What Kevin Armstrong learnt as the sideman for Bowie, McCartney, Morrissey, Sinead and Iggy Pop

Kevin Armstrong was the guitarist in the band David Bowie asked him to assemble for Live Aid and toured and recorded with him many times. Playing the guitar intro to Rebel Rebel in a stadium, he says, is “like lighting a match”. Start the Passenger with Iggy Pop and you’re greeted with “a great mass of love”. His memoir, Absolute Beginner, is “a window onto the high table of rock and roll” and full of insights into life in studios and on the road and the fathomless levels of diplomacy often required to collaborate. This entertaining pod expands upon …

 

… why he turned down the offer to join the Smiths.

 

… how Jim Osterberg transforms himself into Iggy Pop.

 

… the Sinead O’Connor’s tour manager’s trick to speed the band through security.  

 

… the song Bowie dropped from the Live Aid set.

 

… why Michael Hutchence is “terrified of small crowds”.

 

… Bowie’s ex-Navy Seal minder and the old decoys-under-blankets ruse.

 

… why Morrissey is “thin-skinned”.

 

… and the eternal curse of “Imposter Syndrome”.

 

 

Order ‘Absolute Beginner’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Absolute-Beginner-Memoirs-least-known-guitarist/dp/1911036173

Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on September 25th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/1SwIYJWoHK

Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.