Actors - Earthling

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	Actors - Earthling

Earthling is a 1997 album by David Bowie. The album showcases an electronica-influenced sound that seems inspired by the rave culture of the 1990s. Because of this, Earthling was also a return to form for Bowie as an alternative artist embracing underground music — in this case, techno and jungle.

Though not a commercial success, the album received many positive reviews by critics and scored a minor hit with a Trent Reznor remix of "I'm Afraid of Americans".

The reviews, whilst mainly positive, also criticised Bowie, as the pioneering artist of the 1970s now seemed to be following the pack rather than leading it. However, the album featured elements not common to dance electronica, such as live acoustic and electric guitar (and even solos), jazzy live piano, and song structures more common to pop-rock than techno. As a result, the album performed better than its highly experimental predecessor 1.OUTSIDE
, reaching number 6 in the UK charts and number 36 in the US.

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. "Little Wonder" was the album's biggest hit, reaching number 14 in England and topping the charts in Japan. 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 become a cult hit on US college radio.

The videos for Earthling were very elaborate. Artist/Director Floria Sigismondi (Marilyn Manson) directed the short films for "Little Wonder" and "Dead Man Walking" while Dom & Nick (The Smashing Pumpkins) 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", comprised largely of concert footage.

Track listing

Lyrics for all songs written by Bowie. Music written by Bowie, Gabrels and Plati except for "Seven Years in Tibet", "Dead Man Walking" and "LAW (Earthlings On Fire)" by Bowie and Gabrels, "Telling Lies" music by Bowie, "I'm Afraid of Americans" music by Bowie and Eno.

# "Little Wonder" - (6:02) # "Looking for Satellites" - (5:21) # "Battle for Britain (The Letter)" - (4:48) # "Seven Years in Tibet" - (6:22) # "Dead Man Walking" - (6:50) # "Telling Lies" - (4:49) # "The Last Thing You Should Do" - (4:57) # "I'm Afraid of Americans" - (5:00) # "LAW (Earthlings on Fire)" - (4:48)

Bonus tracks on 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)" — '

Bonus disc for Digibook Expanded Edition

# "Little Wonder (Censored Video Edit)" # "Little Wonder (Junior Vasquez Club Mix)" # "Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)" # "Seven Years in Tibet (Mandarin Version)" — ' # "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 1)2 # "Dead Man Walking (Moby Mix 2 US Promo 12")" # "Telling Lies (Feelgood Mix)" # "Telling Lies (Paradox Mix)" # "I'm Afraid of Americans (Showgirls Soundtrack Version)" # "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix)" # "I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails V1 Clean Edit)" # "V-2 Schneider (Tao Jones Index)" # "Pallas Athena (Tao Jones Index)"

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