David Bowie’s 1. Outside

5 min readFeb 18, 2023

David Bowie’s 1. Outside

David Bowie’s 1. Outside, released in 1995, is a dense and complex album that defies easy categorization. Subtitled “The Diary of Nathan Adler or The Art-Ritual Murder of Baby Grace Blue. A Non-Linear Gothic Drama Hyper-Cycle,” the album is a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist, producer, and conceptualist Brian Eno, and was the first in a planned series of collaborations between the two artists. The album is set in a dystopian end-of-millennium London where “art-crimes” and “concept muggings” have their own police division, and follows the investigations of Detective Professor Adler into the murder and subsequent dismembered body parts exhibition of 14-year-old runaway Baby Grace Blue.

The album’s fragmented “narrative” is a reflection of Bowie’s many personas over the years, with each character representing a different aspect of Bowie himself. The music also randomly dices and displays many of the previous album settings such personas have populated, drawing on musicians that form a kind of anagram band from his past. Diamond Dogs, inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, is another obvious precursor to 1. Outside’s dissection of a post-apocalyptic, technological society in the name of Art.

Despite its dense and often difficult subject matter, 1. Outside is a rewarding listen. Bowie once again reflects fringe culture onto the mainstream and forces listeners to consider that the differences between mainstream and fringe culture are not as great as they may seem. The effort required to process the album pays off in a richly voyeuristic experience that continues to resonate with fans of Bowie’s work.

David Bowie 1.Outside
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Concept and Story

The genesis of Bowie’s album “Outside” began during a “blindingly orgiastic” recording session on March 12th, 1994. Bowie and his band improvised, and Bowie created characters on the spot, playing them out for short bursts of time. In this way, Bowie conceptualized a world where “art crimes” are the norm, and “concept muggings” are prevalent. Bowie revised the concept later that year when he was asked by Q magazine to contribute to their 100th issue by writing a diary for ten days. Bowie’s diary became the basis for “Outside: The Diary of Nathan Adler or the Art-Ritual Murder of Baby Grace Belew.”

The story of “Outside” is a non-linear Gothic drama hyper-cycle set over two decades in the fictional Oxford Town, New Jersey. The story features a range of characters, including a detective named Nathan Adler, a jeweler named Ramona A. Stone, a 14-year-old girl named Baby Grace Blue, a 78-year-old loner named Algeria Touchshriek, a mixed-race “Outsider” named Leon Blank, Paddy, one of Adler’s informants, and a shadowy figure named The Artist/Minotaur. Bowie portrayed all the characters, and he based them on himself.

The album contains spoken word segments and diary entries alongside song lyrics that are sometimes distorted and unreadable. The album also invokes several spoken word segments as between-song segues, which provide more insight into the story and characters’ thoughts. The story begins when the dismembered body of Baby Grace Blue is found in a town museum. Adler’s primary goal is to find the murderer, and he soon becomes embroiled in a complex web of intrigue and suspicion.

Throughout the album, Leon Blank is primarily viewed through the eyes of others, but he is given his perspective on “I Have Not Been to Oxford Town,” where he denies his involvement with the killings. The Artist/Minotaur is a shadowy figure who lurks behind the art-ritual murder at the narrative’s center. The story of “Outside” is an intriguing and complex work that showcases Bowie’s talent for storytelling and character creation.

How David Bowie, Brian Eno Created Sci-Fi Experiment ‘1. Outside’
Berlin Trilogy producer returned for improv-driven 1995 adventure that left fans baffled

Rolling Stone Magazine
BY ANDY GREENE SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

Read the Article :
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-david-bowie-brian-eno-created-sci-fi-experiment-1-outside-102722/