Cocaine. David Bowie. Thin White. Thick White.

February 17, 2015 10:44 AM

The Side Effects of Cocaine Featuring David Bowie.
posted by josher71 (17 comments total)

In the traveling David Bowie Is... exhibit organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum (running March 3 - May 31 in Paris) they have a coke spoon that belonged to Bowie exhibited (photo 9 in slideshow)
posted by larrybob at 11:00 AM on February 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

There was a hole in his soul.






He was Bob the Cobbler.
posted by maxsparber at 11:16 AM on February 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

> How did I not know about this milk / red peppers / cocaine diet?

It's not all it's cracked up to be.
posted by Malory Archer at 11:18 AM on February 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

"Bowie in the 70s was so weird not only did they cast him to play an actor, they cast his car"
posted by The Whelk at 11:22 AM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Bowie in the 70s was so weird not only did they cast him to play an actor, they cast his car"

Then they nailed him to it.

Then he told them who they are.

(After a couple of dri-i-i-nks on the house, of course.)
 
posted by Herodios at 11:56 AM on February 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm not terribly fond of contemplating this phase of Bowie's career; I mean, look at him--he's basically a skeleton in a Donald Trump wig. A few years later, into his Berlin period, he's looking much better.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:03 PM on February 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

What's more amazing, Halloween Jack, is that that's not even the bottom. I've read him say that the photos of him at his worst haven't even been published, and at his lowest point, he lost so much weight as to be basically unrecognizable.
posted by incomple at 12:40 PM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Well, yeah, and despite rumours to the contrary, The Next Day will be his last album. He's retired from the music business and moved on. After a visit to Auckland, NZ and a new retro-styled haircut, he's reinvented himself once again, this time as a barista: The Flat White Duke.
 
posted by Herodios at 12:47 PM on February 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

Milk, red peppers and cocaine?

I'm surprised he didn't write a song called "Ouch (Mein Anus)"
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 2:12 PM on February 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Alas, according to multiple sources, it was bell peppers that the Thin White Duke consumed, rather than spicier peppers. Oh, Bowie, I thought you were hardcore.
posted by maxsparber at 2:23 PM on February 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

The fact that Bowie apparently has no memory of recording "Station to Station" has made me love it even more. I've never ingested cocaine and I have no desire to, but I can't deny it's helped produce some great music.
posted by davebush at 2:34 PM on February 17, 2015

Ooooooooooh.

Well, I always pick bell peppers off the pizza, anyway. I could do the milk part of the diet (especially if it took the form of cheese! Or chocolate milkshakes!) but no bell peppers or cocaine.

Getting back to the comic, I just wish the art was better. Is that supposed to be John Lennon saying "Bloody hell, David"? I can't tell, since it is so poorly drawn.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:27 PM on February 17, 2015

Of course, any Bowie thread reminds me of an earlier thread where we learn that David doesn't travel well and seriously, doesn't travel well.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:44 PM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

potsmokinghippieoverlord: "Well, I always pick bell peppers off the pizza, anyway. I could do the milk part of the diet (especially if it took the form of cheese! Or chocolate milkshakes!) but no bell peppers or cocaine."

You could try a bell pepper smoothie.
posted by boo_radley at 4:24 PM on February 17, 2015 [2 favorites]

Wouldn't that be a kind of cream soup? We can call it "The Starman"!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 4:32 PM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

"And I think my spaceship knows which way to go"

-Bowies' cocaine delivery drone.
posted by clavdivs at 4:35 PM on February 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was a rock band roadie for a long time, starting in the '60s. Mr. Bowie's experience is not a lot different from a number of people I know, who either died or have a few years they would rather not talk about. I saw mountains of cocaine in the '70s, and my lengthy survival in an environment where everyone used coke stemmed from my abstinence.

At the time, common rocker wisdom that as long as you could afford your drugs, you didn't have a problem.

My observation based on watching any number of personal acquaintances was that it isn't the cost of the drugs that fucks you up.

It's the drugs that fuck you up.
posted by Repack Rider at 8:07 PM on February 17, 2015 [7 favorites]