Modern Day Equivalent of David Bowie...?

This is totally random, but today I was thinking about Bowie, who is one of my musical idols in almost every way possible... And I asked myself whether there exists a modern day equivalent of Bowie in terms of ability to fuse uniqueness and expansive musicality with pop / dance sensibility, all while maintaining a massive commercial following AND an underground cult following, while still being able to re-invent oneself with almost every project, genre hopping/fusing, and not just keeping up on trends and pop culture phenomena, but staying on the bleeding edge of it and actually influencing new movements well into one's middle age and beyond.. Who fucking else but Bowie?

Sorry for the ABSURD run-on lol...

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to not only praise / celebrate bowie and his influence/importance, but to see if anyone truly can think of any artists / producers / musicians in mind from the last 10 years that stands anywhere even close to his influence...?

And you're banned for life if you say Kanye. :D

Edit: also, i know that the industry and art/culture has massively changed since bowies last influential decade (90s), but all that aside , id find it hard to believe that no one still might come close in our current music industry conditions.

kanye

  On 5/19/2015 at 9:12 AM, Ivan Ooze said:

kanye

Lol

how long you ball? all david, bowie

Dont get me wrong, i think kanye's brilliant in many ways, and a great executive producer and solid rapper, but i think many of his ideas and art are more reflective of his highly skilled and talented teams/collaborators comprised of great artists. To me, hes more of a tastemaker/purveyor of ideas, sounds, and imagery than a musical artist. That's still important and impressive, but if Kanye was sitting with me in a room and 2 guitars, correct me if im wrong, but i dont know that hed be shitting out chord progressions, and intricate melodic hooks.

skrillex

http://www.last.fm/music/David+Bowie/+similar

If you actually have to ask, there probably isn't one.

Trent Reznor

  On 5/19/2015 at 11:58 AM, Haste said:

If you actually have to ask, there probably isn't one.

  On 5/19/2015 at 1:13 PM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

 

  On 5/19/2015 at 11:58 AM, Haste said:

 

If you actually have to ask, there probably isn't one.

wise words

 

bowie's such a cool fucking dude though, it'd be hard to compare. plus he was able to enjoy being big over several time periods that we will never go through again (for starters...the 70's)

 

in time i'm sure someone will be able to hold a candle though

100% agreed sirs... Lol i think my question was a little bit more of a statement. Growing up in the 90s having been introduced to him through my mom, and then developing an unhealthy obsession w his music & albums through high school,

i think by the time i graduated (2002), and went off to college, i had already convinced myself by 1999 in that turn of the century that magic can happen and there could very well be another musical chamelion / influencer / art pop legend like bowie. Hell, manson was at his peak, techno/raves were booming, post grunge had ballooned into alternative, and hip hop superstars were starting to become bigger than life itself... All while the mp3/the cdr/ipod / ecstacy (though i never did E) had us high schoolers higher than hunter thompson. Without having to explain, idealism was real...

Through out all of this, i carried the notion that another David Bowie would hath risen at some point, and hell who knows, it could be me... Or you. Through out high school, and well into college. It started to dawn on me post 2005 that the conditions of the industry and the internet era had already started to stunt the kind of breeding grounds for true sustainable "legacy" and larger than life potential of a new artist, and what a "new artist" even meant in the 2000's and beyond. The trade off, though, was that more artists could get by with working class careers and there were milliions more artists to discover. Definitely worth the trade in many regards. Plus who needed that cocaine sleazeball arena rock anymore? It was a new era.

But the influence/ importance/mystique/etc of bowie and ppl like johnny rotten/sid vicious/iggy pop/madonna/frank sinatra/marilyn manson/hell, aphex twin still fueled and continues to fuel my (and i imagine many other's) many aspects of my musical aspirations. Of course, im not delusional enough to think that if i even had the .000001% chance to have a hit single, that id even be able to invest in a commercial music career as an artist, which seems more like even a pipe dream even for trust fund kids whose parents are major label reps. It's that rare in 2k15. But im not complaining here, im 100% appreciative and enthralled with this condition of the industry that allows unsigned indie artists the very real potential to create their own careers. Thats an amazing opportunity, even if it's for McDonalds wages..

...Sometimes it's just a a tad bit sad though that The Thin White Duke wouldnt make any sense in 2015. :]

  On 5/19/2015 at 1:57 PM, oscillik said:

Trent Reznor

Thats hilarious, you stole my thoughts! I was going to mention, that yes Trent is the closest i can think of. Of course his career started in the late 80s, but hes still relevant post-2000. Trent has always been one of the only hopes i have that you can still find some edginess & darkness & realness in some mainstream music.

A big part of this question for me is less about the larger-than-life aspect, but rather, "can a new artist in 2015 experiment and flirt with multiple genres and styles of music over time, and constantly re-invent him /herself, while still maintaining a career?" or is that too risky in an age where no labels in their right mind would fund such a bold move? I guess if you have a cult following, fanbases will support your growth, but cult followings seem to become more rare over time too...

Squarepusher

^actually youre right he does re-invent himself all the time... Squarepusher, Aphex, and Bjork & NIN are probably the closest to that aspect even though they started in the late 80s/90s. Still some great inspiration. Bjork is the definition of re-invention & art pop: (:

either Justin Bieber or Flashbulb

Yeah bieber is definitely larger than life and has a big enough following on a michael jackson type scale to be able to re-invent himself , but there have always been straightforward mega pop stars, and i dont think thats going away any time soon... Bieber, though, seems to lack the identity/uniqueness/creative aspect that someone like Bowie or Madonna or Michael Jackson had, though he is still young and transitioning out of the disney phase so who knows what kind of arenas/influences he'll venture into as he matures.

I guess Lady Gaga is somewhat filling the Bowie role on a mega pop star level in terms of artistic expression and re-invention. Maybe thats as close as we'll get in the 2000's / 2010's haha

Another one (although he came out of the 90s, so he had that benefit of establishing his career/legacy in a time when it was more welcomed to be leftfield in commercial music), is Beck.

I don't think anyone has as much fun being a popstar and has a love of music as David Bowie. His and Eno's thirst to share and be influenced by other people's music is upfront and celebratory. It's great.

https://youtu.be/gAAJ4tTs91Q

  On 5/19/2015 at 4:51 PM, paranerd said:

I don't think anyone has as much fun being a popstar and has a love of music as David Bowie. His and Eno's thirst to share and be influenced by other people's music is upfront and celebratory. It's great.

 

https://youtu.be/gAAJ4tTs91Q

Fucking amen, mate!

i think adam lambert is the closest thing- not so much musically, but stylistically. there is another guy who i forget his name, but his writing style is very similar to bowie, but style isn't. if that guy wrote for lambert, you'd get be as close to bowie as possible with cloning him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyY7GRgefNI

Closest I can think of in the sense of IDM-savvy pop star is Björk, but then again I don't know a whole lot about her.

Marilyn Manson or Panda Bear.

Uhm...Björk?

Oh right, too late.

I'm probably going to get shit on for this, but here goes: Thom Yorke, he's basically just doing the same song over and over though.

Oh lol, Damon Albarn.

No, no, no, I got it this time:

Kanye West, mofos!

Fuuuuu... it's Lady GaGa innit

Die Antwoord

  On 5/19/2015 at 6:02 PM, Nebraska said:

i think adam lambert is the closest thing- not so much musically, but stylistically. there is another guy who i forget his name, but his writing style is very similar to bowie, but style isn't. if that guy wrote for lambert, you'd get be as close to bowie as possible with cloning him

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyY7GRgefNI

lol?

lol