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Bowie General > Images Vol. 47

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homebrewPosted at 2025-11-08 14:33:23(2 hrs ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 47)


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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 47

Quite a long time ago I noticed something, and that is the people that
society views as successful seem to have one thing in common. Feelings
of inadequacy. This may sound like a paradox, however if you examine it
closely you will discover that there is reasoning behind what I say. You
see, it is because of these feeling of inadequacy, that these types of
people are never satisfied with what they have accomplished, they are
more prone to find faults in what they have done, and keep working in an
attempt to make everything "perfect." As we all know, perfection is
unattainable with most things, therefore these people continue to push
themselves to reach a goal that one can never reach. Their
accomplishments are usually a result of this drive. There is a line in
Ashes To Ashes, and it reads, "I've never done good things, I've never
done bad things, I've never done anything out of the blue." These few
lines are autobiographical, they are Bowie judging Bowie, and they
reflect the attitude I just mentioned, one of being inadequate. Even
though many high achievers share this characteristic you would never
know most even had it, as it is rarely displayed. All the outside world
usually sees in these people is an outpouring of confidence, but inside
it is quite a different matter. These few lines from Ashes To Ashes
reveal a part of Bowie that helps fuel his drive. Bowie talked a bit
about these feelings in an interview conducted in the Booth Theatre
during the run of The Elephant Man. Talking about Ashes To Ashes Bowie
said, "Those three particular lines represent a continuing,  returning
feeling of inadequacy over what I've done. I have an awful lot of
reservations about what I've done inasmuch as I don't feel much of it
has any import at all.. And then I have days where of course it all
feels very important to me, that I've contributed an awful lot. But I'm
not awfully happy with what I've done in the past actually." Now, I know
that many of you are thinking "Classic Bowie Bullshit" after reading
that. For all it is worth, I can assure you that those statements are
not Bowie "playing" the media, and this was not said in a twenty
journalist, one after the one, fifteen minutes each promo marathon. This
interview is one of the ones at the top as far as credible information
is concerned. It was a total of three hours long, and conducted over a
period of two days.  The only reason Bowie did it was because he
happened to develop a respect for journalist Angus MacKinnon, and felt
"comfortable" enough to be straight, and it is one of the few interviews
that is actually free of Bowie's "nonsense." Instead, what you get is a
rare look at Bowie. It is rare, because it is Bowie straight up.

In light of what Bowie said about feeling inadequate, he was asked what
he felt his positive achievements were. He said this, "The idea that one
doesn't have to exist purely on one defined set of ethics and values,
that you can investigate other areas and other avenues of perception and
try and apply them to everyday life. I think I've tried to do that. I
think I've done that fairly successfully. At times, even if only on a
theoretical level." MacKinnon then said Bowie acted as if he proved a
lot to himself with his role in The Elephant Man. Bowie said that he was
well surprised that he was able to do it successfully, adding that his
confidence was at "low ebb" on opening night. He said he was in fact,
"Terrified." He agreed that he did prove a lot to himself. Did Bowie
decide to play a good portion of material from Ziggy Stardust on his
last tour in an attempt to recover his "old" audience, MacKinnon asked.
This may seem to you like an asinine question, but wait. This person is
not like most of your "average idiot" writers, who know so little about
Bowie that they have their picture under "ignorant" in the dictionary.
This guy knows Bowie, and this is obvious by his follow up remark after
the question. I was quite impressed, as I would never expect to hear
anything like this. He said he felt a vague sense of betrayal. Bowie's
response was, "Really?" MacKinnon went on to explain that he was so
IMPRESSED with LOW and HEROES, that playing the older material, CANCELED
OUT THE VALIDITY OF THE NEWER MATERIAL. I know, I couldn't believe this
either when I read it. That came from a rock journalist. It is easy to
see why Bowie respects this guy, he is a brilliant observer, and he
knows his stuff, this guy is no fool. Bowie said that there were two
reasons that he played so much of Ziggy on that tour. He said first that
he found the music enjoyable again, and he hadn't played it on stage for
some time. He said it was for his "personal enjoyment." In addition
Bowie said that he was only too willing to admit that there are a number
of people who want to hear his old songs, and without any hesitation, he
is quite willing to play them. He said he can also play what he is doing
currently, but he has no qualms about playing the older things that
people like.

Everything was going along quite well for Bowie. This included the
ongoing feud between him and RCA, which he now thought to escalate.
Previously Bowie had held a press conference, he said was to end any
rumours, speculation, and to clear the air about the status between
himself, and RCA. "At present, and for the foreseeable future I am under
contract to RCA Records, and at no time have I engaged in any
negotiations to alter that status. My relationship with RCA has been a
long and rewarding one, and any rumours that I am signing with another
label are both false, and erroneous," Bowie stated to the press. Unlike
Angela, the "dirty laundry" stayed IN THE HOUSE, where it belonged. The
feud between Bowie and RCA was known about, but only through innuendo,
and gossip. Bowie kept it away from "prying" eyes, and admitted to
nothing, except that all was fine between him and his label. A certain
question however arose that changed all that. MacKinnon asked Bowie if
he had complete control over what RCA released. He said no, and went on
to say that they even put things out without his approval. He said a
good example was Velvet Goldmine. RCA had someone unknown  mix it, and
then they released it, before Bowie ever heard it. MacKinnon said that
he should be able to stop that, since Bowie just re signed with RCA.
Then it came out. Bowie said, "No. I most certainly haven't. We're miles
away from that, and shall just have to wait and see what happens." Bowie
was then asked if the rumours about RCA not liking Lodger were true.
Bowie said that they were, and said that they didn't like Low either,
insisting he go and make another Young Americans. This is the attitude
Bowie said, that he was dealing with. Bowie had taken the feud public
now, there would be no need now for rumours. MacKinnon asked, "Do you
have any plans to tour." Bowie replied, "Yes, next spring. I say this
every time and I hope it happens. I want to play smaller places." See
what we missed?

David Bowie was living at the Carlyle Hotel, and he often frequented a
Japanese restaurant, close to the Booth Theatre. He conducted many of
the interviews from there, as well as practiced his Japanese on the
waitresses. On December 5th, Bowie was interviewed by Andy Peebles for
the BBC. The next day Peebles interviewed John Lennon, and he asked him
about Bowie. Lennon replied in part that he never really knew who he
was, "Because you don't know which one you're talking to." David Bowie
received a panicked call two days later on December 8, 1980, from
Lennon's secretary, and former girlfriend, May Pang. Bowie loved New
York because, as he said, no one bothered him, he could move around
freely. John Lennon was dead, Pang told Bowie. He was gunned down in
front of his apartment when returning from the recording studio where he
was putting the finishing touches on his new album, Double Fantasy. Mark
David Chapman went to the Dakota, Lennon's residence, sometime between
eight or nine in the morning. Lennon appeared around noon and Chapman
got his autograph. Along with the autograph, Chapman had something else.
It was a .38 revolver, and it was loaded with "hollow point" bullets.
The bullet literally has a hollow point, which  allows his type of
ammunition to "pancake" on impact. The entrance wound is small, as it is
with normal bullets, however, since the bullet flattens on impact, the
internal wounds are massive.  John Lennon returned that evening about
eleven o'clock, and Chapman had not moved, he was waiting. Yoko was
carrying a tape in her hand when she exited the limousine ahead of her
husband, and as she walked past Chapman he said, "Hello."  As soon as
John walked past, Chapman pulled out his .38 and then assumed a "combat
stance," with  one arm supporting the other at the wrist. He then said,
" Mr. Lennon." Two shots struck John Lennon as he turned to acknowledge
Chapman. He then fired two more that hit John's shoulder.  He fires one
more, missing his target, however, it is too late. The wounds he
sustained were fatal.  Why did Chapman shoot Lennon? In his words, "I
was feeling like I was worthless, and maybe the root of it is a
self-esteem issue. I felt like nothing, and I felt if I shot him, I
would become something, which is not true at all." He also said, "What
happened was I was in the library, and I was looking through some books,
and I came across a book called One  Day at a Time, and I saw him there
with photographs in front of his residence, the Dakota, and I was full
of anger and resentment, you  know. I took it upon myself to judge him
falsely for  for, you know,  being something other than, you know, in a
lotus position with a flower, and I got angry in my stupidity. So it
started with anger, but I
wasn't angry the night I shot him." The sentence given by the court, for
the murder of John Lennon, was twenty years to life. Chapman recently
applied to be granted parole. His request was denied. The death of
Lennon had an enormous effect on David Bowie, not only did he lose a
close friend, but his life changed as well. At first, Bowie was in a
state of panic when he heard the news, yet he did not request any
additional security at the theatre.  Jack Hofsiss offered to make some
changes to the play, so that Bowie could leave the stage periodically
when he wasn't needed. Bowie refused to go along with any alterations
being made to the play, just for "his" sake. Never the less, Hofsiss
increased the security at the theatre.

Christmas was a family affair, and for the first time in seven years
Bowie spent it with his mother, flying her to New York to be with him
and Joey. Bowie made two New Year's resolutions going into 1981, and
both would not be welcome news for his fans. First of all, there would
be no spring tour, and the murder of Lennon was a major factor in this
decision. Also, Bowie toured because of the money it generated,  but now
however, Bowie did not "need" the money, and so, a tour could wait.
Next, Bowie would not record for a year. This decision had to do with
the feud between him and RCA, as well as his contract with MainMan and
Tony Defries. The problem for David was that Defries would get a
percentage of EVERYTHING RCA RELEASED, both past, present and future.
Defries got fifty percent of everything from 1975 and back. If Bowie
released a new album Defries got seventeen percent of the royalties it
generated, plus twenty five percent of the publishing. Bowie did not
wish to give Defries, or RCA, any more than what they already had. He
would just sit and wait until his contract expired. Defries and RCA were
not waiting however, Defries had ideas, and they decided to team up. You
see, since Bowie wouldn't give them anything, they had to do with what
they had. I just thought of a line from Teenage Wildlife that is a
PERFECT. It  goes like this, "It's the same old thing, in brand new
drag, comes sweeping into view."  Their answer to Bowie's refusal to
record was simple, they would just take the OLD, and make it NEW again,
and this is exactly what they did.  RCA, along with Defries, repackaged,
or in some cases just reissued portions of Bowie's back catalog. This
practice went on for YEARS!

I am speaking from personal experience here, and let me tell you that
these reissues, and repackages, became a fucking nightmare for certain
types of Bowie collectors.  Personally, I am thankful that I have never
been a "catalog" collector. There is a wide variety of Bowie collectors
out there, and many are unique as far as what they "specialize" in.
"Specialty," is a nice word for "OBSESSION," if the truth be known. Some
want to build a collection of original vinyls, so they look for Bowie on
the Vocalion-Pop, Parlophone, Pye, Deram, Philips, Decca Mercury, RCA
and EMI labels. Then there are those who seek out singles or picture
disks. I have seen collections which feature foreign pressings. Then
there are of course those who collect, quiet now, Shhhhhh, BOOTLEGS. To
some collectors the music is secondary, as they prefer to gather
magazines and  newspapers which feature Bowie, as well as tour programs.
Ticket stubs seem to be a prized commodity, and for some it is video.
Then there are the "period" collectors. These people collect certain
phases of Bowie's career, or specific years, and this is the category I
fall into, as I collect 1976, and anything to do with the Station To
Station period. Catalog collectors are the epitome of a "DEVOTED"
collector. "Devoted," of course meaning "INSANE." These are the
collectors who must have it ALL, yes, I said ALL, meaning  EVERYTHING
THAT BOWIE HAS RELEASED, THE ENTIRE CATALOG. Singles, vinyl, cdr's,
picture disks, box sets. Now, most are not crazy enough to try for
domestic, as well as the foreign releases, they usually stick to one
continent, there are however the few exceptions to the rule. You can
easily recognize these people as they speak a certain language  few
other Bowie fans are able to speak. Earthling BMG 74321 43077-2/4
Limited edition  74321 44944 1, and other catalog numbers. Now, as if
the regular catalog isn't enough for these collectors, along comes RCA
and repackages the stuff they ALREADY OWN, forcing these poor souls to
purchase the same music numerous times. Now, you may say, "What's the
big deal? Two copies of an album in some cases is not all that bad."
Well, I say that you are right, if that were the case, but it isn't. I
am not talking about an album being repackaged by RCA, or others, a
COUPLE of times, no, it's a bit more than that. Let's take The Rise And
Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars for example. It has
been repackaged in some "new" format, or other and re released NINE
TIMES! Now, I agree that Ziggy is a great album, but I think that most
will agree with me that nine copies is a bit excessive. When you start
adding on to that another four, or more copies, of every Bowie album you
are bordering on the ridiculous. What was that? How many copies of
Station Top Station do I own? At last count, I believe I own sixteen
copies of Station To Station, but that's different. I NEED every one of
those, by the way, and it is my opinion that everyone should have
sixteen copies of Station To Station.

All of these re issues wouldn't be so bad if some thought went into
them, but honestly, a lot of them are junk, and it is easy to see that
the motivation behind them was money. That would not be so bad either,
if RCA put out a quality product that was attractive as a collectible,
but. once again, junk. Now, do not get me wrong, there is some really
"nice" stuff out there, but overall much of it is not very attractive. I
particularly remember the 1982  re release of Bowie singles that came in
"Picture Sleeves." The quality of the printing on those sleeves was
horrible, and I know because I own them all, and I have multiple copies
of some of them. Here's a story. I was at home one night and a friend
comes over and gives me about thirty Bowie singles as a gift. Included
in there were all of the picture sleeve singles, explaining why I now
have duplicates. There was also a Tin Machine Live in a silver limited
edition box, there was a China Girl 45 rpm picture disk, another limited
edition box from something off of Tonight, or Never Let Me Down, and a
whole lot more, most of which I did not own. Now, this friend of mine
likes Bowie, but he is not someone you would call a fan, so I got
curious as to where he obtained all of these singles. The answer, as it
turned out, was in the garbage. No joke. He was walking in the alley
behind a used record store and all of these singles were sitting in a
garbage can, so he grabbed them for me. They are all in great shape too.
Although there are several re releases that are worth owning, the
average ones are rather boring, poorly thought out and unattractive. An
exception to this was Fashions, which is in my opinion one of the best
Bowie packages compiled by anyone. Fashions, is a set of ten 45 rpm
picture disk singles. The pictures on the disks offer a snapshot of
Bowie's career, through the various looks he adopted. The singles came
in a vinyl booklet, with a self portrait drawn by Bowie on the front.
There was a limited pressing of 25,000 copies. While RCA and Defries
were busy deciding what wrapping paper to put on Bowie's back catalog,
K-Tel's The Best Of David Bowie sold over a million copies.

Christmas was quiet and uneventful for Bowie.  I imagine he must have
enjoyed New Years, with the knowledge that January 3rd, 1981 was now
only two days away. Now, although Bowie knew January 3rd would be an
important day, he could have never imagined that it would be the most
important day of his entire career. It would also be the most important
day in the life of every Bowie fan as well.

AladInSANe

*BACK TO THE INDEX <index.htm>*


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