The bands David Bowie wanted to manage on his own record label
David Bowie was a true original in more ways than one. Not only did he create a fearlessly individualistic sound, constantly reinventing himself and his image to stay fresh, but he also consistently kept an eye on current musical trends and lent his support to up-and-coming artists. Such was his knowledge and passion for music that the songwriter once considered starting his own record label.
Self-publishing and independent record labels have been used by artists for decades, taking creative control of their own input and fighting against the profit-driven shackles of the mainstream music industry. While indie labels are often thought of as an invention of punk rock, their origins go back much farther to the rocksteady sound systems of Jamaica and the obscure soul imprints of Detroit. Given Bowie’s endless originality, the fact that he nearly started his own record label should be fairly unsurprising.
By the time the 1990s rolled around, the music industry had changed indefinitely since Bowie first burst onto the scene in the 1960s. As he explained in an interview with Count Down, “Guys approach [music] very seriously as a career opportunity. You know, it’s as serious as banking these days or something for a lot of kids. It’s a whole different ball game.”
According to the glam rock star, this move towards music being a viable career option rather than a passion project or artistic endeavour had a detrimental effect on the quality of musical output. The songwriter echoed the widespread view that truly great music was difficult to come across in the 1990s unless you were tuned into local DIY scenes and college radio stations.
It seems as though Bowie was set on plucking out some of these underappreciated artists and giving them a helping hand along the way. Within the interview, he shares that the idea of him starting his own record label, in which he would choose the output, “did come up”. However, the singer shared that the venture would simply be too time-consuming for him to embark upon, “It’s so time-consuming,” he said. “I wouldn’t act as an artist anymore; I would have to become some kind of record executive. And it’s no good me just fronting a record label and then leaving it up to other people to run because I wouldn’t be able to keep its integrity.”
Nevertheless, Bowie did have some names in mind to sign up to his potential record label. Namely, the avant-garde composer Glenn Branca, the no wave rockers Sonic Youth and the noise-pop outfit Pixies. “Those were the top three I wanted to get involved with,” he said. It is worth bearing in mind that this interview occurred in 1990, around the same time that Sonic Youth found mainstream success with Goo and long before Pixies became fully appreciated by the mainstream of rock music.
While the realisation that a David Bowie-produced Sonic Youth album was once on the cards provides a depressing sense of FOMO, the songwriter’s awareness and appreciation for new and underground music scenes is a testament to the fact that Bowie never took his finger off the pulse.
