“Put three or four dissociated ideas together and create awkward relationships with them — the unconscious intelligence that comes from those pairings is quite startling.” David Bowie
There’s a reason we’re still talking about David Bowie – not just as a musical genius, but as a creative thinker. One of his fascinating tools was the cut-up technique, a method borrowed from the avant-garde and adapted for songwriting, storytelling, and big ideas.
In this week’s Now Go Create podcast episode, we explored the power of random stimuli and how techniques like Bowie’s can revolutionise the way you generate ideas, especially if you’re short on time, confidence, or creative inspiration.
Why most brainstorms don’t work
Let’s face it: brainstorms often fall flat.
They’re either dominated by the loudest voice in the room, rely on generic thinking, or end up recycling the same safe ideas. They often start with “Okay, who’s got a great idea?” which is a surefire way to induce blank stares and panic.
For busy professionals working in PR, marketing, and communications, the pressure to “be creative” on demand can feel paralysing. And yet, creativity is often expected to appear in a 30-minute meeting with little preparation or structure.
Enter random stimuli: disruption with purpose
Random stimuli isn’t about chaos for chaos’s sake. It’s about shaking up your usual thinking patterns by introducing unrelated, unexpected inputs.
David Bowie used it by cutting up headlines, poems, and pages from books, feeding them into a software program, and remixing them to create new lyrics. His logic? The unexpected combinations forced new perspectives.
“I’ll take articles out of newspapers, poems I’ve written, pieces of other people’s books… and then hit the random button. It will randomise everything.” David Bowie, BBC interview (1997)
This technique, rooted in the Dada art movement and popularised by writer William Burroughs, taps into something fundamental: our brains are wired to find meaning in patterns even when they don’t make immediate sense.
What this means for business creativity
When adapted for modern creative work, the cut-up/random stimuli technique can be a secret weapon for:
- breaking creative blocks
- warming up a tired team
- jumpstarting a solo creative sprint
- challenging conventional thinking
It’s especially useful if:
- you don’t know how to run a “creative session”
- you’re working with mixed-ability or nervous teams
- you’ve got a “same old ideas” problem
- you want quick stimulation without high pressure
How to use the cut-up technique in a brainstorm
Here’s how you can bring this into a team setting or use it solo.
1. Prepare your raw material
Collect 3–5 different types of content: news articles, social posts, product reviews, poems, ads, etc. These should be totally unrelated to your challenge.
2. Cut it up
Snip phrases or single words from each piece. You want a minimum of 50 fragments in total. Physical paper works well, or use a digital tool to randomise the text.
3. Mix it up
Shuffle the pieces and pull 3–5 fragments at random.
4. Create awkward connections
Ask: “What idea, product, campaign or message could link these fragments together?” Encourage absurdity. The goal is association, not logic.
5. Refine
You’ll probably strike gold 1 in 10 times but that one time can unlock something truly original. Use the best outputs as springboards for real ideas.
Key takeaways from the podcast episode:
In this week’s show, I explore:
- why the illusion of randomness is often more valuable than endless structure
- examples of how top creatives (like Bowie) use disruption to surprise their own thinking
- the psychological benefit of freeing yourself from “the right answer”
- why AI can be an incredible tool to remix, randomise, and support creative thinking — when used intentionally
Bonus: try it yourself
Want to give the cut-up method a go? I’ve created a free downloadable worksheet to help you (or your team) try it out in under 15 minutes.
Download the creative jumpstart worksheet – Bowie edition
Creativity isn’t about pulling rabbits out of hats. It’s about creating the conditions for new connections to form and sometimes, that means letting go of control and inviting a bit of randomness in.
So next time you’re stuck, don’t start with “what’s the big idea?” Start with “what don’t we expect?”
Listen to the 13 minute podcast episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/now-go-create/id1786353481?i=1000705488491
Or watch this short video on how to use visuals, another way to use random stimulus.