David Bowie, a forgotten band, and a song “too gay” for the Starman to sing
In many ways, the only definite thing about David Bowie was the fact that he was indefinable.
Through everything from fashion to politics and obviously music, there was a constant sense of unknowability surrounding the Starman that he often quite playfully leaned into, whether it was in his alien days of Ziggy Stardust right up to his morbid curiosity on Blackstar. His whole fun was to keep you guessing, and almost cruelly never reveal the answer.
But the clearest place where this became part of Bowie’s life was regarding his sexuality, with his emphatic proclamation of being bisexual in the 1970s, yet rowing back on this and never letting slip the real answer for the rest of his life. Of course, to a certain extent, it was key to keeping his artistic sense of enthral and intrigue alive; however, it also came with its own bunch of problems.
That particularly reared its head in 1983, when Bowie had swapped some parts of his enigmatic persona to become a squeaky-clean pop star, in his career high point of Let’s Dance. With an image of suaveness and elegance, it seemed easier to skate over the bumpier road that questions about his sexuality presented. But then he ran himself into a trap.
In an attempt to double down on his supposed straightness, the singer told Rolling Stone at the time: “The biggest mistake I ever made [was saying] that I was bisexual. Christ, I was so young then. I was experimenting.” However, his choice to then cover ‘Criminal World’ by Metro on the album – a song famously banned for its references to gay sex – was sure to raise a few eyebrows.
By and large, Metro were an art rock band formed in the early 1970s who had largely been forgotten about, so it was a fairly obscure choice of tune that Bowie could have picked. Yet in 1977, its cross-dressing references and euphemisms for gay sex were seen as far too controversial for any airtime – and, in turn, a man once considered a queer icon.
In a rather vain attempt to mask the original nods towards queens, dresses, and getting into bed, Bowie changed the lyrics in his own cover to lines that included: “I guess I recognise your destination/ I think I see beneath your make-up/ What you want is sort of separation”. This rejection of sexuality, of the heart of the song, and possibly of himself, was an odd decision by any standard.
It’s something that, even with hindsight and the context of the decades that ensued, is still incredibly difficult to reconcile with in the Bowie canon. A man who once embraced every form of gender and sexual experimentation was now seemingly running away from it like a prude, all in the name of becoming the shining, worldwide pop star he had always dreamed of.
It goes without saying that there is a lot more that factors into that discussion of Bowie’s life than one song can attest to alone. Yet in exploring the unspoken universe of ‘Criminal World’, was it also the suggestion that he wanted to dip his toe back into the landscape he loved so much, but was somehow being shackled by the industry? Who’s to say?
