David Bowie: We Could Be Heroes: The Stories Behind Every David Bowie Song (Paperback)

by Chris Welch (Author) "Yet throughout an extraordinary career that has spanned four decades, Bowie has retained the essential ingredients that have made him a legend..." (more)
Key Phrases: cracked actor, laughing gnome, roll suicide, David Bowie, New York, Ziggy Stardust (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Musical chameleon David Bowie has had a more varied and influential career than any other single performer in rock. He was a young balladeer performing as Davy Jones in the late '60s and Ziggy Stardust in the glam rock era of the '70s. He switched gears again with Young Americans, and then reached multiplatinum success with Let's Dance in the '80s. David Bowie: We Could Be Heroes is a song-by-song analysis of every song Bowie has written and recorded, full of behind-the-scenes stories and quotes from those who have worked with him. Chris Welch has interviewed those who most influenced Bowie, such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Tony De Fries, as well as those who provided the inspiration for his music and lyrics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; illustrated edition edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156025209X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560252092
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #584,683 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars sucks, August 16, 2000

By	Rachel Podolsky - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So the concept of this book is pretty cool. I know I'm always wondering what the meaning is behind a song's lyrics. *Especially* Bowie's songs because the guy is such an intellectual that a lot of his stuff is filled with crazy references to random philosophers and artists, and a fan like me rarely knows what he's talking about. Jean Genet anyone? Kahlil Gibran?

Unfortunately, this book does a really crappy job of telling the stories behind the song. The author really doesn't know much at all; basically I learned nothing new in this book that I didn't know already. You can find out the same kind of information by browsing around FAQs on the net, or going to alt.fan.david-bowie and asking a question of the people there.

The only thing saving this book from a 1 is that it has pictures, and it takes you along the whole discography path (well, up until 20 years ago at least), and what can I say, Bowie's had an interesting life. If you buy this, though, be prepared to return it... it doesn't do much of a job of serving up the stories.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book does not live up to its title, June 29, 2000

By	Emilio Dreyer Pacheco (Porto Alegre, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a Bowie fan, I know quite a few stories behind Bowie songs. Unfortunately, this book tells very few of them. The title is a misnomer for what is actually another annotated discography to rival with Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray's "David Bowie, An Illustrated Record" (which, having been published in 1981, covers exactly the same period) and David Buckley's "The Complete Guide To The Music of David Bowie". Also, why did the writer choose to draw the line in 1980? As much as I agree this is the most important period of David's output, twenty years have gone by which shouldn't have been ignored. By the way, what the author describes as "intake of breath" at the beginning of "The Bewlay Brothers" has always sounded like David smoking a joint to me!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something all Bowie fans should get...unless you're a purist, December 18, 1999

By	Marc-David Jacobs (Claremont, California, United States of America) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Now this is a great book, similar to the equally great Beatles book "A Hard Day's Write." However, while "Write" covered all of the Beatles' albums, "We Could Be Heroes" only covers his albums from 1970-1980 (The Man Who Sold The World to Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps) with in great detail (the only exception is the cover album Pin Ups). Now I know that very few Bowie fans may care about his debut album, Space Oddity and especially his other '80s albums (especially since they apparently had no background besides a search for money/mass popularity), but it also cuts out his '90s albums (Black Tie White Noise, Earthling, etc). I personally, consider myself to be a Bowie purist (in other words, I'm one of the people who is mad that they cut out Too Dizzy), and I would've liked to see ALL of Bowie's albums, no matter how unpopular or how little there is on them. So, the choice of subject matter gets a 3/5. However, the book itself gets a 5/5, because I've always wanted to see a book like this gets published, and along with A Complete Guide To The Music Of David Bowie, it is something every Bowie fans should have. BUY IT!