24 Legendary Facts About David Bowie You’ll Enjoy Reading

David Bowie asked his fans to vote for which songs he should play for his 1990 world tour. They voted for “The Laughing Gnome” which is arguably Bowie’s worst song. Bowie did not play the song at the world tour.

David Bowie refused Knighthood in 2003, which would have made him Sir David Bowie. He said, “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”

Many people think Bowie has two different colored eyes. In reality, they are both blue. What you are seeing is his permanently dilated pupil. When he was about 15, Bowie got into a fight with a good friend whose fingernail sliced into his eye just so as he got clocked. Doctors were concerned that he would lose his sight entirely in that eye but ended up being able to restore it (albeit with some depth perception and dilation problems). But, Bowie didn’t hold grudges. His sparring partner later did some of the artwork for his album sleeves.

David Bowie was known as a multi-instrumentalist. In addition to his playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and saxophone, he played stylophone, viola, cello, koto, thumb piano, drums, and percussion.

David Bowie was the first major artist to release a downloadable single (Telling Lies) in 1996.

His real name was David Jones. He even recorded his first single “Liza Jane” under the name Davie Jones. He later changed his name to not be confused with Davy Jones, the lead singer of the Monkees, who was already famous in the United States.

When David Bowie heard Nirvana’s cover of “The Man Who Sold the World”, he said he was “blown away” by the fact that Kurt Cobain liked his work, and said, “it would have been nice to have worked with him, but just talking with him would have been real cool.”

While making ‘Station To Station,’ his diet consisted of only red peppers, milk, and cocaine. He said that he doesn’t even remember the recording sessions because he was so coked out.

David Bowie was briefly banned from SNL in 1997 for playing a song that reminded Lorne Michaels too much of the time when he was a heavy coke user.

“Under Pressure” was written by David Bowie and Queen during a 24-hour wine and cocaine marathon.