Song · David Bowie
“New Killer Star” by David Bowie
Released 2003
“New Killer Star” by David Bowie appears on 11 radio countdowns from 1 station between 2003 and 2014. It was first released in 2003. Its best result is #57 on the CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #451 alternative song of 2003 and #1,598 alternative song of all time.
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"New Killer Star" led David Bowie's Reality into the world in 2003, the first single from his 24th studio album, and its title is a sly pun: say it fast and it's "nuclear star". Bowie wrote it alone and produced it, and the song hums with a wry, wired unease, its lyrics glancing sideways at life in New York after 9/11 without ever spelling it out.
Bowie, who insisted he was no political commentator, admitted there was an abstract nod in it toward what was going wrong in the Middle East, and he called it a fair manifesto for the whole album. The video, directed by Brumby Boylston, told its own surreal story in images like lenticular postcards, with a spaceship nearly smashing into the American heartland. On the B-side, he covered Sigue Sigue Sputnik's "Love Missile F1-11".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 57 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2003 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 1965 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1965 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1952 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2007 | 318 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 334 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 342 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 343 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 347 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 352 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 361 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
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