| "Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys Remix)" | ||||
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| Single by David Bowie featuring Pet Shop Boys | ||||
| from the album Outside | ||||
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| Released | 19 February 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1994, January 1995 | |||
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| "Hallo Spaceboy" on YouTube | ||||
"Hallo Spaceboy" is a song by the English musician David Bowie from his 20th studio album, Outside (1995). 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 in February 1996, "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, directed by David Mallet, 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.