A few weeks ago, we had discussed the topic of glam rock. This was the idea that music and live performances also had to be a sort of act. Artists began to dress up especially for their concerts. Previously, most artist just wore jeans and a t-shirt, if that. Now, artists were making an even larger spectacle of themselves by wearing flamboyant clothes, a pound of facial make-up, and several cans of hairspray. Rock was always known as a more ‘manly’ genre of music, with the heavy guitar, bass, and awesome drum solos. When these outfits and personas started appearing, the sexual orientation of artists came into question.
An artist who took this to extremes was none other than David Bowie. Bowie had many outfits for many personas he would take on during his performances, one of the most popular known as “Ziggy Stardust”. Of course people were startled with Bowie’s new take on the genre and immediately started wondering what ‘team’ he ‘played’ for. Regardless, David was the hottest thing on the music market at that time, and his music was enjoyed by many fans. The artist confessed during multiple interviews that he considered himself a bisexual, the earliest date being January 22, 1972. As I was doing some background research for this blog, I was reading Wikipedia. Within the sexuality section on the David Bowie page, I saw something about an affair with Mick Jagger, so I decided to look into that. I found, after a little digging, that David Bowie had an affair with Rolling Stones lead singer, Mick Jagger.
In the spring of 1973, David Bowie was invited to a Rolling Stones concert by Jagger. Jagger paid for the hotel and even sent flowers. By October of that year, the two lived down the street from each other. One day, Bowie’s bisexual wife came home to be told by a maid that someone was in her bed. She went to the bedroom to find David and Mick naked, in bed together. Mrs. Bowie didn’t have a problem the fact that her husband was sleeping with a man, since the couple was known to share partners. She was, however, concerned that Jagger would take away from the young, creative genius of David.
The intense emotional and sexual relationship between Bowie and Jagger went on for quite some time, and it was thought of as being very serious. Mrs. Bowie was even jealous because she had always wanted to see like Jagger was in that ‘department’. As far as anyone knows, the two are no longer that close, though the remain good friends. I am personally more of a Mick Jagger fan and it upsets me that he would stoop so low as to sleep with Bowie. Though David is a fantastic and creative songwriter, it was said in one of Jagger’s interviews that Jagger especially liked sleeping with Bowie because he wanted to stay cool and appeal to the newer generation. Ironically, Keith Richards later commented, “Mick could deliver ten times more than Bowie in just a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Why would you want to be anything else if you’re Mick Jagger?”
Of course this is one of the many directions that glam rock went, but I chose to take about this affair in general since both partners were very influential in the rock genre and most people are unaware of the history between the two. The more you know!