Everyone, at some point, digs deep for inspiration. Even David Bowie. And when the Thin White Duke needed a musical boost, he turned to black vinyl.
According to the recently published “Music Lover: The Inside Story of David Bowie’s Record Collection,” Bowie’s resources were deep and varied. Albums ran the gamut from soul king Bobby Womack to glam rockers Mott the Hoople and rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Sometimes, Bowie’s earworms of the moment were off-the-wall. “There was a Polish folk ballet album [‘Helokanie’] that he basically rearranged and made up words to,” co-author Geoff MacCormack, a lifelong friend of Bowie, recalled to The Post. “It became something on one of his German albums. I think it was ‘Low.’ He picked up the album at Tower Records when we were in there browsing.”
Co-authors MacCormack and Jérôme Soligny (he met Bowie as a music journalist and they became music-swapping pals), say that even the famous Ziggy Stardust is rooted in the offbeat name of another.
In the 1960s, a singer-songwriter from Texas dubbed himself the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and put out a few singles on Mercury Records, the label to which Bowie himself was signed. Bowie gave props to the Cowboy when he invited him to perform in London’s 2002 Meltdown Festival, which he had curated. That same year, on the record “Heathen,” Bowie did a version of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy’s other-worldly ditty “I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Space Ship).”
Bowie also “praised” Florence Foster Jenkins, the woman who adamantly sang out of tune and was played by Meryl Streep in a movie based on her life.
According to Soligny, “David would like the idea of someone who said, ‘People can say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.’
“David realized you could be doing interesting things and not everybody’s going to get it. It’s like the accidents in songwriting or recording. That famous piano sound in ‘Ashes to Ashes’ — it’s from a keyboard that didn’t work on the day of recording. And now it defines the song.”
Indie rockers Grandaddy got a taste of the Bowie magic after he took to their 2000 album “The Sophtware Slump.” Bowie played it up during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, met the band backstage at a couple of shows and shouted out requests from his seat when he saw Grandaddy at the Beacon Theater.
“It was such a confidence boost,” frontman Jason Lytle told The Post. “If you have David Bowie over there, saying he loves the band, then it’s, like, screw everyone else.”
As to what Bowie dug about the group, Lytle said, “I’m hoping he honed in on our sincerity. The album was made scrappily in a little farm house where we tried to make something way beyond our knowledge and reach. Perhaps, he tapped into that.”
While Bowie was not beyond sending assistants off on record-buying sprees — in an unverified note that turned up on Reddit, he asked that a “go-for” from RCA Records pick up albums by British punks the Stranglers, Ultravox and the Damned before an impending trip to “Swizzleland” — he often did his own record shopping.
One of his Manhattan spots was the House of Oldies Rare Records in Greenwich Village. Bob Abramson, who owns the store, recalled to The Post, “His hair was fluffy, and he was extremely nice.”
Bowie knew what he wanted: “He collected rare records, a lot of rockabilly stuff, like Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent. He bought a first pressing of a Larry Williams album” — who wrote “Bony Moronie” and “Dizzy, Miss Lizzy” — “which I think sold for around $200 at the time.”
Abramson points out that Bowie wanted to be a low-key customer, and the proprietor was happy to honor that wish. But another charismatic record-hound was not so accommodating. Bob Plotkin, now deceased, was the loveable curmudgeon who owned the Village’s punk-centric Bleecker Bob’s Golden Oldies. He had fun at the expense of his rock-star customer.
“Bowie came into the store and Bob called him ‘Davie’ before putting on Bowie’s silliest song, ‘The Laughing Gnome.’ Bowie got embarrassed but loved it,” Jennifer “JK” Kitzer, Plotnik’s girlfriend and partner, told Dylan Jones for his Bowie bio. “Before touring with Nine Inch Nails [in 1995], Bowie bought lots of techno stuff.”
Some of the records that landed on Bowie’s turntable came at the recommendation of MacCormack. Sometimes, he and Bowie exchanged musical recommendations via text and email. Sounding a little sad, he remembered his last rec, which came during the latter part of August 2015.
It was a YouTube clip from an experimental band called Algiers. Upon checking it out, Bowie replied, “Geoff, your music choices are so on the money, every time. I’m so glad you’ve been my friend all these years. I miss you lots — now f–k off!!”
MacCormack, figuring he was responding in the spirit of the moment, wrote back, “Yes, likewise pal. Off and f–ked.”
Bowie replied: “Mission accomplished.”
