The rock song that David Bowie was “in awe” of
From day one, David Bowie was never looking to do anything safe with his music. Throughout his time as a glam rock icon and inventing new genres with his Berlin trilogy, ‘The Starman’ prided himself on going through as many genres as he could throughout his career, morphing himself into whatever shape he needed. While it may have taken a lot to shock someone so eclectic, Bowie was taken aback when he heard one classic for the first time.
Then again, Bowie could have taken his music in a completely different direction had his debut been given the time of day. As opposed to the spaced-out rock and roll alien we know today, many of Bowie’s early songs featured a vaudeville tinge, discussing the wonders of fanciful topics in tracks like ‘Rubber Band’ and ‘Love You Till Tuesday’.
Even though there may have been elements of psychedelia and folk throughout his music, Bowie started seeing the music scene shift before his eyes. In addition to the summer of love beginning in England, the American music scene was also going through its own transformation, exposing the darker side of life through outfits like The Doors.
Although many artists may have relished in the darker side of life, none of them spoke with as much authority as Lou Reed did with The Velvet Underground. Constructed as the answer to the flower power generation, many of the band’s songs had to do with the seedy side of life present throughout New York City, treating the lives of drug dealers and prostitutes with the same reverence as poets.
Even though the group’s debut album hit a sour note with the critics, one of the most electrifying songs was ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’. Telling the story of Reed waiting on a New York City street for his drug dealer to show up, the track’s relentless energy would be a precursor to the more raucous sounds to come, from the beginnings of punk rock to more artistic forms of chaos to come from acts like The Stooges.
When the song reached Bowie’s ears, he was ecstatic. Looking to shed his old skin as a folk-rock balladeer, Bowie remembered being stunned by the power of the piece and wanted to reinvent his image to match the intensity he heard in Reed’s voice.
When talking about the impact of The Velvet Underground later, Bowie recalled, “I was in awe. It was serious and dangerous, and I loved it. I literally went into a band rehearsal the next day, put the album down, and said, ‘We’re going to learn this song. It is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.’ I must have been the first person in the world to cover a Velvet Underground song.”
On his subsequent albums, Bowie would even find himself writing tracks in tribute to Reed, penning the track ‘Queen Bitch’ as a homage to their style. If Reed had sparked the idea of Bowie wanting to dream bigger, Ziggy Stardust represented his final transformation into a rock and roll wonder, even sprinkling in covers of Velvet Underground tunes whenever he played live. Bowie was always destined to do great things outside of folk-rock, but it took Reed’s music for him to truly find his calling.
