"I'm Afraid of Americans" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released as a single from his 1997 album Earthling. The song, co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno, was originally written during Bowie's studio sessions for the 1995 album Outside but was not released until a rough mix appeared on the soundtrack to the film Showgirls, and was subsequently remade for Earthling. A top 20 hit in Canada, the rework also peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on that chart. This was the final Bowie single which charted on the Hot 100 until "Blackstar" and "Lazarus" following his death.
Background
Bowie describes the feelings behind the song:
It's not as truly hostile about Americans as say "Born in the U.S.A.": it's merely sardonic. I was traveling in Java when first McDonald's went up: it was like, "for fuck's sake." The invasion by any culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows expression of life.
Releases
"I'm Afraid of Americans" was originally engineered by David Richards and appeared as a rough mix on the soundtrack to the film Showgirls in 1995. It was subsequently remade for Earthling. A CD single for "I'm Afraid of Americans" was released in the United States and Canada. The single did not include the album version of the song, but instead featured remixes of the track performed by Bowie's former tourmates, Nine Inch Nails, and drum and bass artist Photek. Nine Inch Nails' "V1" mix became more popular than the original version, in large part because of the accompanying video, leading to its appearance on some editions of the retrospectives Best of Bowie, Nothing Has Changed, and Bowie Legacy. The Showgirls version, as well as Nine Inch Nails' "V1" remix and Mark Plati's "Original Edit," were included on the bonus disc of the digibook expanded edition CD of Earthling in 2004.
Trent Reznor – electric guitar, bass, drums, background vocals
Lyrics by David Bowie, music by Bowie and Brian Eno
All tracks – re-produced by Nine Inch Nails
Except V5 – remix by Photek
Live versions
performed the song together with Bowie at his fiftieth birthday bash in New York City in January 1997. David Bowie performed the song at the Howard Stern forty-fourth birthday bash in 1998. A version recorded at GQ Awards, New York City on 15 October 1997, was released on LiveAndWell.com in 2000. Bowie's 25 June 2000 performance of the song at the Glastonbury Festival was released in 2018 on Glastonbury 2000. Another live version by Bowie, recorded at the BBCRadio Theatre, London on 27 June 2000, was released on the bonus disc accompanying the first releases of Bowie at the Beeb in 2000. A live version by Bowie recorded in Dublin, Ireland in November 2003, was included on the DVD A Reality Tour, released in 2004, as well as the A Reality Tour album, released in 2010.
