Earthling (album)

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Earthling
Studio album by David Bowie
Released 3 February 1997 (1997-02-03)
Recorded 1996 at Looking Glass Studio, New York City[1]
Genre Alternative rock, industrial rock,[2] dance-rock, drum and bass, oldschool jungle, techno, IDM
Length 48:57
Label BMG
Producer David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels, Mark Plati
David Bowie chronology

Outside
(1995)		 Earthling
(1997)		 'Hours...'
(1999)
Singles from Earthling
  1. "Telling Lies"
    Released: November 1996 (1996-11)
  2. "Little Wonder"
    Released: January 1997 (1997-01)
  3. "Dead Man Walking"
    Released: March 1997 (1997-03)
  4. "I'm Afraid of Americans"
    Released: October 1997 (1997-10)

Earthling is the twentieth studio album by David Bowie released in February 1997 via BMG Records. The album showcases an electronica-influenced sound partly inspired by the industrial and drum and bass culture of the 1990s.[3] This was the first album Bowie self-produced since his 1974 album Diamond Dogs.[4] Shortly after the release of this album, Bowie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[5]

Album background and development

David Bowie returned to the studio five days after finishing up his tour for his previous album, Outside. Bowie said "I really thought it would be great if we could do a photo, almost a sonic photograph of what we were like at that time. So, Reeves [Gabrels] and I started writing immediately after we finished on the road."[6] Despite going into the studio with no material ready to record,[7] the album took only 2 1/2 weeks to record[6] (typical for a Bowie album).[8] Bowie compared this album with his 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), saying "I think there's quite a link between Scary Monsters and this album, to a certain extent. Certainly, the same intensity of aggression."[9] Bowie described the album as an effort "to produce some really dynamic, aggressive-sounding material."[6]

On the production of the drum 'n bass sound of the album, Bowie had this to say:

Unlike most drum and bass things, we didn't just take parts from other people's records and sample them. On the snare drum stuff, Zac [Alford] went away and did his own loops and worked out all kinds of strange timings and rhythms. Then we speeded those up to your regular 160 beats per minute. That's very much how we treat the album. We kept all sampling in-house and created our own soundscape in a way.[6]

Earthling was the first Bowie album recorded entirely digitally, "entirely on hard disk."[3] During interviews promoting the album, Bowie stated "I did nearly everything on the guitar. A lot of screechy-scrawly stuff was done on saxophone, then transferred to sampler, and then distorted and worked on on the synthesizer."[9]

Bowie and Gabrels used a technique they'd started while working on Bowie's previous album Outside, where they'd transfer bits of guitar to a sampling keyboard and construct riffs from those pieces. "It's real guitar," said Bowie, "but constructed in a synthetic way. But Brian Eno got in the way - in the nicest possible way - so we didn't get to that until this album. We want to go further with that, because it's a very exciting idea."[3] Bowie considered this album, along with its predecessor, to be a "textural diary" of what the last few years of the millennium felt like.[10]

Bowie's and Gabrel's musical influences at the time had a big impact on the sound of the album: Bowie was influenced by a "euro" sound and bands like Prodigy, while Gabrels was still into the American industrial sound and bands like Underworld.[3]

Bowie said that he approached the production of this album similarly to how he approached Young Americans:

[For Young Americans,] I wanted to work within the Philadelphia soul experience, and the only way that I knew was to bring what's thoroughly European about me to this intrinsically black American format. And this [album was] not a dissimilar situation. It was the hybridizing of the European and the American sensibilities, and for me, that's exciting. That's what I do best. I'm a synthesist.[11]

Bowie summed up the meaning of the songs on the album by saying:

I guess the common ground with all the songs is this abiding need in me to vacillate between atheism or a kind of gnosticism. I keep going backwards and forwards between the two things, because they mean a lot in my life. I mean, the church doesn't enter into my writing, or my thought; I have no empathy with any organised religions. What I need is to find a balance, spiritually, with the way I live and my demise. And that period of time - from today until my demise - is the only thing that fascinates me.[1]

The album's cover features a photograph of Bowie wearing a Union Jack-based coat designed by Alexander McQueen, who had previously designed stage costumes for Bowie and his band.[12] Before the album was released, Bowie considered using Earthlings (plural) for the album's title.[13]

Song development

Bowie and the band continued their experimental approach to making music, first used in the Berlin Trilogy: for the track "Looking for Satellites," Bowie told guitarist Gabrels that he "only wanted him to play on one string at a time. ... He was hemmed in by the chord until it changed, and that made his run-up most unorthodox." The guitar riff used for the track "Dead Man Walking" was based on a pattern Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) had played for Bowie back in the '60s. According to Gabrels, part of the bass track on "Little Wonder" was a recording of bassist Gail Ann Dorsey as she tried to get a sound from her pedalboard while not knowing she was being recorded. For "Battle for Britain," Bowie challenged Mike Garson to play based on "the idea from a piece of Stravinsky wrote called "Ragtime for Eleven Instruments." I said 'If you could kind of get into the character of that...' and he did it immediately."[9]

"Little Wonder" was one of the first tracks Bowie & Gabrels wrote for the album,[9] and Bowie called writing the track a "ridiculous" exercise in pure stream of consciousness. "I just picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and made a line for each of the dwarves' names. And that's the song [laughs]. And then I ran out of dwarves' names, so there's new dwarves in it like 'Stinky'."[7]

"I'm Afraid of Americans" was an unused leftover from the Outside sessions: Bowie said "That was something that Eno and I put together, and I just didn't feel it fit Outside, so it didn't go on it. It just got left behind. So then we took just the embryo of it, and restructured it with this band."[9]

Bowie re-recorded Tin Machine's song "Baby Universal" for inclusion on Earthling. Bowie said "I thought [it] was a really good song and I don't think it got heard. I didn't really want that to happen to it, so I put in on this album. I really like this. I think this version is very good."[4] "Baby Universal" was ultimately not included on the final release of Earthling.

Album reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [14]
Chicago Tribune [15]
Robert Christgau [16]
Rolling Stone [17]
Select [18]
Entertainment Weekly A[19]

Though not a major commercial success, the album scored a number of positive reviews[6] with one reviewer calling it a "richly textured" "return to excellence"[20] and another saying the album represented "some of his [Bowie's] finest music in a decade".[15] In the 1998 Grammy awards Earthling was nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance and the song Dead Man Walking was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The album performed better than its highly experimental predecessor, Outside, reaching number 6 in the UK charts and number 39 in the US.[21] Rolling Stone magazine praised the album, noting that exposure to Nine Inch Nails on Bowie's previous tour had apparently influenced him on this album, and they called it "his best since 1980s Scary Monsters."[22] The album scored a minor hit with a Trent Reznor remix of "I'm Afraid of Americans".

Remixes and videos

Bowie's enthusiasm for remixing reached its peak when this album was released and the numerous singles from it were also issued to clubs, as well as online: three versions of "Telling Lies" were released on Bowie's official website months prior to the album's release, constituting the first ever downloadable single by a major artist.[23] "Little Wonder" was the album's biggest hit, reaching number 14 in the UK. Three more singles — "Dead Man Walking", "Seven Years in Tibet", and "I'm Afraid of Americans" — did not fare so well, although the latter did remain in the U.S. charts for 16 weeks, peaking at number 66.[21]

The music videos for Earthling were elaborate. Artist and director Floria Sigismondi directed the short films for "Little Wonder" and "Dead Man Walking", while Dom and Nic directed "I'm Afraid of Americans", the latter being nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. A video was also made for "Seven Years in Tibet", composed largely of concert footage.

Live performances

Bowie took songs from this album on the road in September 1996, performing 4 US east coast "club" shows including one at the Roseland Ballroom in New York to positive reviews. Prior to taking the stage for the shows, Bowie would play his new song ("Telling Lies") over the loudspeaker, but as the single was only available for download over the Internet, most fans did not recognize the song. The setlist for these shows was similar to the setlist he'd use during the upcoming 1997 Earthling Tour.[24][25]

On 9 January 1997, the day after Bowie turned 50, Bowie held a 50th birthday concert for himself, performing tracks off his Earthling album as well as a selection of songs from his back catalogue. Bowie played to nearly 15,000 fans at New York's Madison Square Garden.[26] Bowie was joined onstage to perform many of the songs by artists including Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Frank Black and Robert Smith. Other non-performing guests included Beck, Moby, Julian Schnabel, Prince, Charlie Sexton, Fred Schneider, Christopher Walken and Iman. Artist Tony Oursler designed some of the artwork for the video backdrop that played behind the band onstage. The event was recorded for a pay-per-view special commemorating the event,[27][28] and a portion of the proceeds from the event were donated to the charity "Save the Children."[26]

At the Phoenix Festival in 1997, Bowie and his band played in the Radio 1 Dance tent as Tao Jones Index. They performed in darkness with dry ice and strobe lights. Tao Jones Index was a pun based on Bowie's real name, David Jones, and the 1997 Bowie Bond issue (Tao is pronounced "Dow", as in Dow Jones Index from the US stock market).[29]

Bowie went back on the road in support of this album, with his Earthling Tour taking place between May 1997 and the end of the year.[6]

Track listing

All lyrics written by David Bowie. <br/ > All music composed by Bowie, Reeves Gabrels and Mark Plati, except Track 4, 5 and 9 by Bowie and Gabrels, Track 6 by Bowie, Track 8 by Bowie and Brian Eno.

  1. "Little Wonder" – 6:02
  2. "Looking for Satellites" – 5:21
  3. "Battle for Britain (The Letter)" – 4:48
  4. "Seven Years in Tibet" – 6:22
  5. "Dead Man Walking" – 6:50
  6. "Telling Lies" – 4:49
  7. "The Last Thing You Should Do" – 4:57
  8. "I'm Afraid of Americans" – 5:00
  9. "Law (Earthlings on Fire)" – 4:48
  • "I'm Afraid of Americans" first appeared in 1995 on the soundtrack for the movie Showgirls, in a version that was extremely rough compared to the Earthling recording.
Bonus tracks on 2004 reissue
  • "Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)"
  • "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)"
  • "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 2 US Promo 12")"
  • "Telling Lies (Adam F Mix)" (This version is not on the Digibook Expanded Edition.)
Bonus disc for 2005 Digibook expanded edition
  1. "Little Wonder (Censored Video Edit)"
  2. "Little Wonder (Junior Vasquez Club Mix)"
  3. "Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)"
  4. "Seven Years in Tibet (Mandarin Version)" (The Mandarin title of this version translates as "A Fleeting Moment".)
  5. "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 1)"
  6. "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 2 US Promo 12")"
  7. "Telling Lies (Feelgood Mix)"
  8. "Telling Lies (Paradox Mix)"
  9. "I'm Afraid of Americans (Showgirls Soundtrack Version)"
  10. "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)"
  11. "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Clean Edit)"
  12. "V-2 Schneider (Tao Jones Index)"
  13. "Pallas Athena (Tao Jones Index)"
  • Track 11 is mistakenly labeled as the V1 Edit. Apparently, it is an edited album version, which previously only appeared on the 1997 promotional CD "The Radio Edits", alongside with the edits of "Seven Years in Tibet" (which was later released as a single) and a unique edit of "Looking for Satellites", which has never been released in any other form. Disc 1 in this edition contains a pregap of 36 seconds of silence between "Dead Man Walking" and "Telling Lies".[30][31]

Personnel

Production
Musicians

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1997) Position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[32] 45
Austrian Albums Chart[33] 15
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[34] 13
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[35] 5
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[36] 21
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[37] 19
Finnish Albums Chart[38] 12
French SNEP Albums Chart[39] 9
German Media Control Albums Chart[40] 11
Italian Albums Chart[41] 14
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[42] 20
New Zealand Albums Chart[43] 15
Norwegian Albums Chart[44] 13
Swedish Albums Chart[45] 5
Swiss Albums Chart[46] 20
UK Albums Chart[47] 6
United States Billboard 200[48] 39

Year-end charts

Chart (1997) Position
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[49] 100
Italian Albums Chart[41] 121

Certifications

Region Certification
Japan (RIAJ)[50] Gold
United Kingdom (BPI)[51] Silver

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cavanagh, David (February 1997), "ChangesFiftyBowie", Q magazine: 52–59 
  2. ↑ Brown, Mick (14 December 1996), "A Star Comes Back to Earth After a Lifetime of Identity Crisis", The Daily Telegraph, retrieved 2 August 2013 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Gore, Joe (June 1997), "Changes 2.1", Guitar Player: 45–58 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Haefeli, Mark (1996), Music Video Shoot, retrieved 2 August 2013 
  5. ↑ David Bowie Launches New Album 'earthling' With Network Television Appearances, A Pay-per-view Concert, A National Radio Broadcast, And Star On Hollywood Blvd's Walk Of Fame, 30 January 1997, retrieved 5 July 2013 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Laban, Linda (13 February 1997), "Bowie Hits a Fab 50", The Seattle Times: E3 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kuipers, Dean (March 1997), "David Bowie: Is There Life on Earth?", Raygun magazine (44) 
  8. ↑ Isler, Scott (August 1987), "David Bowie Opens Up - A Little", Musician (106): 60–73 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 "David Bowie: The FI Interview" by J.D. Considine, Fi magazine, October 1997, pp 36-41
  10. ↑ Paul, George A. (1995), "Bowie Outside Looking In", Axcess magazine 3 (5): 60–62 
  11. ↑ Pond, Steve (March 1997), "Beyond Bowie", Live! magazine 2 (2) 
  12. ↑ Wilkinson, Peter, Bowie exhibition charts life of pop's ultimate Starman, retrieved 10 April 2013 
  13. ↑ David Bowie- Little Wonder (Pre-Earthling Live Version at D.C. 1996) on YouTube
  14. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 August 2009. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Kot, Greg (14 February 1997), "David Bowie Earthling (Virgin)", Chicago Tribune, retrieved 28 August 2013 
  16. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Review: Earthling (Virgin, 1997)". Retrieved 3 August 2009. 
  17. ↑ Kemp, Mark. "Review: Earthling – David Bowie". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 March 2010. 
  18. ↑ Harrison, Ian. "Review: David Bowie – Earthling, Sony". Select (EMAP Metro) (March 1997): 101. 
  19. ↑ Farber, Jim. "Review: Greetings, "Earthling"". Entertainment Weekly (Time, Inc) (14 February 1997): 59. 
  20. ↑ Laban, Linda (13 February 1997), "Earthling: Substance wins over fashion", The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA): E3 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Buckley, David (2000) [1999]. Strange Fascination – David Bowie: The Definitive Story. London: Virgin. pp. 517–527, pp.624–625. ISBN 0-7535-0457-X. 
  22. ↑ Kemp, Mark (20 February 1997), "Earthling Review", Rolling Stone magazine (754): 65–66 
  23. ↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2004) [2000]. The Complete David Bowie. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1-903111-73-0. 
  24. ↑ Wiederhorn, Jon (31 October 1996), "David Bowie Performance Review", Rolling Stone magazine (746): 33–34 
  25. ↑ Strauss, Neil (16 September 1996), "David Bowie, Without All the Gadgetry", New York Times, retrieved 29 October 2013 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Schneider, Tresa (28 February 1997), "David Bowie: Spectacular and Acclaimed 50th Birthday Concert to Air as a Television Pay Per View Event", MSOPR.COM, retrieved 18 November 2013 
  27. ↑ Kemp, Mark (6 March 1997), "All The Young Dudes", Rolling Stone magazine (755): 24 
  28. ↑ Earthling David Bowie Celebrates 50th Birthday With Triumphant Sold-out Concert At Madison Square Garden Before 14,500 Fans, 23 January 1997, retrieved 5 July 2013 
  29. ↑ Tao Jones Index
  30. ↑ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (Earthling album)". Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
  31. ↑ Altenburg, Ruud. "Illustrated DB Discography (The Radio Edits promo CD)". Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
  32. ↑ "australian-charts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  33. ↑ "David Bowie – Earthling – austriancharts.at" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  34. ↑ "ultratop.be — David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). ultratop.be/nl, Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  35. ↑ "ultratop.be — David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). ultratop.be/fr,, Hung Medien (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  36. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 64, No. 25, February 24, 1997" (PHP). RPM. 4 February 1997. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  37. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). dutchcharts.nl. MegaCharts. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  38. ↑ "finnishcharts.com RDavid Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  39. ↑ "lescharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). lescharts.com (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  40. ↑ "Album Search: David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1997" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  42. ↑ デヴィッド・ボウイ-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Earthling by David Bowie". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  43. ↑ "charts.org.nz David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  44. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  45. ↑ "swedishcharts.com David Bowie – Earthling" (ASP). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  46. ↑ "David Bowie – Earthling – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  47. ↑ "David Bowie > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  48. ↑ "allmusic ((( Earthling > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  49. ↑ "Rapports annuels 1997". Ultratop (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 January 2014. 
  50. ↑ "RIAJ > The Record > July 1999 > Certified Awards (May 1999)". Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 July 2013. 
  51. ↑ "British album certifications – David Bowie – Earthling". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 October 2012.  Enter Earthling in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go

External links

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Related articles
  • Book:David Bowie / Part 2: Singles and songs
  • Category:David Bowie
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