When two icons cranked up the cringe for charity
SO how did David Bowie and Mick Jagger come to duet on a reworking of a Martha and the Vandellas Motown pop classic, more than 20 years after it was first released?
The collaboration came about at the request of Bob Geldof who wanted the two superstars to make a contribution to his Live Aid famine relief project.
Originally, Bowie and Jagger planned to create a piece of history by performing the song together in a televised transatlantic duet during the Live Aid marathon, with Bowie singing onstage at London’s Wembley Stadium and the Rolling Stones frontman performing at the same time at the American concert in JFK Stadium, Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, they soon realised that 1985 technology meant a half-second delay in the satellite link, making the plan impossible unless one of the performers agreed to mime.
Neither Bowie nor Jagger were willing to do that, so they settled for a charity single and video, with all proceeds going to Live Aid.
The project was completed in double-quick time. In June 1985 Bowie was recording songs for the ‘Absolute Beginners’ soundtrack at Westside Studios in London, so Jagger arranged to fly in to record ‘Dancing In The Street’ there.
Recording took just four hours, after which Bowie and Jagger headed straight to the London Docklands for the video.
They worked through the night and 13 hours after the start of recording both song and video were completed.
The sight of two hugely influencial artists trying to outdo each other in shape-throwing made the video a cringy caper, even by eighties standards. In 2014 Guardian readers voted it Worst Music Video of All Time.
However, the video did its job. Broadcast twice during the Live Aid concert, it helped raise a substantial sum towards famine relief and helped push the single to number one in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Canada and number seven in the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
‘Dancing In The Street’, co-written by Marvin Gaye, first found chart success with Martha and the Vandellas, reaching No. 2 in the US and No. 4 in the UK in 1964.
There have also been versions by the Mamas and the Papas, The Kinks, Grateful Dead and Van Halen, amongst others.