Goldie
Photo: Alkivar / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0 (editorial use)
Goldie (born Clifford Joseph Price, 19 September 1965) is a British producer, musician, and DJ, widely recognised as one of the architects of drum & bass and jungle music.
For David Bowie, Goldie embodied the raw, forward-moving energy of 1990s UK electronic culture — a scene Bowie actively engaged with during one of the most experimental phases of his career.
- Name: Goldie (Clifford Joseph Price)
- Born: 19 September 1965 (Wolverhampton, England)
- Died: Unknown
- Role: Producer, musician, DJ
- Bowie link: Creative overlap during the Outside / Earthling era
- Core idea: Rhythm as structure, electronic futurism
Bowie and the drum & bass moment
In the mid-1990s, David Bowie deliberately stepped into contemporary electronic music, drawn to its intensity, fragmentation, and sense of danger. Drum & bass, in particular, offered a rhythmic language unlike anything in mainstream rock.
Goldie stood at the centre of this movement, redefining rhythm as something architectural, emotional, and confrontational — qualities Bowie found artistically vital.
Creative overlap: Outside and Earthling
Bowie’s albums Outside (1995) and Earthling (1997) reflect this immersion in electronic extremity. While Bowie remained the author of his own sound, Goldie’s presence within his orbit helped shape the rhythmic and textural climate of the period.
The result was not genre imitation, but collision: narrative songwriting fused with fractured beats, digital aggression, and urban urgency.
Mutual respect across generations
Goldie has often spoken about Bowie’s openness and curiosity, noting his willingness to engage seriously with younger artists rather than treating new scenes as passing trends.
Bowie, in turn, respected Goldie’s uncompromising approach — a refusal to soften or commercialise a radical musical language.
Goldie as a cultural bridge
Goldie functioned as a bridge between underground UK electronic culture and Bowie’s global artistic platform. His proximity to Bowie signalled that Bowie was still listening, still learning, and still prepared to reposition himself.
This interaction reinforced a defining Bowie trait: progress through engagement, not nostalgia.
Goldie in Bowie’s creative universe
Goldie occupies a distinct place in Bowie’s creative universe — not as a traditional collaborator, but as a conduit to a new rhythmic future.
Their connection underscores Bowie’s lifelong refusal to stand still, even at a stage when reinvention was no longer expected of him.