The First Time I Heard David Bowie

The First Time I Heard David Bowie is Part III in an ongoing series where musicians and writers tell their stories of first hearing the music of an iconic artist or band. In this third volume (following the opening installments, which covered Joy Division / New Order and Cocteau Twins), forty different musicians and writers remember their initial experiences hearing the influential rock chameleon David Bowie, whose musical legacy now spans nearly five decades.


Contributors to the David Bowie edition include musicians such as David Balfe (The Teardrop Explodes, manager/producer for bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and Blur); Danny Benair (The Three O'Clock, The Quick); Annette Peacock; Craig Gannon (live guitarist for The Smiths, Aztec Camera, and other bands); Vanessa Briscoe Hay (Pylon); Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance); Robert Holmes ('til tuesday); Nathan Larson (film composer and guitarist for Shudder To Think); Carl Marsh (Shriekback); Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman; the Antony & the Johnsons band); Emil Amos (Holy Sons, Grails); Jem Tayle (Shelleyan Orphan); Pal Shazar (Slow Children); Mark Albrow (Hula); Michelle Leon (Babes In Toyland); Rob Preuss (Spoons); Julian Tardo (Insides); Robin Saville (Isan); Erik Jeffries (A Shoreline Dream); Steven Burrows (And Also the Trees); Nyles Lannon (Film School); Anomie Belle; David Woodward (Clearlake); Philip King (Lush, The Jesus & Mary Chain); Carlo Van Putten (The Convent, White Rose Transmission); Ben Mullins (Midwest Product); Kenneth Bernard (Ra Ra Riot); Mark Van Hoen (Seefeel, Scala); Anna Fox Rochinski (Quilt); Adam Forkner (Yume Bitsu, White Rainbow); Frank Navin (The Aluminum Group); Jon Attwood (Yellow6); and writers like Dave King; Ben Neihart; Deborah Pintonelli; Mitch Cullin; Dena Rash Guzman; Laurie Foos; Matt Dean; and Connie Deanovich.


The "First Time I Heard" book series is edited by Scott Heim, a novelist (Mysterious Skin, In Awe, We Disappear) who is also a longtime music fan. Other installments in the series (or those forthcoming soon) include books on Joy Division / New Order, Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, Kate Bush, R.E.M., Kraftwerk, My Bloody Valentine, Abba, Roxy Music, The Pixies, and others.