The First Time I Heard David Bowie is Part III in an ongoing series where musicians and writers tell their stories of first hearing the music of an iconic artist or band. In this third volume, forty different musicians and writers remember their initial experiences hearing the influential, controversial, and unforgettable David Bowie.

Contributors to the David Bowie edition include musicians such as Vanessa Briscoe Hay (Pylon); Craig Gannon (live guitarist for The Smiths, Aztec Camera, and other bands); Annette Peacock; Nathan Larson (film composer and guitarist for Shudder To Think); Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance); Danny Benair (The Three O'Clock, The Quick); David Balfe (The Teardrop Explodes and producer/manager for bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and Blur); Robert Holmes ('til tuesday); Carl Marsh (Shriekback); Rob Preuss (Spoons); Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman, Antony & the Johnsons band); Philip King (Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain); Jon Attwood (Yellow6); Michelle Leon (Babes In Toyland); Ben Mullins (Midwest Product); Steven Burrows (And Also the Trees); Emil Amos (Holy Sons, Grails); Jem Tayle (Shelleyan Orphan); Anomie Belle; Nyles Lannon (Film School); Mark Albrow (Hula); Anna Fox Rochinski (Quilt); Mark Van Hoen (Seefeel, Scala); Kenneth Bernard (Ra Ra Riot); Julian Tardo (Insides); Pal Shazar (Slow Children); Robin Saville (Isan); Erik Jeffries (A Shoreline Dream); Carlo Van Putten (White Rose Transmission, The Convent); Frank Navin (Aluminum Group); Adam Forkner (Yume Bitsu, White Rainbow); David Woodward (Clearlake); and writers like Dave King; Connie Deanovich; Matt Dean; Deborah Pintonelli; Laurie Foos; Mitch Cullin; Dena Rash Guzman; and Ben Neihart.

The "First Time I Heard" book series is edited by Scott Heim, a novelist (Mysterious Skin, In Awe, We Disappear) who is also a longtime music fan. Other installments in the series (or those forthcoming soon) include books on Joy Division / New Order, The Smiths, Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins, R.E.M., Kraftwerk, My Bloody Valentine, Abba, Roxy Music, The Pixies, and others.