Skip to content
News

Hear 26-Year-Old David Bowie DJ for the BBC

david bowie, bbc music 6, pin ups, radio broadcast

The BBC is digging deep into the David Bowie archives for an upcoming, exclusive broadcast. As Fact points out, on October 23, BBC 6 Music will air a previously unheard faux-radio program recorded by Bowie in the 1970s. Apparently, the mock program was taped in support of Pin Ups, the Thin White Duke’s all-covers album from ’73. Co-produced by Bowie and his then-regular producer Ken Scott, the 15-minute segment features The Next Day singer introducing five tracks that appear on Pin Ups, specifically the Pretty Things’ “Rosalyn,” Them’s “Here Comes the Night,” the Yardbirds’ “I Wish You Would,” the Merseys’ “Sorrow,” and the Who’s “I Can’t Explain.”

Nigel Reeve, who oversees Bowie’s back catalogue, discovered the audio, explaining, “It was in an old tape vault on [quarter-inch] tape with simply the words ‘Radio Show’ written on it… This is such a rare find. No one knew of its existence, apart from David and Ken. To play it for the first time was quite simply a jaw-dropping moment.”

Jaws will drop everywhere on Wednesday, October 23, when BBC 6 Music plays the clip in five parts throughout the day. The decades-old recording will also be streaming on the 6 Music website until midnight on Sunday, October 27. Of course, fans will also get to hear a new bit of Bowie-related audio just a few days later, on October 29, when Arcade Fire release their fourth LP, Reflektor, through Merge Records. The double-album’s glitzy title track features backing vocals from Mr. Bowie.

And on November 4, The Next Day will be reissued in expanded form. The triple-disc set comes with two bonus remixes, including a 10-minute, clap-happy take on the track “Love is Lost” by former LCD Soundsystem main brain James Murphy.