How I Met David Bowie

Today David Bowie would have turned 70 years, but unfortunately this outstanding artist died on January 10th, 2016, just two days after his birthday. I was a big fan of him and I am glad that I briefly met him. 

So here is my David Bowie anecdote:

In 1995 I worked on the website of MTV's sister station VH-1 in Germany, the VH-1derland. At that time you still had to explain what the Internet was, but fortunately the MTV people were open for it.

VH-1 was the first TV station in Germany with a website and the first website with a colour coded design. In early 1995, all websites had grey backgrounds, and just the newest browser Netscape 0.9 could display colourful backgrounds. So we used that feature heavily.

Space Oddity, David Bowie's first hit from 1969

VH-1's launch was slated for May 1995 and we wanted to go online on that same day. David Bowie was invited as a special guest to press the "official button" at the launch party. 

So I asked MTV Europe's boss Brent Hansen to make David Bowie record a little sound snippet for us, which we could put on the VH-1derland's website to add some celebrity glamour to it.

Life on Mars from 1973

A few days later, we really received an MP3 with a voice message by David, saying something like "This is David Bowie, congratulations to VH-1derland". I don't have that file anymore, but it is captured on a video about VH-1derland which is somewhere in a box in my basement. I might publish it when I am back home to prove my little story.

Ashes to Ashes from 1980

The launch party in Hamburg was a huge event with hundreds of guests and gigs by Duran Duran and other "Oldies from the 80s". David Bowie did not even perform, he just pushed the button, and that was it.

Our three piece VH-1derland team had the chance to go backstage and thank David Bowie for his message. We shook hands and chatted with him for some minutes. Then he said goodbye. We stayed for a while in his caravan with MTV host Ray Cokes and ate David Bowie's sandwiches. 

Let's Dance from 1983

That was it. Nothing spectacular, but I met David Bowie in person and he created something special just for us.