"Hallo Spaceboy" is a song by David Bowie from his 1995 album Outside. The track was re-recorded the following year, and issued as a remix featuring Pet Shop Boys as guest artists. Bowie and Brian Eno co-wrote the original album version of the song.
Song development
Bowie wrote the song in mostly-improvised sessions with his band in 1995, and intentionally wrote it with a Nine Inch Nails-like vibe. Of the track, Bowie said "I adore that track. In my mind, it was like Jim Morrison meets industrial. When I heard it back, I thought, 'Fuck me. It's like metalDoors.' It's an extraordinary sound."
Remixes
Pet Shop Boys
The commercial version of the single featured a remix by Pet Shop Boys as the lead track, not the original album version. In contrast to the original, the single remix was disco-oriented and featured additional lyrics sung by Neil Tennant. The introduction was sampled from the opener to Outside, "Leon Takes Us Outside". Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys commented on this remix to journalist Mark Beaumont, writing for the NME, in February 2017. Tennant remarked that they regarded being asked by Bowie to work on the single as a "career high-point" for them. Tennant explained that since the original song had only a single verse, Lowe suggested using lyrical fragments from Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" to create a second verse. Bowie initially expressed reservation about the additions when Tennant initially told him during a telephone conversation, but later agreed that they worked well. Tennant told Beaumont that he and Lowe, working alongside Bowie, had completed what Tennant called the "Major Tom trilogy", in reference to a fictional character who first appeared in Space Oddity and who had later recurred in Bowie's 1980 song "Ashes to Ashes". Tennant explained: Bowie, Tennant and Lowe performed a live version of the remixed song at the Brit Awards in February 1996. The 12" Remix also surfaced on Pet Shop Boys' remix collection Disco 4, which was released by EMI in.
Ball and Vauk
The three remixes by Dave Ball and Ingo Vauk are based on the Pet Shop Boys Remix, but only Double Click Mix uses Neil Tennant's vocals. Instrumental is an instrumental version of Double Click Mix. Except the single mix, all remixes were initially released only on promo 12" singles. In 2004 they were included on the bonus disc of the re-released Outside album.
Bowie performed the song with Pet Shop Boys at the 1996 Brit Awards.
In the autumn 1995, Bowie performed this song together with Nine Inch Nails.
A version recorded in 1996 at the Phoenix Festival in England was released on the various artist compilation Phoenix Festival in 1997 and on the live albumLiveAndWell.com in 2000.
Bowie's 25 June 2000 performance of the song at the Glastonbury Festival was released in 2018 on Glastonbury 2000.
Bowie performed the song live at BBC Radio Theatre, London, on 27 June 2000, and a recording of this performance was included on the bonus disc accompanying the first releases of Bowie at the Beeb in 2000.
A November 2003 live performance from the A Reality Tour is included on the A Reality Tour DVD, released in 2004, as well as the A Reality Tour album, released in 2010.
Bowie performed the song live on Jools Holland's 'Later' in December 1995.
Other releases
The Pet Shop Boys remix was released as an additional track on Outside – version 2 and is included on some editions of the compilation albums Best of Bowie, Nothing Has Changed, and Bowie Legacy.
Several of the remixes were released on the 2004 limited 2CD edition of Outside.
The extended Pet Shop Boys remix of "Hallo Spaceboy" is included on the Pet Shop Boys album Disco 4, released on 8 October 2007.
Chart performance
Cover versions
Pet Shop Boys performed the song live with Sylvia Mason-James singing the Bowie part. This was released on the video Somewhere – Live at the Savoy.
Indie band First of June recorded their version of the song for the tribute album Spiders from Venus: Indie Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover David Bowie in 2003.
Norwegian power/progressive metal band Pagan's Mind covered the song on their 2007 album God's Equation.
Music video
The music video for "Hallo Spaceboy" was directed by David Mallet, mixing shots of both Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys into a rapid-fire montage of Cold War era retro-footage of science fiction film clips, atomic bomb testing footage, and television advertising clips.
