The moment David Bowie met Andy Warhol
David Bowie once remarked that when it came to Andy Warhol, there was no such thing as a fond memory. That didn’t stop him from attempting to strike up a friendship with the iconic pop artist, however, who he revered so much that he even wrote a song in his honour.
As far as natural fits for friendship go, two eccentric artists who became cultural titans in their own right should have got on like a house on fire. Both were recognisable by their surnames alone, so the Bowie-Warhol union should have been a free-flowing meeting of the minds. At least, that was how Bowie envisioned it. The reality was awkward in a way that not even a tribute song could fix.
Aside from their obvious avant-garde overlap, they shared creative peers. In the early 1970s, Warhol’s stage show Pork was touring London. The cast of Tony Zanetta, Leee Black Childers and Cherry Vanilla all worked for Bowie down the line. David and wife Angie Bowie attended the show multiple times, and in turn, the cast came along to watch him perform alongside Mick Ronson in London.
After heading back to New York, Angie had taken notice of Bowie’s growing fascination with Warhol and set up a meeting. Bowie was in the curious position of feeling the need to impress him because a rendition of ‘Andy Warhol’ had gone down like a lead balloon when he performed it for Warhol’s crowd in London. Someone even approached him to make sure he knew that “Andy hated it“.
Vague lyrics about his appearance were the reason, although the only reference in the song is the line: “Andy Warhol looks a scream.” As Bowie recalled during an interview with Performing Songwriter, someone in his party pointed out he had a skin disease, “and he really thinks that people kind of see that”. Although mortified that he might have offended him, his subsequent memories of their first meeting were far more brutal.
“I met this man who was the living dead,” he told William Burroughs of his first Factory visit. “Yellow in complexion, a wig on that was the wrong colour, little glasses. I extended my hand, and the guy retired, so I thought, ‘The guy doesn’t like flesh. Obviously, he’s reptilian.’ He produced a camera and took a picture of me. And I tried to make small talk with him, and it wasn’t getting anywhere.”
However, all was not lost. Bowie happened to be wearing a pair of bright gold and yellow shoes – naturally, a gift from Marc Bolan. Warhol lit up at the sight of them, and the conversation was on a smoother path. “He then started a whole rap about shoe design, and that broke the ice,” said Bowie. “My yellow shoes broke the ice with Andy Warhol.”
