Despite his artistic legacy as a skilled appropriator always a step ahead of where pop music was moving next, or at least had moved in the recent past, the last time he was really chasing new trends was 1997’s Earthling, an electronic album equally influenced by jungle music beats and Nine Inch Nail’s style of industrial radio pop. “I’m Afraid of Americans” was a Buzz Clip-era MTV staple, due to this video’s menacingly hammy Trent Reznor performance, and a song that holds up pretty well beyond its era-appropriateness. It’s maybe a little more relevant than we even want it to be. No one needs to be reminded that we haven’t gotten our whole out-of-control gun violence thing settled as a country.
Yes