Station to Station

76 is the Thin White Duke.

So this character, Thin White Duke, is mainly associated with Station to Station in 76.

But elements of him show up as early as 74.

And it's really just the character that he plays in The Man Who Fell to Earth, which is that movie that he does in 76.

Yeah.

And then of course, uh, you know, uh, going up to Station to Station, and then coming back and, and recording on Bowie's the next day, and Heathen and, you know, I, I, and I think he was probably on stage when David had his heart attack as well, you know, which was, you know, a shock to everybody.

Um, and, and, and then of course, Double Fantasy, John Lennon-

Yeah

It was too expensive.

So the story is, is while he's, while you're on tour doing that, he's writing short stories, um, and, and one's called something like The Return of the Thin White Duke, right? And he's thinking already a- about the next phase.

W- we, when did you sort of get to look in on, on, on this, on Station to Station as an idea?

Station happened when I was, uh ...

Which definitely had more of a stated purpose, I guess, as a genre.

But David Bowie's Station to Station, one of the Berlin records, one of the Eno records.

Golden Years is on that one, I believe.

Yeah.

I mean, there's great songs on those albums, but I just don't like him as albums overall.

But every album after that, you know, Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Pit Ups to a certain extent, certainly Station to Station, Young Americans, Low, Heroes and Lodger, you know, and Scary Monsters.

All of those, love.

Absolutely love.

He doesn't remember making...

After he made the album Station to Station, he didn't remember anything about making it.

So then he went to Berlin with Iggy Pop to get sober.

Bizarrely, it worked.

I haven't, I used to

listen to this band a lot.

I'm honestly overdue to revisit their first album more thoroughly.

Maybe before we go to the next segment here, play, let the audience hear a bit of One Step Beyond, one of their kind of signature songs.

Bowie was once again using a character to orchestrate his public image, but this time the character reflected the darkest elements of the man behind it.

Bowie later said that he was so ravaged by cocaine during this period that he had almost no clear memory of making Station to Station, an album now regarded as one of his best.

The work remained brilliant, but the circumstances were horrific.

his public behaviour became increasingly reckless as well.

Um, but I thought that might be a little bit of cheating.

Um, So, and again, like, you think about David Bowie in the 70s, like, he starts off, he has Ziggy Stardust, all this stuff, and then he goes on to, like, this, the Berlin period, you have Station to Station, Low, Heroes, like, just iconic records.

It's hard for anyone to compete with that.

So when I was, if I'm thinking, like, like someone who's a chameleon, like they can do a lot of different things.