/r/DavidBowie

5,068 Men Who Sold The World in 5 years!

2016 hasn't exactly been a peachy year. It's been a year of exceptional political conflict and strife, and if you're a fan of DC comics and their movies, disappointment. And we're barely half way through!

But the thing that hits closest to home to many will have to be the loss of so many talented individuals in those past few months; people perceived as legends and icons of their respective trades, people who up and coming artists look up to and aspire to be just like them.

The most tragic loss, in my opinion, is of music's very own chameleon, David Bowie. A shape shifting artists who adopted many different personas and styles over the year, from an alien super hero rockstar to a psychotic romantic fond of fascism. He even dabbled in acting; not with shoehorned roles but genuinely challenging performances that needed a one of a kind man for a one of a kind job.

Bowie felt larger than life; a constant presence in many people's lives evolving with the times, and with them, as they grow up. Alas, death comes to us all. But that hasn't stopped many from commemorating his long and illustrious career, case in point being /r/DavidBowie.

If you happen to Turn and Face the Strange within, you'll find many individuals from all walks of life sharing their favorite albums, songs, exchanging fond memories of that one time they saw the Starman live or of the cool picture they took with him. /r/DavidBowie encourages thoughtful discussion and is welcoming to all musical preferences. Despite going through many ch-ch-changes over the years since its foundation it maintains steady quality and remains in its Golden Years.

My first interaction with the community was through a discussion about the album Low. For the uninitiated, it's one of his most critically acclaimed works and one of the most influential albums he's ever made. And I just kind of didn't like it. I felt it lacked polish and very little of it actually jived with me, so I made the post with a heavy heart expecting backlash. What I got was the complete opposite.

Despite a towering discography, r/DavidBowie is an easy sub to socialize in.

Speaking of which, time for a talk with one of the sub's very own Heroes.

Q1: Tell us a bit about yourself, and your earliest Bowie related memory?

ornitholoqy101: Well, I'm a 16 year old boy from the U S of A. I spend my time playing guitar and mandolin. When I was like 11 or 12 there was a homeless guy playing space oddity from a handheld radio, and I liked the song a lot so I looked it up and that was that.

Q2: What particular element, in your opinion, defined Bowie as an artist?

ornithology101: Definitely his ability to change genres on the fly, just listen to Space Oddity, then Young Americans, then Blackstar. If you didn't know any better you'd say they were all different artists.

Q3: What's the best thing about the Bowie community on Reddit?

ornithology101: Probably how many different places from the Internet, which gets a variety of awesome content onto the sub.

Q4: David was known for for being an artistic chameleon being capable of shifting from style to style and character to character, did the sub change and shift with the release of new albums?

ornithology101: Well I've only been around for about a year, but when Blackstar came out everyone got super depressed and we got tons of new subscribers and a crazy amount of page views. That was pretty crazy to witness.

Q5: Approx. 7 months ago the world lost an amazing artist. How did that effect you personally, and how did it effect the sub?

ornithology101: I was crushed, I remember I woke up in the middle of the night with a nosebleed and i checked my phone and I saw a text from a friend saying something like "Bowie died? Sorry dude that sucks" cause I'm kind of known as Bowie freak among my friends, haha. As I mentioned before the sub got a ton more activity, like almost 2,000 more IIRC.

Q6: This interview wouldn't be complete without asking you the hardest question of them all, what's your Bowie song?

ornithology101: Aw geez that's a hard one. I've got to say Cygnet Committee, probably his most under appreciated epic, 9 minutes of awesome lyrics and instrumental.

Q7: One last question: What would you say to people looking to get into David Bowie's discography?

ornithology101: I would say start with Ziggy Stardust and go from there, there's pretty much an album for every genre but Ziggy is the classic.

Bowie, if you're reading this from outer space, you'll always be our Blackstar.