Fight Club—and this is not said lightly—is a modern American classic, a movie that came from a book that came from Chuck Palahniuk, who only succeeded because of David Bowie. Palahniuk recalled in Rolling Stone his start as a young journalist in Portland, living on a hidden street in a rundown apartment building, a block away from a concert venue that welcomed Bowie on his 1986 Serious Moonlight Tour. Before that night's concert, Palahniuk and his neighbors could hear Bowie onstage for his soundcheck, starting and stopping "Young Americans" over and over and over again. "All afternoon, my friends and I were in a music video, dancing on our perfect Hollywood backlot street, drinking beer, and enjoying a concert none of us could afford to attend," wrote Palahniuk. "The repetition of the song, the beer, and the sunshine were hypnotic."

A decade passed, and Palahniuk had a novel he desperately needed to sell.

He tracked a renowned publisher to a bar where he sat surrounded by enthusiastic novelists with the same plan. So Palahniuk took a roll of quarters and began to play Bowie's "Young Americans" over and over and over on the jukebox until the other novelists left, annoyed by its repetition. Then, alone with the publisher, Palahniuk pitched Fight Club. You know the rest.

Why "Young Americans?" "It was...a song I could listen to forever on a desert island," wrote Palahniuk. Now, it makes Fight Club one more beautiful way to remember David Bowie.

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Sarah Rense Sarah Rense is the Associate Lifestyle Editor at Esquire, where she covers tech, food, drink, home, and more.

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