Studio Album · No. 21
Earthling Songwriting Credits by David Bowie
Produced by David Bowie, Mark Plati · Engineered by Mark Plati, Bob Ludwig
Holds writing credit on 9 of 9 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 9 / 9 documented
Scored across the 9 tracks with documented writers, by whether David Bowie carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 9 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Awards & Recognition 1
David Bowie wrote and co-produced Earthling with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and producer-programmer Mark Plati, and the three share composition credits across most of the album. Bowie wrote 'Telling Lies' alone, co-wrote 'Seven Years in Tibet,' 'Dead Man Walking,' and 'Law (Earthlings on Fire)' with Gabrels, and revived an earlier collaboration with Brian Eno on 'I'm Afraid of Americans.' The album grew out of Bowie's interest in drum and bass and jungle, which he and the band programmed and looped in the studio rather than recording conventionally.
David Bowie's Earthling, released February 3, 1997 on Arista Records, is his industrial and drum and bass album, a fully committed embrace of the electronic dance music underground that placed him alongside Trent Reznor and Aphex Twin in the mid-90s avant-garde. Bowie wrote all nine tracks, most in collaboration with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and co-producer Mark Plati, with Brian Eno contributing to 'I'm Afraid of Americans.' 'Little Wonder' reached number six in the UK and became one of his most successful singles of the decade, while 'Dead Man Walking' and 'Seven Years in Tibet', which was banned in China, also received significant airplay. The album's breakbeat-heavy production was partially inspired by Bowie's friendship with Nine Inch Nails, who he toured with in 1995. Earthling demonstrated that at 50, Bowie remained one of the few artists of his generation capable of genuinely engaging with contemporary music on its own terms rather than approximating its surface.