TVC 15

"TVC 15"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Station to Station
B-side	"We Are the Dead"
Released	30 April 1976 (1976-04-30)
Format	7"
Recorded	September – November 1975 at Cherokee Studios and Record Plant Studios (Los Angeles, California)
Genre	Art rock[1]
Length	5:33 (album version) 3:43 (single version)
Label	RCA Records
Songwriter(s)	David Bowie
Producer(s)	David Bowie Harry Maslin
David Bowie singles chronology
"Station to Station" (1976) "TVC 15" (1976) "Stay" (1976)
"Station to Station " (1976) "TVC 15" (1976) "Stay" (1976)

"TVC 15" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie in 1975 and released in 1976.

The track was inspired by an episode in which Iggy Pop, during a drug-fueled period at Bowie’s LA home, hallucinated and believed the television set was swallowing his girlfriend. Bowie developed a story of a holographic television, TVC 15. In the song, the narrator's girlfriend crawls into the television and afterwards, the narrator desires to crawl in himself to find her.

It was chosen as the second single from Station to Station in the UK, where it reached No. 33. In the USA, it peaked at No.64 on Billboard singles chart. The song was also a top 20 hit in Sweden.

The B-side, "We Are the Dead", originally part of Bowie’s attempt to adapt Nineteen Eighty-Four, had previously been released on the Diamond Dogs album.

Track listing

1. "TVC 15" (Bowie) – 3:43
2. "We Are the Dead" (Bowie) – 4:58

Production credits

• Producers:
  • Harry Maslin on "TVC 15"
  • David Bowie
• Musicians:
  • David Bowie: Lead Vocals, Guitar on "We Are The Dead", Saxophone
  • Warren Peace: Percussion, Backing Vocals
  • Carlos Alomar, Earl Slick: Guitar on "TVC 15"
  • George Murray: Bass on "TVC 15"
  • Dennis Davis: Drums on "TVC 15"
  • Roy Bittan: Piano on "TVC 15"
  • Herbie Flowers: Bass on "We Are the Dead"
  • Mike Garson: Piano, Synthesizers on "We Are the Dead"
  • Aynsley Dunbar: Drums on "We Are the Dead"

Live versions

• A live performance recorded on 23 March 1976 was included on Live Nassau Coliseum '76, which was released as part of the 2010 reissues of the Station to Station album, on the 2016 collection Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), and as a stand–alone album in 2017.
• Performances from the 1978 "Heroes" tour have been released on Stage (1978) and Welcome to the Blackout (2018).
• On 14 December 1979 Bowie performed the song as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, accompanied by Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias.
• Bowie performed the song during the Live Aid concerts on July 13, 1985. The tempo was considerably faster and more upbeat.

Other releases

• It appeared on several compilations:
  • The Best of Bowie (1980) (single edit)
  • Fame and Fashion (1984) (album version)
  • Sound + Vision box set (1989) (album version)
  • Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
  • The Singles Collection (1993)
  • The Best of 1974/1979 (1998) (single edit)
  • Best of Bowie (2002)
• The single edit of the song also appeared on the Christiane F. soundtrack (1981). It is also included on Re:Call 2, part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) compilation (2016).
• It was released as a picture disc in the RCA Life Time disc set.

Charts

Cover versions

• Comateens – Comateens
• The Wannadies - Only Bowie (1995)
• Anomy - TVC-15 / Lone Wolf (1981)

References

Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5

External links