The innovative nature of the 1960s and 1970s wouldn’t have been the same without Andy Warhol. From his pop art exploring the perverse nature of celebrity culture to his management of the counterculture’s most experimental band, The Velvet Underground, and not to mention his open expression of queer identity, his endeavours set a precedent for where popular culture finds itself today. While he had many fans, one of his most prominent adherents was David Bowie.
The British musician took inspiration from everywhere, and had a particular fascination with the New York scene. He was a longtime fan of The Velvet Underground – who Warhol made by pronouncing their deeply artistic spirit – and was enamoured by his experimental films and the general spirit of Warhol’s studio, The Factory. In light of the boundary-pushing turns Bowie would enact over the 1970s, there’s no real surprise that he was so indebted to the world of Warhol.
Bowie was always explicit about those who influenced him, and every now and again they would provide the basis for his songs. 1971’s Hunky Dory, the album that preceded the infallible Ziggy Stardust contains the cult classic ‘Andy Warhol’, which offers a hefty dose of the era’s artistic spirit. In it, Bowie sings: “Andy Warhol looks a scream, hang him on my wall / Andy Warhol silver screen, can’t tell them apart at all.”
The worlds of Bowie and Warhol collided in August 1971 when a month-long run of Warhol’s Pork took place at the Roundhouse in Camden. Notably, the cast featured Factory legends, Leee Black Childers, Tony Zanetta and Cherry Vanilla. On August 11th, the members of the play went to watch Bowie and guitarist Mick Ronson performing at the Country Club on Haverstock Hill. Childers was the driving force behind them going, as he had read about Bowie in Rolling Stone.
Astounded by the stars in the audience, Bowie introduced them to the rest of the crowd by aptly regaling them with ‘Andy Warhol’. They all then headed into the night and to the dancefloor, where Bowie became transfixed by their otherworldly artistic personas. Bowie then watched Pork over consecutive nights, soaking it all in. It’s safe to say this had a big influence on his metamorphosis into Ziggy Stardust.
The following month, Bowie flew to New York City, to sign his deal with RCA. After arriving, Bowie phoned Zanetta, and arranged a meeting with the pale-skinned art icon. It then happened on September 14th at The Factory.
Given that Warhol was a famously prickly character, he didn’t think much of Bowie, nor his eponymous song. He would however, complement the pointy canary yellow shoes Bowie was wearing, which were gifted to him by fellow glam rock pioneer, Marc Bolan.
In Performing Songwriter in 2003, Bowie recalled meeting Warhol, and why the artist “loathed” his track, which was for good reason: “I took the song to The Factory when I first came to America and played it to him, and he hated it. Loathed it. He went [imitates Warhol’s blasé manner] “Oh, uh-huh, okay…” then just walked away. [Laughs] I was left there. Somebody came over and said, “Gee, Andy hated it.” I said, “Sorry, it was meant to be a compliment.” “Yeah, but you said things about him looking weird. Don’t you know that Andy has such a thing about how he looks?”
The big revelation then occurred: “He’s got a skin disease and he really thinks that people kind of see that.” I was like, “Oh, no.” It didn’t go down very well, but I got to know him after that. It was my shoes that got him. That’s where we found something to talk about. They were these little yellow things with a strap across them, like girls’ shoes. He absolutely adored them. Then I found out that he used to do a lot of shoe designing when he was younger. He had a bit of a shoe fetishism. That kind of broke the ice. He was an odd guy.”
Although Bowie would have hoped that this meeting would have featured Warhol waxing lyrical about his track, after consuming his art, he should have expected nothing less than such an odd encounter.
Editors’ Picks
- 1970s Music
- Andy Warhol
- David Bowie
- Glam Rock
- Hunky Dory
- Pop Art
- Rock History
- The Factory
- The Velvet Underground
- Ziggy Stardust
