David Bowie left Henry Rollins scared stiff: “I go rigid”
There aren’t many musicians who are as forthcoming as Henry Rollins. While a large portion of the hardcore community loathe him for apparently ‘selling out’, there’s no doubt that he made a tremendous impact on the genre when fronting Black Flag and that he’s never done anything he doesn’t want to creatively. He’s even quit making music to try his hand at other endeavours such as spoken word and stand-up and to become one of the most well-versed figures in the story of music.
From his aggressive on-stage persona to his bold takes on other artists, such as tearing into punk pioneer John Lydon and saying U2 “have the worst rhythm section in big rock,” Rollins is synonymous with a heightened level of conviction. Since he burst onto the scene in the early 1980s, he’s been one of the most unwavering figures in the punk world and has continued to espouse his beliefs and earn fans because of them, no matter how many ardent hardcore fans deem him something of a turncoat.
Given that Rollins has always conveyed a tangible sense of conviction and has seldom been regarded to have stalled in his creative endeavours – if ever – you wouldn’t think he’d be one to get shy. However, according to him, there was one moment wherein he dropped his tough guy image and bravado and was reduced to silence due to being in the orbit of one of his ultimate heroes: David Bowie.
While Rollins was just one of a myriad of people who have been tongue-tied by meeting the legendary musical chameleon, the fact he openly admits to being so stumped is remarkable, given his image. Or, on the other hand, is it really strange that a man who once notoriously bullied a teenage reporter should be well and truly put in his place by the otherworldly cool of Bowie?
Rollins recalled meeting Bowie at a festival on his 2018 stand-up show, Henry Rollins: Keep Talking, Pal: “[Bowie] looks fantastic, hair perfect, suit perfect. I go rigid like an officer on deck. I just stand there silent as can be because I don’t want to be the thing that makes David Bowie fly away like a rare bird.”
Hilariously, Rollins recounted the fangirling inner monologue that started spinning after he spotted the ‘Space Oddity’ singer: “‘David Bowie is walking by me. I am such a fan; this is all I need.’ 20 years later, I’ll be standing on a stage with cameras rolling, saying, ‘David Bowie walked by me, and I was fine.’ I don’t need to meet him; I just like to be near him, fine.”
The unthinkable then happened for Rollins. Bowie didn’t just walk past him. He stopped and spoke to him. Going one step further, as the Englishman was a voracious devourer of culture, he was even a fan of Rollins’ work. This was a life-affirming juncture for the former Black Flag man, who credits Bowie’s music with saving his life. In his typical manner, Bowie told Rollins: “I read all your interviews; you’re very interesting.”
Rollins, trying to keep his cool, could not believe what had just transpired after Bowie left. Overjoyed, he thought: “Kill me! Because my life is never getting better than this!”
