Epigraphs I really wanted to use another Coleman quote—”The guitar takes up so much space and sound; it’s the overtone system that’s fed the rock and roll community. And everybody finds their own emotions in that system”—but I could find zero references for it anywhere. It was just a line I’d written in an old notebook, taken from, as best as I can recall, a Village Voice “Ornette listens to contemporary music” feature in early 1987?, and the reference was to Husker Du’s Warehouse: Songs and Stories? However, the quote I used, from Michael Stephans’ Experiencing Ornette Coleman, 77, is about as good; Hunt Sales: from a TV interview shot during rehearsals for the International Rock Awards performance, ca. late May 1989.
276 Stamford Hill play out of tune…but it’s mine: to Ted Drozdowski, Guitar.com, 1 November 2000.
277 circling the island: to Eliana Yu, Arts & Entertainment, Summer 2015; Z axis…possible surface area: to Jedd Beaudoin, for Ytsejam.com, 8 June 2003. Gabrels described Belew as having a “painterly, brushy” right hand, using a light pick on his strings; hyper conservative: Guitar Moderne, 13 February 2015; impact upon civilians…choir of angels: to Mike Keneally, Noneradio interview, October 2000; grabbing different notes…fool my own bass player…licks from 1952: Guitar.com, 1 November 2000. Gabrels’ gear during Tin Machine included a Steinberger with a Mesa Boogie Quad preamp and a Boogie Simul Bass Stereo 295 amp, TransTrem and Digitech IPS 33B pedals, and occasionally a Dunlop Fuzz Wah with a Roger Mayer upgrade.
278 why ruin it: Keneally, October 2000.
279 Deconstructivist architecture: The Museum of Modern Art had a retrospective in summer 1988, showcasing Philip Johnson and Frank Gehry structures, among others; while he was dancing…spires: to Sarah Corbett-Baston, Trebuchet, 22 November 2014; close-voiced: Keneally, 2000; Tascam Porta One: Reverb interview, 25 July 2018; the only barrier is you: to Buckley, 384; West: Bowie probably didn’t see it on stage, as he was touring for much of its run in 1983, but a performance aired on Channel 4 in late 1984. It was part of an early Eighties vogue for London thugs: see Bob Hoskins’ mob boss in The Long Good Friday, Terence Stamp’s “grass” in The Hit and Alan Clarke’s hooligan study The Firm.
280 Heaven’s in Here At least one alternate take of “Heaven’s in Here” reportedly exists, possibly to appear on an upcoming Tin Machine box set?; an edited version (4:14) is on a US-only promo 12″/CD (EMI SPRO 4374). Recorded: all recording dates/locations for Tin Machine as per Gabrels to CO, August 2018; engineered: David Richards was an uncredited co-engineer on some of Tin Machine’s Mountain Studios recordings; live: the version on Oy Vey Baby was recorded at NYC’s Academy on 29 November 1991. The Oy Vey Baby performance features a two-minute-plus Gabrels jackplug feedback solo, while Bowie takes over stretches by cobbling together bits of songs, from Sly Stone’s “You Caught Me Smilin’” to Roxy Music’s “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” to Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere.”
281 fired Carlos: Guitar Moderne, 2015; Spiders from Mars: to Buckley, 383; exciting guitar player: Words and Music, January 1988; destroy everything: to Buckley, Mojo, February 2015; thunderous nihilistic sound: to Charles Shaar Murray, Q, October 1991; Tony Sales: while this meeting has been described as having occurred on the last night of the Glass Spider tour in the US in 1987, that’s inaccurate—Gabrels confirmed that it was in June 1988.
282 band as an obstacle: to Tony Horkins, International Musician, December 1991; crap: to Joe Levy, Spin, July 1989; audio verité thing: Buckley, 389. Despite Gabrels’ favoring newer-made guitars, for Tin Machine, he and Bowie also used older gear including a 1963 Stratocaster once owned by Marc Bolan and a Marshall 100-watt Super Lead amp Bowie had lying around in Switzerland. Gabrels and Kevin Armstrong also tried to limit their use of chorus and delay effects (Gabrels once claimed no guitar effects he used were post-1974); to have to shut up: group interview with Elliot Mintz, ca. mid-May 1989; out the window…bands are a nightmare: Buckley, 388.
283 you have to break it: International Musician, December 1991; Reeves went to school: to Matt Resnicott, Musician, September 1991; rock star entitlement: Mojo, February 2015; fucked-up sound: Starman, 344; everybody could improvise: pre-International Rock Awards TV interview, ca. late May 1989; five chords: the only harmonically “busy” songs are “I Can’t Read,” “Prisoner of Love” and “Baby Can Dance.” The majority of songs are in E major, A major, or D major; E major vamp: E-D-G-A (I-VIIb-IIIb-IV); deconstructionist R&B: quoted in Pegg, 417 (in specific reference to the mix of Oy Vey Baby); struggling element: Q, April 1990.
284 If There Is Something someone else’s material…really got off on it: Robin Eggar interview with DB, 9 August 1991 (reprinted in Egan, 200).
285 it was all heart: Musician, September 1991.
286 Country Bus Stop debuted in New York on 14 June 1989. A version from Paris the same month appeared on the “Tin Machine” CD single. The band usually played “Bus Stop” in its two versions throughout the 1991-1992 tour; vaudeville: to Adrian Deevoy, Q, May 1989; about faith: Scott Muni radio interview, 29 May 1989 (put up by Paste two decades later). Excerpts of this nearly hour-long conversation, one of the best early Tin Machine group interviews, were distributed as “The Interview” for use as radio station promotions.
287 Amazing David sang over it: Kevin Hillier interview for RockSat (Australian radio) with DB and Gabrels, ca. July 1989; for my girlfriend: Muni interview, 29 May 1989. Baby Can Dance secondary to improvise on: 5 July 1989 radio interview.
288 silly song: Q, May 1989; Zippy the Pinhead: Muni interview, 29 May 1989.
289 Tin Machine Live: there are two reported performances of “Tin Machine” in the 1991 tour (Oslo and the Tower Theater in Philadelphia), as per fan setlists on the Teenage Wildlife website. For Philadelphia this appears to be inaccurate—“Tin Machine” isn’t on the full bootleg recording. The Oslo tape is only the first half of the show and thus doesn’t prove or disprove the TW setlist. But the likelihood that the band would do “Tin Machine” only once during the entire It’s My Life tour is a bit low; 6 September 1988: as per RG to CO; since the Konrads: Q, October 1991; Tin Machine is a band: Spin, July 1989; the David Bowie name: to Billy Donald, Music Dish, 21 May 2003; Unity Mitford: Muni interview, 29 May 1989.
290 from a song on the album: Muni interview, 29 May 1989; white noise, too racist: to Ives, 20 Feb 2017; facsimile bagpipes: Spin, July 1989; spews out Watchmen: most likely a reference to the Moore/Gibbons comic. No way DB didn’t know about it by 1988.
291 Run As with “Sacrifice Yourself,” “Run” only appeared on cassette and CD versions of Tin Machine. But by 1989, vinyl sales had cratered and retailers were stopping sales of new LPs—the CD/cassette should be considered Tin Machine’s canonical version, and I wouldn’t call either track a ‘bonus’. Even the official sheet music book includes them; Kevin does what I pretend to do: TV interview (pre-International Music Awards) late May 1989; mixed feelings: 2017 interview on Davidbowieblackstar.it; controlling fuck: Kenneally, 2000. Video Crime: referred to as “Video Crimes” on the LP cover and currently called that on Spotify.
292 Under the God issued as a single in June 1989 (EMI USA MT 68 c/w “Sacrifice Yourself”); simplistic, naïve, radical: Melody Maker, 1 July 1989; this could get worse: to Tony Parsons, Arena, Spring/Summer 1993.
293 50 fascho-bands: per Rodden, Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse, 199; Orange County: Muni interview, 29 May 1989; Brown: “Subcultures, Pop Music and Politics: Skinheads and “Nazi Rock” in England and Germany,” Journal of Social History 38(1): 157–79; it’s painful being a democracy…David Duke: to Mike Heck, ROC interview, ca. autumn 1991; Spearhead: Buckley, 254.
294 Sacrifice Yourself blurry harmonic structure: as “Sacrifice Yourself” appears to be in A major, the B chord is the secondary dominant: the V chord of A major’s V chord (E, in this case). Thus much of the song, in both verse and chorus, is a struggle between secondary dominant and dominant (B and E): a war between two great powers.
295 Prisoner of Love the album’s third single in October 1989 (EMI MT 76 c/w live versions of “Baby Can Dance” and “Crack City”); the fact she is young: Muni interview, 29 May 1989.
296 Working Class Hero John was the poshest: Breakout, Aug./Sept. 1983; Dorian A minor: a folk modal key with two tonal centers, A minor and G major. When the Machine put the song in A minor, they used the dominant chord of Am, E minor, instead of the G major of Lennon’s original. There are other slight variations: the last refrain line is Am-G-D-Am, suggesting a slight shift to G major (although the D major is barely there, it’s just used as a passing chord on the way back to A minor). The original recording of “Hero” is a good example of Lennon’s indifference to time (it’s not quite in 3/4— more something like one bar of 9/8, 2 bars of 6/8) and studio perfection, as he’s often not intoning bass notes “properly”; writing get in the way of our playing: Hillier RockSat interview, ca. July 1989.
297 Crack City a live version from Paris in July 1989 was on the 12″ version of “Prisoner of Love”; white pigs: NME, 15 July 1978; merchant seamen: Marcus Gray, Last Gang in Town, 260 (quoting a Sean O’Hagan interview with Strummer from the NME, 1988); trouble on legs: Muni interview, 29 May 1989; crack in the hotel!: Musician, September 1991.
298 crack babies myth: see, among a number of articles; gonna kill you Tin Man!: as per Ricki Rachtman, Yahoo! Music, 5 August 2015; 449 says: to David Wild, Rolling Stone, 31 October 1991; deep injured stuff: Joel Gausten interview with TS, October 2015; Happy Mondays: AFN Backstage TV interview, ca. September 1991; drug dirges: Q, May 1989; Hendrix: Bowie and Gabrels were fans of the recently-released (November 1988) Radio One sessions, a CD that brought the label Rykodisc to Bowie’s attention; Crack City is the reality: to Steffan Chirazi, RIP, December 1991; written for other writers: Melody Maker, 1 July 1989.
299 I Can’t Read The live version recorded on 25 June 1989, at La Cigale, Paris, is on the 12″ single version of “Tin Machine.”
300 Purpose of daily life: Rapido, 30 May 1989; drag your soul back into your body: to Robert Hilburn, LA Times, 4 April 1993; cried in front of the band: to Tony Parsons, Arena, Autumn 1991; ice it up…facade: Musician, September 1991; my own desperations: to Tina Clarke, Elle, May 1990; topple off: Muni interview, 29 May 1989.
302 new version: debuted at the Bridge School Benefit in California in October 1996; cut-ups…words in concrete: David Bowie Story, 1993. Maggie’s Farm more details on the 1989 tour here. not gonna be a circus…playing for us: Muni interview, 29 May 1989; Prince and the Pauper: LA Times, 16 June 1989. There’s a wonderful story that Bowie was handing out flyers in the Village on the day of the first NYC gig.
303 Shakin’ All Over A live version from Paris in June 1989 was on the “Prisoner of Love” E.P., while a 1991 Hamburg recording was on the ambitiously-titled 1993 compilation Best of Grunge Rock. Live: in 1991-92, it was often part of medleys in the middle of “Heaven’s In Here.” Bowie reconnected with his old drummer, John Cambridge, at a Bradford gig on 2 July 1989. Cambridge said he told Bowie the lyric to “Shakin’ All Over,” which Bowie claimed he’d forgotten, despite having sung it the night before. Baby Universal Recorded: all Tin Machine II dates/locations per Gabrels to CO, August 2018.
304 disgrace: The reviewer, Jon Wilde (or someone claiming to be him), said in a 2012 Guardian comment thread that he’d been told Bowie had wept when he read the review. This possibly wasn’t an exaggeration—several people who knew Bowie over the years said that he took bad reviews from the UK particularly hard; Spin: Jonathan Bernstein, September 1991; meaningless lyric…sales bear out our assessment: Bill Wyman, Entertainment Weekly, 6 September 1991; Michael Jackson money: to Joel Gausten, 2000; start recording the next album tomorrow…immediately once this tour’s over: London press conference, 23 January 1990. He told the BBC’s Simon Bates that Tin Machine had cut 25 tracks in Sydney (late January 1990 TV interview).
305 excuses to make noise: Musician, September 1991; sensitively aggressive: 23 January 1990 press conference; eager to solidify the band: Q, April 1990; guitar has a world of sounds: International Musician, December 1991; keep them interested: Musician, September 1991; modal chromaticism: for example, if a song was in E major, Gabrels could use E Phrygian, a scale that would let him play “notes that shouldn’t be there” (say, an F instead of the “correct” F-sharp); his own obstacles: International Musician, December 1991.
306 almost like Texas: to Joy Williams, Tournye, 1991.
307 Sorry let’s talk about it, y’know?…my own addictions: RIP, December 1991.
308 Alomar: Buckley, 412; Schermerhorn: Starman, 351; personal problems…carry on: Uncut, October 1999; we just couldn’t cope: Golden Years: The David Bowie Story, 2000. Betty Wrong Two additional versions circulate on bootleg: one sounds like a slightly-different mix of the released track. The other is an instrumental taken at a slower pace, with Gabrels still working out solo ideas.
309 Otis Rush…hardest to hear: Musician, September 1991. Needles on the Beach Bondi Beach: the beach was in great neglect at the time, with swimmers having to contend with raw sewage as well as syringes. By the late 2000s, it had been cleaned up and added to Australia’s National Heritage List.
311 Shopping for Girls Recorded: Kevin Armstrong’s credited appearance on piano suggests at least backing tracks were cut during Tin Machine sessions; Kham Suk: Christian Science Monitor, 30 June 1987. Terry co-wrote the series with Kristin Helmore; collectively autobiographical: RIP, December 1991; fingerwagging about it: Musician, September 1991.
312 fairly fucking heavy: RIP, December 1991; narrator: a suggestion of Annie McDuffie; lyric: the odd line that opens the second verse (“a small black someone jumps over the crazy white guard”) is a play on the English pangram (“the quick fox jumps over the lazy dog”). Amlapura Bowie cut an Indonesian vocal, a version found on the B-side on the 12″ single of “You Belong In Rock n’ Roll,” and so added another language to his tally of Italian, French, German, and Spanish vocals (see the “Seven Years in Tibet” note). Alternate takes of “Amlapura” circulate—an instrumental and three other takes with more prominent drums, guitar and slightly different phrasing on vocals. A version from Hamburg, 24 October 1991, is on the video version of Oy Vey Baby.
313 I particularly love…200 years ago: Japanese TV interview, February 1992; ashes scattered: as per a New York Times report on his will (“David Bowie’s Will Splits Estate Said to Be Worth $100 Million,” 29 January 2016), he’d wanted his body shipped to Bali to be cremated. As that was impractical, he was cremated in New Jersey on 12 January 2016, according to his death certificate.
314 Stateside American dream: from the 25 July 1990 concert at the Niagara Falls Convention Center. Bowie continued with “all you got left is an Uzi gun and a crack haze. Everything falling to shit. Inner city blues. So what do you get from the government? You get the blues.” You Can’t Talk Four alternate takes circulate on bootleg. One sounds like an early-stage version, going at a slower tempo, with Bowie trying out phrases. The others are close to the released track, with minor differences. For example, the break after “call you over under out” (@ 2:25) is followed by, in various takes, silence, hi-hat, or a guitar panned left-to-right.
315 Big Hurt considered a strong enough track that it was performed on Arsenio Hall and weighed as a possible title track. Its BBC recording was released in October 1991 as a B-side of the 12″ “Baby Universal”; you serve two masters: Musician, September 1991.
316 It’s Tough The most “finished”-sounding circulating version of “Tough” reportedly comes from an early promo CD of Tin Machine II, showing how late in the day its omission was. Presumably it will appear in a Tin Machine box set.
317 You Belong in Rock ‘n Roll issued as a single in August 1991 (LONCD 305, c/w “Amlapura (Indonesian version), UK #33). There was also a limited-edition single in a metal box—to produce it, Victory had to purchase used tins from the US Navy. A version from Chicago, 7 December 1991, closes Oy Vey Baby; Double Jeu: the date often cited for this appearance–21 September 1991– doesn’t seem to be accurate, as the band was in the US until at least mid-September, when Bowie also shot his scenes for Twin Peaks in California (it’s far more likely to have been in late October, when the band was touring Europe and doing other promotional spots on TV). I chose 27 October because it was the only off day in that period—the Paris show was 30 October 1991; half a chord progression: “You Belong” is mostly C major and G major; “With or Without You” is a cycling C-G-Am-F; vibrators: Gabrels told Musician that his touring vibrators were “a 4″ Ladyfinger and an 8″ variable speed, with a Panasonic electric razor as backup.”
318 talking about the feelings…but abandon from what: to Alan di Perna, Creem, September 1991; basically a bass song…against the bridge: Mike Heck ROC interview, ca. late 1991.
319 Goodbye Mr. Ed I’d love it if Bowie had found the title in a headline in the 16 October 1990 Weekly World News; myth land to me: Cracked Actor; now I have the knowledge: RIP, December 1991; Fifties America: Musician, Sept. 1991.
320 tuning up thing… just a rhythm track: Tournye, 1991.
321 Pretty Pink Rose An alternate mix appears on the promo CD single: it’s about thirty seconds shorter, has less lead guitar, and omits the second verse. Belew also issued an instrumental mix on his 2007 download Dust; CDs: “CDs Overtake LPs for First Time, Industry Says,” AP, 26 January 1989. Until 1993, the US market leader was the cassette— it was cheaper and most cars didn’t have CD players yet. The transition happened earlier in the UK: by 1990, CDs sold more than tapes; RCA: The first Bowie CD reissues were in February 1985, with some exceptions—David Live and Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture weren’t issued and Stage was only available in the UK and Europe. The RCA CDs were taken from masters EQ’d for cassette, not from the original tapes. By contrast, with the exception of a few outtakes, all Ryko CDs were taken from the original masters. Yet some audiophiles still assert that the RCAs are the best-sounding Bowie CDs. Anytime a Bowie album gets a new issue, someone will, without fail, judge it against its RCA CD and find it wanting; rights were expiring: Rougvie goes into the creation of Sound + Vision and the reissues on his blog, which dispels a great many myths; most wanted on CD: Billboard, 10 September 1988; Ryko: because the label had few international connections at the time, EMI released the reissues in the UK and Europe; bonus tracks: a complete list of the Rykos can be found on Discogs.
322 writing at night: Belew, blog entry, 6 September 2007; oh gawd…quite what to do…half-time…right hand fingers: Belew blog, 16 September 2007. It’s possible “I Pray, Ole” was an early version of what became “Pretty Pink Rose,” as the closing “take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart” melody also works over parts of “Ole.”
324 Gunman added a harmony note…rhythm guitars: Belew blog, 8 September 2007. You and I and George develop new material: interview with the BBC’s Simon Bates, late January 1990; coffer replenishment: for example, Bowie grossed $927,124 on his 6 March 1990 show in Montreal, filling 34,687 seats and earning more than comparable acts playing to much larger crowds, as per Billboard, 24 March 1990.
325 instrumentation of a four-piece band: Belew blog, 14 September 2007; for a particular generation…hope it won’t show…never Major Tom again: Q, April 1990; absolutely loathe Young Americans: Rolling Stone, 31 October 1991; wasn’t happy: Spitz, 348; Fox eating…turned off live keyboard: Buckley, 403.
326 fucking nightmare: titled the bootleg of the show!, 8 September 1990; Kelly: the song is only credited as “Arr. Kenton” on the album. I’ve credited it to Kelly, as the song is certainly not “trad.,” as some resources have claimed.
327 One Shot Smooth, sax-like: Musician, September 1991.
329 Debaser Mass of screaming flesh: ca. 1999 Bowie interview, filmed for Channel Four’s Pixies documentary Gouge (2002); what it represents: to Sisario, Doolittle, 77; Chien Andalou: or Purple Rain, as the original refrain lyric was “shed, Apollonia!,” a reference to Apollonia’s nude scene in that film. Go Now Oy Vey, Baby: This live album, issued in July 1992, was the most unloved LP in the Bowie catalog since the Sixties, failing to chart in the US or UK upon release. Composed of tracks from Chicago, Boston, New York, Tokyo and Sapporo gigs, it’s a good document of a band that was still putting on tight shows until the end. “Amazing,” from Chicago, is superior to the studio version; the Tokyo “Goodbye Mr. Ed” has Bowie in fine voice. The title, a jibe at the then-latest U2 album, didn’t help sales, nor perhaps did the inclusion of an eight-minute “Stateside.” The mix was greatly the work of Gabrels, who later said it was his favorite Tin Machine album. The video release (also out of print) is a different beast, solely documenting a 24 October 1991 show in Hamburg.
330 fair amount of improvisation…don’t want that feeling at all: Creem, September 1991; nothing noble: Chicago Tribune, 9 December 1991; small room packed with people: to Kot, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2002; simply misinformation: Reevz.net, ca. 2002; three albums, possibly…once it starts to feel like a job: to Roger Catlin, Hartford Courant, 24 November 1991.
Pushing Ahead of the Dame 