10 Most Underrated David Bowie Albums

At the start of the '90s, there was no real need for David Bowie to keep giving us more artistic reinventions. With the creation of the Thin White Duke, Major Tom, and Ziggy Stardust, he had already built up enough personas to remain a permanent fixture in rock music until the end of time. However, Earthling showed that the king of artistic rock had not abandoned us just yet.

Doubling down on the electronic bent he started with on Outside, Earthling is where Bowie drenches his music in a synthetic haze. Recorded in collaboration with other industrial acts like Nine Inch Nails, this is probably one of the most caustic records of Bowie's career, where different synthetic noise is interspersed with drum and bass music at the drop of a hat. What's even crazier is the fact that it actually worked, with I'm Afraid of Americans actually becoming a modest hit with a guest appearance from Trent Reznor.

Despite having a fairly solid reputation among Bowie's discography, many people tend to see this as a loose end in the Bowie pantheon, as if it's just a segue between a few other classics. Even if people just see his discography with rose-colored glasses, Earthling is the one dark and dour note that showed Bowie was ahead of the curve even when out of the spotlight.