September 23 this year marks the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s immortal hit song “Heroes.” While the man himself is sadly not around to mark the occasion, he left behind an enormous number of acolytes all too willing to spread the good word. One of the biggest is the iconic British synth pop band Depeche Mode, who, this morning, shared their own take on the song.
Using just a drum machine, a guitar and the imitable voice of front man Dave Gahan, the group’s take on the song is decidedly bare, more ethereal, and a little less edgy than Bowie’s original. “I was so moved, I barely held it together, to be honest,” Gahan told Rolling Stone back in February around the time they first laid the track down. “[Guitarist] Martin [Gore] listened to ‘Heroes’ once it was mixed and randomly told me, ‘Wow, that was really f*cking good.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?'”
Bowie was perhaps Gahan’s biggest musical influence, and later in life, an acquaintance who he’d run into a chat with from time-to-time. “It wasn’t until my wife told me he had died that I just broke down in tears,” he recalled. “My daughter came out and they were both hugging me. It really affected me. I felt a huge gap.”
You can listen to Depeche Mode’s take on one of David Bowie’s all-time classics above.
