The 1968 movie that became David Bowie’s musical epiphany: “Got the song flowing”
When David Bowie uttered the words “Check ignition, and may God’s love be with you”, it really was the signal of a new stratospheric flight rocketing to life.
Indeed, it was pretty obvious in any context that Bowie’s first real foray into the rock and roll universe was so head-spinning because of its spectrality in the space age: like so much other media produced in the late 1960s, everything led back to the moon landings in one way or another. The astronauts had done their job, but now it was time to transport the rest of the world there.
In that sense, the roots of ‘Space Oddity’ have always been more than clear, but as much as the event itself was an essential part of the picture, it was also much of the iconic memorabilia surrounding it that played a role… Then, one evening, when Bowie stumbled into the cinema to see the latest blockbuster release, everything changed again.
The sheer lack of conventionality in a movie like 2001: A Space Odyssey would have been something that attracted the attention of the Starman in the first place – albeit within his own medium, Stanley Kubrick’s style of filmmaking was so expansive, so daring, so ambiguous that it captured something in the imagination of the young creative and set it aflame.
You only had to add in the beauty and beguilement of the space age to have him hook, line, and sinker. Well, plus the fact that he was stoned at the time, but it was the ‘60s: that was basically a given in any situation. But nevertheless, as Bowie settled into his seat to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, he likely had no concept of how this moment would change the trajectory of the rest of his life.
“I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me,” Bowie admitted some time later, during an interview in 2003. “It got the song flowing,” he stated rather plainly in regards to ‘Space Oddity’, with an air of simplicity at odds with the truly transportative and awe-inspiring journey he was about to set in motion in the moment.
The irony was that both 2001: A Space Odyssey and ‘Space Oddity’ were never directly inspired by Neil Armstrong taking “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” because they came out in the run-up to it, as the heat of the preparations was reaching its fever-pitch. Indeed, ‘Space Oddity’ pre-empted the moon landings by only 11 days, but in doing so seemed to sum up every sense of magic being felt around the globe.
Bowie himself wouldn’t be so swayed by the compliments, though. As much as it undoubtedly launched his career, ‘Space Oddity’ was a song he came to resent over the years for the reason that it, perhaps unsurprisingly, followed him everywhere. You do have to question what he was thinking by creating an anthem regarding one of the most iconic moments in history.
Even still, despite his loathsome feelings towards it later down the line, even the Starman could not deny that that night at the movies back in 1968 could almost be seen as a foreshadowing of the course of his life. Shock, amazement, and wonder: those were the feelings conveyed in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and he subsequently wanted to sonically impart them to the rest of the world.
