1992 to 1999

In 1992 he performed his hit Heroes and Under Pressure (with Annie Lennox) at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. 1993 saw the release of the soul, jazz and hip-hop influenced Black Tie White Noise, which reunited Bowie with Let's Dance producer Nile Rodgers. Though considered by some critics to be musically far superior to Let's Dance, the public was still unsure whether or not it was ready to be receptive of Bowie again. The album, however, met the number one spot on the UK charts with singles such as Jump They Say (a top 10 hit), and Miracle Goodnight.

Undaunted, Bowie explored new directions on albums such as The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), based on incidental music composed for a TV series. The album still contained some of the new elements introduced in Black Tie White Noise, except with more of a twist in the direction of alternative rock. The album's odd success later led to a 1994 re-release in the United States, and Bowie hails it as being an album of entirely his own, original, and newly created work. The album was further re-released in the UK in 2007, after being unavailable for many years, and with fans paying very high prices on eBay for copies.

The ambitious, quasi-industrial release Outside (1995), supposed to be the first volume in a subsequently abandoned non-linear narrative of art and murder, reunited him with Brian Eno. The album introduced the characters of one of Bowie's short stories, and was quite an interesting success. The album put Bowie back into the mainstream scene of rock music with its singles such as The Hearts Filthy Lesson, Strangers When We Meet/The Man Who Sold The World and Hallo Spaceboy. The Hearts Filthy Lesson featured in the closing credits of the movie Seven, while I'm Deranged featured on the soundtrack of David Lynch's Lost Highway.

In September 1995 Bowie began the Outside Tour with Gabrels again joining Bowie as his live band's guitarist. In a move that was equally lauded and ridiculed by Bowie fans and critics, Bowie chose Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails as the tour partner (Trent Reznor also contributed a remix of The Heart's Filthy Lesson for the single release of the track). NIN and Bowie toured as a co-headlining act. Although initially successful, the tour was cancelled early due to poor sales.[citation needed] However, Reznor has gone on record numerous times as being heavily influenced by Bowie. The Outside Tour continued without NIN into Europe until late February 1996, with a further European/Japanese festival tour in summer 1996.

On January 17, 1996, David Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the eleventh annual induction ceremony.

Receiving some of the strongest critical response since Let's Dance, was Earthling (1997), which incorporated experiments in British jungle and drum and bass and included a single released over the Internet, called Telling Lies. There was ultra-sustained energy in this album, along with lesser experiments in techno drum rhythms, while still holding to Bowie's own musical concepts.

Singles such as Little Wonder were the forefront of the album. There was a corresponding world tour, which was fairly successful. Bowie's track in the Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls, I'm Afraid of Americans was remixed by Trent Reznor for a single release. The video's heavy rotation (also featuring Reznor) contributed to Bowie's newfound relevancy in the late 1990s and his overall image restoration.

On January 9, 1997, Bowie played a concert at Madison Square Garden to celebrate his 50th birthday (although his birthday was the previous day). Guest performers included Billy Corgan, Frank Black, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Placebo and Lou Reed whose 1972 album Transformer Bowie co-produced and Mick Ronson.

The 1998 Todd Haynes film Velvet Goldmine drew its title from a Ziggy-era Bowie song and contained many events paralleling Bowie's life on and off stage; the relationship between the two main characters, Curt Wild (played by Ewan McGregor) and Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) was loosely based on that of Iggy Pop and David Bowie during the 1970s. The tagline The rise of a star ... the fall of a legend obviously recalls the name The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, and the film contains numerous references to Bowie's career.

In an interview with the band Placebo, Bowie noted that he liked the story, but the movie felt more like the early 1980s than the early 1970s. He did not permit his own songs to be used in the film when requested, and soon he combated it in a lengthy court case, where Bowie sued to try to stop the film's release due to his offence at the depiction of the Slade character as being vile and opportunistic.