What really happened when David Bowie smuggled cocaine to Iggy Pop in a space suit
How much of it is true?
Dressed in space suits, David Bowie and Dennis Hopper walk into a psych ward to smuggle Iggy Pop cocaine in 1975…
What sounds like a setup for a joke is actually one of the most infamous legends in rock n’ roll history. But how much of it really happened? And was it Dennis Hopper or Dean Stockwell accompanying the singer?
While stars today know that any misbehaviour will likely be captured by a bystander with a smartphone and posted online, classic rockstars were able to do just about anything with near impunity.
Never was this more apparent than in 1975, when Iggy Pop’s drug problem was beginning to spin out of control in a way that even his wildest friends and groupies couldn’t help but notice.
Rock journalist Lester Bangs describes the night The Stooges went bust for good, in large part because of Iggy’s erratic behaviour, after a wild LA concert: ‘The audience, which consisted largely of bikers, was unusually hostile, and Iggy, as usual, fed on that hostility, soaked it up and gave it back and absorbed it all over again in an eerie, frightening symbiosis.
‘”All right,” he finally said, stopping a song in the middle, “you assholes wanta hear ‘Louie, Louie,’ we’ll give you ‘Louie, Louie.’” So the Stooges played a forty-five-minute version of “Louie Louie,” including new lyrics improvised by the Pop on the spot consisting of “You can suck my ass / You biker f***** sissies,”’
The two stars were close friends and creative collaborators in the 70s (Picture: Larry Busacca/WireImage)Bangs goes on to describe Iggy eventually confronting a heckler who challenges him to a fight. High on drugs, the singer then leapt from the stage and proceeded to get beaten to a pulp by the bikers in the audience.
The journalist continued his first-hand account: ‘The next day the bike gang, who call themselves the Scorpions, will phone WABX-FM and promise to kill Iggy and the Stooges if they play the Michigan Palace on Thursday night. They do (play, that is), and nobody gets killed.’
Even though the disastrous show didn’t result in any loss of life, it did prove to be a death knell for The Stooges, who ditched Iggy in LA shortly after.
Bowie described the event: ‘If I remember right, it was me and Dennis Hopper. We trooped into the hospital with a load of drugs for him.’ (Picture: Evening Standard/Getty Images)As his solo career floundered, he decided to check himself into UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Los Angeles to try to sober up and hopefully get his career back on track.
After several drug infractions and other legal issues in the first half of the 70s, he didn’t have much say in his internment in the facility, choosing between getting clean and prison after another run-in with the law in 1975.
While in the facility, under the care of Dr. Murray Zucker, Iggy’s biographer Paul Trynka notes that Iggy was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.
Bowie’s version of the story included actor Dennis Hopper(left) (Picture: Nick Haddow/Penske Media via Getty Images)He writes in the biography: ‘Bipolar disorder [is] characterised by episodes of euphoric or overexcited and irrational behaviour, succeeded by depression. Hypomanics are often described as euphoric, charismatic, energetic, prone to grandiosity, hypersexual, and unrealistic in their ambitions – all of which sounded like a checklist of Iggy’s character traits.’
Iggy remembers the time as one in which he came face to face with the strength of his own will power. He said: ‘By 1975, I was totally into drugs, and my willpower had been vastly depleted. But still, I had the brains to commit myself to a hospital, and I survived with willpower and a lot of help from David Bowie. I survived because I wanted to.’
Having discovered and taken a liking to Iggy in the mid 70s, Bowie was certainly a big part of the singer’s recovery – in both negative and positive ways.
Bowie’s 2012 book The Golden Years claims that he was actually accompanied by Dean Stockwell, not Dennis Hopper, for the visit, both of them on drugs of their own.
Some versions of the story include actor Dean Stockwell (Picture: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)Dressed in space suits, the book claims they screamed: ‘We want to see Jimmy. Let us in!’ A request the staff, starstruck, eventually capitulated to. According to this version of the tale, the trio successfully did lines of cocaine in Iggy’s hospital room, setting back his sobriety.
But it seems the Starman’s memory of the event might be a little hazy, as he told Blender in 2002 of the incident: ‘Did it work? Of course! Ah, that was so stupid. If I remember right, it was me and Dennis Hopper. We trooped into the hospital with a load of drugs for him.
‘This was very much a leave-your-drugs-at-the-door hospital. We were out of our minds, all of us. He wasn’t well; that’s all we knew. We thought we should bring him some drugs, because he probably hadn’t had any for days!’
Bowie and Iggy would go on to tour together in 1977 (Picture: Getty Images) Metro's Rock RewindOur new series on the history of rock and roll will dig into the stories, myths, dramas, songs, people, and legendary events that have shaped the greatest music genre over the last 50 years.
From the inspirations behind songs everyone knows to the antics and little-known drama of iconic bands, Metro is excited to offer readers informative content that allows them to revisit the golden days of rock.
Iggy’s medical supervisors declined the rock star’s gift in the Dennis Hopper version of the story.
Given that Iggy Pop is the only still-living person of the four people possibly involved, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know the true story in full – unless the punk icon decides to someday tell his version of the tale.
But no matter what happened in 1975 in that psych ward, Iggy would go on to sing Bowie’s praises as a friend and collaborator.
Bowie produced both of Iggy’s acclaimed 1977 solo albums and later told The New York Times: ‘He resurrected me. The friendship was basically that this guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation — simple as that.’
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