David Bowie. A Life in Music

If fame is a test, Bowie failed it. The mid-Seventies saw him dispense with his backing musicians, compounding their low remuneration by not telling them in advance of his July 1973 stage announcement that this was the last Spiders from Mars gig. He also descended into drug addiction that saw him rival The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards as the world’s unhealthiest-looking man. And he became so consumed in a Messiah complex that in 1976 he felt able to make a glib public announcement that Britain was ready for a dose of fascism.

While resident in the South London suburb of Beckenham in 1969, Bowie, along with three friends, set up a folk club at the pub The Three Tuns. This developed into the Beckenham Arts Laboratory. Although many eventually famous rockers played there – including Peter Frampton, Steve Harley, The Strawbs, Rick Wakeman and Mick Ronson – the ‘Arts Lab’ was also a reflection of how multi-faceted Bowie’s interests were: there was painting, poetry readings, light shows, street theatre, dance and puppetry in this crucible of nascent talent. Some of Bowie’s ex-associates – ones admittedly likely to be disdainful of pop music – will tell you that it’s the best thing with which he’s ever been involved. He was certainly far more interested in the Arts Lab than making a second album for quite a while.