David Bowie 1976
Thick Oversized T-Shirt

After a sold-out Station to Station tour stop at Rochester’s War Memorial Arena, Bowie wound up in the Monroe County jail in the small hours of 21 March 1976. Vice-squad detectives had raided his suite at the Americana Rochester Hotel and seized about 182 g (½ lb) of marijuana; Bowie, Iggy Pop, bodyguard Dwain Vaughns, and local fan Chiwah Soo were charged with fifth-degree criminal possession – a Class C felony that carried up to 15 years in prison.

Bowie coolly fronted the press the next morning in an immaculate three-piece suit, having posted $2,000 cash bail for each defendant. Four days later, on 25 March 1976, he returned for a ten-minute arraignment, pleaded not guilty, and posed for the now-legendary front-and-profile mugshots you see above (slate “59640 3 25 76”). A grand jury declined to indict, the charge was quietly reduced and then dropped, and Bowie—irked by the episode—never played Rochester again.

The photographs themselves vanished into a retired officer’s attic until 2007, when they surfaced at an estate sale and instantly became some of the most-collected celebrity mugshots in rock history—capturing the singer at the height of his razor-sharp “Thin White Duke” era, every bit as stylish in a police lineup as on stage.