By 1976, David Bowie had reached both the heights and hazards of fame. The indulgence in stardom and glamour had become sickly, spiraling into instability. Enough was enough, and Bowie upped and moved to West Berlin to escape the malaise and distraction, pledging to save himself from self-destruction and find a new, fresh creative direction.
The music that emerged from this self-imposed exile carried a strong duality that mirrored Bowie’s personal state. It was born from isolation and desperation, yet radiated an optimistic hope. A reflection of a man reaching for the light. Heroes,released on October 14, 1977,accepts inevitable distress in the world, and uses its force to let go of turmoil and embrace the absurd. 48 years later, the record remains profound, a testament to its themes of overcoming struggle.
The Heroism of ‘Heroes’
David Bowie fled America and settled in the peaceful district of Schöneberg, where he lived with Iggy Pop. The change of scenery and culture allowed Bowie to absorb his new influences of Neu! and Kraftwerk, which gave him sharp re-focus and the ability to rediscover a creative purpose. The result of the move was his twelfth studio album, Heroes, the second installment of the “Berlin Trilogy” alongside Low and Lodger.”
Bowie collaborated with Brian Eno and longtime producer Tony Visconti to explore the multitude of textures that synthesis could accomplish in the Hansa Studio 2, in West Berlin. The studio was a former dancehall, and its close proximity of only 500 yards from the Berlin Wall led to having the nickname “Hall by the wall.” In Nicholas Pegg’s 2016 book, The Complete David Bowie, Visconti recalls that from his desk, he could “see three Russian Red Guards looking at us with binoculars, with their Sten guns over their shoulders, and the barbed wire, and I knew that there were mines buried in that wall, and that atmosphere was so provocative and so stimulating and so frightening that the band played with so much energy.”
The Berlin Wall famously inspired the title track, with the story of two lovers meeting to kiss from either side of the wall despite very real physical danger, being the arc of the song. The song’s expression of romance and defiance in the face of division captured the essence of the record perfectly. Heroes carries an essence of optimism through difficulty in its entirety. The record feels apt in its placement in the middle of the “Berlin Trilogy,” symbolizing a transition from despair to renewal. Heroes came at a time when Bowie’s cloud of difficulty seemed to lift and make way for a musical rebirth. And despite Visconti’s tales of chaos, “Moss Garden” captures this really beautifully through its interluding tranquility that reassures the steady growth of hope through the record.
How ‘Heroes’ Became One of Bowie’s Most Iconic Records
The reception of Heroes at the time of release was overwhelmingly positive. Critics described it as “among the most adventurous and notably challenging records yet thrust upon the rock audience,” and NME labeled it as Bowie’s “most moving performance in years.” The review praised his maturity, which stemmed from his personal life but entailed a subsequent artistic growth. But it’s not just the critics that loved it. Fellow musician and visionary Patti Smith praised it as “a cryptic product of a high order of intelligence.” It can’t really get much better than that. Some critics did chime in to say that Heroes felt “disjointed” compared to Low. But that’s part of its charm, is it not? I construe Heroes to be about regaining a sense of liberty in a world that’s disjointed itself, so I think the unshackling of a strict album structure is perhaps what’s ultimately misconstrued as a sense of disjointedness.
Despite the whole record being genuinely sublime, particularly for me the gently hypnotic and underrated “V-2 Schneider,” the title track, “Heroes,” remains as one of Bowie’s most successful hits. It was adopted by team GB in the 2012 Olympics, and has been used in numerous films like Moulin Rouge!, Antitrust, and the 2012 adaptation of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. The latter truly captures a sense of self-discovery, acceptance, and ultimately the victory of love against exterior hardship. The impact of Heroes on the blueprint of alternative music is also just astonishing. The artistic courage and liberation it championed encouraged new wave, and the pragmatic experimentation was a training course of how to commit to synthpop with clarity and without fear.
Nearly 50 years on, Heroes is still timeless. At this time, we are—at least I am—searching for radical optimism rooted in the beauty of chaos and seeking hope within the disorder, instead of interrogation. Bowie’s anthemic record takes listeners on a journey that stems from self-aware learning of environments, thus a genuine sense of freedom. Heroes was a triumph for Bowie personally and artistically, and the intertwining of the two is what gives it so much weight as a record of relief in a destructive time. It’s courageous, encouraging, and uplifting. The thrill we can get from being heroes, even if just for one day, is one that, amazingly, still has so much power.
