A Classic Song That Still Inspires Today | Heroes (Bowie) & cover by Peter Gabriel | The Daily Doug

[@if6wuzz9]

Fripp did 3 separate takes for this song, told Bowie “one of these should work” and left the studio. They used all 3 takes simultaneously. Brilliant.

[@dmatveev89]

Classic Fripp

[@robertoneill1559]

I heard also that he flew a long distance to get to the studio, had practiced on the plane given what he had on the song and the first track was the one kept. Only thing that was changed was done in editing.

[@AndreasSchoter]

I love Fripp!

[@Jimbowlcoach]

Fripp created Frippertronics to be able to play it live.

[@SuperChaoticus]

One of the brilliant things about Peter Gabriel's orchestral arrangements is his use of the strings as a substitute rhythm section. It's a common theme throughout his career, both studio and live.

[@patrickwalter2277]

Robert Fripp's endlessly sustained guitar notes hooting in the distance, among the rest of the soundscapes, effects and ambiant noise, all supported by the unstoppable rythmic machine moving on and on. Timeless

[@darrellminx5459]

Heros is a timeless masterpiece.It's about time someone figured it out that this is a song for any time in history especially now. I give you credit Doug. Means alot for survival of music and man. If you really get it it will drive you to tears.

[@clairedouglas6145]

It is such a powerful song on so many levels

[@Frankincensedjb123]

Bowie and Gabriel, two of my favorite singers and one of my favorite songs. Those soaring, sustaining guitar lines. Then Peter making his version so Gabriel. Excellence

[@jeffreypbrown4729]

Those guitars are primo

[@Tonyblack261]

I'm a fan of Philip Glass and love his 4th Symphony "Heroes Symphony" based upon this song.

[@MikeKiker]

One of the few artists whose death made me cry. Especially the first time I listened to this song after his death. Every listen absolutely moves me every time.

[@clairedouglas6145]

Blackstar was an amazing epitaph - especially if you watch the video. His creative power, right up to the end was unbelievable

[@renepeterse1884]

The buildup with Bowie going overboard with his vocals is cruell and brilliant. It grabs you by the balls

[@Doggeslife]

I believe Heroes became more popular as live performances of it were seen. Truly, the live versions are best with many of his songs. He's far more enjoyable live than in the studio, a rare and wonderful trait considering how great the studio stuff is.

[@lavachevolante]

I agree with that, particularly with Heroes (and many others)

[@peccatumDei]

I remember this getting airplay in 1977. It's been one of my favorite songs by Bowie ever since.

[@grahamhowes6904]

Both versions amazing - especially Fripp’s guitar. Peter Gabriel reinterprets it brilliantly. Please do also see Peter Gabriel’s interpretation of MY BODY IS A CAGE the Arcade Fire song. It is extraordinary and the orchestral arrangements are to die for. Peter doesn’t read so used a colour coded system and discovered that a chunk of the orchestra were following his chart in preference to the score!

[@arpeggioblues5924]

I am a little biased.. I love David Bowie, but Peter Gabriel has a voice that just strikes a chord in my soul.. always has

[@alansturgess1324]

Totally agree. I wonder if Doug has ever looked at tracks off 'Security'? If not, that should be in his 'To Do' list. In PG's voice I find a mixture of fragility and strength, often both at the same time. (I'm also biased as I'm a long-time fan of PG)

[@abeperez25]

I take both Peter and David

[@thenomadicpen]

As an artist, PG has loved Bowie's work for his entire career. He and some of the members of Genesis were huge fans of Bowie's record, Hunky Dory. So this tribute to DB and this song has a deep rooted respect that comes over to the listener in powerful fashion. I love both versions very much, and PG really made a crusher version that makes the nose sting and the eyes leak. And I'll point out that his tribute had this powerful effect while Bowie was still alive, but now it's a leveling feeling that leaves us fans in a puddle of tears.

[@heitstrengning]

David Bowie's Heroes has always had such a special place in my heart and in the soundtrack of life (thanks Geebz). It's one of those songs that transcends the mundane. But, watching Stranger Things back in 2016 and hearing Peter Gabriel's version for the very first time was something else. What a cover. What a song. Now I don't even know which version I prefer anymore.

[@jaco944]

That episode for me is one of the most impactful marrying of film and music I’ve ever seen.

[@jonwatchesnyc8777]

What a wonderful song to cover, and I am so glad you included Peter Gabriel’s cover; he brings a different and extraordinary emotion to the piece. As an additional point of background, there is an adjacent interpretation of the song, identifying its theme as the struggle to confront magical thinking with clear-eyed reality. It gives the song a very different and darker mood, but still inspiring in its way, and not exclusive of the ideas you’ve identified. Peter Gabriel’s version, with its alternatively ordered lyrics and emphasis, makes this a bit clearer. Thank you as always for these wonderful videos

[@doctormojo]

I saw King Crimson play this as one of their encore songs at a show (awesome!). Fair enough, as Robert Fripp is on the original.

[@robertoneill1559]

The atmosphere that Fripp created .. really pulled the room together.

[@melissayost4888]

I can think of no one better than Peter to cover Heroes. The song has Always inspired me & I shiver every time I hear it. It’s so simple but builds passionately, pleading, screaming we can be Heroes. Pure genius.

[@kobayashiMaroo]

other than the above mentioned Adrian Belew, who toured as Mr. Bowie's guitarist and backing singer several times. No one loves and admires Mr. Gabriel more than I do, but Mr. Belew is sure to have some special insight into what made Mr. Bowie "tick" having played "Heroes" on stage with Mr. Bowie (and I love the goofy grins on Mr. Bowie's face while he watches Ade shred that stratocaster a few feet away from him) so many times.

[@mangasky7]

The greatest rock song ever composed and sung by the greatest rock star of all time.

[@martydehart3849]

I've always loved Bowie's original version. But my god, with Peter Gabriel's, I had a huge frisson when the orchestra swelled, and I openly was weeping by halfway through.

[@rafaelaguilera6026]

Yeah! David was inside the Studio when the kiss happen❤❤❤. Brilliant song! And Peter Gabriel sang like a God! Wonderful! Thank you boths!😊😊

[@jeffmartin1026]

The reason recordings from the 1970s sound so good is that they were recorded analog/tape and that the editing/production equipment had reached a peak. The Peter Gabriel version gave me chills - thank you.

[@NewBritainStation]

When Fripp would come into a session like this, he would often perform without hearing the track first. In this case he recorded one take, and Tony (and maybe Brian and David, I don’t recall), weren’t sure it was the one. Robert asked them for a second take, without listening to the first while he recorded it. He then recorded a third take. Tony blended the three takes together, and they are drastically different from each other, but blended into that magical part. Many folks think it was done with an eBow, an electronic device that keeps the guitar string vibrating. But it wasn’t. Just Fripp and a very loud Les Paul Custom. He measured and marked distances from the amp where it would feedback certain notes. I recall reading he was seated (as usual) and could roll to where it would feedback. Here’s Tony playing parts from the master tape, including bits of all three of Robert’s guitar tracks: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYKVpJaGp8hkjac

[@XFLexiconMatt]

The whole "Heroes" album as well as "Low" album are fascinating listens and highly recommended.

[@glyngasson8450]

And they were released within 6 months of each other!!!

[@sebtech13]

I would love to see a video of you covering Peter Gabriel’s Blood of Eden, San Jacinto or Wallflower. That would be so great.

[@mikedagostino6671]

I would love that as well, I would add BIKO

[@timmyr345]

PG is amazing. I wouldn’t mind a review if the entire Passion soundtrack.

[@nebhoteproville]

I'd add the last part of "PG1" with "Waiting for The Big One", "Down the Dolce Vita" and" Here Comes the Flood" :D

[@0far0from0sanity]

Oh yes blood of Eden please 😍

[@neilmartin99]

The use of this song at the end of the film, JoJo Rabbit, is masterful to say the least.

[@memelordmark7532]

I was introduced to this song through a cover version performed by Blondie with a guest appearance by Fripp that appeared on a 12" single British import. I heard the Bowie version a few years later. 😎

[@breakdancinfool]

Peter Gabriel's classical version of "Listening Wind" by Talking Heads reaches directly into your heart, and paints the most vivid mental pictures! Peter's whole "Scratch my Back and Ill Scratch Yours"/"Live Blood" album is a masterpiece in every way, with just brilliant and unexpected classical arrangements.

[@theanonymice5382]

That Peter Gabriel version.. wow.. I'd never heard that before. I didn't want it to stop. And talk about the relevance to today.. crikey. 'The shame is on the other side.. we can beat them.. we can be Heroes just for one day' From his mouth to God's ears.

[@rodneygriffin7666]

Great song. Great video. Yes, we can be heroes. Try to love one another right now.

[@clairedouglas6145]

It is the fragility of it that gets me - "We're nothing and nothing can help us. Maybe we're lying; then you'd better not stay. But we could be safer, just for one day"

[@kevindahl-skog7992]

My favorite cover of this song is done by King Crimson with Adrian Belew on vocals. Adrian gives so much power to this song, I'm sure you would love it.

[@frankeberhardt]

It's really great.

[@Jimbowlcoach]

Best band ever in my opinion!

[@littlemouse7066]

since you are a classic composer Philip Glass made two symphonies from the Low and Heroes albums in the 90s called Low Symphony and Heroes symphony they are very interesting and a great homage to Bowie (Glass and Bowie were friendly). by the way Bowie sang this song at the concert for the victims of 9/11 in NY (where he lived) short time after that terrible event with a public of firefighters and police officers. there is a video recording of that event.

[@oscardiggs246]

Doug, I’m blaming you for the fact that I’ve been obsessed with Bowie for the last several weeks since you did this review. So thanks.👏👏👏

[@dongargon763]

The peak of analogue recording equipment was in the 70s ,tape saturation ,the compressors and the desks of the time along with amazing engineers and musicians that really knew their craft ,music had dynamics and depth ,no autotune or protools 😂

[@jakemaattanen]

Love the Mercury Tribute version with Ziggy and Spider guitarits Ronson reuniting on stage after all those years from ” the last show we’ll ever do”.

[@TK-fk4po]

I always felt that heroes pulled so much from the velvet underground sound especially that underlying rhythm section/beat.

[@davorzmaj753]

I came here to say that! That groove is right out of "Waiting For The Man". Here are David Bowie and Lou Reed singing it together in a blistering live version: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWW5douiadump5Y

[@Elvin_Pelvin]

That is because Bowie based this on "Waiting For The Man" - Bowie was obsessed with the velvet underground.

[@TK-fk4po]

@@Elvin_Pelvin Yes. I think he once claimed to be the first person to ever cover a velvet underground song.

[@Elvin_Pelvin]

@@TK-fk4po I was trying to find an extract from an article relating an infamous (possibly apocryphal) incident to copy here but I can't find it - so to paraphrase (or para-quote para-reference whatever) - Bowie was in New York circa 1970 / 71? and went to see a VU gig - he was elated to have engaged Lou Reed in conversation after the gig - only later to realise that Lou Reed had already left the band and that it was actually Doug Yule with whom he had conversed.

[@TK-fk4po]

@@Elvin_Pelvin Lol. Yes I think Lou left in early 70’.

[@sergioteixeira9405]

Thank you for the great content! The microfone details are revealing and, for me, they fit perfectly the way I think about the song (Bowie is awesome ). I also heard someone talking about the growing dissonance throughout the song, that it could represent the despair situation that turns one into a hero (heroes rising to the task in desperate moments - so current). I think of a couple in east Berlin ready to say goodbye facing a separation that seemed permanent at the time. In the beginning of the song, using the closest mic, they were still together, dreaming of impossible ways to remain a couple, but confronting the reality (the powers that would separate them). Later in the song (one is in the west and the other in the east), David’s voice is further way and with a dissonance that make you feel the loss. At this point he remembers the kiss by the wall that felt like a last kiss (like nothing could fall ). In the end of the song, more dissonance, voice further way (they are maybe apart by distance and time), they no longer can be heroes, they just ‘could’ be. To finish in a better note, he returns to ‘we can be heroes’ maybe indicating that we cannot change the past but we can learn from it. Very sad, beautiful, inspirational song. Can’t help thinking about the couples (families) separated in Ukraine…

[@simianmoonstudios]

Phillip Glass composed an entire collection of Bowie and Eno's Berlin songs. It's amazing!

[@ericclaptonslowhand4726]

Wow idk

[@bobfoale3000]

Philip Glass’s first Symphony used elements of Low in the composition and the 4th similarly used Heroes

[@user-uf5qu5bg6e]

Thank you for your honest perspective of this song 🎵 I do hope you explore more of this genius’s work!

[@acidrockpro]

I got home to late again for live, but I'm watching right now! Great song pick, Doug! You and your fans always find stuff that's awesome, ofcourse, but THIS ONE; SO NEEDED TODAY! This one is for the entire Earth!👏👏👏 We ALL need Heros to inspire us to help others. Even in 2022!💜💜💜

[@Doug.Helvering]

We can all be heroes ❤️

[@SvenGold]

im germand and i had the honor to see Peter perform his Version in 2014 live in Berlin at the "25th anniversary of the downfall of the berlin wall party". I cried the whole time while singing along!. It was a magical night. They had a line of brightly lit up balloons that traced a 15-kilometre stretch of the former berlin wall and all 7000 balloons were released into the air at the end of the show.

[@endlessrage4062]

Bowie really was a unique individual. Such a deep and soulful guy and his vision was unreal. His predictions of the internet back in ‘99 were truly prophetic. Love his music so much, it would be fantastic to hear you check out more of his. ⚡️⚡️🙏🏻

[@Thommy_B]

Pure magic from Gabriel, y’all

[@planktonrecords]

There’s a brilliant 15 min video with Toni Visconti the producer in a studio and he shows how the original Bowie track was recorded, built up and constructed. V insightful and enlightening. Check it out on KZbin

[@paulboudreau8841]

I geeked out on this one about 3 years ago. I love when Tony says he wants to mix it again.

[@mikelmart]

If it weren't for Robert Fripps guitar that song would not have gone as far as it has.

[@Thommy_B]

He actually got writing credit after litigation

[@richardlovell4713]

It never surprises me that the bit of Bowie’s oeuvre I appreciate most is the stuff he did with Brian Eno, a musician and composer who deserves deep exploration.

[@JoriDiculous]

Berlin era Bowie is amazing. Low, Heros, and the 3rd Lodger (no one heard of). Low is an amazing album. You cant go wrong when the inspiration comes from German bands like Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Harmonia and Kraftwerk :) Low and Heros album and the Heros track really got a push forward with it being the Soundtrack of the Christiane F movie. (Christiane F Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo Soundtrack. Great album.)

[@Psychprogrock]

Lodger is my favorite Bowie album ever. Yassassin, Look Back in Anger, Red Sails, Fantastic Voyage... I'll never get tired of it.

[@ththejackjumper]

King Crimson does a great Heroes cover as well, but of course we know about what they feel about people doing reactions to them....

[@estroncio1959]

don't forget Fripp plays "that guitar" on this original recording

[@WoutervanJoolingen]

True, and that is really too bad.

[@ththejackjumper]

@@estroncio1959 He does, and Crimson's version is pretty close to David Bowie's so I like the choice of Peter Gabriel here

[@gradypatterson1948]

Best way to do reactions to later King Crimson is to react to covers by Adrian Belew or Tony Levin's Stick Men :-)

[@clairedouglas6145]

I have no idea what King Crimson feel about people's reactions to them. Please spill the beans.

[@rikfroschauer1743]

The 70"s didn't rely on computers, no Protools, no Autotune, no grids, just talent and ingenuity.

[@avrilwynnedavies]

Yes, I am bopping along.

[@juliem6696]

Thanks for doing this one!

[@clairedouglas6145]

Thank you so much for including this classic. This is a song that has been very important to me for a very long time and I probably need to apologise at the start for what I suspect is going to be a bit of a long and rambling response, but hopefully some of it may be of interest to some one! First though, a quick point about the different single and album versions of the song. The single chops off the first two verses (diving straight into the third "dolphin" verse) and also misses some of the drama of the finale - "We are nothing and nothing can help us. Maybe we are lying; then you'd better not stay. But we could be safer, just for one day" - and personally I think it is a much weaker song as a result. I just mention that, because Peter Gabriel is performing the single version and the "is that it?" element of your response is pretty much my response whenever I hear the single version! Peter Gabriel has taken the trouble to bring together arrangement of this beautiful classic, the orchestral arrangement is lovely and his presence in the performance is, as so often with him, mesmerising. But he only gives us half a song! I probably first heard this song about three years after it came out when I was an impressionable teenager. My brother's girlfriend had a copy of the album and I think that I was knocked out by this track the first time I heard it. I was learning how to play guitar at the time and I was amazed when I saw it in a music book and realised that it had simple chords that even I could play. I have played it ever since and as I have done so, my understanding and interpretation of it has changed. I agree with all of the things that you say about it but I also think it has many layers to it (in particular, as so often, Bowie's lyrics are multi-layered and I suspect bring together a lot of themes that were going around in that incredibly brilliant brain at the time). It is open to many different interpretations - which is probably why there are so many covers. At the moment, I tend to focus on the tender, fragile beauty of the two lovers, which I think gives us a beautiful "doomed love" theme. And that is where I would like to add a personal theory about the lovers. I have heard several different versions of the story of the lovers, including the Tony Visconti one, and the first one was that they were two gay men, who came from different sides of the wall. I think that the power of it is that it is such a universal image that it doesn't matter. The point is that their love is real, but fragile and possibly doomed. And that brings me to wonder about something which was going on in Bowie's life at the time, which is his relationship with a transwoman called Romy Haag, who is often described as his "muse" and whose cabaret act he brought into the video for his Berlin period single Boys Keep Swinging. There are a few places in the Berlin work where there are hints of the sorrow of a doomed relationship (for example the deep sadness of his Low single "Be My Wife"). I wonder whether, as well as their universal meaning, the lovers partly symbolise David and Romy and what, in the context of the 1970s, was a doomed love. If so, there are fascinating parallels to the tender love themes of Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby (inspired by another transwoman - Rachel Humpreys). If so, then amongst all of its other many meanings, Heroes may have a place amongst Bowie's impressive array of trans-anthems, up there with Rebel Rebel. If so, then for me as a transwoman that definitely underlines his position as one of our "Heroes".

[@beamer.electronics]

Given the situation we all find ourselves in today - this is the song (Peter Gabriels' version for me), of this moment and is very emotional. All the best from Devon UK, Beamer.

[@caesarflickerman9880]

Really enjoyed this and have thought of this song in the context of today's events. Glad to see someone with better writing thought the same. I really enjoyed playing my bass along with this tonight!

[@emjem99]

Goosebumps at the end of PG's cover.

[@tamazil31]

Definitely one of my favorite Bowie songs. Hard to pick a favorite though.

[@clairedouglas6145]

More or less impossible to pick - there are so many

[@antrimlariot2386]

U have no idea how well regarded that song was in its time. (1977) Music was our oxygen, our currency in those days. We each knew sh*t from shinola when when we heard it.

[@mcolville]

The Gabriel version takes everything implicit in the original and makes it explicit.

[@rk41gator]

Peter sure knows how to get to the essence of lyrics and create a dramatic backdrop to the message. Gabriel brings gravitas and an earnestness that makes this song what we need today. (too short, yes)

[@kurtsandstrom5716]

I was drinking Old Crow and smoking Slap Wagon, as I watched. I love you, man.

[@simianmoonstudios]

David Bowie changed my life.

[@marthaworc7873]

We have Gabriel's spin on the song and an orchestra -- I can't imagine a better cover!

[@wendyt7958]

Just awesome how the same song can be interpreted in such different ways and sound equally wonderful

[@nstrug]

I’ve always loved this song of course but the sheer power of it hit me during the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. It was played during the GB team walk on, the team walked on last as they were the host team and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the stadium. It’s worth watching on KZbin.

[@dennisapplegate7553]

Fripp used a 100 watt Marshall turned on 10 and had it in the control room . Remember this was before sustainers were invented .So he used feedback . It was so loud Fripp said he used cottonballs and a pair of headphones for ear protection.

[@thembill8246]

Yeah, didn't Fripp help invent the eBow?

[@dennisapplegate7553]

@@thembill8246 not sure , I know he worked with Fernandez to help develop their sustainer.

[@docnflossie7351]

He went to 11!

[@dennisquinn7729]

When the German version is played at the end of JoJo Rabbit, I am not ashamed to say the tears welled up with joy...

[@grife3000]

I didn't think that anything would outclass its use in "Perks of Being a Wallflower". I was pleased to be wrong.

[@michaelfrank2266]

The year this album came out I was in a helicopter tipped up on its side looking down on East German guards and their dogs. Love this song and this album.

[@AkairuNoAme]

To add one more to all these great covers: Apocalyptica and Lindemann. It's a beautifully arranged, an emotional rollercoaster, ranging from both Till's vocal vulnerability to justified anger. They translated the lyrics to German, making it all the more fitting, and to top it off, Lindemann, being from East Germany, makes you understand just how much he knows about what this is song is about.

[@SeamusKeleher]

Peter Gabriel sings powerful songs, I love this one, and Red Rain, and San Jacinto!

[@simonspeak9288]

You’re right about 70s production quality and part of the reason has to be the need to get creative in the studio to solve problems. Necessity being the mother of invention, Visconti only had one track left for the lead vocals, so he invented that recording technique. Setting up three mics in the hall, one for Bowie to sing directly into, a second about 15’ away and the third even further back. As you said, he put gates on the second and third mics set to open as Bowie sang progressively louder. Nowadays there’s a plug-in called Tverb to replicate it, but to my mind, making the singer sing louder adds a distinct emotional quality.

[@clairedouglas6145]

I think that your point about 1970s production is spot on. At the time it was easy to miss it (because most of us couldn't afford to play music on anything good enough to hear it properly) but production from that era is always way better than the stuff we get these days (which sounds like it has been phoned in).

[@simonspeak9288]

@@clairedouglas6145 I was listening to I Feel Love by Donna Summer thru headphones the other day and couldn’t believe how good it sounded for 1977. There’s a whole fascinating Wikipedia entry talking about how Giorgio Moroder and the other producers did it.

[@clairedouglas6145]

@@simonspeak9288 thank you for that. I just checked out the wiki article and it is fascinating. I love the idea that Brian Eno/ David Bowie and Giorgio Moroder/ Diana Ross were looking at very similar ideas of where music could go at the same time. One of my favourite early experiments with Moogs is Pink Floyd's On the Run from Dark SIde of the Moon.

[@simonspeak9288]

@@clairedouglas6145 This too. Joyful. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIisY39nnJxpgMk

[@als81940]

Best Bowie song ever. I always believed that the bulk of the song is inspirational, to an extent. But also have other thoughts on it. If you note the rising emotional tone of each verse, it almost seems like he's realizing that love might not conquer all, as with the guns above our heads line. That if him and the girl he's falling for will be killed if they go over the wall to one side or the other to be together. The last verse seems like he's backing out to be "safer". Kind of a "pull the rug out from under the listener" moment right at the end. Just some stray thoughts on it.

[@yvrkid7070]

I have a different version that starts with the dolphin verse. I love this song and still listen to it all the time. My favourite live version is David singing it at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert with Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson accompanying him. Magic.

[@clairedouglas6145]

The single version is an edited down version which misses out the first two verses and starts with the third (dolphin) verse. It also edits out the last verse or so (which I think is the most powerful part of the song). It sounds as though you have the single version, which is on quite a few Bowie compilations. Without knocking that version, it is worth hearing the full version from the album.

[@TheCorrectAnswer56]

Peter is smart. He knows if he did a standard cover it would always be compared to the original. Not a good idea to cover a classic tune like that. Gabriel made it uniquely his own. First heard Peters version as the end credits of a movie called Lone Survivor. Very moving.

[@davidknizner3773]

Bowie was always ahead of the curve!

[@devoidreality7252]

I graduated HS in ‘77 and loved it when it came out. I was into Bowie before Genesis but not before King Crimson. I was also into Roxy Music before Genesis. Interesting how members of all have been involved here in one way or another.

[@sagitt1856]

Peter Gabriel's version is literally heavenly but, and I agree with you on this point, it is unfortunately much too short... even giving the impression of being unfinished. But regardless, the version is transcendent! Thank you, Master Helvering.

[@clairedouglas6145]

It is short because it is based on the single version, not the album version.

[@sagitt1856]

@@clairedouglas6145 Thanks for the information.

[@if6wuzz9]

Thanks Doug! Another great one by Bowie. I’m looking forward to Steven Wilson’s surround remix of Robert Fripp’s solo album “Exposure” due out soon. It is a mind blower. Guitarist extraordinaire. Keep up the fantastic reviews!

[@AlanOnBass65]

As much as I love the title track, I'd give anything to hear that new mix!

[@if6wuzz9]

It will be interesting to hear SW’s take with the vocals from Terry Roche. She truly nailed the primal scream (followed by her “ha” knowing so).

[@timo184]

Beautiful!!

[@Russell_G]

Hell yeah....Bopping along in the UK, great Video Doug....and Peter Gabriel as a bonus.....perfect!!!!

[@sjoerdrijpkema9197]

This studio in Berlin was called the Hansa studio's. And some other famous albums were recorded there. Songwise f.e. 'One' by U2 and also 'Lust for life' by Iggy Pop. For the latter they used the natural echo of one of the huge ballrooms to record the drums on this song.

[@ralfmeyer9086]

OMG , Peter do it so amazing

[@sjoerdrijpkema9197]

In Holland Heroes was a hit from the beginning with a memorable cool performance in the popular Dutch tv program TopPop.

[@claudebuhler4566]

Thank you, for your work and also for your words.

[@laserfloyd]

At the end of Stranger Things S1 E3 (I think?) they play this song and holy moly. Talk about yanking on the heartstrings. I love the original but that Peter Gabriel version has some serious power. Also, yes, we need this right now. I wish everyone could take a little puff, pass it around, and listen to good music. We'd all get along so well. 😊

[@robertkramer2271]

My favorite version of "Heroes" is the version Bowie did at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert with the members of Queen.

[@crh4878]

And the great Mick Ronson on guitar!

[@kasperkjrsgaard1447]

A Mick Ronson who was struggling with cancer during the time of the concert.

[@badlloyd]

yes I'm bopping!

[@copiedoffme]

Thanks for this Doug.

[@feedingravens]

I am surprised that the movie "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" is not mentioned, that was and enormous success, based on the real life story of a 14-year old girl that had become heroin addict with 14 and drifted off into prostitution, but survived. The whole soundtrack consisted of Bowie songs, incl. 'Heroes', sung live on stage, partly in german. A movie so powerful in its tristesse, desperation and horrendous scenes that it got its own strange aesthetics of doom.

[@rogerwitte]

Robert Fripp put a speaker in one corner of the studio and used masking tape to mark out positions for each note that he could get from the guitar feedback through the speaker and then he moved around to the marks to get that wailing guitar feedback melody.

[@abeperez25]

That Robert fripp guitar it's amazing

[@lisahowe84]

Please explore Rush "The Trees." To me, any great song should be able to stand alone as a poem by itself. This song is a wonderful example of that and the music matches the lyrics.

[@JamesRedekop]

The last few bars of the Peter Gabriel cover had a strong Steve Reich feel...

[@charlesrae3793]

I have alway said that if an alien came up to me and asked for the best music that humans have produced, this would be near the top of the list, along with the last movement of Beethoven's 9th. The way the music builds up, Bowie's emotional singing, the sentiments, everything makes this a classic.

[@kevinrombouts3027]

Thanks Doug. I loved your musings. Great, great song. Gabriel's version is so different, so unique.

[@TomReilly483]

I actually became very fond of "heroes" because of the movie "the perks of being a wallflower". Having Emma Watson obsess about this song made me want to hear it again and again!

[@aka.Mr.French]

trivia note: my understanding is Fripp's sustained notes here are achieved solely by distortion box for color and controlled feedback for sustain... and that's it. I believe they put marks on the studio floor so he'd know where to sit for different notes' sustain. Now he uses a Fernandes Sustainer pickup for sustain like this (his primary guitars have one in the neck position), but back then that pickup didn't exist. (The eBow did, but was fairly new, and not used on Heroes)

[@kevbidgood]

A stunning cover and fantastic orchestration. So much forward motion! Glorious.

[@imanointedone1]

I have scanned through most of the comments and cannot see this listed. The mix that Aphex Twin did, combining Bowie with Philip Glass' orchestral version. Really well worth a listen.

[@guitarchannel5676]

Excellent points about the tremendous sound quality of recordings from the 1970's. Something I notice from not only Bowie's albums from that time but many artists/bands is that they shifted to different studios and went for different approaches based-on listening to other albums from bands they liked. While I imagine this certainly goes on still, now artists/bands seem to find more of a zone and stay within it. Also, digital recordings have really impacted studio sound quality and dynamics in a very negative way, along with squashed drums and 'tinker toy' keyboard tones.

[@garrybenge1992]

Thankyou for exploring this song for us in this time. I would like to add an Australian icon John Farnham with the song "The Voice" another anthem for this troubled time that would be good to explore.

[@XFLexiconMatt]

You really should listen Peter Gabriel's studio version when he did unique covers of other people's songs.