Hallo Spaceboy

"Hallo Spaceboy" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 1995 album Outside. It originated as an instrumental by Reeves Gabrels called "Moondust", which Bowie and Brian Eno stripped down and used to form the final track. An industrial rock and electronica number influenced by the Pixies and Nine Inch Nails, the song contains a hypnotic sound, with synthesisers, loops and distorted guitar lines. Lyrically influenced by Brion Gysin, the song contains images of apocalypse and continues the androgynous conundrums of former Bowie songs such as "Rebel Rebel". For its release as the third and final single from Outside, "Hallo Spaceboy" was remixed by the duo Pet Shop Boys, who added a disco edge and lyrics referencing the Major Tom character from Bowie's "Space Oddity". The single reached number 12 in the UK and charted elsewhere across Europe. Its accompanying music video mixes shots of both Bowie and Pet Shop Boys with footage of science fiction clips, atomic bomb testing footage and television advertising clips. Both versions of "Hallo Spaceboy" have been positively received and have appeared on lists of Bowie's best songs. Bowie performed "Hallo Spaceboy" frequently on his concert tours, recordings from which have appeared on live albums. Writing and recording Written by David Bowie and Brian Eno, "Hallo Spaceboy" developed from an ambient instrumental piece written by guitarist Reeves Gabrels called "Moondust". Initial work on the track began during a recording session at Mountain Studios in Montreux in 1994, shortly after the main sessions for the Leon project concluded. Bowie biographers Nicholas Pegg and Chris O'Leary point to the influence of poet and artist Brion Gysin, who developed a cut-up technique with William S. Burroughs that Bowie had, on several occasions, utilised for song lyrics. During the recording, Bowie spoke the "If I fall, moondust will cover me", reportedly Gysin's final words before his death in 1986. Work halted on the track following the session, as Bowie believed "there wasn't anything special going on with that piece". The track resurfaced on 17 January 1995 during the Outside sessions in New York City at The Hit Factory.