NASHVILLE |DATE: NOVEMBER 11, 1997
FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/TRESA REDBURN
DAVID BOWIE LANDS #1 VIDEO
AT MTV WITH
"I'M AFRAID OF AMERICANS,"
AS THE NINE INCH NAILS-
RECONSTRUCTED VERSION
OF THE SONG IMPACTS
INFLUENTIAL RADIO STATIONS
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
DAVID BOWIE has landed the #1 video at MTV with his provocative "I'm Afraid of Americans," in which he's joined by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor.
Shot in the Lower East Side of Manhattan by directors Dom & Nick (Oasis, Chemical Brothers), the video hauntingly depicts BOWIE as a paranoid Englishman who's chased through the streets by a psychotic taxi cab driver played by Reznor. (Pundits are already noting that this is a video some New Yorkers won't have any problem identifying with.)
Reznor's appearance in the video isn't his only connection with "I'm Afraid of Americans." Nine Inch Nails remixed the song–originally appearing on BOWIE's critically acclaimed Earthling album–no less than five times and Reznor lends background vocals on one of them, the results of which are now available as the "I'm Afraid of Americans" EP on Virgin Records. (A sixth remix was overseen by England's Rupert Parkes, aka Photek.)
And the Nine Inch Nails-reconstructed version of "I'm Afraid of Americans"–with its fractured electronic noises and percolating funk–is impacting radio with airplay on such influential stations as Los Angeles' KROQ, WXRT in Chicago, and LIVE 105 in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, BOWIE just wrapped his hugely successful South American festival tour which included stops in San Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aries, Argentina. Next up for BOWIE: will he perform at any U.S. radio Christmas shows in December? By the way, Guitar magazine has cited Earthling as "one of the Top 10 guitar albums of the year."
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