History Music / Heathen

''Heathen'' is also notable for being one of only five albums in Bowie's discography (alongside ''Music/{{Reality}}'' and reissues of ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'', ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'', and ''Music/LetsDance'') to see release on the Super Audio CD format, with slightly longer versions of several songs plus four bonus tracks. Unlike the other four albums, this one only features a single Scarlet Book audio layer, with no Redbook audio layer, and as a result is the only one of the four Bowie [=SACDs=] to not be compatible with a standard CD player. To this day, the extended version of ''Heathen'' remains exclusive to the SACD release, with the extended songs and most of the bonus tracks not seeing further release on any reissues (despite the whole SACD version of the album being long enough to fit on a single Redbook-compliant UsefulNotes/CompactDisc uncut) or even compilations.

* BassoProfundo: Bowie reaches the lowest point of his voice register, a G1, in "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship".

# "Safe"[[note]] Originally written for ''WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie'' in 1998, before it was cut from the final product [[/note]](5:53)

# "Safe" (5:53)

''Heathen'' is the twenty-third studio album by Music/DavidBowie, released in 2002. The album reunites Bowie with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti for their first album together since 1980's ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''. Visconti would go on to produce all of Bowie's subsequent albums up until his death.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to ''Music/{{Hours}}'', ''Heathen'' is much more dour in both lyrical and musical tone. While Bowie testified that the songs had been written before 9/11, he admitted that the nationwide mood afterwards affected the bleak tone of the final product (heightened by the fact that he lived in New York City).

Sound-wise, the album continues the neoclassical brand of synth-heavy art rock that first appeared on ''[[Music/{{Hours}} 'hours...']]'', but turns it in a more darker, brooding direction influenced not only by the September 11 attacks, but also Bowie's general anxieties about living in America as well as the success of Music/{{Radiohead}}'s similarly moody and electronic ''Music/KidA'' and ''Music/{{Amnesiac}}'' earlier in the decade (Bowie himself was a fan of Radiohead).

* SharpDressedMan: The album cover portrays him as this, although the MonochromaticEyes do put him into UncannyValley territory.

* NotChristianRock: Despite evoking religious themes and imagery in its title, artwork (both on the front and back cover and in the liner notes and tray art), and lyrics, the album as a whole isn't meant to be a profession of faith in any capacity and uses Judeo-Christian imagery as more of a base for its ruminations on the increasingly uncertain state of the world.

Initially, Bowie had planned on releasing an album called ''Toy'', which consisted mostly of re-recordings of his pre-''Music/SpaceOddity'' material. However, the plan to release the album didn't come to fruition and the sessions led into the recording of ''Heathen'' instead[[note]]''Toy'' would eventually see a release in November of 2021[[/note]]. Although it's claimed that all songs featured on the album were written before the attacks of September 11 2001, it is widely agreed the events had an influence on the album.

''Heathen'' is also notable for being one of only five albums in Bowie's discography (alongside ''Music/{{Reality}}'' and reissues of ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'', ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'', and ''Music/LetsDance'') to see release on the Super Audio CD format, with slightly longer versions of several songs plus four bonus tracks. Unlike the other four albums, this one only features a single Scarlet Book audio layer, with no Redbook audio layer, and as a result is the only one of the four Bowie [=SACDs=] to not be compatible with a standard CD player. To this day, the extended version of ''Heathen'' remains exclusive to the SACD release, with the extended songs and most of the bonus tracks not seeing further release on any reissues (despite the whole SACD version of the album being long enough to fit on a single Redbook-compliant UsefulNotes/CompactDisc uncut) or even compilations. The ''Toy'' album would eventually see the light of day in November 2021, five years after Bowie's passing.

** "Slip Away" (formerly "Uncle Floyd") and "Afraid" were initially going to be released on the aforementioned ''Toy'' album; they were both re-recorded for ''Heathen'' and consequently are omitted from the finalized 2021 release of ''Toy''. While the two versions of each song sound fairly similar enough to one-another, "Slip Away" removes "Uncle Floyd"[='s=] lengthy intro consisting of sampled audio from ''The Uncle Floyd Show'', presumably due to copyright issues.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to ''[[Music/{{Hours}} 'hours...']]'', ''Heathen'' is much more dour in both lyrical and musical tone. While Bowie testified that the songs had been written before 9/11, the nationwide mood afterwards could well have affected the recording.

* MonochromaticEyes: Bowie is depicted with a pair of glowing, metallic eyes on the front cover; Bowie biographer Nicholas Pegg claims that the effect was intended to resemble a fish's eyes, alluding to the ichthys in first-century Christianity.

* RearrangeTheSong: "Slip Away" (formerly "Uncle Floyd") and "Afraid" were initially going to be released on the aforementioned ''Toy'' album; they were both re-recorded for ''Heathen'' and consequently are omitted from the finalized 2021 release of ''Toy''. While the two versions of each song sound fairly similar enough to one-another, "Slip Away" removes "Uncle Floyd"[='s=] lengthy intro consisting of sampled audio from ''The Uncle Floyd Show'', presumably due to copyright issues.

** Yes, Ziggy Stardust was named in tribute to The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, who Bowie covered with "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship".

** Carrying over from the Pixies' version, the D-A-V-I-D chant in the bridge of "Cactus" is a shout-out to a similar technique used by [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex]] (who Bowie had previously name-dropped in "All the Young Dudes", the song Bowie wrote for Music/MottTheHoople).

* SpellingSong: In "Cactus" , the P-I-X-I-E-S chant in the bridge is changed to D-A-V-I-D.

''Heathen'' is also notable for being one of only four albums in Bowie's discography (alongside ''Music/{{Reality}}'' and reissues of ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' and ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'') to see release on the Super Audio CD format, with slightly longer versions of several songs plus four bonus tracks. Unlike the other three albums, this one only features a single Scarlet Book audio layer, with no Redbook audio layer, and as a result is the only one of the four Bowie [=SACDs=] to not be compatible with a standard CD player. To this day, the extended version of ''Heathen'' remains exclusive to the SACD release, with the extended songs and most of the bonus tracks not seeing further release on any reissues (despite the whole SACD version of the album being long enough to fit on a single Redbook-compliant UsefulNotes/CompactDisc uncut) or even compilations. The ''Toy'' album would eventually see the light of day in November 2021, five years after Bowie's passing.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Everyone Says 'Hi'" segues directly into "A Better Future".