"Hallo Spaceboy" was my gateway drug to Bowie -- I found the promo CD of "Outside" in the campus radio station in fall of 1995, during my senior year of college. I took the CD home and still have it. Don't get pissed -- the radio station was defunct, anyway. Well, I played it a bunch and loved it, particularly this track, given its NIN sound. I was a NIN freak at the time...and, coincdentally, I soon thereafter saw Bowie with NIN in Pittsburgh, PA. Actually it wasn't Pittsburgh, but somewhere near it. What a great show! Opening act was Prick (I still have that CD, too), then NIN came on and did a great set. Then -- and I have always remembered this -- the stage got dark and Trent Reznor started playing a saxophone bit (later I would realize it was Bowie's "Subterraneans") and Bowie just waltzed onto the stage (no other word for it). Just zero fanfare or announcement, it was just Bowie walking on. Then he did a set with NIN, after which NIN departed and Bowie's band came on. I was bummed at the time because I couldn't help but notice ALL THE PEOPLE MY AGE WHO KEPT LEAVING. I was like you morons, it's David Bowie!! I think I read years later that Bowie himself noticed how many people would leave once he came on, and just sort of chuckled it off.
After this I went down a Bowie rabbit hole, buying all the Ryko Bowie CDs and later on some of the original vinyl. I moved away from Bowie eventually and only just recently got back into Man Who Sold The World, mostly thanks to Seth Man's review. In fact it inspired me to finally get this one on vinyl...it's my understanding the Ryko CD neutered Visconti's bass. I did an A/B comparison of the original mix and this new "Metrobolist" remix and went with the former...it just sounds heavier to my ears, and Metrobolist sounds like a victim of the loudness wars, with every instrument jacked up with little subtlety to the mix. And hell for all that the original mix is still heavier -- "She Shook Me Cold" sounds like it coulda come off "Paranoid!"
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