David Bowie Talks Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie.

David Bowie Talks Ziggy Stardust.


In this new animated interview with David Bowie, we learn his very realistic reflections on his life as the ultimate rock star in the 1970s.

Bowie says that now he lives a very sedate life that is far from that of a rock star. Bowie reflects on his education in one of the first art-oriented high school in England and his start in the advertising industry. His first art teacher was Peter Frampton's father, which is quite a coincidence for fans of '70s rock.

Bowie always has seemed much more down-to-earth than this rather freakish image of the mid-'70s might suggest, and this interview appears to prove it. No mention, though, of his most recent release, which was a surprise hit a couple of years ago.

Probably the most amazing thing about this animation is that it animates a relaxed interview by Joe Smith that sounds like it was done last week, but in fact, was completed over 25 years ago:

"I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star or whatever," David Bowie said about his Ziggy Stardust era in the 1988 interview. "Now I realize that from '72 through to about '76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn't have been more rock star."

Bowie added that he now understood the underpinnings of the appeal of his character, which actually sort of stemmed from animation:

"Ziggy was [cartoonish]. "I mean he was half out of sci-fi rock and half out of the Japanese theater. The clothes were, at that time, simply outrageous. Nobody had seen anything like them before."

The animation process is terrific in giving a timeless quality to events like this interview. This is part of the PBS Digital Studios "Blank on Blank" series of animated interviews.

From the youtube page:

"I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star. I always felt a little bit out of my element"
- David Bowie

GIFs and more Bowie @ http://www.blankonblank.org

Interview by Joe Smith

Hear the full interview catalog at the Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/joesmith/

Executive Producer: David Gerlach
Animator: Patrick Smith

Music
David Bowie
"Ziggy Stardust" 
"Moonage Daydream"
"Lady Stardust"

Photos
Adam Bielawski 
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
CBS Television
LIFE/Google

Video
Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture, Parlophone
David Bowie "Life on Mars" Video, EMI
Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC

2020