The Internet, with its infinite number of cat videos and 24/7 news cycle, is the wild child of the modern world. Yet, David Bowie, the British king of reinvention, saw this digital revolution coming long before we were busy debating the merits of dial-up versus DSL. His 1999 BBC interview with Jeremy Paxman wasn’t just prophetic; it was an electric slide guitar solo reverberating through time.
With the wisdom of someone who had traded tights for tailored suits and back again, David Bowie mused, “The potential of what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is UNIMAGINABLE!” It was like the man who sold the world a vision of the future, only this time the commodity wasn’t a rock n roll song, but rather, the internet itself.
Two decades later, we are all living in Bowie’s digital world. “I don’t think we have even seen the tip of the iceberg!” He warned and man, was he right! Remember those heady days of Napster and LimeWire? Turns out, illegally downloading Britney Spears mp3s was, indeed, just the tip of a very disruptive iceberg!
Bowie transcended seeing the Internet as just wires and code. It was an “alien life form” – a fittingly weird and wonderful description. Jeremy Paxman, the voice of traditional media scepticism, scoffed. But Bowie, ever the cosmic chameleon, knew the Internet would turn the music industry, and indeed the world, inside out.
“The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years,” he declared, and well, was he wrong? It took about half that time! It’s like he channelled his inner Ziggy Stardust, seeing the rise and fall of empires within the blink of a digital eye.
Bowie’s brilliance shines brightest in his concept of the “grey space in the middle.” This is our 21st-century reality, a world of Instagram influencers, targeted advertising so eerily accurate it’s like they are reading our minds and listening to our secret conversations (they probably are!), and brands desperately trying to meme their way into our hearts. Bowie would have been fascinated…and probably a bit weirded out too.
Smart marketers understand that navigating this grey space is paramount. It’s about authenticity in an era of Snapchat filters and carefully curated lives on Instagram. Think of the meteoric rise of Wendy’s on social media – their sassy, irreverent voice is a Bowie-esque twist on the traditional corporate tone. On the flip side, remember the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad debacle? Bowie would have seen that tone-deaf disaster coming from a mile away.
In the end, Bowie’s interview is a reminder that even the most revolutionary technologies are shaped by human hands and imaginations. It’s a call to action for all of us, entrepreneurs, marketers and mere mortals alike, to use the Internet to create, connect, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. After all, as Bowie once sang, “We can be heroes, just for one day.“
This is a sample from Clickonomics: A Curious Marketer Explores the Hidden Side of the Internet.