History Music / Earthling

The end result was an album met with a noticeably more divisive reception than ''1. Outside'' upon release, with fans and critics accusing Bowie of [[WereStillRelevantDammit playing catch-up with the cultural zeitgeist rather than leading it]], thanks to ''Earthling'' coming out at a time when drum & bass was just starting to fade from popularity; comments along the lines of "granddad at the disco" were particularly common in light of Bowie having turned 50 the month before the album's release. However, the album was still a commercial success, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Albums chart, and the "era" for this album would mark Bowie at his most publicly prolific since his ''Music/LetsDance''-''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' days. ''Earthling'' would also become VindicatedByHistory decades down the road; by the time Bowie died in 2016, it gained a reputation as an underrated classic in his back-catalog.

The end result was an album met with a noticeably more divisive reception than ''1. Outside'' upon release, with fans and critics accusing Bowie of [[WereStillRelevantDammit playing catch-up with the cultural zeitgeist rather than leading it]], thanks to ''Earthling'' coming out at a time when drum & bass was just starting to fade from popularity; comments along the lines of "granddad at the disco" were particularly common in light of Bowie having turned 50 the month before the album's release. However, the album was still a commercial success, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Albums chart, and the "era" for this album would mark Bowie at his most publicly prolific since his ''Music/LetsDance''-''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' days. ''Earthling'' would also become VindicatedByHistory decades down the road; by the time Bowie died in 2016, it gained a reputation as an underrated classic in his back-catalog.

''Earthling'' is the twenty-first studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1997. It is also his first self-produced album since 1974's Music/DiamondDogs.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Johnny's in America, no tricks at the wheel..."'']]

!! "You little troper, little troper you"

Nine Inch Nails' [[IAmTheBand then-only member]], Trent Reznor himself, would later remix one of ''Earthling''[='s=] singles, "I'm Afraid of Americans", and star in its music video. Other singles include "Little Wonder", "Dead Man Walking" and "Seven Years In Tibet". "Telling Lies" was notably the first work by a major popular music artist to be released over the internet, being officially available for download in three different versions, released on September 11, September 18, and September 25, 1996. The campaign was launched by a promotional activity on an online chat in which he and two impersonators tasked fans with identifying the real deal through an inversion of Two Truths and a Lie, in which the real Bowie would tell factoids about himself and the impersonators would tell equally-convincing fibs before asking the chat to vote on which Bowie they thought was the real one. [[YourCostumeNeedsWork The real Bowie came in third.]] The three versions wouldn't be available physically until the CD single and 12" single releases on November 4, both of which would offer the full lot of them on one package; until then, the digital versions were collectively downloaded by over 300,000 people.

** To Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs of all things! Bowie wanted to pen a song that incorporates the names of all seven dwarfs within the lyrics. This would become "Little Wonder".

Nine Inch Nails' [[IAmTheBand then-only member]], Trent Reznor himself, would later remix one of ''Earthling''[='s=] singles, "I'm Afraid of Americans", and star in its music video. Other singles include "Little Wonder", "Dead Man Walking" and "Seven Years In Tibet".

The end result was an album met with a noticeably more divisive reception than ''1. Outside'' upon release, with fans and critics accusing Bowie of [[WereStillRelevantDammit playing catch-up with the cultural zeitgeist rather than leading it]], thanks to ''Earthling'' coming out at a time when drum & bass was just starting to fade from popularity; comments about the album along the lines of "granddad at the disco" were particularly common in light of Bowie having turned 50 the month before the album's release. However, the album was still a commercial success, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Albums chart, and the "era" for this album would mark Bowie at his most publicly prolific since his ''Music/LetsDance''-''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' days. ''Earthling'' would also become VindicatedByHistory decades down the road; by the time Bowie died in 2016, it gained a reputation as an underrated classic in his back-catalog.

The end result was an album met with a noticeably more divisive reception than ''1. Outside'' upon release, with fans and critics accusing Bowie of playing catch-up with the cultural zeitgeist rather than leading it, thanks to ''Earthling'' coming out at a time when drum & bass was just starting to fade from popularity. However, the album was still a commercial success, peaking at No. 6 on the UK Albums chart, and the "era" for this album would mark Bowie at his most publicly prolific since his ''Music/LetsDance''-''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' days. ''Earthling'' would also become VindicatedByHistory decades down the road; by the time Bowie died in 2016, it gained a reputation as an underrated classic in his back-catalog.

Although Bowie's plan to record a series of sequels to ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]'' fell through the cracks, that didn't mean the English rock chameleon was down for the count. Rather, he took the style he had built up on that album and reconfigured it for the second half of TheNineties. Born from the vestiges of an aborted project to modernize and re-record a number of his old hits with a few new pieces thrown in[[note]]the re-recordings originally planned for this album, would remain unreleased until the ''Is It Any Wonder?'' digital EP in 2020[[/note]], ''Earthling'' continues the {{industrial}} influences (in particular Music/NineInchNails) from its predecessor but orients them in a more commercially accessible, danceable direction (though not without its own share of {{ambient}} leanings here and there), essentially being "[[JustForFun/XMeetsY David Bowie meets]] DrumAndBass".

Essentially "[[JustForFun/XMeetsY David Bowie meets]] DrumAndBass", the album also has significant influence from industrial rock, in particular Music/NineInchNails. [[IAmTheBand Trent Reznor]] himself would later remix one of its singles, "I'm Afraid of Americans", and star in its music video. Other singles include "Little Wonder", "Dead Man Walking" and "Seven Years In Tibet".

* ContinuityNod: The "Little Wonder" video incorporates a Ziggy Stardust lookalike into its action, while in a more subtle example the young fellow in the Union Jack coat looks suspiciously like Bowie did when he first started recording in the mid-1960s.

* EyepatchOfPower: Bowie at the start of the "Little Wonder" video
* FaceOnTheCover: A notable subversion - Bowie is present on the cover, but is standing with his back to the camera.

* OneWordTitle.

* TitleTrack: "Law (Earthlings on Fire)". Also a subversion of TitleDrop - Earthling is mentioned, but in plural form.

* WhamShot: Occurs 2 minutes 40 seconds into the video for "I'm Afraid of Americans". Bowie catches a taxi to leave New York to escape a stalker named Jonny (played by Trent Reznor), only to have the taxi operator licensee's name change to Jonny.

* ShoutOut: To Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs of all things! Bowie wanted to pen a song that incorporates the names of all seven dwarfs within the lyrics. This would become "Little Wonder".

* ShoutOut: To SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs of all things! Bowie wanted to pen a song that incorporates the names of all seven dwarfs within the lyrics. This would become "Little Wonder".

* CostumePorn: The Alexander McQueen-designed frock coats hail from this era.

* NewSoundAlbum: While still abrasive electronic-driven art rock in the vein of ''[[Music/{{Outside}} 1. Outside]]'' from two years earlier, ''Earthling'' is much more danceable and less brooding, owing to Bowie taking influence from Britain's drum & bass scene.

* LighterAndSofter: Is this compared to Music/{{Outside}} - but not by much.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/earthling_album20.jpg]]

''Earthling'' is the twentieth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1997. It is also his first self-produced album since 1974's Music/DiamondDogs.

Essentially "[[XMeetsY David Bowie meets]] DrumAndBass", the album also has significant influence from industrial rock, in particular NineInchNails. [[IAmTheBand Trent Reznor]] himself would later remix one of its singles, "I'm Afraid of Americans", and star in its music video. Other singles include "Little Wonder", "Dead Man Walking" and "Seven Years In Tibet".

* WhamShot: Occurs 2 minutes 40 seconds into the video for "I'm Afraid of Americans". Bowie catches a taxi to leave New York to escape a stalker named Jonny (played by Trent Reznor), only to have the taxi operator licensee's name change to Jonny.

* EpicRocking: "Dead Man Walking"

'''''Earthling''''' is the twentieth studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 1997. It is also his first self-produced album since 1974's Music/DiamondDogs.

* EpicRocking: