When he came up with his now classic song ‘Heroes,’ maybe David Bowie didn’t have in mind his or anybody else’s musical heroes. But, German guitarist extraordinaire and at the time member of Neu! gave an indication that Bowie might have been inspired by Neu!’s song ‘Hero,’ in some or other form, from their album Neu! 75, something that Bowie seems to have said to them himself when he was discussing possible cooperation.
No matter what, Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ simply turned into a pure classic and inspiration to generations of other artists, who both followed in his steps, and also took another (sometimes completely different) direction.
Whether any of the following artists are on the track to become some sort of musical heroes, either to other artists or their listeners, well, as they often say (maybe too often) - time will tell.
Bad Bad Hats - 9 AM
Like thousands of other artists, Minneapolis duo Bad Bad Hats try their best to combine early Velvet Underground and some unabashed pop. Here they have great success with that.
Gramercy Arms - Yesterday’s Girl
NYC’s Gramercy Arms also have no problem starting off with a pop melody, adding some nifty harmonies and power pop touches (with not that much power). Works quite well, though.
Lauren Morrow - Only Nice When I’m High
More (good) pop, this time leaning towards country, although not sure how this one will go through on country radio with this title and lyrics. Should go through, on any radio.
Mieko Shimizu - John’s House
This one has more to do with Bowie than any of the above, moving into more experimental territory, while still retaining a good melody line. It also came from ‘Write To Be’ EP where Shimizu and other artists tried to raise money for a homeless charity.
Lovebreakers - Spark
When this track starts out, with its guitar riff, you might get the impression it is a tribute to the late great Tom Verlaine, still, it develops into other directions, actually going in a few other ones, but still retains its (good) core.
Bring Prudence - Bonfire
Many are still denigrating the nineties, but Oleh Zaychenko seems to have had quite a good listen to some of the best of the nineties - Neutral Milk Hotel and Elliot Smith, bringing good traits of both here.
The Belwether Syndicate - We All Rise
From the nineties a step back into the eighties, not in quality though. Starts as out as either Echo & The Bunnymen and/or Cure tribute and then moves into more (heavy) metal territory, but with no jarring effects.
Bonner Rhae - Forwarding Address
You need to have a great voice, as Rhae does, and a high-quality melody to pull through a country pop-tinged ballad like this one. She does quite admirably here.
Setting Sun - Feeling Cure
You can pick up a few elements from some of the above tunes, like power pop and country rock, and make quite a mess out of it. Luckily, Setting Sun does that, but do it right, with this quite catch one.
Rich Aucoin - Pure
Aucoin seems to have quite a few Bowie albums in his collection but is definitely no copycat, just inspired in the right way throughout this upbeat instrumental.