Bowie vs. Clear Channel-Reality bites for rock's rebel

[LiviaOlivia]

Sydney Morning Herald
By Bernard Zuel
February 17, 2004


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/16/1076779905594.html

David Bowie once sang about loving the alien - and you can see it in action on the poster for his latest world tour. This time, the alien is Clear Channel, the sponsor of Bowie's Reality tour. It is a monolithic conglomerate that dominates the American radio market with 1225 stations across the US - not to mention 800,000 billboards, nearly 40 television stations and control of three quarters of the country's live music venues.

Clear Channel also has an interest in a dozen Australian radio stations, including Sydney's WS and MIX FM. It's the same organisation that is almost universally derided by artists and criticised by legislators for its sheer power, narrow, centralised programming and conservative attitudes. Last year, Clear Channel banned the Dixie Chicks after the band's singer criticised US President George Bush. The company has organised pro-war "citizen" rallies and circulated an extensive list of songs to avoid playing after the September 11 attacks, including Alanis Morissette's Ironic.

It's also a radio conglomerate that doesn't play David Bowie, according to David Bowie. When it was suggested that if he arrived today with the look and social attitudes he displayed in the 1970s he almost certainly wouldn't get on air on a Clear Channel station, an otherwise jovial Bowie snorted. "They don't play me anyway. They might be promoting my tour but they don't play me on the radio," the tanned and frequently smiling Bowie said.

So why have them sponsoring your tour?

"They're not sponsoring it; they're running it," he laughed, before alluding to the huge costs of mounting a tour of this scale, one that will play to 5 million people. "That's the way tours are operating these days," he said.

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[reprehensor]

1. Sad.

Saw Neil Young last year, similar situation. The local Clear Channel station sponsored his concert, although they only play a handful of his tunes.

During the concert, Clear Channel came under criticism during one part of his show, and the fans let him know they approved, very vocally. (including me and the little lady)

He was a little suprised at the outpouring of anti-Clear Channel sentiment, I think he was testing the water a little bit. He has done major tours in the past under his own steam, I imagine he would do it again.