How David Bowie Did His Part to End The Cold War

I never knew this.

David Bowie, who died on Monday, lived in Berlin in the 1970s and was particularly moved by the wall:

The Wall moved Bowie and changed him. On his three-gear Raleigh, he cycled alongside it, as can today’s visitors (thankfully no longer surrounded by a quarter of a million Soviet troops).

At the flashpoint of the world, where a single shot could have escalated into nuclear war, Bowie found a place of calm and learnt to write about important things. He evolved a more coherent vision for himself and a new age. He captured and defined its quintessence, speaking for, even embodying, a confused generation that had lost hope in ideals and dreams.

Later, he had the opportunity to perform in front of the Wall for both West and East Germans. Though the East Berliners were not allowed to get too close, they stood at a safe distance and listened. Here’s a part of an interview with Bowie in which he describes this moment:

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