Look, as much as I like being right on the Internet, I really do not have the heart to argue about this. If you want to believe that I’m some backwater hick and that David Bowie’s music will be revered by hip young people forever then go ahead.
I agree with you and your observations. Nobody’s disputing his talent, but arguing that he’s some kind of cultural titan for the ages is really stretching it. It’s like saying that Devo or the Eurythmics are huge historical figures.
I’m believing that you are citing your town as an example of something but don’t want to say why.
Sure. But arguing that he’s not is also stretching it.
It is stretching it to place unrelated acts in the same rhetorical basket like it’s understood.
I was responding to the OP with my personal observations. I am sorry if what I have to say upsets you, but I do not have a hidden agenda and I do not appreciate your insinuations here.
Lamia - thanks for the information - how about if we leave it at that? 
Obviously, time will tell ;). I asked my HS kids about Bowie and the “guy from the Eagles” and they said Bowie got a lot of discussion and was mentioned in the morning school brief. He didn’t know who I was talking about with regards to the Eagles. So it goes.
As drad dog says, Annie Lennox is a direct descendent of Bowie, and also had a shorter run of big hits - she throttled back on her career 10-15 years ago, it feels like.
I can just see some Met or Victoria and Albert exhibition on Bowie in 100 years that gets huge attendance and which further canonizes his persona.
ETA: I know there was already the museum exhibition in the UK that was a huge hit. I am saying that with the passage of time, such an event would still be a big draw. I can just see folks walking around his various costumes/outfits, while his music is playing and his outsider cultural influence is discussed.
I would have been happy to leave it at that several posts back. I would be even happier if your buddy drad dog would stop demanding that I tell the Internet where I work. Perhaps you could ask him to knock it off.
To echo Lamia, in rural east Texas, Bowie has made a blip. He’s shown up a little more on local classic rock stations and has had a few conversations devoted to him by folks a bit older than I am at 47, but beyond that, nada. But now everyone has gone apeshit over Glenn Frey because, “Oh my God! The first Eagle has died and that was the soundtrack to my life. 
I loooooooove the Eagles, man!” So, although I think we tend to a backwater around here, I agree that the long lasting impact of Bowie might not be as reaching as we’d like. I’m afraid that with time, he’ll be only a slightly larger interesting footnote in history and only the megawatt game-changers will soak up all the glory and historical press. Outside of bigger musical fans, that is.
You may be right. On the other hand, how many new Eagles fans are there, who have become fans by going back and discovering their back catalog decades later? My HO (WAG?) is that that’s more likely to happen with Bowie, which would help him outlast just those people who were “there at the time.”
Bowie’s rep is in part based on his excellent musical and songwriting talents, in part based on his persona and performance, and in part based on his unique positioning in a moment in time - a pioneer for gender and sexual orientation issues just at the right social moment.
The problem as I see it for his future popularity is that only one of those three reasons will be significant for future listeners (as opposed to cultural historians) - namely, his musical and songwriting talents.
Solid as those are, they are only a part of what made Bowie a cultural item; and it may not be enough to ensure lasting recognition outside his existing fan base.
It’s going to largely depend on whether the people who make music in the future listen to Bowie, cite him as an influence, and/or cover his songs.
Who that’s going to happen to is hard to predict. If you’d talked about Robert Johnson before 1961, you’d have to explain who you’re talking about to just about everyone, even guitarists. After Columbia released his records, and the next generation of blues players rediscovered him, he became an icon. I’m not going to predict who is going to have Johnson’s longevity, but you get many helpings of talent and mystique to work with from Bowie. I’d say he’s got a good chance of durable influence and fame.
I do agree with this wholeheartedly. Although I’m the exception, in that I grew up (beyond grade school years) listening to exclusively Christian rock. It was only belatedly that I came to love the Eagles (saw their Hell Freezes Over comeback tour) and I’ve pretty much entirely missed out on Bowie. Very sad, but there it is. However, I do believe he’d be mentioned in history books much more than they will, and anyone seriously looking for good or experimental (or cool / hip) music would certainly rather seek Bowie out rather than the Eagles.
I agree with the above…
Lamia: If you’re there I was only asking where you were from because you stated it was relevant. After that then I observed that you didn’t want to say, implying that it would have added to the information on this thread. End of subject.
Where I am, which I was comfortable in saying, it was wall to wall Bowie and in NY it was too, among noncommercial outlets and news sites anyway.
There is also the concert planned with Jagger and McCartney and on from there.
There were articles listing the types of music Bowie did not influence. A couple in there…
Now there are some articles defending Glenn Frey against the backlash of dying the week after Bowie.
I don’t know if he will last. A lot of his music I thought was made by a guy who was already a star and could do whatever he wanted. A lot of times that doesn’t work for me.
But I have an innate belief in the era of that music, and that he is up there along with peers like Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Townshend etc. Asking how many people from 1916, or 1816 we know about is not any yardstick for so many unforeseeable reasons.
We do remember people who advanced what music was and songs don’t stop existing. We remember a lot of great composers from the early 20th century. We remember innovations in music as far as our powers of journalism and writing have let us. I don’t think that will stop.
There’s an article at FiveThirtyEight that talks about Bowie’s permeation of pop culture while he was alive. From that article, it kind of seems he is already used enough by artists in other mediums that his influence will be felt indirectly whether his direct legacy survives or not.
That made me laugh.
He’ll be turning in his grave.
Won’t people say basically the exact same things about Morrissey or the guy from the Pet Shop Boys, when they pass away? I don’t see how they’re all that different.
On a timeline, it’s the difference between 1968-ish and 1981, politically, socially, culturally, creatively, and about 20 other ‘lly’s’.
If you don’t understand the qualitative differences i an artistic then that’s cool.
Morrissey, much as I detest him, has been enormously influential and successful for decades (at least in the UK), and if he died suddenly would certainly get a lot of coverage. Pet Shop Boys rather less so.
A few people might. The overwhelmingly vast majority won’t.
Much as I like Morrissey, he’s nowhere near Bowie in terms of sales, influence and global fame over five decades. Nowhere.
And the Pet Shop Boys, really? You mean that band that had a few hits between the mid-80s and the early 90s? Yeah, they were OK and had a some good songs. What was the question again?
Well, everyone on earth might know Bowie’s look and image… but the music? As I said, maybe 5 very well known songs (and nothing since 1985 or so) and nothing that groundbreaking all by itself. It can be pretty good music, but it fits very comfortably into the type of ironic intellectual British art-rock that lots of groups such as those were doing.
I’m not a follower of either artist but someone brought up the chart listings earlier, and one could argue that the Pet Shop Boys made as much of a musical impact in the same genre, and over a shorter time span.
Bolding added - could you elaborate on detesting him? I’m not a follower either but I’m intrigued because this is the first time I’ve ever heard someone talk about him with anything less than reverence. 