The city of Berlin will pay tribute to an artist with which it shared a reciprocal, impactful relationship, commemorating his former home with a plaque. The plaque will feature lyrics from his track Heroes, unveiled by mayor Michael Müller this coming Monday (August 22).
David Bowie first moved to Berlin in 1976 while in the throes of a serious cocaine addiction. It was a bit of a bumpy start, and with Iggy Pop as a flatmate, the pair indulged themselves, once driving at full speed around an underground car park threatening to crash, high as hell, until they eventually ran out of fuel. The incident’s been immortalised in the song Always Crashing in the Same Car.
Once he’d settled into his Schöneberg, Bowie’s mission was to get back on track. While in Berlin he worked with Brian Eno and moved into his next era of pop, creating one of the most famous evolution of styles ever as he dove from glam pop to the electronic avant-garde. He also collaborated with Iggy Pop on the record The Idiot (1977) at Berlin’s Hansa Studios, and inspired by the German experimental, minimalist scene, he sent Low, Heroes and Lodger out into the world.
Heroes was inspired by a couple - music producer Tony Visconti and his lover - that Bowie saw in an embrace by the Berlin Wall that ran through East and West Germany.
