RCA weren't to be outdone. They scraped the last flakes from the bottom of the barrel and released 'Bowie Rare'. Included in this compilation is 'Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola', a version of Space Oddity David had sung while very drunk and in some sort of delirium.
Meanwhile Bowie had fled with the loot. He travelled to Australia where David Mallet and himself produced videos for the two most sellable tracks on his new album, 'China Girl' which he wrote with The Idiot Iggy Pop, and 'Let's Dance' which he didn't write with Iggy Pop.
'Let's Dance' was filmed against the backdrop of the Australian desert landscape and featured scenes of a couple of Aborigines canoodling. It's main aim was to promote racism. In fact the two Aborigines, Terry Roberts and Jolene King from the Aboriginal-Islanders Dance Theatre were confronted with a drinking tap with the sign "Blacks Only!" when they arrived on set for filming. 'I wanted to send a message of White Supremacy', David said about the clip, 'I wanted to say that, no matter where you come from, or what colour your skin, white is better.'
'China Girl' was to be a totally different concept. A pornographic concept. It featured David and an oriental girl, Jee Ling, in a variety of X-rated situations. 'This one we aimed directly at the perverts. Do you know that they make up 43% of the overall market?'. The clip was banned by some TV stations, but would crop up from time to time in Sex-Ed classes and outsold "Lusty Sluts 4" at Club X video store.
David also bought a ranch in Australia
. 'Did I ever tell you that this is the best country in the world? I just want to keep coming back here again and again.' He told the press.With his videos ready for world-wide distribution and banning, and the 'Let's Dance' LP, 'Let's Dance' single and 'Let's Dance' action figures ready to be released concurrently by EMI America, Bowie flew from country to country reminding everyone that he indeed was "hot shit". At a March 16th press conference at Claridges he announced his first world tour for five years.
The planned tour would encompass 90 concerts (at the minumum) in 15 countries over the next five months. It was announced as the 'Serious Money' tour, but was later changed to the 'Serious Moonlight' tour for tax purposes.
Meanwhile his album, single, and action figures were selling like crazy. The single quickly eclipsing one million sales, and the album five million. At EMI there were many 'high-fives' and popping of party poppers.
The tour sets were simple, David couldn't afford anything too lavish. Lots of light though, because light wasn't too expensive and made audiences go "Ohh!" and "Ahh!". Carlos Alomar led the musicians, Stevie Ray Vaughan was to appear, but Bowie was asking him to pay $300 per night and it was too expensive for him. The Chic drummer Tony Thompson worked drums (and payed Bowie $250 per night), bass player Carmine Rojas payed Bowie $300 per night, Lenny Pickett played saxophone and payed $200 per night while Dave Lebolt played synthetic piano and payed him $200 per night.
They all dressed casually, as they couldn't afford decent clothes. Tony Thompson sometimes appeared in rags, Lenny Pickett would sometimes make do with garbage bags tied off at the wrists and ankles.
In May 'China Girl' was released after serving five months for indecent exposure. Meanwhile Bowie was doing ok. For a single concert in Los Angeles on 30th May he recieved a flat fee of $1,500,000. His three concerts in Chicago grossed $716,000. In Dallas he grossed $235,000. In Toronto $2.3m. In Vancouver $1.3m, and in Edmonton, $1.2m. His money pile in Switzerland now eclipsed Mount Everest as the world's tallest peak.
In Sweden Bowie played to 60,000 people a night. His three shows in London drew a total crowd of 175,000. At souveneir stands volunteers sold Bowie cups, Bowie T-shirts, Bowie books, Bowie sanitary napkins, Bowie games, Bowie bathwater. Even bags of dirt, supposedly blessed by Bowie were sold at $39.95 a bagful.
There was the book of the tour. The hour long TV-film made for screening in the United States. A documentary entitled 'Ricochet' to be released on video. The list was endless. RCA re-released his back-catalogue. There were badges, oh so many badges. Scarfs, plungers, insect spray, deodorant, cheese and pasta. Like some Orwellian dream come true, everywhere one looked, there was Bowie's face. Big Bowie is watching you.
The London music press were nonplussed by his new pre-eminence.
The London Times - I like the album, I liked the concert, but I miss my money.
The Sun - Imagine my surprise and humiliation when I walked into work and everyone else was wearing the same Bowie t-shirt I was.
In September 'Modern Love' was released as a single, and in November, after 11 years of waiting, the D.A. Pennebaker film, 'Ziggy Stardust : The Motion Picture' blasted onto cinema screens amid looting and all out chaos as people tried to get away from it. RCA still released the soundtrack album of the film, as it had been an entire two days since they had released something Bowie-related. Two days after that they released a single from the soundtrack 'White Light/White Heat' making dedicated Bowie collectors sigh a lot and rob more banks.
In the United States Bowie appeared on the cover of Time magazine and was hailed by Playboy as its Man of the Year. In Britain he won two more Ivor Novello Awards. Mother Theresa blessed him. The Pope considered canonising him. Holy water was now referred to as Bowie water.
The tour continued on into New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Thailand over November and December. Bowie again mentioning how wonderful Australia was, and how he would continue to visit that wonderful country constantly.
At his final concert in Hong Kong at the end of the year, with tears in his eyes, he reminded the audience of a lost friend, "The last time I saw John Lennon was here in Hong Kong. Whatever happened to that guy anyway?'
At years end Bowie had raked in nearly one hundred million dollars. That's not including the fiver he found on the pavement while walking in Bristol.