New Killer Star

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"New Killer Star"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Reality
B-side	Love Missile F1-11
Released	29 September 2003
Format	CD single
Recorded	Looking Glass Studios, New York City
Genre	Rock
Length	3:40
Label	Columbia/ISO Records COL 674275 9
Producer	David Bowie, Tony Visconti
David Bowie singles chronology
"I've Been Waiting for You" (2002) "New Killer Star" (2003) "Never Get Old" (2003)

"New Killer Star" is a song written and performed by David Bowie in 2003 for his album Reality. This was the first single from the album and released on DVD only, except in Italy and Canada. A famous band from Holland called themselves after this song "new killer stars".

While it is uncertain what the song is really about (like other Bowie songs), the lyrics make oblique reference to life in post-9/11 New York. However the video clip, directed by Brumby Boylston of National Television, tells a surreal story using lenticular-postcard like images of a spaceship almost crashing into the modern American heartland. Bowie himself said of the song: "I’m not a political commentator, but I think there are times when I’m stretched to at least implicate what’s happening politically in the songs that I’m writing. And there was some nod, in a very abstract way, toward the wrongs that are being made at the moment with the Middle Eastern situation. I think that song is a pretty good manifesto for the whole record."^[1]

There's a reference in the lyrics of "Let's Face the Music and Dance", which says: "There may be trouble ahead/So while there's music and moonlight and love and romance/Let's face the music and dance".

Gerry Leonard uses an EBow to play the repetitive guitar lick all through the song.

The b-side is a cover of Sigue Sigue Sputnik's "Love Missile F1-11"

Music video

The music video features lenticular images throughout.

Track listing

CD: ISO-Columbia / COL 674275 1 (Italy)

1. "New Killer Star" - 4:40
2. "Love Missile F1-11"

CD: ISO-Columbia / 38K 3445 (Canada)

1. "New Killer Star" (Edit) - 3:42
2. "Love Missile F1-11"

DVD: ISO/Columbia COL 674275 9 (Austria)

1. "New Killer Star (Video version)" - 3:40
2. "Reality (Electronic Press Kit)"
3. "Love Missile F1-11"

Production credits

• Producers
  • David Bowie
  • Tony Visconti

• Musicians:
  • David Bowie: Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Sax, Stylophone and Synthesizer
  • Earl Slick: Guitar
  • Mike Garson: Piano
  • David Torn: Guitar
  • Gail Ann Dorsey: Background vocals
  • Sterling Campbell: Drums
  • Catherine Russell: Background vocals
  • Tony Visconti: Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals,
  • Gerry Leonard: Guitar

References