Who The Hell Is David Bowie?

On January 10 of 2016, the music world took a tragic hit as the report of David Bowie death hit the stands. It was soon revealed that he had lost his battle to liver cancer, a battle he held in secret from the public which is extremely hard to do in this day and age of modern technology. To me, it appears he played the fame game with much class and dignity as one can hope to achieve for his time period.
So with that said and done after hearing about his death from a friend, apparently I crossed an unmarked line when I asked, "Who the hell is David Bowie anyway?"

"............................."

Chaos. That is the only way I can describe the reaction from this apparently offensive remark.
"Seriously, David Bowie! How the Hell, DO YOU NOT know who David Bowie is?!? He was a game changer to the rock business, he challenged stereotypes, he is an inspiration to all!"
After a brief intro to the life that is Mr. Bowie's and an apology for my ignorance of all that is awesome according to said friend, I tried to go to someone a little less bias to get an opinion by going to someone who was actually alive when he was at his peak. My mother. Personally, I don't even know why I tried because I already took a guess at her answer. You see, as a 21-year-old, the furthest I usually go back for music is the 1990s thanks to my siblings influence in my musical taste, if I go any further it is because my mother or a friend introduces it to me. So, as expected, my mother's reaction was literally "Who the heck is this David Bowman?" Kinda easy to tell who raised me, right?
My efforts were not all in vain, for I did get another opinion. While I was talking to her, I thought I was just hearing a weird echo of his music I had turned on to try to form my own opinion of him, turns out my father was playing the same song as he mourned the loss of this man. Clearly, he was just, if not more, biased as my friend but since he was alive at that time I thought just asking him was enough. Upon so, I also appeared to have startled him. Well, my mother and I. He gave us both lists of what songs we should listen to. He was also confused for a second why my mother never heard of him till he remembered the fact that my father's music choice was unusual for his location at the time of Bowie's peak. My parents being from Guatemala, David was on the radio from time to time, but he wasn't my mother's choice in music taste. She preferred her singers to be singing the same language as her native tongue while my father liked foreign rock music, something I would pick up from him when I got older.

After listening to the list, I came to a conclusion that at first most people take as a little offensive, but if anything but that. I listened as long as I could to Bowie before I made my decision.

I hated it.

 Before you toss a frying pan at me and spam this with angry comments let me just say why. The thing is no matter what song it is, I couldn't get the image of my father or some guy around his age either listening to this at an older bar or this being on a karaoke playlist. Not only that but just the lyrics themselves bothered me they seem rather cheesy and just seemed to lack effort. Like making words up as he went along. But then I took a second to analyze the situation and wonder "who the hell is this guy?"  That is when the hammer hit the nail. The reason why I disliked him so much is because  his music is now considered a classic, and I rarely listen to classics, the closest being  from Spice Girls since that is my high school's theme song and even that isn't far back at all. He has multiple awards, some I hadn't even heard of beforehand. Hell, if I was as famous, I wouldn't care what I said either. But being a classic would definitely explain the bar scene, like who wouldn't want to listen to something they enjoyed while drinking a beer. Growing up without Bowie was not much of a loss  but rather as a gain because I would have never been able to appreciate him had I been any younger upon discovering him. In the end, what I did have to acknowledge is that he definitely broke many stereotypes and he definitely made a unique mark in this world. David Bowie is truly a unique star that will be missed from earth, space and definitely mars.

S.Oliva