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Bowie General > Images Vol. 54

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homebrewPosted at 2025-12-27 14:08:28(1 hr ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 54)


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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.

Note: The final words from Jamie in this installment turned out not to be true. There are a few more articles after this.

IMAGES: PART 54

By AlADinSAne


With Let's Dance in the can Bowie, leaves to spend Christmas in
Acapulco., where Eric Idle discovers him sun tanning on the beach. Idle
is a close personal friend of Bowie's, and was chosen to be Joey's
Godfather.  He invites Bowie to play a part in his upcoming film,
Yellowbeard, which he accepts.

January 1, 1983. Happy New Year. The world looks the same, and the
universe is unfolding as it should. The planet is unaware though, that
the plan is is place, and  "THE REAL DAVID BOWIE" is about to be
unleashed. Along with his "Character," David Bowie has created the
greatest illusion imaginable, and if it all works, he will finally
succeed in obtaining all that has eluded him until now.

Bowie was back in New York before the end of January He was free, the
MainMan and RCA contracts had expired, and now, it was time to deal with
the labels. He anticipated the big day, and that day would come on
January 27th.  Bowie had this to put on the table.  Over an eleven year
period he had eleven albums to his credit. Only one however had reached
Platinum status, selling over one million copies, and it was not an
"original" album in the true sense. The album was CHANGESONE, the
"Greatest Hits" package assembled by Defries and RCA, and it sold just
over 1.3 million copies. Six albums went Gold, selling  over 500,000
copies, and Fame was his only single ever to reach that plateau. Bowie
sold well in the UK, but the UK is not what the labels considered the
major market, that was America. This left Bowie in a less advantageous
position, because these figures were quite poor for an artist of his
recognition. I know it's not the same, but to give you an idea, Michael
Jackson was selling at around 12 million per album world wide. Bowie's
real value was staying power, and this meant it was a solid bet that his
material would at least sell so many copies. There was also the
potential that sometime in the future he might strike it big, and score
with a hit album. Little did anyone know at the time what was on the
shelf, and Bowie decided he would NOT use Let's Dance as a bargaining
tool, it would remain sealed in the can until a deal was struck, a that
is directly according to David Bowie


Isolar had the profiles of the major labels completed  The first label
of course was RCA who had recently been through some rather difficult
times but were showing signs of recovery.
They recently had a 15% reduction of artists on the roster and had cut
overall staff by 25%. RCA still controlled 15% of the record market and
the two newest artists they had signed were Diana Ross and Kenny Rogers.
They reportedly were ready to offer "millions" to retain Bowie. Geffen
Records, created by David Geffen, was by far the smallest label, but it
was now controlled by Warner Communications. They had the second largest
share of the market at 18%. The largest label in the race was Columbia,
a label under the CBS Records Group, which also included Epic Records.
CBS controlled an impressive 25% of the domestic market and had 15% of
the distribution market overseas. Its roster of artists was equally
impressive, including  Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd to
name a few. The last real
contender was EMI America, owned by Capitol Records,  with a 10% share
of the market.

Although that is where it belongs, I imagine an enema using an
unlubricated copy of Tonight sideways is an unpleasant experience to
anxiously look forward to. In a rush to sign a deal, that is about the
speed it appeared Bowie was going. Want a girl or a boy to like you,
appear uninterested. It's an old trick that never dies. Was he in a
hurry? Record finished, a tour almost ready that was two years in the
planning. You tell me. However, you can't appear anxious, that will cost
you money. How would a David Bowie appear not in a hurray? Easy, do what
you always do, DISAPPEAR, I mean, you're better at that than you are at
writing music. Alakazam! Poof, and David Bowie was gone. He could not be
found at his office, or anywhere else for that matter where he might be
seen. If the people in charge of negotiations at one of the labels
wished to speak to him they called Coco. Bowie played the "I'm too busy
game," never calling anyone first himself. This game was remembered well
by Bhaskar Menon, the chairman of the board at Capitol Records. The
first call came from Coco, or someone else at Isolar. They were told
that David would call at 12:00 the next day, and please make yourself
available. Bowie would call the next day. Now, I do not know this for
sure, I am going by personal experience, and the experiences that I know
others have had. Knowing Bowie's desperate need for a watch, if that
call came on time, then that thing disguised as an album, with the
burning hoop from the pits of Hell on the cover, and the evil being with
the plastic hair who continues to give me horrible nightmares, is
listenable to. Was that ever hard to say. To put heat on the other
labels the news out of Isolar was that Geffen was close to signing him.

It was thought to be the same type of ploy, to put pressure on everyone
else, when an Isolar press release was made public on January 27,1983.
The release was not lengthy, it basically said that David Bowie was now
under contract with EMI America. There was no way, this was a ploy. EMI?
Ten percent of the market, lower than average distribution ability.
Bullshit!  David Bowie wanted two things, money and the promotional
backing, and he found it, and he found it at EMI. It was true, Bowie was
now with EMI. In the EMI fold, Bowie joined the other "major" artists
they had signed, Kajagoogoo, Naked Eyes, and Sheena Easton, to name a
few.  How this marriage came to be was not easily understood by many,
but it really is simple. EMI  America, as you can see by the wonderful
roster of talent they had, in order to make a  profit from, needed help.
With David Bowie on their label, it was hoped that this would attract
other artists. Bowie heard the right words out of EMI, a talented
marketing department, and a  willingness to invest heavily in the
promotion of his work.  The other words were, "We'll offer you this
amount of money." This is an opinion, not mine, but a general one shared
by many who are insiders in the recording industry, and so is one based
on knowledge. Although Bowie says that Let's Dance was never heard by
EMI before the contract was signed is disputable. It is so disputable
that the consensus is that EMI would NOT have signed him for what they
did without hearing it first. Now, on the other hand, word is over at
RCA, that had they heard Let's Dance, they would have made a
"substantial" offer, realizing it had  commercial potential. The most
probable situation is that Bowie is right, in that he didn't use Let's
Dance as a bargaining tool, but wrong, as EMI did in fact hear it before
the contract was signed. If so, then why did RCA not hear it? Simple,
they were eliminated early, and the album was only going to be played at
contract signing time. This was so the record company knew what they
we're getting, just to make sure that it was not another Metal Machine
Music.
Twelve years previous, in 1971, Bowie signed with RCA to a three record
deal and was paid $115,000 with half of that sum going directly to Tony
Defries. In 1969 Mercury Records got him for $15,000. The money was
rumoured to between 10 to 17 million dollars for the five year, five
album contract Bowie negotiated with EMI America. Geffen said that they
could not afford him. RCA disputes this figure, they said it was closer
to between 20, and 22 million. It doesn't really matter though, the
point is THE REAL DAVID BOWIE just pocketed millions, and EMI America
was in possession of the masters for Let's Dance. The word was, "GO,"
and THE REAL DAVID BOWIE went out that fucking door faster than Fripp on
Up The Hill Backwards By the beginning of February he was in Australia,
with twelve year old Joey, and director David Mallet in tow. MTV. MTV.
MTV. MTV MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MTV. MTV. MTV. MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY
MONEY

I love "WATCHING" music. Yep, some friends come over, a few drinks, SOME
REALLY GOOD FUCKING DRUGS, and we all sit around  the TELEVISION SET and
"WATCH" music. Younger people don't know how easy they have it. They're
spoiled. Hell, they never had all this great technology thirty years
ago. I would have loved watching Station To Station, or Young Americans.
Just the thought of turning on the TELEVISION SET and finding
Subterraneans, A New Career In A New Town or Eight Line Poem really do
strange things to me. I really can't quite describe it. It would be the
sort of a feeling one would have if they turned on a high quality 52"
TELEVISION SET and saw a commercial flogging Windows 98 software, made
by Microsoft, with Fripp and Eno playing Heroes in the background. Think
of Watch That Man. Garson, Ronson, Bowie, and Hilfiger on the 52"
screen. Kids these days? We never got to WATCH music when I was growing
up, we could only listen to it. We had to figure it all out for
ourselves. These days, you don't even have to think. I wish I was that
lucky. Videos are fantastic, in my humble, sorry, wrong word, I mean in
my learned opinion. The intricacies that are a woven combination of
tempo, time signatures, chord progression, key changes and rhythm, which
make up the basics of most  "POP" songs, can be difficult to understand.
Unlike a Roxy Music album, with Jobson on it, or a seventies Genesis
album., Pop music is difficult to understand for most. The three chords,
one guitar solo, and a fabricated entertainer wailing inane words from
the dictionary, while  a computer plays a thousand digital musical sound
replications takes a trained ear. Add a drum machine and a sequencer,
you're looking at decades. This why MTV has been such a wonderful
blight, er, I mean a saviour, to millions, as it presents helpful visual
aids to those who need help understanding music. Like the guy who just
posted his appreciation of his own "personal opinion " of Bowie on our
news group, consisting of 70's listeners. It provided a much needed
chuckle.

Australia was where  Mallet and Bowie went to film two of these visual
aids to promote Let's Dance. As far as music videos are concerned,
Bowie's  usually avoid the boy, and Silicone Sally theme, and are more
representative of his work. The video for the song Let's Dance had an
underlying theme about the plight of the indigenous people in Australia.
China Girl had the usual boy/girl theme, however it did not come across
as one. In addition to Bowie, the video featured Jee Ling, a Chinese
model he was dating at the time. This is a brilliantly shot promo. Shot
so well in fact, that it detracts you from the redundant "boy meets
girl" theme, which is the plot in almost all other videos, and makes you
focus in on the "artistic" aspects of it. If you can that is. The way
the rice coming out of the bowl, and the break to the next scene is very
well done. When shot where Bowie and Jee Ling are kissing, and the
colour fades in is exquisite. There are lots of worthwhile scenes in
that video. The ending of the video was a parody of the Burt Lancaster
movie from Here To Eternity. Bowie's gay side is wonderfully depicted in
this video, the "full" nudity of him and his boyfriend on the beach,
kissing in the surf, got it banned. Now, not that this will do any good
for those who  believe the "bisexual" story fed to Melody Maker, but
here is how it went when Kurt Lodger joined Bowie later in Australia.
Lodger, a well respected writer, and now an associate editor for Rolling
Stone magazine, had been around Bowie forgoing on eleven years, first
meeting him in 1972. Sitting one night over a few beers Bowie said,
"It's no longer hip to be cool. The biggest mistake I ever made was
telling that Melody Maker writer that I was bisexual. Christ, I was so
young then." Bowie remained in Australia with Joey for a short period,
purchasing a small ranch at the same time. The bomb was now built.

The weapons of warfare change, the strategies do not. They have been in
existence for thousands of years. There is a  common philosophy behind
every offensive strategy however, and it reads like this. Strike with
the most power you can when your enemy does not expect you, and they are
caught off guard, weak and unprepared.

March 16 - Press conference, tour announced
March 18 -  Let's Dance/Cat People released.
March 23 -  Public appearance when his art is displayed.
April 11 - Let's Dance album released world wide
May - China Girl/Shake It released
May 18 - Tour begins

BLITZKRIEG!

More coming............... No there isn't.
This is the last installment of Images
Bye.


""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987
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dag97DonatedPosted at 2025-12-27 15:34:55(26 mins ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 54)


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