Talk:David Bowie/Archive 1

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Nietzsche / Agnosticism

I second the idea of adding Nietzsche to Bowie's history page. Nietzsche and Crowley were both huge influences on early 70's bowie. Quicksand, would be more accurately attributed to Nietzsche/Crowley than buddhism. His continual Agnostic theme of cutting apart other people's works and piecing them together as something new should be mentioned somewhere as well. For an example, refer to the numerous sources of inspiration for the song "Starman" Vellon 22:49, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Genres

Okay, I know this guy is diverse, but do you actually have to ad every genre that he ever did any song in in the info-box? Look at the arrangment at the Queen article, it had like 15 genres there at first but got shortened to three, and the rest in a section of its own. It sure as hell looks better.--Gustav Lindwall 21:19, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

One Night Stand with Tina Turner?

I watched a documentary about Tina Turner once and there was a bit in it that showed Tina Turner on stage with david Bowie performing and before the duo started singing David Bowie wispered something to Tina Turner that caused her to laugh out loud and the person doing the commentary on the docu said that David Bowie had said something along the lines of 'my dick is hard thinking about last night'. Does anyone know if they did have a one night stand?TammiMagee 10:07, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Does it matter?

Nietzsche in early lyrics

I was wondering, how come no one even mentions the influence of Nietzsche on his early lyrics? I'd like to know a little more about it, and the references in the lyrics are so many and so obvious that i'm surprised the topic isn't covered. 81.39.169.176 18:55, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Sketches belong on fridges, not in encyclopedias

Cute drawing of Bowie up there. However, it's a sketch after all, and whoever drew it should send it into their local community college, not post it in an encyclopedia. There are many non-copywritten photos out there; a sketch is an abstraction of a photo, and thus artistic, not factual. Stop putting it up there.

Jackmont, Dec 17, 2006 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 154.20.13.41 (talk) 09:30, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

I agree. A photograph should be added and the drawing should definitely be removed.

Nature Boy

Bowie sings two versions of the song 'Nature Boy' on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, one with Massive Attack. Beck sings Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs'.

Personal Life

Shouldn't there be a section listed with just only his personal life stuff, such as early life, marital & parental status, etc.?

:::there WAS a section about his personal life, i could SWEAR! it talks about his first marriage & his son, and then his subsequent marriage to Iman. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THAT SECTION?!? or did i just get lost in the lengthy & wordy paragraphs?!? --HatchetFaceBuick 19:19, 26 December 2006 (UTC):::

Picture

I'm sorry, but am I the only one that thinks that the picture currently in the article is one of the most inappropriate/uninformative that could possibly have been used? 66.229.182.113 03:52, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

My guess is that the image is one of the few available that are not protected by copyright. If you know of a better image in the public domain or if you have a photo you took yourself and you are willing to give up your copyrights, then you should let us know about it. Bowie's persona is certainly stronger and brighter than the image we now have, but I think we're pretty much stuck with it. Ande B 20:55, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't be surprised if there were pictures we could use - a lot of people have taken photos at his concerts, perhaps we should email some fansites for permission? It might even be wise to drop a line to Total Blam Blam at Bowienet. Mikeguy

The sketch of Bowie looks tacky and extremely obsessed-fan-esque.

Jackmont, Dec 17, 2006. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 154.20.13.41 (talk) 09:22, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

I think it's fine. You can't deny the drawing is accurate, and even recent. And you certainly wouldn't mind, I assume you don't, a drawing or painting of someone dead before the invention of photography. At least you wouldn't call that inappropriate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.39.169.176 (talk) 20:15, 21 December 2006 (UTC).

I think the sketch is perfect for this article as it shows Bowie clearly without overemphisizing any of his various phases. However it appears to be a tracing of this image, with only minor alterations. This would mean it is not under the GNU license. Correct? Tlsg 18:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

It's a bad amateur drawing. Whoever keeps posting it should set up their own website to display their pictures, not hijack wikipedia.

Birthplace

The writer has been led to believe that David Bowie was actually born in Doncaster Royal Infirmary; although there is no suggestion that, at the time, his parents were permanently resident anywhere other than the London address given. Of course this may be some sort of mythology created by his Doncaster fans (there is no reason known that Mr. Jones (senior) might have wanted David to play cricket for Yorkshire), but there is no firm evidence cited to the contrary. As David is still alive; and members of his family may possibly still be alive, is there anyone with any firm proof as to where Bowie was born?

I see that his father is from Yorkshire. Is there any further information out there that might clarify this possible story of David being born in Doncaster Royal Infirmary? Perhaps his dad, as a Yorkshireman, did want his son to have the option of playing cricket for Yorkshire? (The Yokshire cricket club had a strict rule, since relaxed slightly but not completely, that to play for the club you had to have been born in the county)

David Bowie is a being from another planet. his people developed interstellar travel by the time most of the people reading this were simply tubesock fodder. they are a peaceful consciousness. that is all i know, because i am engaged to a half-interstellar being. she is lovely and she doesn't bullshit.

Ah! that explains it! They called in at Donny on their way to London, and caught the inter-city (or whatever the steam trains were called).

David Bowie's father was born in Doncaster, not Tadcaster as the article suggests. It's where the the confusion over Bowie's own birthplace comes from. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WilyCoyote123 (talk • contribs) 16:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

That now sounds more like it! What independent sources can verify that David's Dad was born in Doncaster? It is certainly a better explanation of my confusion 212.50.162.251 07:56, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Headline text

The photo with the legend "performing Rebel Rebel" seems earlier. I seem to remember him performing it on TOTP with footage from the American TV programme Soul Train. He was in a blue suit, blue earth shoes and slicked-back yellow-orange hair. Remember, this was even after Philly Dogs when he had abandoned the Ziggy hair. This photo seems to be Pin-Ups period.

--- User:Jigsawpuzzleman 13 July 2005

Oh, believe me, he has performed Rebel Rebel MANY times. There is a famous music video where he appeared on a promo spot in 1974 on VH1, where he came out wearing this new outfit... adding an eyepatch and psuedo-pirate getup to the Ziggy hair that he was still wearing. On the spot, they played the recording and he lipsynched. The episode of soul train would probably have been in late 1975, when he'd already gone on and released Young Americans.

What I AM concerned about is this explosion of photos. They seem a little excessive and poorly placed.

--- User:Mikeguy 4 September 2005

I stand corrected. Mind you, it's far from being his greatest composition in my opinion.

Jigsawpuzzleman 20:44, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

I've changed the caption on the 1973 pic. Shots with the sun symbol on his forehead are from the 1973 Aladdin Sane tour, so it seems incorrect to call the character Ziggy Stardust. BTLizard 14:16, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

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This page is getting very long. This is arising from the as yet incomplete description of the albums. Wouldn't be better to put such descriptions on separate pages linked from the main page?

Should the Chart information (such as Billboard) be on a separate page too?

In the current format it is difficult to update the album list. A new album Reality has been released this month.

--- User:Karl Palmen 29 Sept 2003

I agree. The information on each album should be located at a page on those albums, not here. The Billboard information for Bowie's career I had added a while back to see how it looks on the one page. I have mixed opinions on that, and wouldn't mind it being moved to something like David Bowie's chart positions. Tuf-Kat 13:23, 29 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I've been thinking that for a while (especially with the discography between two bits of actual text.) I'm tempted to move it to David Bowie discography. In fact, I think I will be bold... User:GWO

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Today, living in New York with his second wife, Iman and their daughter, Bowie remains a dynamic, ever-changing artist.

I (reluctantly) changed that despite seeing him at the Garden last night. It's probably true, but it's POV. Also, there's the wrong number of commas.

Incidentally, does anyone know the daughter's name? --Charles A. L. 18:22, Dec 16, 2003 (UTC)

Her name is Alexandria. --Roo72 00:16, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

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Uh.. I did that Eno correction a while back. The reason for that was that Eno was just a musician, not a producer or a principal songwriter for the Berlin trilogy albums. Evidence: http://pitchforkmedia.com/top/70s/index10.shtml (see the last review on the page, of Bowie's "Low") and http://www.tonyvisconti.com/news/june04.htm (producer Tony Visconti quotes Pitchforkmedia and doesn't seem to disagree.. I'd think there would be a reaction?). The phrase 'collaborated with Brian Eno', in my eyes, helps spreading the false rumour that Eno produced those records. I'm not sure on how to correct this. - Jashiin

Collarobated means "worked together" and work together they did. Check any biography of BOwie or Eno. It's not a "rumour".

I'm not trying to say they didn't work together. I'm trying to say that a rumor exists that Eno produced those records, and it is not true. Bowie worked with a LOT of people on those albums, Eno was just one of those people, just another musician. Eno is famous, yes, so what? Visconti is a famous producer as well, known for T.Rex releases for instance. Or Alomar, who played guitar on Low, he's pretty well-known too. What about them? In my eyes, there is no reason to single Eno out when speaking about Low or Heroes.. - Jashiin

I don't know what rumors you are talking about but the article on Wiki does not say that Eno produced his albums, just that he worked with Bowie. He should be singled out however because he did have a huge influence on Bowie and those albums - again, ready any biography on those two guys.--Roo72 12:36, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Ok, this is what I wanted to hear, reasons for singling Eno out. Case closed :) - Jashiin

Well, "Heroes" is credited to Bowie/Eno, as are "Warszawa", "Art Decade" "Neuköln" from the Low period. That sounds like collaboration to me. Secondly, Visconti had been Bowie's producer for years, so its not interesting that he's still working with him. Thirdly, Bowie's said at length how Eno's working methods heavily influenced those albums and anyone with ears can hear Eno's influence all over those records. Fifthly, here's a Bowie webchat on that issue http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/chats/dbchattvmrdb1298.htm :

Question: do you regret the fact that a lot of people think Eno produced "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger"?

Tony Visconti: Brian is a great musician, and was very integral to the making of those three albums. -- GWO

Well, that clears it up.. There's that rumour I've been talking about, too. Thanks :) - Jashiin

List Bowie Albums

Including albums he sang in like Queen's Under Presure. I was very curious about how many albums he's made/contributed to. User Hmoleman00

Under Pressure is a song, not an album.

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Surprisingly little on Labyrinth, considering it is a musical and David Bowie features prominantly in the film and album, composing and performing half the tracks on the album along with Trevor Jones. Plus it's Great ;) --BathTub 15:02, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

If you feel a change is needed, feel free to make it yourself! Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone — including you — can edit any article by clicking the edit this page tab at the top of the page. You don't even need to log in, although there are several reasons why you might want to. Wikipedia convention is to be bold and not be afraid of making mistakes. If you're not sure how editing works, have a look

Birthday

"On 9 January 1997, Bowie played a concert at Madison Square Garden to celebrate his 50th birthday (although his birthday was the previous day). Guest performers included Billy Corgan, Frank Black, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Brian Molko, and Lou Reed whose 1972 album Transformer Bowie co-produced."

The new album

Where are all the rumors coming from? Is the name "Me, Myself and I" confirmed? Sometime ago it was just "TBA" ;) I would be thankful for clarifying :)

I was the one that added this. I read it in a recent article/interview with DB, but now I can't remember the source. I have not been able to confirm it elsewhere, so maybe it should be left out for now. Stanley Lieber 22:08, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Incomplete sentence describing "Berlin Trilogy" -anybody able to fix?

I noticed the second paragraph of the "Overview" section currently reads " The so-called "Berlin Trilogy", although receiving mixed commercial success at the time." Needs the rest of the sentence. I'm not sure what it should say or I'd fix it myself. Thanks.--63.201.91.208 00:27, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. Original final part of the sentence ("is seen by many today as masterful and groundbreaking") got lost somewhere along the line these past few weeks. Have partially restored but changed "masterful", which I think was a bit OTT even though I personally agree with the assessment. Cheers, Ian Rose 01:13, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

kissed ronsons guitar?

um, people, that rather famous incident is not best described as "kissing" Mick Ronson's guitar. how about a little less prudishness and a bit more historical truth?

i heard he performed 'felatio' to it, but either way... AlexOvShaolin 16:42, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

There is a colour photo of the incident contained in the 636 page book "Alias David Bowie" by Peter and Leni Gillman, ISBN:0-450-41346-8. The comprehensive title was compiled after interviewing over 150 friends, relatives, colleagues, teachers, etc (and even lists the names of all the interviewees), and covers family history from before he was born through to about 1985, and gives quite a bit of insight into David's half-brother Terry and the probable influence David's family and upbringing have had in relation to his writing style. Anyway, that particular photo clearly shows something a little more violent than a humble kiss ...

Heart attack

Corrected the information about Bowie's surgery in July 2004. He has since admitted he had suffered a heart attack, and not just a narrowed artery.

Mass renaming of Singles by artist into Songs by artist

In a recent mass renaming of categories, we renamed nearly every category of Singles by artist into the appropriate subcategory of Songs by artist. We did not immediately rename the few categories in which there was a large number of both singles and non-singles separated, just to make sure there was no absolutely pressing reason that fans of those few acts (the Beach Boys, the Beatles, David Bowie, Nirvana, Oasis, Prince, Radiohead) wanted the singles by artist category kept. So one last chance: Does anyone think that category:David Bowie singles shouldn't be merged into category:David Bowie songs, as all the others except the ones listed have?--Mike Selinker 08:54, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Artificial Eye?

My friend and I just spoke, and she said that Bowie had an artificial eye, yet Wiki says he has heterochromia and can see in his injured eye. Is there any other source that has info on this?

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Check any of the listed sites (especially BBC news), they'll tell you that neither of Bowie's eyes are artificial, although I must remark that the injured eye (which he can see through with faulty depth perception) appears to be artificial due to its permanate dialation.

Mikeguy

Well....from what I know and my years of being a big fan lol. Apparently when David Bowie was 14 years old he was punched in the left eye in Highschool by good friend George Underwood during a fight over a girl. He damaged the retina with a large ring he was wearing and after that David spent 8 months in Hospital and his eye sight became permantently impaired. Though I think he can still see through both eyes just not as well (Loyal queen 04:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)).

Overview

Pardon me, but the overview appears to have been expanded back to its original form when it was still in a seperate "overview" column. I don't mean to be picky, but I think that the original overview was too long to be a standalone summary of David Bowie's career for a Wikipedia header; why not compare it to the Elvis Presley article, or Queen, or The Beatles. These musical acts certainly have much to be said about them, but not in the introduction to the article. The introduction should be much more concise, hence the earlier editing.

Also, the removal of the comment on David Bowie as a "rock chameleon" is unnacceptable. Stating that it is unusable due to status of a "cliché" is absurd; it is a comment which, like it or not, has been applied to Bowie historically enough times to be not only significant, but crucial to an understanding of him altogether.

Remember, this is about creating an informative artical which meets Wikipedia's standards, which is precisely why I haven't simply reverted the edits myself and would like to discuss this. Mikeguy 22:51, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Mike, as you've probably gathered from my tweaks but not wholesale rewrite of your recent change to the intro, I'm with you there. The rules for a featured article, if I recall rightly, are three paras in the intro. Also I have serious concerns with some of the purple prose in the latest version which I think were also there before your rejig ("extraordinary", "cleverly", etc). However, agree we wait a little to get other feedback/consensus here before any reversion. Cheers, Ian Rose 23:22, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Bowie does not have an artificial eye...

 According to many sources it is believed that the eye inccident occured in his high school  years. Most sources say that he was struck in the eye by a friend in a schoolyard fight, over a girl. Some sources say that he has faulty-depth perception in his right eye. Some say that it was a different type of diagnosis, but this reason is most understandable to my knowledge.

Loyal_Queen No, Bowie's eye is definately not artificial yes thats right him and George Underwood had a fight over a girl in highschool and George was wearing a large ring , so when he punched david it left a large damage to the retina and he had to stay in hospital for months.

Bowie Fan

I thought George Underwood had conceded he had poked David in the eye with a jab over a girl of course??? And there is video with him making this admission...

As for the Chameleon thing I'm tired of it, afterall a chameleon blends in so it doesn't do justice to one who is outside of the conventional box.

I thought it was because he could lick his own eyeball. God, shows what I know.--172.166.19.129 03:11, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Toy was heard in 2006 by a select group and is described song by song online on a fan site however it is not released to us mere mortals yet ditto for Contamination and the list of unreleased material is staggering having said that unreleased material does not belong in a list of "official releases" aka known as a "discography"

Huge Bowie Fan

Problems

1. The introduction is WAY too long. It also includes blatantly POV and weasely worded statements:-
He is universally recognised as one of the more accomplished and inspired artists in rock and pop.
The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona would epitomise an extraordinary career defined by consistent musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.
A darling of the music cognoscenti while entertaining an intense and broad fan base, the knowing, indulgent and rather camp Bowie injected rock and pop with a combined glamour, mystique and melancholia uniquely his own.

I think all of these statements are unneccesary.

2. Somebody removed the long list of musical genres and replaced them with rock. Is it just vandalism, or was it agreed upon?

Currently it says "Rock, Art Rock, Glam Rock and Pop". These are pretty loose catch terms, and ultimately would involve putting "Young Americans" and "Outside" in the same box. There should certainly be Drum and Bass, New Wave, Soul and Electonica on there. But as it is an disputed area, I'll wait for a second opinion before doing anything. NadaPlissken 11:00, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Alright, I'm reverting it back to the fine-tuned introduction I wrote after reviewing this blatant piece of POV, please view the above discussion about it. Mikeguy 02:58, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The "Bowie the Actor" Section

I recently noticed that an edit had been made to add Bowie's career as an actor to each section of his biography... I believe this is a better idea than using a seperate "Bowie the Actor" section, but if so, all the information from that section needs to be dispersed and rearranged through the article. Can we agree that this section should be dispersed into the rest of the biography?Mikeguy 03:05, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Oz Actor

He's listed as an "Oz Actor", but his IMDB page doesn't mention anything Oz related. Am I missing something?--Agent Aquamarine 23:30, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Frank Oz was in Labyrinth????--Philbarker 22:04, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

England?

Country: England doesn't seem quite right, since England is a constituent country of the United Kingdom; surely United Kingdom would be more accurate. Especially since England would not coincide with the List of countries.

Cannot do. Everyone born in England will be called British and everyone born in Wales will be called Welsh etc and it'll make too much inconsistency - because you'll never get the petty nationalists elsewhere in the UK to conform. Try it and see... -- 86.17.211.191 11:39, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Poof? bisexual?

is he really one?!!!

it has been stated over and over publically a million times. i dont think its been mentioned in recent years tho. AlexOvShaolin 16:41, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I gathered information that a guy called Calvin Mark Lee(however its slept) was having an affair with Angie and David at the same time (before they became lovers). So yehh we all know David was having sexual relationships with men as well as women. He was experimenting with his sexuality just like he does with drugs and eastern philosophy. Oh and I found out that when Angie and David got married in March 70' that the night before their wedding they celebrated with a threesome....But it doesnt mean he's gay or bisexual, I personally dnt think hes bisexaul just experimental (then in 70's) people can do things like this when they're....high on drugs maybe lol. (Loyal queen 04:59, 5 November 2006 (UTC))

This is really a celebrity anagram note, so it probably doesn't belong here, but since David Bowie's name anagram turns out to have reference to this topic, which has already been started, I am including it here. If anyone wants to include it in the article proper, be my guest! "DAVID BOWIE" = "odd view ... a bi". I personally just think of him as David Bowie - he is unique! ... I saw him through binoculars from the front (and so very close to the stage) at one of his concerts in Sydney in 1978, perfect skin, very beautiful inside and outside ... he smiled at me! It is Eros that matters! Eros!

For other celebrity anagrams: See the George Lucas discussion page (inc. Oliver Reed, George Romero, George Lucas, Luke Skywalker).--Elizabeth Jane 08:20, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I was surprised by the unsourced and unqualified assertion, "Bowie has since retracted and distanced himself from the claim he made in an interview to being bisexual." There is no indication which interview but I am guessing maybe the 1976 Playboy interview referenced on IMDB.com, http://imdb.com/name/nm0000309/bio. In a 2002 interview for Blender, he elaborated that he had "no problem with people knowing [he] was bisexual," but it had become too much of a headline in America because "America is a very puritanical place and I think it stood in the way of so much I wanted to do." http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=366 Regarding the specific events described above, it's a status vs. conduct issue; even a virgin has a sexual orientation. It shouldn't matter any more than the explanation for why his eyes appear to be two different colors, so ordinarily I would simply correct what seems to be an error, but somehow this particular subject gets people overexcited (especially in America, as noted in the interview; see also the Talk section on Anderson Cooper's Wikipedia bio), so I'll wait and see if anyone has any comments. TVC 15 02:05, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Seeing no objection, I've removed the sentence quoted above from the glam period section (1969-1973) and replaced it with a short paragraph in the Personal Life section. It fits quite well there, following his reported explanation for how he met his first wife. I think the basis for the "retracted and distanced" comment may have been a 1983 article in Rolling Stone, so I've referenced that in the new paragraph together with the prior Playboy and subsequent Blender interviews. BTW, being American myself, and living here (as he does), I don't read or intend the "puritanical" comment as anti-American generally, only an observation that puritanism is a strong and sometimes distracting influence here. TVC 15 04:14, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Good job, mate. I think you've covered the subject as well as anyone can. David Buckley references the 1983 RS interview and interprets it as one of Bowie's attempts around that time to "in" himself with the public, particularly in America. This was after all the Let's Dance period, his most overt play for mainstream commercial acceptance. Cheers, Ian Rose 06:00, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Re; Nirvana comment

Whichever arsehole put in that pointless, snotty aside about Kurt Cobain fouling up the lyrics to The Man Who Sold The World clearly isn't a musician. If you're playing live mistakes happen and you have to keep going it's not a fucking studio recording is it? It's a one shot live performance not some jerk miming on TOTP.

You're right about the small lyrical change not being a big deal, artists do that all the time during live performances. However, you're still a twat for liking Nirvana.

Hey hey hey! Lets not get all critical with people's musical preferances. But however people who don't like Bowie or say hes a fag or gay...they seriously need mental help I mean to be ranked as the top 10 BEST ARTIST of ALL time and selling over 150 million records...must tell you something lol. (Loyal queen 05:04, 5 November 2006 (UTC))

U.S.-Sales?

How many records did Bowie sell in the U.S.? Especially since the beginning of the Nielsen Soundscan era.

Template

I'm surprised that there isn't a David Bowie template. There are enough studio albums, live albums, films etc.. to warrant one. Any comments? TommyStardust 09:18, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Anyway, just finished making one. Suggestions for improvement are welcome. TommyStardust 14:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Hullo Tommy, good on you. Unfortunately whatever template you've used doesn't show up when I view it on Mozilla or IE. Don't have that prob with most templates, e.g. Beatles, Roxy Music, Rolling Stones or Grace Jones so I'm curious as to what you based the Bowie one on. If you don't feel like redoing it with one of them I'm happy to... Also be good for it to be 'David Bowie', not 'David bowie' (pedantic git, aren't I?). Cheers, Ian Rose 12:13, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Random lyrics

Article should mention that Bowie has (apparently) often used randomized lyrics; one songwriting technique he has used is to write out some individual lines he likes, and then randomize their order. He has said that after having used paper and ink for this, someone wrote him a Macintosh program that lets him type them in and then randomize them. It's an interesting window into his work, IMO, if anyone can find a reputable source. Tempshill 19:17, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah I know there is a video showing the composition process. Could it serve as a source? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIC-1IXnmnA Najja 08:08, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Out of interest, I think he also explains the paper and ink method in the Cracked Actor documentary. Nadim Scolris 16:59, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

lyrics

i noticed there is an article for a ton of david bowie songs but no lyrics, is it possible to include the lyrics in the articles or is that against wiki policy? AlexOvShaolin 21:35, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

G'day, Alex, sorry no-one's replied to you till now. Generally lyrics will be copyright so including them in a Wikipedia article will be a violation of that copyright (see WP:COPYVIO). Even providing an external link to lyrics elsewhere on the web is questionable as those sites may themselves be violating copyright. That said, normal fair use rationales apply if you were to quote a line or two to illustrate a point in the song for its article, just as you might fairly quote a short passage from a book in an essay or review (see WP:FAIR). Cheers, Ian Rose 11:23, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Pro Evolution Soccer 6

someone thought it would be a good idea to explain why this game uses the song as its theme in its own section, the information was relocated to the article Under Pressure. --AlexOvShaolin 01:14, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Actual name

It says on IMdB that his birthday name is David Robert Hayward-Jones, rather than Jones. Does anyone know anything about this?

I was wondering about that myself. On the DVD for Labyrinth, under Talent Files for David Bowie, it also lists his real name as being David Robert Hayward-Jones. Seems like a reliable enough source on the matter. Zurgiea 22:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Well that probably explains it... Someone watches Labyrinth and updates IMDB based on that. IMDB doesn't require citations so is hardly a reliable source, and the DVD is plain wrong. If you read a biography like David Buckley's Strange Fascination you'll see his birth name is David Robert Jones. His father was Haywood Jones, which might account for the confusion... Cheers, Ian Rose 08:16, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

That explains it. Thanks for the clarification. Zurgiea 02:45, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The articles on Angie and Duncan says his full name is Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones, which may be where some confusion arose. -- Beardo 04:54, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Knighthood and why there won't be a "Sir David" too soon...

I have a reliable source (AP; quoted in forum) that he declined this officially in 2003: http://www.funbolt.com/forums/f14/david-bowie-says-no-sir-knighthood-45992/ -andy 80.129.114.9 16:39, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

David does not like Clinton?

According to the live acoustic sets he did in 1996/97, Bowie does not like the former US president too much ... There is a song "I can't read", and in the beginning he says: "This was a song that was partially written by President Clinton; it is about literacy." Sounds very sarcastic to my ears, YMMV. Would be nice to know what exactly DB dislikes on him, resp. what he's criticizing about his politics. -andy 80.129.114.9 16:39, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Either way, not very relevant. --AlexOvShaolin 06:19, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

social origins

Anyone know what his parents did for a living ? Johncmullen1960 09:42, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

his father worked at a mortuary and his mother was a prostitute. --AlexOvShaolin 00:31, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

David Bowie's father was did Public Relations for Dr Barnardo's Children's homes, and his mother was a house wife. Before she married Bowie's father she was a cinema usher.

Pronunciation?

Does anyone have a reliable source (ie sourced to Bowie himself) for the pronunciation of his name? 130.225.26.145 11:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

The BBC 60 article referenced says that it rhymes with Joey. (So Zowie = Zoe ?). -- Beardo 04:55, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Bowieart

The article needs something about his interest in art. He paints pictures, including self portraits, he has set up the foundation Bowieart[1] and he collects work (as I recall), as well as interviewing Tracey Emin. Tyrenius 02:24, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree!Did he do that drawing that's up now? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.214.179.107 (talk • contribs).

It was done by A.Homicz. Click the image and get the page with details. 04:32, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Get rid of that drawing

Get rid of that drawing of David Bowie and add a photo of him. I don't see any other actor or musican with a stupid drawing of them on there page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ben Scarr (talk • contribs).

I agreeSonic Hog 04:58, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

I also agree, it doesn't look right. Samhalverson 13.17, 25 February 2007 (GMT)

Lyrics

Anyone know any good links to lyrical analysis for Bowie?

--1000Faces 03:57, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Image appears to be copyrighted

The main image; David_Bowie_Portrait.jpg, is a (computer) tracing of a common promo image (e.g. here). Will someone look into this and/or post a Possible Copyright Infringement thingie? Tlsg 19:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Acting Career

Towards the end, this section states:

"Bowie has voice-acted in the new movie Arthur and the Minimoys (or Arthur And The Invisibles in the US); his role in the film is the villain, Maltazard."

The film was titled Arthur and the Invisibles (note capitalisation too - [excuse english bias in spelling ;)]) in all English-speaking releases, according to the page on the film. Could this be changed to relect this (and tidy up the film's title)? Sir Pepperban 14:13, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

David Bowie Comic Tie-In?

I remember owning a comic wich featured a character like David Bowie, named "Nathan (something) and the art-ritual murder of (someone) or something like that. Does anyoen know what I'm talking about? I was looking for info on that... Vicco Lizcano 22:52, 9 March 2007 (UTC) ^{(Tell me where I'm wrong)}

Foudn it, it's further explained in the article for the album Outside. Vicco Lizcano 22:55, 9 March 2007 (UTC) ^{(Tell me where I'm wrong)}

Nazi and different eyes

My friend told me that he was a Nazi and he said that Hitler was a great man. He also told me that the reason for his different colours in his eye is because of a fight he got into when he was teen. Are those thing true or rumors that he heared?--69.113.131.124 21:57, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Both topics are covered in the article if you had bothered looking. Nadim Scolris 10:49, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Cultural References

Are all these "cultural references" really necessary? I mean, people... come on... is the fact that he was mentioned 2 of 3 times in the WB's prestigious show 'Gilmore Girls' really encyclopedia-worthy? He's a super mega-star, he's probably randomly and adorely mentioned a dozen times a day in the meida somewhere at some point. With someone so well known, shouldn't we be more discriminant as to what a cultural reference is? 71.229.26.210 14:31, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree, I think that show is even canceled now... I don't see how half of those are cultural references. 128.186.240.237 19:10, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Use of quotation marks

Hi. Whilst performing an edit, I noticed that (UK) commas (,) and (UK) full stops (.) were being incorrectly placed inside quotation marks when highlighting references to songs during breaks in a sentence, and at the end of a sentence e.g. "Station to Station." should be "Station to Station". Likewise with the commas. The only time commas and full stops should occur inside is during a complete quotation of speech, e.g.:

Then he said: "Correct the punctuation please."

I have corrected those I could find, and mention it here due to this being a B-class Biography deserving of respect. Thanks. Refsworldlee^(chew-fat)(eds) 17:06, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Copyedit/citations/references

Hi all, just giving notice that over the next week (or weeks!) I'll be going through each section copyediting and adding/standardising citations. I'll do one at a time to avoid overwhelming anyone (including myself). No strict order but as the mood takes me - the first will be 1969 to 1973: Psychedelic folk to glam rock, with minor touches in one or two others. If anyone wants to discuss the citation/referencing style - or anything else - then please feel free to do so here.

While on the subject, I think all of us contributing to this article ought also to be mindful of its size and be prepared to reduce in some areas where the info is covered elsewhere, e.g. album and song articles. Just to name one, I fully agree with an editor above that the References in popular culture section is over the top - apart from eliminating items mentioned in related Bowie articles, we might consider breaking it all out into a new article or discuss some stricter criteria for inclusion. Cheers, Ian Rose 16:00, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Halloween Jack

Why is there controversy over the Halloween Jack citation? Halloween Jack was the character Bowie came out as when he premiered "Rebel Rebel" for Diamond Dogs. Here is a link to a reprinted 1973 article in College Humor. Sorry its so cheesy, but its what I could ind online in short notice. [2]. Any Bowie biography though will include info on Halloween Jack (his "pirate" persona that was replaced by the "plastic soul" thing for the tour.)--98percenthuman 03:17, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

P.S. - the eyepatch is the proof that he is potraying "Halloween Jack"--98percenthuman 03:19, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if Kjet's and my interest in only including what's clear and/or verified is causing you issue but it's not like Halloween Jack was a significant persona for Bowie on the scale of Ziggy, Aladdin Sane or The Duke and that everything to do with the album or tour was based around him - as has been discussed and agreed earlier re. the Aliases part of the infobox. "Any Bowie biography" won't in fact equate the pirate look for the "Rebel" film clip with Jack - I don't see anywhere in Buckley's Strange Fascination or in Carr and Murray's Illustrated Record that does. Perhaps Nicholas Pegg asserts that, I don't have a copy on me, but I'd be looking to those rather than a solitary article in College Humor. If there's doubt, we should err on the side of conservatism here - the current caption for the picture isn't in question and can easily suffice. Cheers, Ian Rose 03:49, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

It certainly isn't causing me "issue" but I disagree that "Halloween Jack" was not a significant persona. Even though he was cut from the tour - the Diamond Dogs album feaures him prominently. I just think its uninformative to use a picture of Bowie with patch and not give an explanation for the patch. If I didn't know much about Bowie, I would ask myself, upon going to the article, "Why is Ziggy Stardust wearing an eye patch?" and the article wouldn't tell me. I say - either change the picture or include information about it in the caption. About the references, Halloween Jack is a recognized persona in the Bowie cannon. I cannot imagine that you can't find any information on it. Even look at Angie Bowie's book. She talks about it. --98percenthuman 12:35, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

If I remember correctly (I'm writing from work and don't have my books with me) Bowie was wearing an eyepatch on the Rebel Rebel clip due to an eye infection. Additionally I'm 99% certain Nicholas Pegg's books doesn't equate the pirate look with Halloween Jack, and indeed I have to point out there's no mention of him wearing an eyepatch in on the album. Besides, Halloween Jack is only featured on one track in the Diamond Dogs album (admittedly it's the title track). He certainly has no relevance to the tracks inspired by Orwell's 1984 that made up the majority of the album. I'd put the College Humor article down as an attempt to brand the pirate look as yet another Bowie persona when it in fact wasn't one. Also, Angie Bowie's book is one of the most untrustworthy books about Bowie there is, whereas Strange Fascination, An Illustrated Record and Pegg's The Complete David Bowie are considered the most trustworthy Bowie books. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kjet (talk • contribs) 07:52, 6 August 2007

I don't think that arguing the character's relevancy is really constructive since it's a bit of a subjective issue. But not mentioning it at all would be a mistake since the persona does indeed exist in some form; here we are discussing it. I believe that Halloween Jack should just be referenced in terms of it's relationship to the song Diamond Dogs since that is the only occurrence that irrefutably exists in the Bowie cannon. Neither ignoring the character or expanding it's significance to a "Ziggy" degree seem all that appropriate. As far as bio's go, I do believe Halloween Jack is discussed in Tremmlet's "Living on the Brink" biography.Zommbi 07:59, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

No-one's arguing about Jack being a character in "Diamond Dogs" the song - see the article in question. However in the overall context of Bowie's career, which is what this article is about, he's a pretty minor persona. In any case, the argument was whether the eye-patched Bowie in the "Rebel Rebel" film clip represented Jack, not whether he should or should not be mentioned here at all (if such a mention just sticks to "Diamond Dogs", I'm not fussed either way)... Cheers, Ian Rose 12:42, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Outside

I was looking for David Bowie videos on YouTube and I found this: [3] . In the description, the poster says something about an "Outside" movie... Anyone have a little more informations please? I'd really like to see it but couldn't find any infos anywhere on the internet :s

Thanks.

The word "Nazi" is not mentioned once in this article

You guys have 1 week or that's it, I'll add a seperate section myself talking about it under the "controversy" section. Duff man2007 21:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

There wasn't a Controversy section last time I looked but you're welcome to add something if you choose, proved it's balanced and sourced and you're prepared to have it 'mercilessly edited' by others in the best WP tradition. That's likely to get you a bit further than any supposed threats... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose 22:50, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Really? In that case I'll add a Controversy section myself. It's notable as well, since he made some sort of racist comment, along with Eric Clapton. And if it's in Clapton's article then sure it will be in this one, right? Duff man2007 04:18, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

He hasn't ever publicly made racist comments. However he did make some pro-fascist statements around 1976 (not related in any way to what Clapton said), stating his admiration to the fascist political system and Hitler as a persona, not to the fascist racial ideology. -- Kjet 05:34, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Quite right, Kjet. I don't think the fascist comments alone justify a Controversy section per se, just a mention in the 1974-76 section around Station to Station. Curiously, that section used to include a mention of Victoria Station (I know because I added to and sourced some of it) but now I look again it's disappeared. I must've blinked... Cheers, Ian Rose 11:50, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Separate David Bowie biography article?

The article is terribly big as it is, and there is a lot of stuff that should probably be added to the biography section (case point: the "Nazi" discussion above), so I was wondering if it would be a good idea to separate the biography into a separate article of it's own? -- Kjet 12:25, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Take your point, mate, but I think we should trim other parts rather than create a new biography article. After all, the point of the article is a biography I think. For instance, let's get rid of - or radically trim, or break out into a separate article - the Popular Culture section, which is getting beyond a joke. Also, we could trim some of the album and single info in the body, since we have pretty comprehensive articles on most of his music (what I've spent a large chunk of my WP time on). Case in point is Station to Station, which I recently developed into a full article, including a discussion of the 'fascist' statements and the Victoria Station incident as part of the Aftermath section... Cheers, Ian Rose 13:35, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

And extremely good idea in cutting down the album info from here and moving it to the album articles. That is probably the best way to do this. Also, I agree that the Popular Culture section is out-of-control... it should maybe be re-titled into "Notable polular culture references" (or something along those lines) and leave in only the stuff by major artists that is undoubtedly a reference to Bowie. For instance the "Little creepy´s playing dollies in the New York rain, thinkin´ Bowie´s just a knife" is not explicitly a reference to David Bowie and it's by an artist whom at least I have never heard of. -- Kjet 15:33, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Fantastic work on the Station to Station article, by the way, Ian. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.129.164 (talk) 18:59, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

Releases on CD and other digital formats

The information on cd and other releases on the album pages are troubling- most ignore the german or japanese RCA discs from the 80s, and have factually incorrect statements concerning bit depth. It would be nice if somebody who has the time and the relevant information to correct these issues and get it over with- it isn't a good idea to use misleading marketing speak to describe things. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Billybudapest (talk • contribs) 04:23, August 22, 2007 (UTC).

The 1999 EMI reissues do say "24-bit digitally remastered" on the cover. The RCA reissues (and some of the lesser known reissues from the 90's and 00's) should definately be included though. -- Kjet 06:15, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

They say it, but it doesn't signify anything. CDs are 16 bit only, and we do not know if the original tapes, copies, or previous lower resolution digital sources were simply manipulated digitally at 24bit resolution, or if the tapes were transferred at a bit depth of 24 bits. Leaving that element to describe the cd is thus bad marketing and misleading. I think the proper way to handle it would be to simply ignore the 24bit part and just say it was remastered. There is no need to play that game. --Billybudapest

Sounds fair to me - why not be bold and change them?! Have to admit that the CD remastering guff is one part of the album articles I've spent little time on - through lack of deep interest - except to keep tidy others' edits, so feel free to finetune those sections. Cheers, Ian Rose 11:28, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

anecdotage.com

The "fucking the same bloke" quote is credited to anecdotage.com. Is this really a reliable source? —XSG 11:07, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Sentence that reads like senationalist tabloid journalism

Re, this sentence: "During the tour, Bowie was hit in the eye with a lollipop stick while performing in Oslo, Norway. Bowie was reported to have stopped the concert and to have yelled "You fucking wanker! You little fucker!" at the lollipop thrower. He later resumed the concert and apologised to the crowd for his response.[31]"

Whup dee doo.

Really, this is adding nothing but sensationalism to the article, and in my view cheapens the tone of the article. It also feels out of place considering the tone of previous paragraphs.

I suggest it be cut out.

Peter hod 21:31, 1 September 2007 (UTC)Pete

Andy Warhol

There's a great quote about Warhol/The Factory's influence on Bowie by a drag queen in the documentary 'Rock and Roll' that came out (I think) in 94 by the BBC/WGBH. There's a marvelously detailed look at Bowie (including interviews with David and Mick) included, but the part I remember is a drag queen from the Factory days saying something to the effect of 'he came in there floppy haired Davy Jones and came out wearing women's clothes and proclaiming his bisexuality'. What hurts is that you can't by this great doc anymore, it was only released on VHS for educational use. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.148.27.206 (talk) 02:48, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

THAT GODAWFUL PICTURE!!!

I know there's an issue with copyright, but now there's a new current 2006 pic of Bowie under the neo-classic section that seems OK, why can't THAT be in the info box instead? 84.70.180.0 06:56, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I relocted the pic, if it's got a copyright issue i'll let someone else delete it, but as it was already uncontested within the article, I guessed it was fine (it looks like a fan photo). 84.70.180.0 11:09, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Speaking of godawful, I think the current pic looks much worse than the GS pic. -- Kjet 14:39, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Although, the problem with having old performance pictures of David in the infobox is that everyone has their own favourite ch-ch-change of persona throughout the decades (mine's Ziggy) - and so the only truly consensual choice will end up being a new, or fairly so, photo of him. And I think he looks very distinguished and happy in it, so I would favour it, as long as it really is fair use or free. Ref ^(chew)(do) 15:06, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not opposing the new image as such, I actually agree in preferring a newer picture for the resons you stated... mostly I was just trying to point out that the "awfulness" of the picture is purely a matter of personal opinion. -- Kjet 15:14, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Gotcha. Thanks. Ref ^(chew)(do) 15:18, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I see your point, I just meant godawful as in purpose. For a 20 year old picture to be used as an encyclopedic illustration of who we're talking about was godawful to me, not necessarily the shot itself, although even that was a bit murky and out of focus. 84.70.180.0 01:15, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Moved here from article

References in popular culture

Image:Bowie001.jpg
(David Bowie in The Venture Bros)

• The Kooks, a British Pop band, named their band after Bowie's song "Kooks"
• Acid Mothers Temple, the Japanese psychedelic/progressive rock band have released three EP length songs with Bowie-tribute titles that were compiled in the 2003 album Magical Power from Mars. The individual song titles are "Ziggy Sitar Dust Raga", "Diamond Doggy Peggy", and "Aladdin Kane".
• In Glam Metal Detectives and Stella Street, Bowie is portrayed by impressionist Phil Cornwell.
• Bowie was featured in the red carpet scene near the beginning of the Stewie Griffin movie.
• In the Gilmore Girls episode "Eight O' Clock at the Oasis", Lorelai gets invited to a David Bowie concert. In Season 7, Zack wants to play "Diamond Dogs" at Michel's dog's funeral. In another episode, Jess and his estranged father are heard singing "Suffragette City" at Luke's Diner.
• Bowie's songs are featured (sung in Portuguese by cast member Seu Jorge with some slightly altered lyrics to fit the themes of the film) in the Wes Anderson movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
• Bowie is also the subject of a Phish song bearing his name, found on the Junta album.
• Strong Sad dresses as Bowie, specifically referencing the Aladdin Sane album cover, in the 2004 Homestar Runner Halloween Special.
• In the DVD intro to the Family Guy Movie, Bowie shows up at the red carpet for the premiere, causing Asian Reporter Trisha Takanawa to revert to an Asian stereotype and latch onto his leg, offering to take him to her house and make him "fish bowel soup". This is a reference to his song "China Girl".
• Bowie's song "Ziggy Stardust" was featured in the PS2 game Guitar Hero, developed by Harmonix. A remix of "Everyone Says 'Hi'" was also featured on the earlier game, Amplitude, by the same developers.
• Bowie is referenced numerous times in the Adult Swim animated series The Venture Bros.:
  • In the episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso", the opening tells of a test pilot named Major Tom. When he communicates to mission control during a flight, the dialogue is taken verbatim from "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes". The plane Major Tom is flying is "TVC 15", a title of another Bowie song.
  • In "The Incredible Mr. Brisby", the episode's eponymic villain has a panda as a companion (companda) that he won from David Bowie in a trivia contest. Bowie later hires Molotov Cocktease to kill Brisby and regain the Panda for him, a mission in which she succeeds.
  • The two-part second season finale, "Showdown at Cremation Creek", gives Bowie a vital role in the plot. He makes an unofficial appearance (voiced by James Urbaniak) at the wedding between The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, giving Dr. Girlfriend away. It is revealed later that he is the Sovereign, leader of the Guild of Calamitous Intent (the most powerful super villain union, to which the most important villains of the series belong) and an enigmatic figure that had appeared in the shadows earlier in the season. Bowie apparently has shapeshifting powers in the show, which he uses to defeat his former henchmen Iggy Pop, Klaus Nomi and seriously injure his former employee Phantom Limb to rescue Dr. Girlfriend. He also seems to possess an invulnerability to Phantom limb's Touch of Death.
  • In Season two of Venture Brothers we find out that David Bowie is the head of the The Guild Of Calamitous Intent, with a personal group of assassins called The Diamond Dogs
• Bowie is featured in a song (named "Bowie") by New Zealand based folk/comedy band, The Flight of the Conchords. On an episode of Flight of the Choncords, Bowie (played by Jemaine Clement) appeared during three dream sequences, in each of them dressed in the style of a different stage of Bowie's career.
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre wrote a song called (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six.
• Bowie is name-checked in the lyrics to Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" ("From station to station/Back to Dusseldorf City/Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie").
• Red Hot Chili Peppers mention Station to Station in their song "Californication".
• Bowie is referred to in Nina Hagen's song "New York, New York" (1985).
• Bowie is mentioned in The Simpsons episode, "She of Little Faith" where Homer blows up the church. The townsfolk are arguing about where to get the funds for the church reconstruction, and Marge suggests: "Why don't we just write to David Bowie again?" Rev. Lovejoy responds: "God no, that man has done enough for this church already."
• In Adam Sandler's movie Mr. Deeds the main character and several people on a helicopter sing part of Bowie's song, "Space Oddity".
• Bowie's song "Let's Dance" was featured in Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS and the PS2 game Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA.
• They Might Be Giants make reference to David Bowie in the opening verse of their song "Au Contraire" from the album The Spine.
• Toyah Willcox references David Bowie and the song "Life on Mars?" in her song "Vale of Evesham" from the album Prostitute.
• The character Zachary in the 2005 French Quebec film C.R.A.Z.Y. lip-synched to Bowie's "Space Oddity" while made up as Aladdin Sane.
• In an episode of Friends Joey sings some of the lyrics from "Space Oddity" to Phoebe whilst driving back from Las Vegas. On another occasion, it is sung by Chandler in front of a camera.
• Singer Tori Amos released a song entitled "Not David Bowie" on her 2006 box set A Piano. She also did a cover of After All, from The Man Who Sold the World.
• The 2006 British TV series Life on Mars takes its title from the Bowie song of the same name. The song features in the first episode, playing over the scene in which main character Sam Tyler discovers he has been transported back in time to 1973. It also features in the final minutes of the last episode. Another character, Gene Hunt, refers to himself as "the Gene Genie", a reference to Bowie's "The Jean Genie", which appears in the soundtrack of another episode. The spin-off Ashes to Ashes is another take on a David Bowie song, starring Gene Hunt set in London in 1981.
• In Douglas Adams' novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, he appears in the following description:

"If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar."

• In an episode of The L Word, Angus sings "Changes" to Kit, played by Pam Grier.
• Chicago-based rock band Veruca Salt have a song entitled "With David Bowie" which alludes to a form of teenage obsession with Bowie and his music.
• Carlton, the main character in Eric Idle's novel The Road to Mars is a Bowie robot, modelled after the rock star of the late 20th Century.
• Metal Gear Solid 3 makes reference to David Bowie. Snake's commanding officer in the Virtuous Mission speaks with a British accent, uses the codename "Major Tom". Snake also iniates communication with Major Tom upon contact with his landing point with the line "Can you hear me, Major Tom?"
• The Parliament-Funkadelic song, "P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" references Bowie ("Then I was down south and I heard some funk with some main ingredients like Doobie Brothers, Blue Magic, David Bowie. It was cool.")
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode #57 ("The Freshman") featured the Space Oddity song "Memory of a Free Festival", used as background music for a scene in Giles's home.
• In Adam Sandler's movie The Wedding Singer, Drew Barrymore's character states that David Bowie is the coolest as the song "China Girl" plays in the background.
• Indie rock band, Built to Spill, references David Bowie in their song "Distopian Dream Girl": "My stepfather looks just like David Bowie, but he hates David Bowie. I think Bowie's cool, I think 'Lodger' rules, and my stepdad's a fool."
• In the television series, Freaks and Geeks, an episode titled, "The Little Things", Ken Miller listens to the song "Fashion".
• In the TV show NUMB3RS, when Larry takes off in the rocket, "Moonage Daydream" is playing in the background.
• Two clips of Bowie appear in U2's video for their song "Window in the Skies", from the 2006 compilation album U218 Singles.
• The Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song, "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)" references Bowie ("You look like David Bowie, But you've nothing new to show me")
• In the UK sci-fi Comedy Red Dwarf, the four main characters are attempting to escape a ship in a stolen space craft. An operator at Ground Control asks for the pilots' identification. The pilot (being the Cat) replies: "Ground control, this is...er..." to which Dave Lister suggests "...Major Tom". The Operator then continues, "Ground Control to Major Tom", the opening lyric to Bowie's first hit song "Space Oddity".
• Artemis Fowl only listens to David Bowie, his favourite being "It's No Game (No. 2)" from the Scary Monsters album.
• In the SNES game EarthBound there are two enemies that reference David Bowie songs, "Starman" and "Diamond Dogs".
• In the game Thy Dungeonman II, one of the pictures in the magistrate's office is of David Bowie.
• In the video game series Xenosaga, a cyborg character named "Ziggy" bears Bowie's likeness.
• The 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, starring Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, is partially based on the unauthorized Bowie biographies "Stardust: The David Bowie Story", written by Henry Edwards and Tony Zanetta and "Backstage Passes" written by Angela Bowie. However, Bowie denied the use of any of his songs in the movie after learning this and he threatened the producers with a lawsuit, which led to portions of the film being rewritten.
• The video game, Rock Band, by Harmonix Music Systems will include the Bowie song "Suffragette City".
• The Skid Row song "Monkey Business" includes the line: "Little creepy´s playing dollies in the New York rain, thinkin´ Bowie´s just a knife"
• Golden Years was featured in the Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale during the ballroom scene.
• The Zilch song "Whats up Mr Jones?" uses lyrics from several David Bowie hits in a personal attack on the musician.
• The Smashing Pumpkins song, "If There Is a God" references Bowie ("If there is a God, I know he likes to rock, He likes his loud guitars, And his spiders from Mars")
• In an episode of Arthur, Muffy is shopping for music, trying to be like punk skater bunny, Molly and among the CDs she buys is 'Spiders From Jars', a play on 'Spiders From Mars'.

Astronettes

Shouldn't the article contain reference to Bowie's Astronettes/People from Bad Homes project? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.132.54 (talk) 09:03, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

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