I heard the news today…* Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture gets a vinyl reissue; Lulu’s Royal Albert Hall show features archival Bowie duet footage; Ivo van Hove brings Bowie songs into Angels in America at Edinburgh; Peter Frampton shares an update on his health; John Cameron Mitchell interview; Duo Nice Price covers “The Man Who Sold the World” plus features, profiles, lists AND MORE!
Welcome to my weekly roundup of Bowie news! Read on for summaries of Bowie-related stories that posted this past week, and click on the bolded story names to link to the original articles…
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NEWS
50th Anniversary of Ziggy Motion Picture Album released. Parlophone has reissued Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture soundtrack from his 1973 Hammersmith Odeon concert as a standard black-vinyl 2LP edition, replacing the gold-vinyl version released for the album’s 50th anniversary in 2023.
Lulu’s remarkable London show. Lulu’s Royal Albert Hall benefit concert highlighted her six-decade career through performances, archival duets with Bowie and Tina Turner, guest appearances by family members and Delta Goodrem, and a set that showcased her role as a versatile entertainer whose work connects numerous moments in British popular culture.
A David Bowie-powered gay fantasia: Edinburgh festival 2026’s must-see theatre. Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is being revived at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival in a five-hour production directed by Lazarus director Ivo van Hove that incorporates Bowie songs into its stripped-back staging.
Peter Frampton gives heartbreaking update on rare degenerative disease. Despite living with the progressive muscle disease Inclusion Body Myositis, Peter Frampton remains active and positive, noting that a major career resurgence came when he joined Bowie’s 1987 Glass Spider Tour after a friendship that dated back to their school days.
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FEATURES AND REFLECTIONS
Remembering David Bowie & David Gilmour’s 2006 Tribute To Pink Floyd Founder Syd Barrett. Bowie, who regarded Syd Barrett as a major influence and admired his stage presence and songwriting, joined David Gilmour and Richard Wright at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2006 to perform “Arnold Layne” and “Comfortably Numb” in Barrett’s honor, a concert later released as Remember That Night and now available in full on YouTube.
KillerStar and Their Bowie Collaborators Cross Into Epic Territory. KillerStar’s new single “Rubicon” showcases the art-rock duo’s ambitious sound through contributions from several Bowie collaborators, including Gerry Leonard, Earl Slick, Mark Garson, and Mark Plati, while previewing their album, The Afterglow. This article seems to be a little behind the times, but contains a good appreciation for the band and the music.
Bowie did not like football… then became obsessed with the 2002 World Cup. Despite having little interest in football for most of his life, Bowie became so engrossed in the 2002 World Cup that he adopted the nickname “Nobby” in honor of 1966 England star Nobby Stiles.
Can Rock Royalty Really Make Art Worth Owning? Bowie’s paintings, influenced by European abstract expressionists such as Frank Auerbach and David Bomberg, have become highly sought-after due to their rarity, with one work from his DHead series rising in value from a $4 charity-shop purchase to an $87,000 auction sale.
BOOK REVIEW: David Bowie: Forever and Ever. Forever and Ever presents Bowie as a continually reinventing cultural figure whose visual legacy and artistic evolution are celebrated through a richly illustrated tribute that favors admiration over critical examination.
Bowie’s ’70s Jacquard Sofa Predicted the Anti-Trend Look Dominating Our Living Rooms in 2026. Bowie’s textile-filled 1972 London living room is highlighted as an example of the renewed popularity of 1970s maximalism and antique craftsmanship in contemporary interior design.
The Deeper Meaning Behind Peloton’s Viral Ad. Peloton’s 2026 advertising campaign features actor Hudson Williams rather than an athlete and uses music by Bowie, signaling a departure from the company’s traditional fitness-focused marketing approach.
Photographing David Bowie. Six photographers discussed how their collaborations with Bowie helped create some of rock music’s most iconic images and offered personal insights into working with an artist who carefully crafted his visual identity.
A BBC-Era Bowie Cover. Bowie’s cover of The Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat” impressed many listeners with its vocals and musicianship.
Bowie’s daughter posed ‘weird’ without realizing she’d recreated dad’s iconic 1977 album cover. I reported this story myself last week, but here’s a link to a published account.
The dagger-through-the-heart memory which inspired the biggest rock song of its generation. The Killers’ enduring hit “Mr. Brightside,” inspired by frontman Brandon Flowers’ heartbreak, drew vocal inspiration from Bowie’s performance on “Queen Bitch” while also reflecting the influence of Bowie’s friend Iggy Pop.
How David Bowie Inspired Sam Reid’s Performance in The Vampire Lestat. Sam Reid drew on Bowie’s live performances of “Cracked Actor” to help portray Lestat as a theatrical, inhuman rock star whose stage persona gradually gives way to greater vulnerability over the course of The Vampire Lestat.
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PROFLIES
Ronnie Wood. Bowie contributed to the basic rhythm track of the Rolling Stones’ 1974 album title track, recorded during collaborative sessions at Ronnie Wood’s London home that also involved Willie Weeks, Kenney Jones, Mick Jagger and other prominent musicians.
David Torn. David Torn’s album now I imagine a place not the same highlights the experimental guitarist’s tactile, atmospheric approach to music-making and continues a career that has included collaborations with Bowie and a wide range of influential artists across multiple genres.
Adrian Belew. Young Lions features Adrian Belew’s collaboration with Bowie on “Pretty Pink Rose” and “Gunman,” songs that reflected Bowie’s move away from his mid-1980s commercial sound and toward the more experimental approach that would later emerge on Outside.
Chris Jericho. Inspired in part by Bowie’s continual reinvention, professional wrestler Chris Jericho views his current use of the single name “Jericho” as a self-titled phase that lets fans connect the character to whichever period of his career they remember most.
Divers. Divers’ EP Shapeshifting blends alternative rock influences including Bowie, Nick Cave, Anna Calvi and Beth Gibbons while exploring themes of transformation, identity and renewal through the band’s most expansive sound to date.
Bob Harris. Veteran broadcaster Bob Harris, who is stepping back from his BBC Radio 2 shows while undergoing prostate cancer treatment, reflected on his long music career, including singing backing vocals on Bowie’s “Memory of a Free Festival” and sharing stories about Bowie and other rock icons.
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THIS WEEK IN THIS BLOG
May 31: Last week’s news
June 1: David Bowie Cover of the Week: Duo Nice Price covers “The Man Who Sold the World”
June 2: Drive-in Saturday Tuesday Movie Review: ET & Close Encounters
June 3: Bowie’s Wallpaper
June 4: Bowie Connections to New York Times’ Readers Poll of Great American Songwriters
June 5: John Cameron Mitchell Preview
June 6: John Cameron Mitchell on David Bowie
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LISTS
Twelve big 80s hairstyles to try now. This list includes both Tina Turner’s 80s hairstyle and Bowie’s from Labyrnth. I’m not quite sure what’s the difference…
Songs by The Kinks, David Bowie, Elton John among Billboard’s Greatest LGBTQ Anthems of All Time. Billboard included Bowie’s “Boys Keep Swinging,” alongside songs by Elton John, Queen, The Kinks, and others, on its list of the 100 Greatest LGBTQ Anthems of All Time, recognizing music associated with queer artists, gay icons, allies, and themes of self-acceptance and social rejection.
The 21 greatest albums of 1974. Diamond Dogs combines dystopian themes, glam theatrics, and emerging soul influences, with Bowie’s guitar work contributing to a raw, atmospheric sound highlighted by “Rebel Rebel.”
Five musicians who couldn’t stand David Bowie. Bowie’s willingness to challenge social norms, experiment artistically, and risk failure earned him both lasting admiration and a small number of detractors who criticized his authenticity, style, or artistic choices.
Five artists who were inspired by aliens. Ziggy Stardust established Bowie as glam rock’s defining figure by channeling themes of alienation, androgyny, and escapism into the persona of a Martian rock messiah whose arrival on the pop charts helped define the era.
Rock Musicians From The ’70s Whose Stage Costumes Defined The Decade. Bowie helped define the glam rock aesthetic of the 1970s through his Ziggy Stardust persona before retiring the character in 1973 and moving on to the Thin White Duke era.
TOP 25 ALBUMS RELEASED AFTER AGE 65. This list seems to be missing the list, but maybe you can find it…
These 17 bands changed so much they barely sounded like themselves. Bowie topped this ranking of artists defined by reinvention, with his career spanning transformations from “Space Oddity” through Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to the experimental Berlin-era collaborations with Brian Eno.
3 Times British Rockers Found Their Sound in America. Young Americans reflected Bowie’s immersion in Philadelphia R&B and soul, producing songs such as “Fame” and “Fascination” that incorporated distinctly American musical influences into one of the most stylistically successful transformations of his career.
Classic Rock album covers that were changed, banned or censored. The original UK cover of The Man Who Sold the World featured Bowie reclining in a dress, a provocative image rejected by the American label, which instead used a modified cartoon cover after objecting to a speech bubble that appeared to reference drug use.
The final singles released by legendary artists. Bowie’s final single, “Lazarus,” was made even more poignant by a video released three days before his death in January 2016 that ended with him backing into a wardrobe and closing the door.
17 rock stars who wrestled with stage fright. Bowie’s creation of personas such as Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and the Thin White Duke was partly a way to cope with performance anxiety by placing a protective barrier between himself and his audience.
The Greatest Music Cameos Of ’70s Rock. Bowie played a major role in shaping Lou Reed’s commercially successful Transformer and contributed backing vocals, including prominent high notes, to Reed’s “Satellite of Love.”
20 of the best-loved Birmingham and West Midlands nightclubs of the 70s and 80s. Bowie was among the major artists associated with popular Birmingham and West Midlands nightclubs of the 1970s and 1980s that remain fondly remembered by many patrons.
1975 Had A Top 5 Unlike Anything Before Or Since. Bowie’s “Fame” became his first U.S. No. 1 hit on September 20, 1975, topping a Billboard Hot 100 whose Top Five also included country, folk, singer-songwriter, and soul records, reflecting an unusually diverse range of popular music styles.
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CHURNALISM
This section separates genuine Bowie news and original writing from recycled “churnalism” stories with vague click-bait headlines that often repeat familiar information but may still be of interest if readers have not seen them before.
Churn of the week: 1973 Classic Began as a Frank Sinatra Parody, Then Became One of the ‘Most Perfect Songs Ever’.. This story of how “Life on Mars” is connected to “My Way” gets repackaged so often that I don’t know if this particular version was just cut and paste from its last iteration. What really seals the deal that this is the type of retread that epitomizes “churnalism” is the title that suggests there’s some sort of surprise answer to the implied question. A more legitimate reflection would make clear that the piece is about “Life on Mars?” and, of course, this is too well-established to come close to qualifying as “news.”
The 1979 album David Bowie would always regret. Although Bowie considered Lodger a strong album, he believed its rushed mixing prevented it from reaching its full potential, making it the Berlin Trilogy record he most regretted from a production standpoint.
The David Bowie Song That Predicted Alternative Rock. Although difficult to record, “The Man Who Sold the World” became one of Bowie’s most enduring and enigmatic songs, reflecting a period of personal and creative transformation that he associated with a near-mystical search for aspects of his own identity.
The 1970s shows David Bowie always regretted. Bowie constantly reinvented himself through characters and musical styles but later regretted that landmark tours such as Diamond Dogs, Station to Station, and the Young Americans-era shows were not professionally filmed and preserved.
1970 Rock Classic, Originally Unnoticed for Two Decades, Became a Hit 23 Years Later. Although “The Man Who Sold the World” was largely overlooked when Bowie released it in 1970, Nirvana’s 1993 Unplugged cover introduced the song to a new generation, and Bowie later viewed the performance as deeply shaped by Kurt Cobain’s life and death.
Why did David Bowie have two different coloured eyes? A dispute over a girl led Bowie and his childhood friend George Underwood to have a playground fight in 1962, during which Bowie suffered the eye injury that gave him the appearance of having two different-coloured eyes.
Death of Britain’s ‘biggest pop star since The Beatles’ left family destitute. After Marc Bolan’s death left his partner and young son Rolan with little financial support despite his substantial estate, Bowie helped sustain them by providing money, paying Rolan’s school fees, and remaining personally supportive as Rolan’s godfather.
How David Bowie came back from the abyss. In 1977, Bowie reinvented his music and public persona through Low and his collaborations with Iggy Pop on The Idiot and Lust for Life, using his time in Berlin to leave behind his cocaine-fueled past and help shape a new direction for popular music.
The 1968 movie that became David Bowie’s musical epiphany. Bowie credited Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey with inspiring “Space Oddity,” a song released shortly before the Apollo 11 moon landing that captured the excitement and wonder of the space age.
1972 Rock Classic, Originally Rejected by Iconic Band, Became a Timeless Glam Rock Anthem. After Mott the Hoople rejected “Suffragette City” in favor of “All the Young Dudes,” Bowie included it on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, where its references to A Clockwork Orange, sexuality, and the Ziggy Stardust mythos helped establish it as a glam rock classic.
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And with that, “we’ve finished our news…”*
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*“I’ve heard the news today” is Bowie’s adaptation of the Beatles lyric, which is heard in “Young Americans.” **“We’ve finished our news” is a line from, “Oh You Pretty Things”