David Bowie - Memo For Radio Show

DAVID BOWIE - MEMO FOR RADIO SHOW 04.01.26 (320kbs-m4a/138mb/60mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 4th January 2026

Among the 90,000 items in the David Bowie Centre which opened recently at V&A East Storehouse in London, curators unearthed a handwritten note titled "Memo for radio show — list of favourite records."

On it, Bowie sketched out 15 tracks he imagined playing on a potential radio broadcast. Some of these are names long known as Bowie influences including The Beatles, Ronnie Spector, Roxy Music, Scott Walker, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, an eccentric '60s performer who was a huge influence on the creation of Ziggy Stardust. Bowie's love of jazz is also represented in the memo by Miles Davis and Charles Mingus as well as classical pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Strauss.

This one hour show brings Bowie's memo to life. Each of the 15 tracks is played, interspersed with archive recordings of Bowie's voice, interviews, and reflections that have been recorded for the BBC across the years. The programme imagines Bowie himself as host, guiding listeners through the music that inspired him.

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme by Thomas Tallis [Warner Classics]
Mikko Franck & Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France & Asmik Grigorian - Four Last Songs, TrV 296: I. Frühling [Alpha Classics]
Mikko Franck & Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France & Asmik Grigorian - Four Last Songs, TrV 296: II. September [Alpha Classics]
Mikko Franck & Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France & Asmik Grigorian - Four Last Songs, TrV 296: III. Beim Schlafengehen [Alpha Classics]
Mikko Franck & Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France & Asmik Grigorian - Four Last Songs, TrV 296: IV. Im Abendrot [Alpha Classics]
Alan Freed And His Rock 'N' Roll Band - Right Now, Right Now [Geffen]
Little Richard - True Fine Mama [Rock 'n' Roll Classics]
The Hollywood Argyles - Sho' Know A Lot About Love [Master Classics]
Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come [Magic Gold]
Charles Mingus - Ecclusiastics [Top Tracks]
Jeff Beck - Beck's Bolero [Parlophone UK]
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship [Mercury]
The Beatles - Across The Universe [UME - Global Clearing House]
Ronnie Spector - Try Some, Buy Some (Remastered) [Legacy Recordings]
Roxy Music - Mother Of Pearl [EG]
Edgar Froese - Epsilon In Malaysian Pale [UME - Global Clearing House]
The Walker Brothers - The Electrician [Sony Music UK]
Sonic Youth - Tom Violence [Universal]