“Loving the Alien” by David Bowie

"Loving the Alien" throws open Tonight, David Bowie's 16th studio album, from 1984, and it's one of only two songs on the record he wrote without help. It began as a demo called "1", cut in Montreux, Switzerland, and grew into a hard look at violence done in religion's name down the centuries, reportedly with Donovan Joyce's book The Jesus Scroll in mind. Bowie's point was that so much of the history we lean on is simply wrong.

The credits are crowded: Bowie produced with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham, Omar Hakim drums, Carmine Rojas plays bass, Carlos Alomar guitar, and Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison, Steve Elson and Mark Pender bring the horns. An edited version became a single in May 1985, and the title later got borrowed for a 1997 Bowie biography and a 2018 box set.

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