While on tour in North America in 2004, Bowie discovered that he was being followed by someone dressed in a pink bunny costume. At first it seemed playful, but Bowie got nervous when the bunny popped up on one of his flights. Still, the singer seemed to have seen it all, saying “Hey, it’s rock and roll. It’s just a 5'3’’ bunny.”
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No, it isn’t from Mars, but Bowie does have a legacy in the world of arachnids. Heteropoda davidbowie is named for its bright orange fur. Classified in 2009, the endangered spider is indigenous to Malaysia, where it is often kept as a pet. Fitting its namesake’s persona, the spider is sexually dimorphic.
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At the age of 5, Bowie’s parents gave him a cup of tea that was apparently so terrible that he hasn’t touched the stuff since. The tea had been steeped for seven years, giving it an unbearably strong taste. Bowie only made an exception for Japanese green tea.
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David Bowie was offered titles of CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2000 and knighthood in 2003. He opted to turn down both honors. When asked about the ordeal, Bowie said, “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for.”
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During BBC’s coverage of the 1969 moon landing, the station used David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to set the tone for the iconic event. The song became Bowie’s first No. 1 hit in the United Kingdom and helped place him in the public eye. A 2013 video of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield performing the song aboard the International Space Station has been viewed more than 27 million times on YouTube.
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David Bowie’s eyes often appear to be different colors in photographs based on the light. This is because his left pupil is permanently dilated due to a childhood accident in which his friend George Underwood punched him in the eye during a fight over a girl. In 2004, Bowie had to stop a gig after being hit in the same eye with a lollipop thrown from the crowd.
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In 1998, David Bowie launched his own internet service provider called BowieNet. For £10 a month, users had access to the web and 20MB to create their own homepage and links to exclusive music content. The ISP was functional until it was shut down in 2012.
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One of his earliest efforts, “The Laughing Gnome” is widely thought of as the worst song of David Bowie’s career. For his 1990 tour, Bowie had fans call in requests for his setlist. “The Laughing Gnome” received the most number of requests, but he still refused to play it on the tour.
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Cashing in on the technological advancements of the era, David Bowie made his 1996 song “Telling Lies” available for download on his website, making him the first major recording artist to do so. Using dial-up internet speeds, it would have taken fans roughly 11 minutes to download the song.
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Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, and Bowie were both born on Jan. 8, though 12 years apart. Elvis almost recorded a rendition of Bowie’s hit “Golden Years” shortly before he died in 1977.
(Presley and Bowie images via Wikipedia)