[Music]
Tell me when ready ? okay . Hi I'm David
Bowie and a little later on you can see
an interview with me on countdown
Europe's number one Rock Show
when I was a younger guy, and I had the option to be
either a musician or a painter. When I
was thinking about being a painter it
never occurred to me that I was
wanted to be a painter to make a big
killing , make a lot of money
because that wasn't what was happening
then I mean the whole idea about
painting being a career opportunity just
wasn't there and that seems to have
happened over the last 10, 15 years and
it's happened to Rock far more as well
whereas once upon a time you you you really
moved into rock because the whole idea
of it was exciting there were girls
there were a lot of fun times
and you can make some statements about
something or other and you think of
something or rather to make a statement
about but now guys very approach it very
seriously as a career opportunity.
It's as serious as banking these days or
something for a lot of kids .
It's a whole different, whole different
ballgame
You think it'll change the sound of music
over the years ? Ohh, it has done
Yes, indeed has changed. It's changed
what's available anyway I mean it's very
hard to pick up good music I don't I'm
not so sure about Holland, I've not spent
enough time there. I'm not familiar with
what kinds of what used to be called
underground stations or the FM format
The old American FM format, you have a
college station but generally in
America it's almost impossible to pick
up good music on radio. Absolutely
impossible. I mean you really are
restricted to college radio which is a
tiny share of the market. I
think it's a great struggle for any
artists that really have a strong
integrity with what they're doing, I
think it's but I think this is probably
even though we have more media, more
access to media, more communications now
It's probably harder now to get good
music play than it ever was in the 60s
God the 60s were brimming over with good
music on radio. It was fantastic
yeah very difficult now. I think
everybody's playing safe right now
this moment, radio stations are really placed...
Absolutely, because it's big bucks out there
for making that right sound
So when are you going to start your
own independent record label ? It had
it did come up, it did come up but you
see again I'd love to but if
If I did that I have to be for
something like that but we didn't
investigate the idea of doing it because
there were several acts that I wanted to
really get involved in something like
that mainly Sonic Youth, Pixies, Glenn
Branca. Those were the first those are the
top three I wanted to get involved with
but you'd have to be looking
after something like that 24 hours a day
otherwise somebody else will run with
the ball and change the whole animal and
become something else. It just
it's so time-consuming, I wouldn't
I wouldn't act as an artist
anymore, I would have to become some kind
of record executive and it's no good for me
just fronting a record label and then
leaving it up to other people to run
because then it wouldn't be the what I'd
sort of figured. I wouldn't be able to
keep its integrity. It would just become
another competition to A&M or
eventually because all things do.
Look at Rough Trade , it was like
the pinnacle, the flagship of the
independent thing and it 's  bye-bye .
Now, you yourself, you see the music as a real
competitive business? Oh, it is.
Do you have competitors ? I would say that
I stayed out of it I'd like to say that
whether that's true or not I don't know
you could tell me from the outside but I
don't really feel that, I feel that
Frankly over the last 20 years or so I'm
pretty much my own man.
I suppose it's very cheeky of me to put
myself in the same light but if I look
at Bob Dylan, it doesn't have competition
He's just Bob Dylan whether you like him
or don't like him whether he does good
stuff or bad stuff he's still Bob Dylan
and you don't compare him with anybody
it's not a competitive kind of thing
It's the same with the Stones. I know
they create mock competitions for them
with other bands I've noticed in America
it's been happening but there's really
no way that you can compare the Stones
with anybody and I would hope that I'm
I think I probably am in the same kind of
position I'm David Bowie and that's
I'm either
good. I'm part of shit or  I'm
accessible and not accessible
I'm obscure, very commercial I change all
the time but I'm still me
No ? I think that was the
my answer is no I don't feel that I'm in
a competition. I do feel it's very
competitive for new artists and I really
have to make up their minds if they're
going to sort of present themselves as
something to take off the shelf or
whether they want to be in it. When
you want to make music because you want
to make the music or whether you want to
use the music to obtain fame . If you want
to use it to become famous then you just
be shallow and it'll be superfluous
But if you're doing it because you
want to do the music and fame comes out
of it, that's a whole different thing.
What... I mean in a way most
artists want to do music plus they
really enjoy the fame. Good 50-50. It's a
good 50/50 but you get bands like I mean
I don't know but there's creations now
like the old late 50s
early 60s bands like New Kids on the
Block , the American band where the
music is there to create a vehicle for
them I mean  I'm sure they
can't be in love with that music that
they play . I mean you can't
comprehend that . Now this is our life!!!
Get out of here!!!!. They're cute
boys in tight jeans I mean that it's
about selling to that particular market
you know it's just like early Osmonds
stuff . The Osmonds music wasn't
their life. It enabled them to get a
TV show
and all that
It's like that whole early 60s syndrome has come
back again. How do you feel
at being in the charge together with
acts like that
as long as you're above them .I don't
Oh God , I'd just say  I'm not with them
them so I don't see it that way I just
don't see it that way.
you know now I'm going to give you a
couple of song titles yeah could you
give a short reaction on these song
title I'll try good Jeanne Jeanne
Detroit very much my first impressions
to seen Iggy Pop in his home environment
which is a trailer van in a trailer park
and the ways to dodge around during the
night
it was it was very much Iggy Sonic
Heroes he arose again I can't escape the
fact that that very much is was for me
was Berlin for me at that period I mean
the changes they're so substantial so
awe-inspiring rq1 still very hard to
take in that that's happened over there
it's in such a fun when I was living
there there was no doubt anybody's minds
that that wall was gonna be there for at
least the next 50 years there's no way
that that war was going to change you
know it was a jar that will be down in
40 if I said that was be down in 14
years forget it it's got to be another
50 years you know incredible absolutely
extraordinary
there was one party there in 98 would
have been 12-year would that have been
78 when was the anniversary of the war
68 78 it must have been around 78
something like that and there was a punk
Club and they built in the plant Club a
replica of the wall and it went right
the way around the club and a stroke of
midnight all these moat
walked Punk's died into the cake and
eighty-eight of all that great
unbelievable thing little did they know
they'd be eating it today speaking of
walls China girl China girl again it it
was really Jim's song I mean the lyric
for me it was it was wonderful to cover
one of his things and have it be so
commercially acceptable because Jim had
never really been
considered any kind of acceptable until
China girl in terms of charts and all
that you know it was it was great to
have one of his pieces of music do so
well lyrically it's difficult I just I
can only interpret that because I didn't
write the lyrics I mean they're Jim's
lyrics I'd for him I know there was
specifically personal because he was
having an affair with her actually I
think she was a Vietnamese girl at a
time and it was very much a personal
thing for him but uh as a portrayal I
can quite get into it and for me
personally it reminds me of being in
Sydney because there's a vast in
Australia there's a large Chinese
community there and we had a really
attractive wonderful go did the video
there for me so kind of think about that
god this is non American this is not
America Giorgio Moroder
it's a very good producer but he picked
me to doing the soundtrack for
metropolis that annoyed me terrifically
we were doing that song in the studio
and he wrote the music I read the lyrics
and he said you know David uh Brian Eno
and I had been working on the idea for
doing music for metropolis work quite a
long time you know the old silent movie
by Fritz Lang yeah and he said I saw
this wonderful film in New York a few
weeks ago Napoleon you know but Coppola
his father did the music for its silent
movie contest
I said yes well they said well I found
an old film I'm gonna do one what'd he
mean you found an off-night
this old German film is it's great it's
called metropolis so you've gotta go see
it what do you mean you're doing it so I
bought it I bought it I'm doing the
music I've got Queen playing in on it
and everything
I said oh you've got Queen playing on
metropolis ah
and all my muta we really it was because
I'd love that film ever since art school
had so much to do with my stage lighting
in like 76 with station station and all
that
I couldn't believe oh that was that song
anyway that's it it was an excellent
movie by the way I must say that yeah I
thought Sean Penn was truly excellent in
them yeah right there's a really good
performance thanks to George Harrison of
course
oh right okay let's dance
final one let's dance having something
which I feel and absolutely no futures
seeing that being taken and shaken by
producer made into something
unbelievably commercial I mean for me it
was just a song on the album let's dance
and and it was it was okay but it was no
great shakes but then Niall got hold of
it and did these horn arrangements and
all this and made it sound like this
disco thing and it was like and it did
all this business I mean it was complete
and utter shock to me I just couldn't
believe it but a positive shock oh yeah
it was marvelous I was writing my I was
over the moon having that kind of
success it was terrific because I've
been up until up until 1993 I was the I
had the biggest cult audience the world
I mean it was just I had an audience but
and he was quite big but it was a cult
audience I was never kind of over there
you know and that kind of made me
mainstream or overground or whatever and
I've had problems with that ever since
following you around right well I'm now
the official final question well can I
say 25 years of a music business yes and
all the interviews attached to that
what's the question you were dying to
answer but has never been asked oh oh
that's a horror I can't even think of
one now I got it now you cut now this
man this is too easy you give me the
problem you have the problem you ask a
question that's never been asked before
let me think about okay you say let me
attach it through it so you go with ten
minutes hahaha
