Wham bam Bowie special.
In this Bowie special, we talk to Del Pike about the much maligned Absolute Beginners (1986) - was the critical mauling justified? And Aiden McManus returns to the show to talk about Bowie's pre-fame years in Soho.
Arriving on cinema screens on the back of an inordinate amount of pre-publicity in 1986, Absolute Beginners was, notoriously, an instantaneous disaster at the box office and was ripped to shreds by the critics.
Thirty years later, freelance writer, Del Pike wrote an article entitled “Absolute Beginners at 30 – Was it Really So Bad?” so we had to get him on the show to talk about the film that ruined the studio that made it.
Although not the star of Absolute Beginners, David Bowie provided the theme song and was a major feature of the pre-release publicity campaign. Twenty years before that, he was a struggling musician trying to make it big, and was deeply in involved in the Soho music scene. Aidan McManus returns to the podcast to talk about Bowie’s Soho years.
Interesting article in the Guardian about the making of Absolute Beginners
Read Del Pike’s 1986 article asking if Absolute Beginners was really so bad.
Follow Aidan McManus on Twitter, book a scheduled or bespoke tour with him and listen to his radio show
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Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels
Soho Bites 28: Value for Money (1955)
Soho Bites 27: Saturday Night Revue (1937)
Soho Bites 26: Too Hot to Handle (1960)
Soho Bites 25: The Golden Disc (1958)
Soho Bites 24: Something in the City (1950)
Soho Bites 23: The Boys (1962)
Soho Bites 22: A Touch of Class (1973)
Soho Bites 21: The Night Caller (1965)
Soho Bites 20: The Shakedown (1960)
Soho Bites 19: Smashing Time (1967)
Soho Bites 18: Peeping Tom (1960)
Soho Bites 17: Cover Girl Killer (1959)
Soho Bites 16: Soho Conspiracy (1950)
Soho Bites 15: Tonight & Every Night (1945)
Soho Bites 14: Murder at the Windmill (1949)
Soho Bites 13: Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)
Soho Bites 12: Das Phantom von Soho (1964)
Soho Bites 11: Where Has Poor Mickey Gone? (1964)
Soho Bites 10: Cocaine (1922)
Soho Bites 9: Night & The City (1950)
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