Album release: “Heroes”

David Bowie’s 12th studio album, “Heroes”, was released on 14 October 1977.

“Heroes” was the second part of the so-called ‘Berlin trilogy’ made with Tony Visconti and Brian Eno, and the only one of the three to be fully recorded in the German city.

The album peaked at number three in the UK and the Netherlands, reaching number six in Australia, and going top twenty in Austria, France, New Zealand, and Sweden. In the US it was less successful, going no further than number 35.

It was backed by a strong promotional campaign from RCA, which used the slogan “There’s New Wave, there’s Old Wave, and there’s David Bowie.” The statement cleverly positioned Bowie as in a class of his own, creating timeless music untouched by prevailing fashions.

Bowie undertook one of his biggest promotional campaigns since the heights of glam rock, submitting himself for a spate of television, radio, and press interviews and photo shoots. On 20 October he explained to the Melody Maker’s Allan Jones why he was now so keen to promote his music, in contrast to the muted fanfare for Low.

The only reason I’ve decided to do these interviews is to prove my belief in the album. Both Low and “Heroes” have been met with confused reactions. That was to be expected, of course. But I didn’t promote Low at all, and some people thought my heart wasn’t in it.

This time I wanted to put everything into pushing my new album. I believe in the last two albums, you see, more than anything I have done before. I mean I look back on a lot of my earlier work, and although there’s much that I appreciate about it, there is not a great deal that I actually like. I don’t think they are very likeable albums at all.

There is a lot more heart and emotion in Low, and especially the new album. And, if I can convince people of that, I’m prepared to be stuck in this room on the end of a conveyor belt of questions that I’ll do my best to answer.