DAVID BOWIE: 50 years ago: “Pin Ups” (Part 1)

Faded stardust, part 1

Sometimes you have to play for time in life. David Bowie certainly seemed to harbor this thought when he – rather reluctantly – set to work on studio album number seven in the summer of 1973. Because “Pin Ups” is a pure cover album, with songs that influenced Bowie as a teenager. Not quite what the record label RCA had hoped for …

The sedative tablet for RCA
Bowie’s sixth album “Aladdin Sane” was only released in April 1973. At this time, the Brit was at his commercial peak with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust and the tour of the same name. After 191 shows, the tour came to an end on July 3, 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Bowie was exhausted. But his record label RCA insisted on the release of a new album before Christmas 1973. Tony Defries, Bowie’s manager, was also negotiating for higher royalties. He advised David not to record any new compositions for the time being until the negotiations were over. So an emergency solution had to be found, which acted as a sedative for RCA: Bowie decided to record a cover album as a temporary solution.

In the next part, we will continue the special and shed light on the extent to which “Pin Ups” was ill-fated.

Katrin Hemmerling

You can listen to “Pin Ups” here: