David Bowie seemed to live many lifetimes in his too short 69 years. In fact, if you only saw photographs of him, you’d be right to ask “Who is David Bowie?” Or even, “Who is the real David Bowie?” His life is one that defies a linear scope, but this list of offbeat David Bowie anecdotes should help you understand what kind of person the mythical David Bowie was. One of the obvious through lines on this list of David Bowie trivia is that he was a good friend to those who truly knew him. You’ll start noticing a lot of the same names popping up in many of these David Bowie stories, as he ran with a small group of (very famous) people. Hopefully you’ll learn something you didn’t know on this list of fun facts about David Bowie.
There are a few notes we all know from the David Bowie biography: he wore a lot of makeup, did a lot of drugs, went a little crazy, and managed to come out of everything not only unscathed, but as an iconoclast. A lot of the stories on this list won’t be found on the David Bowie wiki. In fact, we had to do quite a bit of digging to discover some of these facts and secret David Bowie history, but it was certainly worth in order to get to know him a little better. Hopefully you’ll become obsessed with the Starman all over again after you chew through some of these brilliant quotes and David Bowie facts.
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John Lennon Once Made Bowie Eat an Egg Soaked in Urine
After being asked by GQ about the worst thing he ever put in his mouth, Bowie told a story about John Lennon shoving "a thousand-day-old egg cooked in horse piss" in his mouth. YUM!
Bowie Was Obsessed with Medieval History
According to legendary producer Tony Visconti, Bowie had a longstanding fascination with medieval and Russian history and most of his recent work was informed by those subjects.
Bowie Practiced "Crazy Wisdom"
After trying out a few different religions ranging from Catholicism to Buddhism, Bowie moved on to something called "Crazy Wisdom," which was taught by Chogyam Trungpa. The point of Crazy Wisdom wasn't to find inner peace, but to search for the sake of searching.
He Once Traveled Across Russia by Train
In 1973, Bowie (deep in his Ziggy Stardust phase) traveled Russia by the Trans-Siberian Railway. Allegedly, on the trip he and Iggy Pop illegally crossed the Russian-Chinese border while in the middle of a street race.
He Loved to Travel by Boat
Bowie already had a fear of flying, but after the horrific events of 9/11 he gave up transatlantic flight altogether and began traveling on the Queen Elizabeth II whenever he had to leave New York for London.
He Only Performed Under Pressure Once
Due to Freddy Mercury's untimely death from complications with HIV, Bowie only performed their hit "Under Pressure" one time. He and Annie Lennox knocked the track out of the park at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London.
Bowie Was High as a Kite While Filming The Man Who Fell to Earth
After filming The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bowie said, "I just threw my real self into that movie as I was at that time. It was the first thing I'd ever done. I was virtually ignorant of the established procedure [of making movies], so I was going a lot on instinct, and my instinct was pretty dissipated. I just learned the lines for that day and did them the way I was feeling. It wasn't that far off. I actually was feeling as alienated as that character was. It was a pretty natural performance. ... a good exhibition of somebody literally falling apart in front of you. I was totally insecure with about 10 grams [of cocaine] a day in me. I was stoned out of my mind from beginning to end."
Move On from Lodger Is All the Young Dudes Backwards
In classic Bowie style, his track "Move On" was recorded by playing along to a backward recording of the Mott the Hoople song (written by Bowie) “All the Young Dudes,” and then playing more tracks on top of it.
He Was a Fan of The Uncle Floyd Show
The Uncle Floyd Show was something that could only exist before the Internet. A local access, low-budget children's show, at its height it managed to attract a lot of artsy folk, like the Ramones and John Lennon. On his song "Slip Away" Bowie sings, "Sailing over Coney Island / Twinkle twinkle, Uncle Floyd / we were dumb / but you were fun, boy / How I wonder where you are."
He Screamed Himself Hoarse for a Few Scenes in The Hunger
In his film, The Hunger, Bowie plays a vampire who meets a Dorian Gray-esque fate. In order to achieve the raspy vocal quality of a 3,000-year-old man Bowie allegedly stood on the George Washington Bridge every night and screamed any punk song that came to mind.