David Bowie was an artist who never recycled the same creative idea twice. This made his albums singular, but also doubled his workload. Every Bowie album came with its unique set of hurdles, but there was one project that the artist remembered being “traumatic” to finish. Find out which album that was below.
Videos by American Songwriter
The Album David Bowie Thought Was Traumatic From Start to Finish
High concepts and unique characters characterized Bowie’s albums. Because of this, there was often a wall put between himself and his listeners. You get a sense that everything he was singing about could or could not be his genuine emotions. Was it Bowie talking or any one of the otherworldly icons he created?
However, one album felt notably bare: Heathen. This album was written in one headspace and released in another. Though Bowie mapped out the record before 9/11, the violent attack ended up shaping the final product immensely. Bowie once recalled finding it hard to sing the songs he had written before the world was shaken up.
The Album Bowie Released After 9/11
Because of this shock to the system, Bowie found finishing Heathen “traumatic.”
“Heathen was very different,” Bowie once said. “It was written as a deeply questioning album. Of course, it had one foot astride that awful event in September. So that was quite a traumatic album to finish. This one hints at that, but it’s not really trying to resolve any trauma. [September 11] did affect me and my family very much. We live down here.”
Though this album paled in comparison to what the world was going through, at least in Bowie’s mind, he managed to take the material he already had and mold it to fit this earth-shattering period in time. It made the album an altogether more visceral listen.
Bowie continued speaking about how the attack in New York shaped his creative process at this point. Living in the city at the time, Bowie injected the same unease the country was feeling into this record.
[RELATED: The “Revenge” Track David Bowie Wrote in Response to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”]
“I think there’s a new awareness in New York about our isolationist stance in the rest of the world,” Bowie continued. “There is a realization that even though this is one of the most important cities in the world, others are watching us. I don’t think we ever felt that before. There’s a slight unease. We really felt freewheeling and that ‘tomorrow belongs to us,’ anything can happen. Now, there’s not quite that swaying surge of hopefulness.”
Revisit one of Bowie’s most unique and emotional albums, Heathen, below.
(Photo by Jack Kay/Daily Express/Getty Images)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.