The greatest David Bowie song as picked by every critic in history
The beauty of David Bowie and his iconic legacy is that every fan you meet will have a different perspective on the songbook that changed an entire musical landscape.
From the breakout alien world of ‘Space Oddity’ right down to the swan song of Blackstar, this was a man whose back catalogue not only altered the face of a generation, but will transcend all those that come in the future as the gift of what real rock music used to be.
Yet, to decide upon his definitively greatest tune is, without doubt, a hard ask, simply because there are so many to choose from. How do you compare ‘Life on Mars’ to ‘Let’s Dance’, or ‘Ashes to Ashes’ to something like ‘Under Pressure’? Quite honestly, it’s an impossible ask. People throw around terms like icon and legend all too easily, but when you consider a discography like Bowie’s, those words are almost not effusive enough in describing the work of an undisputed god.
But as far as his greatest hits go, there has been one glaring omission so far, and it’s for good reason. Everyone knows how much Bowie’s 1970s stint in Germany powered possibly the most prolific part of his career, but there’s no image which cements that more firmly than the two star-crossed lovers dreaming of freedom under the Berlin Wall. At the time, there were fewer messages, more evocative or powerful, and it’s for this reason that the song in question takes the crown jewel in Bowie’s songbook.
It goes without saying that the tune is ‘Heroes’, which is ranked, from a critical perspective, as Bowie’s greatest ever track. You can argue with the wall whether you agree with this ruling yourself, but regardless of anyone’s specific opinion, there’s no denying that the song was set on a world-changing trajectory from the second it hit the airwaves—even if that journey to glory was a bit of a slow burner.
On the surface, ‘Heroes’ is an anthemic celebration of art rock, but digging deeper into the heart of the song reveals that it is perhaps one of Bowie’s best lyrical and literary efforts. Reflecting on the themes of division, unity, naivety and dreams, ‘Heroes’ is not just the tale of two young people falling in love, but all the nascent ambitions and trapdoors that they can fall into along the way, with the singer at the helm as some kind of Shakespearean-esque mouthpiece.
Yet for a song that is now considered his kingpin, and indeed as one of the greatest tunes of all time, its path to universal acclaim wasn’t exactly instantly startling. Upon its release in 1977, ‘Heroes’ only peaked at number 24 in the UK charts, and it wasn’t until much later down the line that it secured its legendary status. Only with charitable spirits electrifying the air at Live Aid were the history books set back on track, and the song happily scored its way into legend from there.
The journey behind ‘Heroes’ as Bowie’s greatest effort is one pretty prophetic of the story of the song itself, taking into account the level of irony and obliviousness that the singer wanted to communicate from its heart. Sure, it may have been reinterpreted over time as some kind of celebratory anthem, but the fact that Bowie still embraced it was, frankly, an act of heroism in itself.
