“Slow Burn” by David Bowie

"Slow Burn" was the lead single from Heathen, David Bowie's 23rd studio album, issued on Columbia on June 3, 2002, and it came with a ringer on board: Pete Townshend on guitar. Bowie produced it with Tony Visconti, who also played bass and sang backing vocals, while Bowie handled keyboards and lead vocals, Sterling Campbell drummed, Kristeen Young added piano and vocals, and Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison and Steve Elson made up a three-piece sax section.

The music reaches straight back to Bowie's '70s records, "'Heroes'" above all, and plenty of reviewers heard the September 11 attacks in it, a reading Bowie denied. Critics mostly liked it, Townshend's playing especially, and it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, though the single itself only came out in Europe and Japan.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.