The Best Bowie Fansite (David Bowie in General)

Member Name: MorganaDQ

Product:	David Bowie in General
Date:	16/02/01 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to navigate, informative, fun

Disadvantages: none i could find

www.teenagewildlife.com

This is an excellent fan website dedicated to the work of David Bowie. It has to be the most informative fansite I've seen to date, and is updated daily. It's obviously a popular choice for any true fan of the man himself, as on my last visit more than three million people had visited, and I'm not in the least bit surprised.

The front page can look quite intimidating at first, but give yourself a moment to take it all in and you'll find it's actually quite easy to navigate.

So what does it offer that a lot of other sites don't? Well, the first thing I noticed on the front page was that you can get a free email address (______@teenagewildlife.com), admittedly the first fansite I've seen to do this (though I'm sure someone will correct me if they've found any others).

You can become a member too, and the registration page is very easy to understand, with extra information given for anyone who's not sure what to input into the fields.

The next page gives an extra optional survey which becomes your Fan Registry Page. It gives you that little extra chance to supply more info for other fans or just the owners of the site. The purpose of it is to give the owners more information about the people who sign up and visit the site regularly, giving you the option to recieve mailings from them. Don't worry if you don't want these details known to anyone else, as you also have the option to keep it hidden from anyone but the owners. Filling in this survey will also enter you into a draw to recieve a free CD, and then once a month after that.

So how does becoming a member make your visit more interesting? Well, there's a chat room available, a message board and you can enter competetions that wouldn't be possible otherwise. You can also view other peoples pages in the fan registry should you want to find someone with, for example, the same
birthday as you. Only half the people registered seem to have profiles available to view, but there's still over 4000 visible from all over the world.

Now, what if you're not a member? Don't worry, there's still plenty of things to browse through. My first ever visit to this site lasted over three hours, so you can imagine just how detailed it is.

The menu at the left of the screen has a number of catagories, including music, interact, information, the store, other media, search and about. There's subcatagories under each heading too, so you can go direct to the exact information you're looking for instead of having to follow link after link.

--Music-- This supplies info on all the albums Bowie has ever released, singles, lyrics, the discography, bootlegs and chords.

The chords section supplies links to other websites where you'll find the chord structures of your favourite Bowie songs, to be played at your leisure whenever you feel the urge.

The lyrics link takes you to a search page where you can find any one of over 400 of Bowies songs (didn't realise he'd written that many huh?). They're listed alphabetically so you can browse through the lists relatively easily too.

--Interact-- This is the section for all your membership needs, with links to the chat room, message boards, contests and so on.

--Information-- Subcatagories here are news, FAQ, tours, appearances and links. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but they are all updated regularly. It's rare for me to visit the news page, for example, and see the same info day after day for weeks on end.

The 'FAQ's' section answers questions on every aspect of his life, including the age-old question "What's the deal with his eyes?" I'd tell you, but I'd quite like you not to get too bored with this opinion, and if you're reading this you proba
bly know already anyway ;)

The 'links' link supplies, yes you guessed it, more links to other sites related to Bowie. There are over 200 here, ranging from fan sites to commercial (pay sites with info on him).

--The Store-- Clicking on the links to CDs, books or videos will take you to the pages where you can, obviously, buy pretty much everything you want to do with Bowie. The CDs are available by TennageWildlife partnering up with CD Now, for example. The only problem, is you need to have a credit card in order to purchase something. This, I'm sure, is something not all of us have. The items available can be related to Bowie and not just solely produced by or about him, like albums by Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed, to name but two of many.

--Other Media-- Film, photos and videos are available using these links, and a good variety they are too. The photos, for example, are listed chronologically, making it very easy to find exactly what you're looking for. And what a range it is! Everything from pre 1970 right up to present day.

--Search-- Links are lyrics and site, and well let's face it, what real explanation do they need? ;)

--About-- Supplies info on sponsers of the site, their privacy policy, webrings, and a contact address for them.


So that's the menu dealt with, but believe it or not there's still more. The front page has headlines, so you can find the most up-to-date info without needing to go through the news link. Clicking on the appropriate link will take you to a more detailed summary of the story in question.

There's 'Hot Topics' too, which gives a short list of the latest postings on the message boards. Clicking on them will take you straight to them, instead of having to sift through the full boards.

Not your thing? Hmmm, well how about the 'Upcoming Events'? Clicking on the condensed info will give you a little
more information about the appearances. Some are television appearances, others are live (like the gala benefit at Carnegie Hall, NY, later this month).

There's 'Daily Features', which includes Lyric of the Day, fans birthdays and fans contributions. The fans contributions vary from their artwork to short stories and poems.

At the bottom of the page is the Weekly Poll. This week, it's "Do you prefer albums to be based around a theme or to be just a potpourri of songs?".

But one of the most addictive things on this site is the 'on the fly lyrics contest'. Clicking on the links through Interactive, then Contests will take you to the page where, over and over again, you can guess which of Bowie's songs the quoted lyrics are from. This then gives you a rating based on how many you get right. Sounds monotonous? Well to some it may be, but for the serious fan who thinks they know everything, this could open some eyes!


All in all, this is an excellent site which concentrates more on information than dazzling the reader. It still looks attractive, but it certainly doesn't take away from what seems to be the main aim of the site - telling you everything you ever wanted to know and more.
The amount of input from members makes this site all the more special, making it clear that they value the other fans opinions and ideas more than you would expect.

This site is for everyone - serious fans and curious beginners alike. Take five minutes to browse and I believe you'll stay longer than you ever expected.

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