There is a famous David Bowie interview with Jeremy Paxman from 1999 where the Starman waxes lyrical about the possibilities of the internet to a sceptical Paxman. But Bowie is adamant. “The idea of a duality in the way that we live—there were always two, three, four, five sides to every question,” he theorises. “That the singularity disappeared and that I believe has produced such a medium as the internet, which absolutely establishes and shows us that we are living in total fragmentation.”
But really, what Bowie could’ve added at the end is, “And also the internet will give me the opportunity to monumentally troll my own fans on what will come to be known as ‘messageboards’.” Because if you believe a famous viral Bowie-related post on the internet, that’s exactly Bowie was getting up to at the dawn of the millennium. It’s certainly true that Bowie used to post on his own official forum BowieNet, telling fans about what new records and bands he loved (Arcade Fire, Secret Machines, Battles) or to dispel any ridiculous rumours about himself.
