Actors - "Heroes"

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	Actors - "Heroes"

”Heroes” is a song written by David Bowie together with Brian Eno in 1977. It was recorded that year in Berlin, produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and released both as a single and as the title track of the album "Heroes"
. Though not a huge hit at the time, the song has gone on to become one of Bowie’s signature tunes and is well-known today for its appearance in numerous advertisements.

The title of the song is a reference to the 1975 track "Hero" by the band Neu!, whom Bowie and Eno admired. The quote marks in the title, a deliberate affectation, impart an ironic quality on the otherwise highly romantic, even triumphant, words and music. A product of Bowie's fertile 'Berlin' period, life in the city was crystallized into the simple tale of two lovers who come together in the shadow of the 'Wall of Shame' (though here "the shame was on the other side"). Producer Tony Visconti took credit for inspiring the image of the lovers kissing "by the wall", when he and backing vocalist Antonia Maass did just that in front of Bowie as he looked out of the Hansa Studio window .

The music, co-written by Bowie and Eno, has - appropriately given its setting - been likened to a Wall of Sound production, an undulating juggernaut of guitars, percussion and synthesizers. The basic backing track on the recording consists of a conventional arrangement of piano, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. However the remaining instrumental additions are highly distinctive. These largely consist of synthesizer parts by Eno using an EMS VCS3 to produce detuned low-frequency drones, with the beat-frequencies from the three oscillators producing a juddering effect. In addition, King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp generated an unusual sustained sound by allowing his guitar to feed back, and standing at different positions in the room to alter the pitch of the feedback. Tony Visconti rigged up a system of three microphones to capture the epic vocal, with one microphone 9 inches from Bowie, one 20 feet away and one 50 feet away. Only the first was opened for the quieter opening vocals, with the first and second opening on the louder passages, and all three on the loudest parts, creating progressively more reverb and ambience on the louder parts.

"Heroes" was released in a variety of languages and lengths (see Other releases below). In contrast to the bewildering audio situation, the video clip (directed by Nick Ferguson) was a stark and simple affair, the singer captured performing the song in what appeared to be a single take with multiple cameras, swaying in front of a spotlight that created a monotone and near-silhouette effect. Despite a large promotional push, including Bowie’s first Top of the Pops appearance since 1972, "Heroes" only reached #24 in the UK charts, and failed to make the US Billboard Top 100.

In February 1999, Q Magazine listed "Heroes" as one of the 100 greatest singles of all time as voted by the readers. To the consternation of many fans, the song has also become a mainstay of advertising in recent years, gracing efforts by Microsoft, Kodak, CGU Insurance and various sporting promoters throughout the world. It was used as the intro to the Sony Playstation game NHL in 1998.

Track listing

# "Heroes" (Bowie, Eno) – 3:32 # "V-2 Schneider" (Bowie) – 3:10

Production credits

Producers:
* Tony Visconti
* David Bowie

Musicians:
* David Bowie
: Vocals, Guitar, Saxophone, Keyboards
* Robert Fripp: Lead Guitar
* Carlos Alomar: Rhythm Guitar
* George Murray
: Bass
* Dennis Davis
: Drums
* Brian Eno: Synthesizer

Live versions

A live version recorded on the Heroes tour at the Philadelphia Spectrum, April 28-29, 1978, was released on the live album Stage
.
It was performed to great acclaim at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 by the remaining members of Queen, Mick Ronson, and Bowie on vocals.
An acoustic version of the song was played at The Bridge Benefit Concert in 1996, and later released on The Bridge Benefit Concert album.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for "Heroes" (song) ]

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