Beyond Fiction- Ziggy & Iggy in “Velvet Goldmine"

Velvet Goldmine (1998) is a fictionalized story based on David Bowie's life during the glam rock era of the early 70s. This video compares the fictional story of Brian Slade and Curt Wild to that of their real counterparts Bowie and Iggy Pop (respectively) 5'12. I've used scenes from the movie, and more than 63 parts of documentaries, archive footage and interviews with both artists. By the end of the video I show how they influenced the punk era of the late '70's, and later the grunge music genre exemplified by the band Nirvana. Why did I extend this story to the '90s? Because despite Ewan McGregor's perfect portrayal of the young Iggy Pop, he looks a lot like Kurt Cobain (the character is called CURT Wild). After learning how much Iggy Pop influenced Cobain's music, my first impression that Curt also represents Kurt was not so far-fetched. Regardless the statement of the director (Todd Hayes) saying that their resemblance is just a "coincidence", it still feels better relating them. As Kurt Cobain is the most handsome rock star I know, it was easy to fall in love with Curt Wild, just like it happens to the character Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys Myers). I show the striking resemblances of Bowie/Ziggy Stardust to Slade/Maxwell Demon and of Kurt Cobain and Iggy Pop to Curt Wild in another of my videos: "the Men Who Changed the World" (    • The Men Who Changed the World - Kurt ...   ).

This video starts with the behind the scenes of the movie and later I compare the fictional stories with the real ones.

(***Spoilers ahead***)

In the movie, Curt Wild and Brian Slade's musical relationship goes deeper into romantic/sexual territory, ending in an overly dramatic way unlike what happened with their real counterparts. David Bowie and Iggy Pop established a long and fruitful musical partnership. In several documentaries and interviews, they tell their story, marked by Bowie's fascination with Iggy Pop. Iggy said how important Bowie's intervention was. At that time he was lost in a world of drugs and self-destruction, which had led him to musical oblivion after the dissolution of his band The Stooges. The way these facts are fictionalized in the movie is brilliant. Lou Reed's story is mixed in with this representation also. The addition of the romantic element adds extra spice that helps us dive into the audacious, sexually liberated world of the '70s.

Arthur (Christian Bale) is another character that is attracted to Curt Wild. He ultimately has a one night stand with him, when Slade is no longer in the picture. Earlier in the movie, Slade commits "career suicide" by staging his own death during a concert, much like the surprising way David Bowie "killed" Ziggy Stardust in 1973, just one year after its creation. In 1984, Arthur as a journalist, digging out Slade's faith, concludes that superstar Tommy Stone is Slade. This is a nod to Bowie's "identity" when he embraced mainstream during the dance era of the '80s when he achieved again the status of superstar with the commercially successful album "Let's Dance" (1983), which disappointment many fans of the revolutionary Ziggy Stardust. This feeling is projected into the characters of Arthur and Curt, when they meet again after a Tommy Stone concert. They had set out to change the world and now they feel that they just ended up changing themselves for nothing.

Now, looking back I see how close this feeling might have been to what rock fans felt after the death of Kurt Cobain, the end of grunge era and the subsequent dominance of electronica and hip hop. That’s why I think relating Curt Wild to Kurt Cobain helps the movie. It felt really good to rewatch Velvet Goldmine in 2021 and still relate Curt Wild to Kurt Cobain, and because of it, I have exactly the same feeling of nostalgia and grief, the director intended his audience to have. The music genres are different, but as history tends to repeat itself, these stories are timeless, as long as they are told based on feelings rather then accurate facts, like Velvet Goldmine brilliantly does. Each generation will feel nostalgic for something that they loved that came to an end.

My musical learning path has always been backwards. I first hear songs in movies, and only afterwards do I look up what song it is, then I learn who composed it and when it was made. The same happened now after I re-watched Velvet Goldmine, a 22-year-old movie that tells stories from 40 years ago. Despite the absence of Bowie’s music, (he did not approve the use of his music) glam rock and Iggy Pop’s songs fill in just perfectly. The contrary happened to the most recent movie about Bowie’s life "Stardust" that received very bad reviews, putting it lightly, a bad story with no music to save it.

This is my interpretation of Velvet Goldmine, a true fantasy. So many real stories "dressed up" as fiction in the best way it can be done, especially when you cannot tell "the truth”.