Heroes
Recorded beside the Berlin Wall, Fripp's feedback howling while Bowie sings himself hoarse over a single defiant day.
Recorded beside the Berlin Wall, Fripp's feedback howling while Bowie sings himself hoarse over a single defiant day.
Bowie lived near Mountain Studios, dropped in, and one evening's jam became a UK number one with a disputed bassline.

Rick Wakeman's piano, Bowie's own saxophone, and a stutter on the title that flopped before it defined him.
Released five days before Apollo 11 launched, with a children's Stylophone buzzing under an astronaut who never comes home.

Cut at Trident in November 1971, never a single, and Ronson's riff draws the character as sharply as the words.

Nile Rodgers on rhythm guitar, an unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead, and Bowie's biggest-selling single by a distance.

Bowie first threw it away on a fake band called Arnold Corns, then rebuilt it at Trident around Ronson.

The BBC ran its long instrumental intro under programme trailers, and Bowie's ultimate retreat song went to number three.

Bowie balked at the carol, so writers built the Peace on Earth counterpoint in an hour; Crosby died weeks later.