“Life for a man in his forties can only get worse,” U2 bass player Adam Clayton said at the David Bowie: A Day in the Life panel discussion in Fitzrovia last night, hosted by the Standard’s editor-in-chief, Dylan Jones. The musician said the successes of U2 may not have been possible if they started today because men get more insecure with age.
“I think there’s a period in the male psyche where there is a lack of risk you get as a young man in your late teens and early twenties, and part of the brain to weigh up consequences is not yet developed,” the bassist said. “That changes when you get older. But looking back on U2, I just think ‘How did we do that?’”
An exhibition of David Bowie portraits by Kevin Davies display the musician in his forties, “which is in such a happy time in his life, whilst also quite a scary time,” Clayton said. “By the time you get to your 40s, you become a bit more aware of consequences and some of those skills that you used to have, are gone because you’ve had to grow and learn.” Also on the panel was Bowie’s 35-year-long publicist Alan Edwards. He said pop stars have a worse work ethic today and that Bowie’s patient attitude towards media would never happen now. “[Bowie] would sometimes do 20-30 interviews a day. Imagine Beyoncé doing 30 interviews, it’s inconceivable,” Edwards said.
“Bowie never had a fake charm, he was genuinely interested in people, he’d get to know journalists really well and stay in touch with them,” the publicist added. Maybe the press wasn’t a worry for the influential singer-songwriter, but Edwards always kept Bowie’s spirits high.
Revealing an untold secret, Edwards, reminisced on a time in Sheffield when there was an outstanding review so he “cut it up, Bowie style, photocopied it down at the hotel and turned it into six great reviews.”
