Would the real David Bowie please stand up
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
I first noticed the username @davidbowie being snapped up on Twitter at the beginning of the year, shortly followed by the one and only update so far. (I have the hashtag #bowie as one of my searches using Eventbox).
I automatically assumed it was another amusing fake celeb account, which is amusing for about 3 microseconds. I thought nothing more of it.
Between then and now a batch of commentators, blogs, magazines and even newspapers have informed us that Bowie is working on a new album in Berlin, written with a degree of certainty that appeared convincing. A classic example being “David Bowie is currently recording in Berlin, the place where he recorded three of his finest albums, The Quietus is excited to report.” The NME and Classic Rock magazines were all joining in with the claims.
However, as far as I can see, without exception all these stories and reports all stem from this single tweet on Jan 5th. Nothing else except the perpetuating rumour mill appears responsible. In fact, in a strange self-fulfilling prophecy, I am now half expecting Bowie to book a studio in Berlin.
If I had to guess at this stage who created the @davidbowie account, I would probably guess a slightly bewildered teenager, not knowing what to tweet next. Although I can’t deny a part of me wants to be made to look foolish when David himself tweets “albums nearly done. here’s a twitpic of me and Tony V” 