The Hearts Filthy Lesson

Outside, 1995

That this intentionally apostrophe-free descent into disconcerting industrial darkness was adopted as the closing theme to David Fincher’s self-consciously disturbing serial-killer movie Se7en really tells you everything you need to know about it. As a nagging, distorted, dirty, Eno-treated guitar figure repeats insistently, Mike Garson hurls eccentric, avant-garde piano ejaculations into the mix, while Bowie’s stressed vocal unravels subterranean yarns of extraordinary madness. Sterling Campbell’s robotic drums drop away briefly as Bowie drawls an enigmatic ‘Paddy, who’s been wearing Miranda’s clothes?’ and it’s pure Psycho. Unsurprisingly, Trent Reznor’s alternative mix cranks the psychosis yet further.