WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 OK, let's unpack this. How one person became 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:06.780 the ultimate pop idol, the Thin White Duke and 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:11.220 a cultural oracle. We are diving deep today into 00:00:11.220 --> 00:00:14.460 the monumental career of David Bowie, born David 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:17.559 Robert Jones. And it's a career that spans, what, 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:20.960 six decades of just constant breathtaking reinvention. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:22.739 It really is. I mean, this isn't just a biography. 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:26.120 It's a study in identity management. It is the. 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:28.739 ultimate lesson in artistic fluidity. You know, 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.140 unlike almost every other celebrity who finds 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:33.219 a successful formula and then just mines it for 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:36.740 decades, Bowie's genius was that his core identity 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:39.600 was change itself. Right. The change was the 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:43.280 brand. Exactly. And so our mission today is to 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.259 sift through all this extensive source material 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:47.880 we have detailing his life in music, acting, 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.859 art, and to really isolate those key pivot points. 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:53.420 The aha moments. Aha moments. Yeah. The psychological 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:55.759 and cultural drivers behind his continuous transformations 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:58.960 and why he kept succeeding were so many others 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.060 would have just crashed and burned. And when 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:03.880 we talk about success. I mean, the numbers are 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.379 just staggering. We are talking about a man who 00:01:06.379 --> 00:01:09.060 sold well over 100 million records worldwide. 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:11.680 100 million. It's almost hard to comprehend. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.480 Right. And he secured six Grammy Awards, four 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.140 Brit Awards, inducted into the Rock and Roll 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:20.159 Hall of Fame back in 96. But here's the statistic 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:23.379 that, for me, really underlines his lasting influence. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.079 Let's hear it. Even in the digital age, as of 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.180 2022, David Bowie was the best -selling vinyl 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:32.730 artist of the 21st century. Wow. That vinyl statistic 00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:35.290 is fascinating, isn't it? Because it proves that 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:37.870 his output, especially that early, highly visual, 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.930 collectible work, it just maintains this profound 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:43.609 connection with new generations. Tangible. You 00:01:43.609 --> 00:01:46.129 can hold it. You can. And his influence, it didn't 00:01:46.129 --> 00:01:48.349 just stop in 1983 with Let's Dance. It's like 00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:51.209 an ongoing curriculum for popular culture. But 00:01:51.209 --> 00:01:53.310 to really understand the Starman, we have to 00:01:53.310 --> 00:01:55.290 start at the very beginning. Back to the root. 00:01:55.510 --> 00:01:58.090 Back to post -war Brixton, London, where David 00:01:58.090 --> 00:02:02.129 Robert Jones was born on January 8th, 1947. Let's 00:02:02.129 --> 00:02:04.810 start there with the seismic influences that 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:07.650 really fractured young David Jones's life and 00:02:07.650 --> 00:02:10.050 sort of set him on this path that had to involve 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:12.909 transformation. We know around age nine, his 00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:14.990 father brought home a collection of American 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:18.030 45s. Yes. And this wasn't just casual listening. 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:19.770 You have to picture it. This was an awakening. 00:02:19.909 --> 00:02:22.770 I mean, artists like the Platters and Elvis Presley, 00:02:22.849 --> 00:02:25.590 they definitely caught his attention. But the 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:28.909 pivotal moment he cited again and again was hearing 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:32.240 Little Richard's Tutti Frutti. Heard God. That's 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.159 what he said, right? He famously said that listening 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.840 to that song was like having heard God. That 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:39.879 raw, you know, uncompromising energy of American 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:42.479 rock and roll combined with the visual power 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:45.639 he saw in early Elvis. That was his initial roadmap. 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:48.919 But the map wasn't only American pop. It was 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:52.620 much more complicated by his home life. His maternal 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:54.819 half -brother, Terry Burns, who was 10 years 00:02:54.819 --> 00:02:58.939 older, was a huge influence. A guide? But a guide 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:00.919 who carried some heavy baggage, Terry's influence 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:02.900 is maybe the most critical and also the most 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.919 tragic piece of Bowie's foundation. Oh, so. Well, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.120 Terry was the one who introduced David to the 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:10.520 really high -minded, challenging arts. We're 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:12.719 talking the complexities of modern jazz from 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:14.719 Charles Mingus and John Coltrane. Heavy stuff 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.560 for a kid. Oh, absolutely. The philosophical 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.819 depth of Buddhism, the revolutionary language 00:03:19.819 --> 00:03:23.360 of beat poetry, and even the occult. But Terry 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.039 was also battling schizophrenia, as were several 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.960 other extended family members. Seeing that struggle 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.039 unfold firsthand just profoundly shaped the young 00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:35.060 artist. So his art was created at this collision 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:38.310 point between what... Rock and roll's ecstatic 00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:41.629 release on one side, and this interior paranoid 00:03:41.629 --> 00:03:44.310 anxiety linked to mental illness on the other. 00:03:44.449 --> 00:03:47.009 Precisely. The themes of paranoia, delusion, 00:03:47.030 --> 00:03:49.650 alienation, the desperate search for identity 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:51.729 that you see all over his early albums, like 00:03:51.729 --> 00:03:53.969 The Man Who Sold the World, they were directly 00:03:53.969 --> 00:03:56.590 informed by the shadow that Terry cast. So art 00:03:56.590 --> 00:03:59.009 became a coping mechanism. It was a way to process 00:03:59.009 --> 00:04:01.349 and maybe even wear that anxiety as a costume. 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:04.449 to make it manageable. He loved his brother dearly, 00:04:04.490 --> 00:04:07.110 but that tension between genius and madness became 00:04:07.110 --> 00:04:09.969 a recurrent motif for his entire career. Speaking 00:04:09.969 --> 00:04:12.629 of physical appearances, we have to talk about 00:04:12.629 --> 00:04:15.129 the event that literally shaped one of his most 00:04:15.129 --> 00:04:18.949 recognizable features, his eye. That distinctive 00:04:18.949 --> 00:04:21.910 look, the permanently dilated pupil, which is 00:04:21.910 --> 00:04:25.240 called an isochoria. In his left eye. It's an 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:27.779 accident that was just elevated to iconic status. 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:30.000 Yeah, the sources confirm it was a school fight 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.579 in 1962. Over a girl, of all things. And his 00:04:33.579 --> 00:04:36.079 friend, George Underwood, was the one who delivered 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.680 the punch. And it was a severe event. It resulted 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.199 in four months of hospitalization and gave him 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:43.680 faulty death perception for the rest of his life. 00:04:43.939 --> 00:04:46.420 Four months? I find that incredible. He was hospitalized 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:48.779 for four months, yet the friend who punched him... 00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:51.149 goes on to design the covers of his early albums 00:04:51.149 --> 00:04:54.329 that level of forgiveness and you know that enduring 00:04:54.329 --> 00:04:56.949 creative collaboration it just speaks volumes 00:04:56.949 --> 00:05:00.050 about the man it shows this innate ability to 00:05:00.050 --> 00:05:02.769 take chaos or injury and transform it into a 00:05:02.769 --> 00:05:04.589 productive part of his life even the eye itself 00:05:04.589 --> 00:05:08.490 even that damaged eye it gave his gaze such a 00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:11.430 mysterious alien quality which became essential 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.589 to his whole visual presentation but as he moved 00:05:14.589 --> 00:05:17.709 through the early 60s he was just searching. 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:21.209 He formed the Conrads in 62, then a series of 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:23.470 unsuccessful blues and folk outfits. The King 00:05:23.470 --> 00:05:26.449 Bees, the Manish Boys. A lower third. He was 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:29.209 trying on genres like clothes, you know, and 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.910 none of them fit. And this search for the right 00:05:31.910 --> 00:05:34.170 fit led him away from just music and straight 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:37.029 into the theatrical. He shifted his focus to 00:05:37.029 --> 00:05:39.170 studying dramatic arts, specifically under Lindsay 00:05:39.170 --> 00:05:41.970 Kemp. Another crucial pivot. Kemp was a master 00:05:41.970 --> 00:05:44.329 of avant -garde theater and mime, and Bowie credited 00:05:44.329 --> 00:05:46.290 meeting Kemp as the moment when his interest 00:05:46.290 --> 00:05:48.550 in image really blossomed. So Kemp taught him 00:05:48.550 --> 00:05:51.050 how to use his body, not just his voice. Exactly. 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:53.129 He taught him that the stage was a canvas for 00:05:53.129 --> 00:05:56.209 movement and spectacle, not just sound. Bowie 00:05:56.209 --> 00:05:58.209 later said meeting Kemp was like having joined 00:05:58.209 --> 00:06:00.910 the circus. He learned how to command an audience 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:03.089 with silence and gesture, not just microphone 00:06:03.089 --> 00:06:05.689 technique. So the stage was now set for the first 00:06:05.689 --> 00:06:08.490 official act of self -creation, the name change. 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:11.660 He's Davy Jones, but... He had to avoid being 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:14.339 confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees, who 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:18.379 were massive. So in 1966, he adopts David Bowie, 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.220 named after the 19th century American pioneer 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:24.639 James Bowie and the knife he popularized. A sharp 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.360 edge. He was literally giving himself the sharpness 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:29.779 and dangerous edge of a blade. It was a profound 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:32.120 act of self -naming. But even with a new persona, 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:35.100 a sharp name, immediate success wasn't guaranteed. 00:06:35.660 --> 00:06:38.920 his debut self -titled album in 67. A real mix 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:42.740 of pop, psychedelia, musical. It failed commercially. 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:45.610 As did that famous novelty track, The Laughing 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:48.250 Gnome. Oh, The Laughing Gnome. Yeah, it just 00:06:48.250 --> 00:06:50.949 proves the narrative that even rock icons have 00:06:50.949 --> 00:06:53.449 these periods of outright failure. Absolutely. 00:06:53.569 --> 00:06:55.990 And those failures pushed him toward introspection 00:06:55.990 --> 00:06:58.230 and toward his first major breakthrough at the 00:06:58.230 --> 00:07:00.730 end of the decade. He was feeling alienated after 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:03.370 a breakup, frustrated by years of missed shots. 00:07:03.490 --> 00:07:05.209 And he sat down and channeled all those feelings 00:07:05.209 --> 00:07:08.110 into the iconic astronaut, Major Tom. The song 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:11.259 was Space Oddity. And the sources show the timing 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:13.899 of its release was either genius or just staggering 00:07:13.899 --> 00:07:16.740 luck. It was a combination of both. It was released 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:21.180 on July 11th, 1969, just five days before the 00:07:21.180 --> 00:07:23.279 Apollo 11 moon launch. You can't make that up. 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:25.939 You can't. The BBC initially wouldn't play it 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:28.100 until the mission was safely underway, but the 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:30.680 public connection was electric. The single broke 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.800 him into the UK top five, his first major hit, 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:35.800 even though he wouldn't hit that level of success 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:38.439 again for another three years. But Major Tom 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:40.720 immediately established his ability to connect 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:44.060 personal anxiety with these grand universal themes. 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:46.860 It did. And the real seeds of the chameleon, 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.180 the shapeshifter, began sprouting during the 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:51.279 U .S. publicity tour for the man who sold the 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.420 world in 1971. That's where the visual shock 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:56.680 really began to take hold. He was desperate for 00:07:56.680 --> 00:07:59.240 attention. Desperate, and he got it by fully... 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.980 embracing an androgynous look, wearing a flowing 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.160 dress during interviews. The sources confirm 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.480 this immediately drew critical attention. Rolling 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.199 Stone called him ravishing, reminiscent of Lorne 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.639 Bacall. He had found a way to weaponize ambiguity. 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.879 Absolutely. And more significantly, during that 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.819 tour, he observed the American proto -punk scene. 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:21.500 He saw Iggy Pop's chaotic stage persona and Lou 00:08:21.500 --> 00:08:24.350 Reed's gritty songwriting. and a light bulb went 00:08:24.350 --> 00:08:28.089 off. A massive one. Those observations crystallized 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:31.410 his next identity. He decided to meld Iggy's 00:08:31.410 --> 00:08:34.570 raw, boundary -pushing stage presence with the 00:08:34.570 --> 00:08:37.850 poetic realism of Lou Reed's music, aiming to 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:40.789 create The ultimate pop idol. And Ziggy Stardust 00:08:40.789 --> 00:08:42.649 was born. The concept was born. The Stardust 00:08:42.649 --> 00:08:44.490 surname, by the way, was a little tribute to 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:46.929 a novelty act called the legendary Stardust Cowboy. 00:08:47.070 --> 00:08:49.470 He took this tiny obscure reference and just 00:08:49.470 --> 00:08:51.870 built an entire mythology around it. So the stage 00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:54.090 is set for the glam rock explosion. The shift 00:08:54.090 --> 00:08:55.950 from struggling artist to cultural phenomenon 00:08:55.950 --> 00:08:58.690 happens when Ziggy Stardust finally hits the 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:00.889 stage. It does. The debut of the red -haired, 00:09:00.990 --> 00:09:03.610 flame -haired Ziggy Stardust persona backed by 00:09:03.610 --> 00:09:06.490 the spiders from Mars. Mick Bronson, Trevor Boulder, 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:10.250 Mick Woodmansey. happened in February 1972 at 00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:12.769 the very unglamorous Toby Jug pub in Tolworth. 00:09:13.409 --> 00:09:16.169 The album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:18.809 and the Spiders from Mars, was instantly genre 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.529 -defining. It skillfully blended the hard rock 00:09:21.529 --> 00:09:23.389 he'd been playing with on The Man Who Sold the 00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:25.809 World with the lighter acoustic pop of Hunky 00:09:25.809 --> 00:09:29.269 Dory. And the track Starman was critical to this 00:09:29.269 --> 00:09:31.809 UK breakthrough, right? It created this unique 00:09:31.809 --> 00:09:34.850 cult of Bowie among the youth, allowing them 00:09:34.850 --> 00:09:38.039 to embrace ambiguity and theatricality. The cultural 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:40.659 impact was immense. Bowie was challenging societal 00:09:40.659 --> 00:09:43.200 norms of gender and sexuality through his appearance 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.460 and his art. And this is the moment we really 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:48.279 need to talk about his sexuality. The 1972 declaration 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.960 in Melody Maker. Yes. His public declaration 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.980 of bisexuality while he is still married to Angie 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:55.740 generated massive, massive publicity. Was that 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:58.000 declaration an honest reflection, though? Or 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.059 was it a strategic part of the Ziggy persona 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:02.919 designed to maximize shock value? The sources 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.320 suggest it was a very carefully deployed tactic 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:07.879 that blurred the line between reality and art. 00:10:08.059 --> 00:10:10.139 He knew it would shock conservative Britain and 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:13.840 America. One observer noted he mined sexual intrigue 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.240 for its ability to shock. He was crucial to his 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.279 image as this nonconformist alien. It was. And 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:22.059 the success just kept rolling. Aladdin Sane in 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:25.700 1973 became his first UK number one album. He 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:29.000 called it Ziggy Goes to America, basically documenting 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.129 the craziness of the U .S. tour. But that total 00:10:32.129 --> 00:10:34.570 immersion in character, it came at a huge visible 00:10:34.570 --> 00:10:37.909 cost. His love of dramatic arts meant he couldn't 00:10:37.909 --> 00:10:39.730 just switch Ziggy off when he walked off stage. 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:42.789 The line between actor and role completely evaporated. 00:10:42.929 --> 00:10:44.909 Bowie later admitted that the role wouldn't leave 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:46.950 me alone for years. It led him to serious doubts 00:10:46.950 --> 00:10:49.129 about his own sanity. He described himself as 00:10:49.129 --> 00:10:52.070 a robot offstage. A robot, exactly. Only achieving 00:10:52.070 --> 00:10:54.610 real emotion when the performance began. He was 00:10:54.610 --> 00:10:58.090 creatively succeeding, but psychologically unraveling. 00:10:58.090 --> 00:11:00.210 And the resolution was, in typical Bowie fashion, 00:11:00.490 --> 00:11:04.820 pure theater. An abrupt, dramatic exit. Yes. 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.559 In July 1973, he ends the Ziggy Stardust tour 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.720 at London's Hammersmith Odeon with the shocking 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.679 announcement that he was retiring Ziggy Stardust. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.279 He killed him. He killed him. It was a preemptive 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.820 strike, closing the curtain on a character that 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.519 was threatening to consume the man. Was it risky? 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.559 Absolutely. He had finally achieved this stratospheric 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:27.840 success and he just killed it off. But it was 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.019 also genius because it proved his commitment 00:11:30.019 --> 00:11:32.659 to transformation. He had to destroy his greatest 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:35.179 success to survive. And the sources confirmed 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:37.740 the commercial momentum was entirely undeterred. 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:41.299 His back catalog soared. Pinups, a covers album 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:43.879 from later that year, hit number one. At one 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:46.460 point, he had six Bowie albums concurrently on 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:49.440 the UK chart. The best -selling UK act of 1973. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.259 It was. And that takes us to 74 and the second 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:54.639 massive upheaval, the move to the US and the 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.899 start of the, well, the drug -fueled creative 00:11:56.899 --> 00:12:00.100 chaos. Diamond Dogs. Diamond Dogs, yeah. An album 00:12:00.100 --> 00:12:02.679 reflecting two main ideas, a post -apocalyptic 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.279 musical, and an attempt to set Orwell's 1984 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.250 to music. It was a success. but the accompanying 00:12:08.250 --> 00:12:10.710 tour. Captured in the documentary Cracked Actor. 00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:13.649 Yes, and that documentary exposed the immense 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:17.070 personal toll he was paying. The footage is genuinely 00:12:17.070 --> 00:12:20.269 disturbing. The sources reveal a Bowie who was 00:12:20.269 --> 00:12:23.460 practically wasting away. Emaciated, severely 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:26.820 debilitated. This is when his heavy cocaine addiction, 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.080 paranoia, and emotional problems really kicked 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.879 in. He was living entirely on milk, peppers, 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:36.299 and cocaine. The paranoia was so intense that 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:38.620 he reportedly kept his own urine in the refrigerator 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:40.919 for fear that a witch might steal it. That's 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:43.879 extreme. It was such a dark period that he later 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:46.360 joked the live album, David Live, should have 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:48.960 been titled, David Bowie is alive and well and 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.559 living only in theory. Wow. And then, following 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.000 this psychological collapse, he executes another 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.860 radical stylistic departure in 1975 with Young 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:01.080 Americans. He sheds the glam completely, immerses 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.960 himself in R &B and soul, creating what he dubbed 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:06.940 Plastic Soul. Plastic Soul. That term is important, 00:13:07.100 --> 00:13:09.200 isn't it? It is. It meant two things. First, 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:11.879 that it was a white British artist appropriating 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:14.559 and fusing black American R &B sounds, sort of 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:16.299 acknowledging its artificiality. And second. 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:19.279 Second, and more profoundly, it reflected his 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.759 own artificial, drug -fueled, and emotionally 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.659 vacant state at the time. The album successfully 00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:27.720 alienated some of his UK fans, who felt betrayed 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.919 by the shift to R &B. But it did exactly what 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.519 he needed it to do in America. It achieved a 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.320 major crossover success. It gave him his first 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:39.720 U .S. number one hit, Fame, famously a collaboration 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:42.279 with John Lennon. Right. This period successfully 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:44.620 transitioned him from a niche glam phenomenon 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:47.940 into a genuine transatlantic superstar. But the 00:13:47.940 --> 00:13:50.879 addiction continued into 1976, which marks the 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.580 beginning of his most chilling persona, the Fin 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:56.019 White Duke. The Duke was introduced on the Station 00:13:56.019 --> 00:13:59.889 to Station album. Visually, he was stark, severe, 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:02.789 almost fascist, an extension of the character 00:14:02.789 --> 00:14:05.009 he played in the cult film The Man Who Fell to 00:14:05.009 --> 00:14:07.789 Earth. Thomas Jerome Newton. Exactly. And musically, 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:09.990 it was this fascinating merger of the funk and 00:14:09.990 --> 00:14:12.370 soul he'd been playing, synthesized with the 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:15.009 cold, driving rhythms of electronic music and 00:14:15.009 --> 00:14:17.389 German krautrock. And this is where the persona 00:14:17.389 --> 00:14:20.149 and the addiction reached a critical mass. Absolutely. 00:14:20.629 --> 00:14:23.049 Bowie later confessed his cocaine addiction was 00:14:23.049 --> 00:14:25.610 at its absolute peak during the station -to -station 00:14:25.610 --> 00:14:28.320 sessions. He said he remembered only flashes 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.980 of its making and that his sanity was genuinely 00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:33.720 twisted. The 10 -minute title track references 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:36.519 the drug directly. It does, and he began referring 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:39.740 to himself as King Arthur, requiring a full -time 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:42.200 occult manager. The public actions during the 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:44.519 Isler tour that followed were equally shocking. 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:47.860 We have to discuss this serious political controversy. 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:51.679 It was explosive. There was the detention at 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.080 the Russian -Polish border for possessing alleged 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.340 Nazi paraphernalia. More infamously, there was 00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:00.240 the Victoria Station incident in London. The 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:02.860 photograph. He arrived in an open -top Mercedes. 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.720 A photograph captured him making a gesture. And 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:07.500 while Bowie insisted the photographer caught 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:10.620 him mid -wave, it was widely published and interpreted 00:15:10.620 --> 00:15:13.539 as a Nazi salute. And this was coupled with incendiary 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:15.950 public statements. He was quoted saying Britain 00:15:15.950 --> 00:15:18.289 could benefit from a fascist leader and even 00:15:18.289 --> 00:15:20.590 called Adolf Hitler one of the first rock stars. 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:24.669 The backlash was immense. It was. He later retracted 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:26.710 and apologized for those pro -fascism comments, 00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:29.370 attributing them entirely to his overwhelming 00:15:29.370 --> 00:15:32.110 cocaine addiction, the influence of the thin 00:15:32.110 --> 00:15:34.710 white Duke character and the toxic environment 00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:37.309 of L .A. that had warped his perception of reality. 00:15:38.029 --> 00:15:40.549 And he spent the rest of his life using his platform 00:15:40.549 --> 00:15:43.990 to condemn racism. He did. The irony is that 00:15:43.990 --> 00:15:46.850 those shocking quotes, alongside similar comments 00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:49.409 by Eric Clapton, became one of the catalysts 00:15:49.409 --> 00:15:51.590 for the establishment of the Rock Against Racism 00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:54.330 movement. Having created and then barely survived 00:15:54.330 --> 00:15:57.389 the thin white duke, Bowie made his most decisive 00:15:57.389 --> 00:16:01.750 escape yet. He blamed Los Angeles, a city he 00:16:01.750 --> 00:16:03.549 later said should be wiped off the face of the 00:16:03.549 --> 00:16:06.370 earth. And in August 76, he moved to the anonymity 00:16:06.370 --> 00:16:08.820 of West Berlin. And he took Iggy Pop with him. 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:11.019 This was a move explicitly designed to battle 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:13.179 their mutual drug addictions and find some kind 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:15.159 of artistic cleansing. And this escape led to 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:16.879 one of the most intellectually rigorous periods 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.429 of his life. The Berlin Trilogy. The Trilogy, 00:16:19.570 --> 00:16:23.210 the albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger, all co -produced 00:16:23.210 --> 00:16:25.389 with Tony Visconti and heavily influenced by 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:27.909 the compositional structures of Brian Eno. For 00:16:27.909 --> 00:16:30.830 the listener who might not be steeped in 1970s 00:16:30.830 --> 00:16:33.370 European experimental music, can you just quickly 00:16:33.370 --> 00:16:36.629 ground us in what Crouch Rock and the Eno collaboration 00:16:36.629 --> 00:16:39.470 meant for the sound? Absolutely. Crouch Rock, 00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:42.470 pioneered by bands like Kraftwerk and Nu, was 00:16:42.470 --> 00:16:45.029 characterized by relentless, motoric rhythms, 00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:47.970 electronic textures, and a rejection of traditional 00:16:47.970 --> 00:16:51.450 blues rock song structures. Eno was the perfect 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:54.309 partner, known for his ambient, minimalist approach. 00:16:54.690 --> 00:16:57.250 And the first album, Low, was structured around 00:16:57.250 --> 00:16:59.710 this synthesis, right? A side of song fragments 00:16:59.710 --> 00:17:02.370 and a B -side of ambient soundscapes. Exactly. 00:17:02.370 --> 00:17:05.630 And RCA was clearly unnerved by this. After the 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:08.519 U .S. success of Fame, This was a radical departure. 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:10.480 They were terrified. They delayed the release 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.099 of Low for three months, deeming it not commercially 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:15.740 viable. And ironically, Low wasn't even recorded 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:18.460 mostly in Berlin. It was mostly France. But it 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:20.720 was the first fruit of his intellectual movement 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:23.299 away from pop. And he had already tested the 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:26.319 waters with Iggy Pop's album The Idiot. He produced 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.940 it as a stepping stone to test out the new sounds 00:17:28.940 --> 00:17:31.680 and the sobriety -driven focus he needed. And 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.200 despite RCA's concerns, Low was a critical and 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.819 commercial hit. reached number two in the UK. 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:41.720 Then the second album, Heroes, also in 77, was 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.000 the only one of the trilogy recorded entirely 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.920 in Berlin at Hunza Studios overlooking the wall. 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:49.319 Right. And this album incorporated pop and rock 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:51.779 elements more heavily. It features the remarkable 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:54.990 guitar work of Robert Fripp. And the title track, 00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:56.849 of course, which immortalized a pair of lovers 00:17:56.849 --> 00:17:59.049 meeting by the wall, became one of his best -known 00:17:59.049 --> 00:18:01.849 songs globally. An anthem of desperate, impossible 00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:04.789 romance. It really is. And this era was also 00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:07.049 where we find one of the most bizarre and charming 00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:09.049 anomalies in his career. You mean the collaboration 00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:11.869 with Bing Crosby? Exactly. Bowie performed Peace 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:13.750 on Earth, Little Drummer Boy with Bing Crosby 00:18:13.750 --> 00:18:16.890 for a CBS Christmas special. Bowie, the avant 00:18:16.890 --> 00:18:20.069 -garde bisexual rock god, standing next to the 00:18:20.069 --> 00:18:22.230 ultimate symbol of wholesome American culture. 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:24.680 The juxtaposition. is just incredible. And the 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:26.880 fact that the single was released belatedly in 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:30.160 1982 and still hit UK number three proves the 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.859 enduring power of that strange moment. And the 00:18:32.859 --> 00:18:35.160 final piece of the triptych, Lodger from 79, 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:38.579 moved away from the deep, icy minimalism of the 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:41.299 first two. It incorporated new wave and world 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:44.099 music. And this is where he fully embraced chance 00:18:44.099 --> 00:18:47.410 as a creative tool. They used experimental techniques, 00:18:47.690 --> 00:18:50.309 notably Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies cards. 00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:52.829 Right. The creativity cards designed to force 00:18:52.829 --> 00:18:55.589 artists out of their comfort zones. An artistic 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.710 randomizer, essentially. Imagine the tension 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:01.069 in the studio when the instructions forced band 00:19:01.069 --> 00:19:03.529 members to swap instruments like they did on 00:19:03.529 --> 00:19:05.849 Boys Keep Swinging. It sounds like organized 00:19:05.849 --> 00:19:08.809 chaos, which knowing Bowie was probably the point. 00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:11.710 It was. And this blending of structure and chance 00:19:11.710 --> 00:19:14.589 makes the trilogy a genuine masterpiece of avant 00:19:14.589 --> 00:19:17.630 -garde pop. The American composer Philip Glass 00:19:17.630 --> 00:19:20.230 summed it up best. He later adapted all three 00:19:20.230 --> 00:19:23.089 albums into his first, fourth, and twelfth symphonies. 00:19:23.150 --> 00:19:25.990 Wow. And Glass praised Bowie's unique gift for 00:19:25.990 --> 00:19:29.210 creating fairly complex pieces of music masquerading 00:19:29.210 --> 00:19:32.150 as simple pieces. Having secured artistic redemption, 00:19:32.630 --> 00:19:35.950 the 1980s then heralded Bowie's commercial zenith. 00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:39.410 He began the decade with Scary Monsters and Super 00:19:39.410 --> 00:19:43.329 Creeps in 1980. An album that successfully reintegrated 00:19:43.329 --> 00:19:46.089 the experimental edge of Berlin into a mainstream 00:19:46.089 --> 00:19:49.369 framework. Critics called it the perfect balance 00:19:49.369 --> 00:19:52.490 of creativity and commercial success. It gave 00:19:52.490 --> 00:19:55.910 us the UK number one single, Ashes to Ashes, 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:58.549 revisiting Major Tom. bringing him back down 00:19:58.549 --> 00:20:01.369 to earth, but addicted. And crucially, the video 00:20:01.369 --> 00:20:04.250 for that song was incredibly influential. It 00:20:04.250 --> 00:20:06.470 featured regulars from the London club Blitz 00:20:06.470 --> 00:20:08.690 and gave international exposure to the emerging 00:20:08.690 --> 00:20:10.809 new romantic movement. It showed his knack for 00:20:10.809 --> 00:20:12.990 spotting and amplifying micro trends. Always. 00:20:13.509 --> 00:20:16.349 Then we have the enormous 1981 collaboration 00:20:16.349 --> 00:20:19.369 with Queen on Under Pressure, his third UK number 00:20:19.369 --> 00:20:22.609 one hit. But the real calculated commercial explosion 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:25.890 came with Let's Dance in 1983. A deliberate pivot 00:20:25.890 --> 00:20:28.390 to commerciality. Oh, absolutely. Co -produced 00:20:28.390 --> 00:20:30.650 by Nile Rodgers of Chic, this album was pure, 00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:33.190 polished pop alchemy. It went platinum in the 00:20:33.190 --> 00:20:35.569 UK and US, the title track hit number one, Modern 00:20:35.569 --> 00:20:38.089 Love, and China Girl hit number two in the UK. 00:20:38.190 --> 00:20:40.809 He essentially engineered himself into a global 00:20:40.809 --> 00:20:43.509 pop titan. The production was impeccable, and 00:20:43.509 --> 00:20:45.509 it featured the searing guitar lines of a then 00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:48.390 -unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan. Which gave the tracks 00:20:48.390 --> 00:20:52.369 this vital, raw energy beneath all that pop sheen. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.859 And crucially, this was the dawn of the MTV era, 00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:59.460 and Bowie sees that platform like a master strategist. 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:02.000 The Sirius Moonlight tour followed, which was 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:04.700 huge, and he understood the image was now as 00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:06.769 important as the sound. We see that specifically 00:21:06.769 --> 00:21:08.970 in the music videos. The video for Let's Dance 00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:11.130 featured a narrative about an Aboriginal couple 00:21:11.130 --> 00:21:13.970 serving as a subtle but clear statement against 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:16.569 racism. A conscious attempt to distance himself 00:21:16.569 --> 00:21:19.289 from the toxic ambiguity of the thin white Duke 00:21:19.289 --> 00:21:22.589 era. Exactly. And the sexually provocative China 00:21:22.589 --> 00:21:24.910 Girl video helped generate the heavy rotation 00:21:24.910 --> 00:21:27.970 that cemented his global superstar status. Beyond 00:21:27.970 --> 00:21:30.490 music, the 80s were also marked by significant 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:33.269 diverse acting roles. He got critical praise 00:21:33.269 --> 00:21:35.269 for playing Joseph Merrick in the Broadway production. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:37.359 production of The Elephant Man, a deeply challenging 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:39.740 role he did without stage makeup. And then the 00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:42.319 film credits started racking up. Yeah. The Vampire 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.420 and the Hunger in 83, Major Jack Selliers in 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:47.980 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence the same year. 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.059 Which critics consider among his finest acting 00:21:51.059 --> 00:21:54.240 performances. And of course, the cult classic. 00:21:54.819 --> 00:21:58.519 He starred as Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:02.339 1986 film Labyrinth. That film initially performed 00:22:02.339 --> 00:22:05.380 poorly. but became this absolute phenomenon on 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:08.000 home video. It introduced his theatricality to 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.960 an entirely new generation. He even won his only 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.799 non -posthumous Grammy for the short film Jazzin' 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.319 for Blue Jean. But the relentless, highly polished 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.579 pace of the 80s culminated in an inevitable creative 00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:22.500 dip. Bowie himself later called his final solo 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:25.180 album of the decade Never Let Me Down from 87. 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:28.700 His nadir, an awful album were his words. And 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:30.579 the accompanying Glass Spider tour was criticized 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:33.259 at the time as overproduced. pandering to stadium 00:22:33.259 --> 00:22:35.759 rock trends. The very thing he'd been trying 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:37.940 to escape by moving to Berlin a decade earlier. 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.299 It was a sign that when Bowie became too successful, 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.759 too polished, and too accepted, the need for 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.240 radical, even destructive reinvention became 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:47.339 his greatest artistic imperative once again. 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:49.619 So to shake off the excesses of the Glass Spider 00:22:49.619 --> 00:22:52.559 tour and that polished sound, Bowie did something 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.910 radical. He temporarily shelved his name and 00:22:55.910 --> 00:22:58.450 formed the Hard Rock Quartet Tin Machine in 1989. 00:22:58.890 --> 00:23:01.390 Yeah, with Reeves Gabrels on guitar and the rhythm 00:23:01.390 --> 00:23:03.869 section of Brothers Tony and Hunt sales, the 00:23:03.869 --> 00:23:06.349 intent was a radical rejection of solo fame. 00:23:06.829 --> 00:23:09.529 They intended to operate as a democracy to get 00:23:09.529 --> 00:23:11.890 back to a raw, stripped down band structure. 00:23:12.170 --> 00:23:14.609 But was it really a democracy? The sources suggest 00:23:14.609 --> 00:23:16.890 Bowie still dominated the songwriting and decision 00:23:16.890 --> 00:23:19.369 making. Right. It sounds less like a back to 00:23:19.369 --> 00:23:22.289 basics band and more like just another persona 00:23:22.289 --> 00:23:24.970 where he pretended to cede control. Was it just 00:23:24.970 --> 00:23:27.630 another form of reinvention disguised as humanity? 00:23:28.279 --> 00:23:30.500 It seems so. It was an essential psychological 00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:33.220 break for him, even if it was artistically controversial. 00:23:33.579 --> 00:23:36.299 The debut got mixed reviews. One critic called 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:39.619 it pompous, dogmatic and dull, with lyrics that 00:23:39.619 --> 00:23:42.420 preach against fascism and neo -Nazism. A sincere 00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:45.140 attempt to tackle hard subjects. But the result 00:23:45.140 --> 00:23:48.039 wasn't universally beloved. Not at all. After 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:50.200 mixed reception and some controversy over the 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.589 album art for Tin Machine II. Bowie dissolved 00:23:52.589 --> 00:23:55.490 the band in 92, but he kept the key partnership 00:23:55.490 --> 00:23:57.710 with Reeves Gabrels for the rest of the decade, 00:23:57.910 --> 00:23:59.809 showing the value wasn't the band structure, 00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:02.430 but that collaborative energy. And he'd already 00:24:02.430 --> 00:24:05.250 set the stage for his solo return with the commercially 00:24:05.250 --> 00:24:08.769 successful Sound Plus Vision Tour in 1990. Where 00:24:08.769 --> 00:24:11.450 he focused entirely on his back catalog. So his 00:24:11.450 --> 00:24:14.390 official solo return in 1993, Black Tie Wet Noise, 00:24:14.710 --> 00:24:17.490 immediately topped the UK chart. His fans were 00:24:17.490 --> 00:24:19.609 ready for him to come back. This album, influenced 00:24:19.609 --> 00:24:22.769 by soul, jazz, and hip -hop. also dealt explicitly 00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:26.309 with the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Showing a newly 00:24:26.309 --> 00:24:29.250 engaged political commentary. And this era saw 00:24:29.250 --> 00:24:32.089 him dive headfirst into intense electronic experimentation. 00:24:32.829 --> 00:24:36.809 Outside in 1995 reunited him with Brian Eno exploring 00:24:36.809 --> 00:24:40.009 these quasi -industrial sounds and a non -linear 00:24:40.009 --> 00:24:42.829 narrative of art and murder. Music was challenging, 00:24:43.009 --> 00:24:45.990 abstract, and dark. A huge contrast to Lex Dance. 00:24:46.269 --> 00:24:48.430 He controversially toured with Nine Inch Nails. 00:24:48.650 --> 00:24:51.640 Which exposed him to a much younger harder -edged 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.819 alternative rock audience. Then, two years later, 00:24:54.900 --> 00:24:57.519 he embraced contemporary electronic subgenres 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.180 with earthling. He incorporated the frenetic, 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:02.859 fast -paced rhythms of jungle and drum and bass. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:04.799 For the learner, jungle and drum and bass are 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:08.180 basically highly rhythmic, very fast tempo forms 00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:11.099 of electronic music, emphasizing complex percussion. 00:25:11.690 --> 00:25:14.049 And he managed to translate that intense sound 00:25:14.049 --> 00:25:16.910 into an accessible pop framework, producing the 00:25:16.910 --> 00:25:19.789 hit I'm Afraid of Americans, which was remixed 00:25:19.789 --> 00:25:22.109 by Trent Reznor and stayed on the U .S. Billboard 00:25:22.109 --> 00:25:26.049 charts for 16 weeks. Beyond the studio, the 90s 00:25:26.049 --> 00:25:28.369 revealed Bowie not just as an artist, but as 00:25:28.369 --> 00:25:31.309 an extraordinarily shrewd businessman. He made 00:25:31.309 --> 00:25:33.930 an innovative financial move in 1997 that is 00:25:33.930 --> 00:25:36.390 still studied in finance schools. The Bowie bonds. 00:25:36.650 --> 00:25:38.490 That's not just finance. That's strategic control. 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:41.359 He leveraged his past art to secure his future 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:43.539 creative freedom. Can you break down the genius 00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:46.140 of the Bowie Bonds? It was revolutionary. He 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:48.480 essentially sold asset -backed securities bonds 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.200 based on the future revenues of 25 albums he 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:53.880 recorded before 1990. Prudential bought these 00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:57.720 bonds for a massive $55 million. But the key 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:00.819 insight is why he did it. Exactly. He used that 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:04.099 lump sum of upfront income specifically to buy 00:26:04.099 --> 00:26:06.920 back songs and master rights owned by his former 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.599 troublesome manager, Tony DeFries. So he leveraged 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:12.019 his most famous work to gain control over his 00:26:12.019 --> 00:26:15.009 own legacy. Precisely. The bonds liquidated in 00:26:15.009 --> 00:26:17.789 2007, and the income rights reverted entirely 00:26:17.789 --> 00:26:20.369 back to Bowie. It proved his acute long -term 00:26:20.369 --> 00:26:24.109 strategy. And this period also saw his non -musical 00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:27.109 artistic pursuits flourish. He was a prolific 00:26:27.109 --> 00:26:29.289 painter, a serious art collector. His collection 00:26:29.289 --> 00:26:31.750 was valued at over 10 million pounds in 2016. 00:26:32.299 --> 00:26:34.759 He even dove into the burgeoning Internet landscape, 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:38.160 founding the ISP BowieNet and the website BowieArt 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:40.720 .com, which allowed young artists to sell their 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:43.079 work commission -free. We should pause here and 00:26:43.079 --> 00:26:45.160 weave in the key personal themes that sustained 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:47.339 him through this manic period, specifically his 00:26:47.339 --> 00:26:49.559 second marriage. His second marriage in 1992 00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:52.480 to Somali -American model Ayman was transformative. 00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:55.640 It was a deep, stabilizing force in his life 00:26:55.640 --> 00:26:57.819 that contrasted starkly with the chaos of his 00:26:57.819 --> 00:27:00.059 first marriage to Angie. That relationship clearly 00:27:00.059 --> 00:27:02.440 inspired Black Tie White. noise. Definitely, 00:27:02.599 --> 00:27:05.140 especially tracks like the wedding song. They 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:07.759 welcomed a daughter, Alexandria, in 2000, and 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:09.720 Edelman later confirmed that they led a quiet 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:12.200 private life primarily in New York and London. 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.619 And another critical personal theme we have to 00:27:14.619 --> 00:27:17.369 revisit. is the enduring loyalty of his inner 00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:19.930 circle, particularly his personal assistant, 00:27:20.109 --> 00:27:23.089 Corrine Coco Schwab. Coco Schwab. She worked 00:27:23.089 --> 00:27:26.329 with him for 43 years, from 1973 until his death. 00:27:26.690 --> 00:27:29.170 Bowie called her his best friend and repeatedly 00:27:29.170 --> 00:27:31.950 credited her with literally saving his life during 00:27:31.950 --> 00:27:34.289 his worst drug addiction years in the 70s. He 00:27:34.289 --> 00:27:36.809 left her $2 million in his will. Underscoring 00:27:36.809 --> 00:27:39.049 the value he placed on that decades -long friendship 00:27:39.049 --> 00:27:41.690 and support system. Moving into the 21st century, 00:27:41.890 --> 00:27:45.220 the neoclassicist era began. He reunited with 00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:47.339 Tony Visconti to produce Heathen and Reality. 00:27:47.779 --> 00:27:50.039 Albums that marked his definitive exit from the 00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:52.700 heavy electronica of the 90s, settling into a 00:27:52.700 --> 00:27:54.839 more traditional, reflective rock framework. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.799 The subsequent A Reality Tour in 2003 -2004 was 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.000 immense. It grossed more than any other tour 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.220 in 2004. A massive commercial success, but tragically, 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:06.440 it also marked the abrupt end of his touring 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:10.079 career. In June 2004, while performing at a festival 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:13.660 in Germany, he experienced chest pain. Initially, 00:28:13.660 --> 00:28:16.039 he thought it was a pinched nerve. But it was 00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:18.500 quickly diagnosed as an acutely blocked coronary 00:28:18.500 --> 00:28:22.019 artery requiring emergency angioplasty. This 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:24.019 forced the cancellation of the remaining tour 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:27.140 dates, and Bowie never toured again. His final 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:29.519 live public performance was at a charity event 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.700 in November 2006 alongside Alicia Keys. From 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:36.599 that point on, he became intensely private. He 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.000 did, and before we move to the final act, it's 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.839 worth reflecting on his complex relationship 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:43.599 with spirituality, a theme that began with his 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:46.059 half -brother Terry and the introduction to Buddhism. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:48.440 He seriously considered becoming a Buddhist monk 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:50.900 at one point. He did. The famous anecdote is 00:28:50.900 --> 00:28:53.359 that his lama wisely told him, you don't want 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.589 to be Buddhist, you should follow music. His 00:28:55.589 --> 00:28:57.910 spiritual questioning remained a constant, vacillating 00:28:57.910 --> 00:29:01.589 between atheism, Gnosticism, and mysticism. His 00:29:01.589 --> 00:29:03.690 entire career, in many ways, was a metaphysical 00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:06.470 search expressed through popular culture. After 00:29:06.470 --> 00:29:08.869 the abrupt end to touring in 2004 and his heart 00:29:08.869 --> 00:29:11.450 surgery, Bowie essentially retreated from public 00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:14.190 life for nearly a decade. This led to persistent 00:29:14.190 --> 00:29:16.809 speculation that he had quietly retired. He became 00:29:16.809 --> 00:29:20.069 the ultimate recluse. And then came the surprise 00:29:20.069 --> 00:29:23.039 return. On his 66th birthday in January 2013, 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:26.500 he announced a new studio album, The Next Day, 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:29.740 which had been recorded entirely in secret. This 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:32.619 album, his first to top the UK charts since 1993, 00:29:33.099 --> 00:29:35.839 became the fastest -selling album of 2013 at 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:38.079 the time. The secrecy was a massive part of the 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:40.519 success. He proved he could still generate a 00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:42.819 huge cultural conversation without relying on 00:29:42.819 --> 00:29:45.359 modern publicity cycles. The album's success 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:48.500 earned him the oldest -ever Brit Award for British 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:51.839 male solo artist. It was a defiant, joyful re 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:53.500 -entry. What the public didn't know was that 00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:55.660 in mid -2014, while he was enjoying this renewed 00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:58.059 success, Bowie was diagnosed with liver cancer. 00:29:58.440 --> 00:30:00.680 A diagnosis he kept completely private, sharing 00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:02.619 it only with his closest family and collaborators. 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:05.539 This context just fundamentally shifts how we 00:30:05.539 --> 00:30:08.559 view his final work. It truly does. It makes 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:11.740 the subsequent and final album, Black Star, a 00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:14.880 profound, deliberate, artistic statement. His 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.470 ultimate act of creative reinvention. Blackstar 00:30:17.470 --> 00:30:20.710 was released on his 69th birthday, January 8th, 00:30:20.710 --> 00:30:24.450 2016, just two days before his death. Tony Visconti 00:30:24.450 --> 00:30:26.349 revealed that Bowie had intentionally planned 00:30:26.349 --> 00:30:29.069 the album as his swan song, a conscious parting 00:30:29.069 --> 00:30:31.509 gift for his fans. The sources confirm the lyrics 00:30:31.509 --> 00:30:33.930 across the album clearly revolve around his impending 00:30:33.930 --> 00:30:36.950 mortality. The music video for Lazarus is particularly 00:30:36.950 --> 00:30:39.430 poignant. It shows him confined to a hospital 00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:41.690 bed, starting with that devastating line, look 00:30:41.690 --> 00:30:44.170 up here, I'm in heaven. It was a dignified, self 00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:47.009 -curated farewell. He died too. days later on 00:30:47.009 --> 00:30:50.569 January 10th, 2016 in New York City. As he requested 00:30:50.569 --> 00:30:52.990 in his will, his ashes were scattered in Bali 00:30:52.990 --> 00:30:55.450 in a Buddhist ceremony, linking all the way back 00:30:55.450 --> 00:30:58.009 to his earliest spiritual influences. The immediate 00:30:58.009 --> 00:31:01.130 aftermath saw record sales soar globally. Blackstar 00:31:01.130 --> 00:31:03.289 debuted at number one in nearly every country, 00:31:03.309 --> 00:31:06.069 and within a week, an astonishing 19 of his albums 00:31:06.069 --> 00:31:09.119 were in the UK Top 100. Death itself became his 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:12.700 final massive commercial moment. Bowie's enduring 00:31:12.700 --> 00:31:15.519 reputation is cemented as the chameleon of rock. 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:18.759 But that term almost undersells his influence. 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:22.160 Billboard argued he influenced more musical genres 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:25.500 than any other rock star. Blam, folk, hard rock, 00:31:25.660 --> 00:31:28.160 electronic, industrial, synth pop. He didn't 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.900 just hop genres. He synthesized them, making 00:31:30.900 --> 00:31:33.599 the avant -garde palatable for millions. The 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:36.160 BBC's arts editor even likened Bowie to Pablo 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.730 Picasso for synthesizing complex concepts into 00:31:38.730 --> 00:31:41.269 coherent popular works. His posthumous recognition 00:31:41.269 --> 00:31:44.910 confirms his long -term impact. At the 2017 Grammys, 00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:47.170 he swept all five nominated categories for Black 00:31:47.170 --> 00:31:49.589 Star. Which, remarkably, were his first Grammy 00:31:49.589 --> 00:31:52.029 wins in musical categories. And his legacy continues 00:31:52.029 --> 00:31:54.779 to be curated and studied. The David Bowie is 00:31:54.779 --> 00:31:57.279 exhibition, which toured worldwide from 2013 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.099 to 2018, attracted nearly two million visitors. 00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:02.339 In the film world, his influence is endless. 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.079 The documentary Moonage Daydream was the first 00:32:05.079 --> 00:32:07.559 posthumous film approved by his estate. Even 00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:10.240 major filmmakers wanted him. Denis Villeneuve 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:12.799 wanted to cast Bowie as the main villain in Blade 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.980 Runner 2049. He said Bowie embodied the Blade 00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:19.220 Runner spirit. He did. And the final physical 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:21.640 manifestation of his legacy will be the David 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:25.039 Bowie Center, opening in September 2025 at the 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:27.900 V &A East Storehouse in London, which will house 00:32:27.900 --> 00:32:31.259 over 90 ,000 items from his extraordinary life. 00:32:31.480 --> 00:32:33.700 An archive dedicated not just to a musician, 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:36.579 but to a perpetual performance artist. What a 00:32:36.579 --> 00:32:39.180 profound journey we have traced. We've moved 00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:41.359 from David Robert Jones, the young Londoner struggling 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:44.160 with insecurity and familial shadows, through 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:46.960 the theatrical shock therapy of Ziggy Stardust, 00:32:46.980 --> 00:32:49.119 and the dark, paranoid emptiness of the thin 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:51.579 white duke. Then the radical artistic cleansing 00:32:51.579 --> 00:32:54.420 in Berlin that resulted in some of the most complex, 00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:57.180 beautiful rock ever recorded, paving the way 00:32:57.180 --> 00:32:59.740 for the calculated pop behemoth of Let's Dance. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.099 We followed him through his astute business moves 00:33:02.099 --> 00:33:04.519 with the Bobby Bonds, and finally, the complex, 00:33:04.619 --> 00:33:07.390 emotional farewell of Black Star. The key takeaway 00:33:07.390 --> 00:33:10.250 for you, the learner, is this. Bowie's success 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:12.470 wasn't rooted in finding a style and sticking 00:33:12.470 --> 00:33:14.890 to it. It was rooted in the absolute commitment 00:33:14.890 --> 00:33:17.990 to dynamic self -disruption. His continuous reinvention 00:33:17.990 --> 00:33:20.250 and refusal to settle into one identity are what 00:33:20.250 --> 00:33:23.589 made him a cultural oracle. He proved that profound 00:33:23.589 --> 00:33:26.690 artistic and personal growth often requires the 00:33:26.690 --> 00:33:29.390 courage to systematically destroy yesterday's 00:33:29.390 --> 00:33:32.730 successes. Exactly. Identity in Bowie's hands 00:33:32.730 --> 00:33:35.710 was always mutable, always a project. What stands 00:33:35.710 --> 00:33:38.369 out is the strategic brilliance behind the changes, 00:33:38.569 --> 00:33:40.849 whether it was the aesthetic shock of Ziggy, 00:33:40.910 --> 00:33:44.150 the geographical cleanse of Berlin, or the financial 00:33:44.150 --> 00:33:46.829 mastery of the Bonds. Bowie's work proves that 00:33:46.829 --> 00:33:48.950 identity itself can be the most valuable form 00:33:48.950 --> 00:33:51.890 of art and strategy. Every few years, he burned 00:33:51.890 --> 00:33:53.990 down the successful persona and started anew, 00:33:54.029 --> 00:33:56.630 synthesizing different genres and cultural ideas 00:33:56.630 --> 00:33:59.849 into a cohesive whole. So here is the provocative 00:33:59.849 --> 00:34:01.950 thought for you to carry forward. What aspect 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:04.009 of your own life or your professional expertise 00:34:04.009 --> 00:34:06.410 are you ready to radically reinvent next?