TVC 15

"'TVC15'" was a single by David Bowie.
The song was inspired by Iggy Pop who, during a drug-fuelled period at Bowie’s LA home, hallucinated and believed that the television set was swallowing his girlfriend. Beyond oblique mentions to absorption via television, the lyrics are largely nonsensical. Bowie himself hasn’t been able to shed any light on their meaning beyond the Pop anecdote, having very limited recollection of the '''Station to Station''' sessions. The 1983 film ''Videodrome'' explores similar themes.
The song is considerably more upbeat than the rest of the album. It was chosen as a second single from the album in the UK, where it reached #33. With Bowie unable to perform on the show, ''Top of the Pops'' promoted the single with a bizarre interpretation from resident dance troupe Ruby Flipper. The B-side, “We Are the Dead”, originally formed part of Bowie’s attempt to adapt ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', and had previously been released on the ''Diamond Dogs'' album.
In America, "Stay" was preferred as a second single from the album.

Contents

Track listing

Production credits

Live version

Other releases

Cover versions

References

Track listing

# "TVC15" (Bowie) – 3:43
# "We Are the Dead" (Bowie) – 4:58

Production credits

★ 'Producers':

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★ Harry Maslin on “TVC15”

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★ David Bowie

★ 'Musicians':

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★ David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar

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★ Carlos Alomar, Earl Slick: Guitar on “TVC15”

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★ George Murray: Bass on “TVC15”

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★ Dennis Davis: Drums on “TVC15”

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★ Roy Bittan: Piano on “TVC15”

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★ Herbie Flowers: Bass on “We Are the Dead”

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★ Mike Garson: Piano on “We Are the Dead”

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★ Aynsley Dunbar: Drums on “We Are the Dead”

Live version

★ A live version recorded on the Heroes tour at the Philadelphia Spectrum, April 28-29th 1978, was released on ''Stage''.

★ On December 14, 1979 Bowie performed TVC 15 as a musical guest on ''Saturday Night Live'', accompanied by Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias.

Other releases

★ It appeared on several compilations:

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★ ''Best of Bowie'' (1980)

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★ ''Fame and Fashion'' (1984)

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★ ''Sound + Vision'' box set (1989)

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★ '' (1993)

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★ ''The Singles Collection'' (1993)

★ The 7" single version also appeared on ''The Best of 1974/1979''.

★ A version shorter than the single version appeared on the ''Christiane F. soundtrack''.

★ It was released as a picture disc in the RCA ''Life Time'' disc set.

Cover versions

★ Comateens – ''Comateens''

★ The Wannabes - ''Only Bowie'' (1995)

References

Pegg, Nicholas, ''The Complete David Bowie'', Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5