The 1970s was a famously paranoid time, and this darkness also applied to some of its biggest stars, including David Bowie. The Starman’s heavy use of cocaine, hard-living, and general dedication to blurring the lines between fact and fiction caused a strange mental state.
This, for a time after the release of 1973’s aptly titled Aladdin Sane, saw him lose of sight of his true self, entering a state of fraught, paranoid inertia, where his alien-like complexion, and macilent figure, confirmed to fans that all was not well for the musician.
While drugs played a key part in this dark chapter in Bowie’s life, so did his long-standing interest in the occult. Notably, the Londoner was introduced to the world of esotericism by his older half-brother, Terry Burns, and it was something that would fascinate him for the rest of his life.
This would also be a topic over which he would bond with the era’s most famous rockstar tied to the occult, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Famously, the hard rock legend also owned the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley’s old property in Scotland, Boleskine House.
Bowie and Page knew each other for years. Their friendship started in 1965 when Bowie’s band, The Manish Boys hired the then-session guitarist to play on their version of ‘I Pity the Fool’. However, their relationship soured in the mid-1970s, and due to the all-encompassing nature of occult beliefs and cocaine addiction, it would leave the paranoid Bowie so freaked out that he resorted to a strange act in the hope of protecting himself from the forces of evil.
One evening in February 1975, Jimmy Page joined Bowie and Ava Cherry at the Starman’s Manhattan abode. However, according to Paul Trynka’s Bowie biography Starman, the relationship between the two British rockers collapsed after Page spilled wine on Bowie’s silk cushions and tried to blame Cherry instead. Following this sleight, and an already “strained” atmosphere, Bowie invited Page to leave, telling him: “Why don’t you take the window.”
Trynka writes, “The two glared at each other; Page seemed to be invoking dark forces against David, who in turn, says Ava Cherry, ‘wanted to show Jimmy that his will was stronger.’”
Bowie was fully aware of how connected Page was said to be to the occult. This heightened his sense of paranoia that the Led Zeppelin leader and a satanic coven were planning to steal his bodily fluids in an Omen-like bid to birth the Antichrist.
So, what did he do to protect himself? It is well-documented that until this bout of paranoia passed, Bowie resorted to storing his urine in his fridge to thwart Page and his witches from stealing it and bringing about the end of the world.
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- 1970s Music
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