early 1978. He
was going through another metamorphosis, a new "character" was emerging,
yet this one was not compatible with the existing one. The two creatures
fought each other, this Bowie was a content artist, the emerging Bowie
wanted recognition, it wanted the fame that eluded it all of these
years, now, this fame was DESERVED, it was OWED, it was time to collect.
The transformation would turn out to be an extremely long process and it
was intermingled with episodes reminiscent of Jeckyll and Hyde. The new
character would often emerge seeking what it wanted. This is evident in
the meetings with RCA, the demands for more promotion, where as this
personality ran at the sound of the word. Tony Defries wanted nothing
more than to break into the American market, Bowie just followed, and
with Defries gone, so was the thought. Sales was the concern of RCA
since 75, Bowie could care less, he had enough money and he was content.
The focus was on his personal development as an artist. The American
market however, was the only thing this new character craved, it, and
the spoils from the conquest. The new character though, could not win
the battle. Bowie had three years left on his contract with RCA, as well
as his contract with MainMan. He owed RCA one more album, and he was not
needed by Hofsiss until July 1980. He had the time. He accepted the
offer. Bowie would be The Elephant Man.

December got even busier. In London Bowie performs an acoustic version
of Space oddity on Kenny Everett's New Years Eve television special.
From there it was back to America for two more television appearances,
one on Saturday Night Live, and the other one being a television special
titled, Dick Clark's Salute To The Seventies.

I used to try and be home if I could to watch Saturday Night Live. If
not, I would try to watch it at a party I was at, where I could be found
indulging in the art of getting wasted. I never did get to forget my own
name though. This particular show I was home for I remember, not wanting
to risk missing anything. All of the promotion you heard about Bowie
since the early *part* of 1977 was on how the "bizarre" had been left
behind. The Real David Bowie was all you heard in 78. If not that, then,
Bowie Without The Mask, Bowie Without The Characters, Bowie Without The
Baggage, Bowie Without The Illusions, Bowie Without The Disguises, Bowie
Without This, Bowie Without That, This Is The Real One, This Bowie's Not
Fake, This Bowie Doesn't Lie, This Bowie Is Bowie, David Bowie Is David
Bowie, No Plastic, No Additives, No Preservatives, Not Recycled, Machine
Washable, One Year Warranty Or 20,000 Kilometres, and it does a great
job on bathroom base boards, tubs and tiles. Well, they may have very
well indeed left the "bizarre" behind, but someone found it apparently.

It was quite entertaining to see Bowie carried out on stage in a one
piece plastic glitter tuxedo, that went from his neck down to his feet.
It was also quite enjoyable to see that one of those carrying him was
Klaus Nomi,  a former opera singer, who had since turned to Operatic
Punk, and who was looking rather flamboyant. Adding to the pleasure were
the opening notes to The Man Who Sold The World, a song that I had
always wanted to see performed live, but did not have the opportunity
until now. I do not know the names of those who were in the band. I
remember the keyboard player dressed in black, sporting a bandana I
believe that was tied at the side, and staring into the camera with a
stern look as though all on the planet were insane enough to be
committed, except him. The guitar player stood out. You would stand out
too  beside this keyboard player, Klaus Nomi and counterpart dressed in
tuxedo tights and wearing black lipstick, a guy in a plastic tuxedo, and
there you are dressed in a proper shirt, pants and a tie. He was
laughing his ass off. Bowie was carried to the back of the stage when
the song ended. I was slightly interrupted by a question, "What is that
crap you're watching?" It came from my father. " Oh, it's that silly
fool," as he answered his own question before I could. "Haven't you had
enough of him and his crap yet?" I was thinking of saying, "No, as a
matter of fact I haven't, so why don't you just go out there and buy me
some posters." I kept quiet though, I knew he'd eventually answer it
himself anyway. "Jeepers, look at that nonsense. I don't know how the
heck you can watch that crap. You must have something better to do than
waste your time on this. There's something wrong with a guy like that.
It's not very funny," were the last words  he said as he walked away
shaking his head. I don't blame dad for his reaction, he probably wasn't
the only person who thought the same. I mean, here was Bowie in a blue
jacket, a matching blue skirt, and high heels singing TVC15. I can see
why a few people may have found that "different." I love TVC15. I never
thought I would see Bowie's head superimposed on a  string controlled
marionette dancing to Boy's Keep Swinging. I did though.

Greenwich Village in New York is where Bowie's apartment was, and where
he would stay for the early *part* of 1980. He was here to complete some
work in order to fulfil an obligation, and to tie up a few "loose" ends.
That was not the only "end" either, but no one knew at the time. An era
also was coming to its final conclusion. The last decade would become
history, and it would be viewed in the future with great sadness,
because it is gone, and because it took so much with it. Myself, and
many others feel that had we known how valuable this time was, we may
have cherished it even more, but, like all things, we took it for
granted. At least we were there however, and grateful for that beyond
words. The battle inside Bowie raged even more, the new person inside
was still not strong enough to emerge and consume Bowie, for now anyway.
In time though, it would be the victor, but not suddenly. The artistic
character Bowie now was, would shine one last time, when it fufilled a
promise. The promise? It was to RCA. One last album. Scary Monsters And
Super Creeps.

AladINsaNE

To be whatever................

*BACK TO THE INDEX <index.htm>*


""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987
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