Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has teamed up with his son Jakob for a faithful cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ – listen below.
The singer’s son, who has recorded his own music as far back as 2015 under the name Jakob Danger and has also been a member of the band Ultra Q, guests on the cover, which is on streaming platforms now.
It features a close replica of Robert Fripp’s straining, wailing guitar tone from the 1977 original, with the younger Armstrong taking the bulk of the lead vocals.
Listen to their version here:
Jakob spoke to NME in 2017 about his influences, citing The Strokes and Beach Fossils. “When it comes to the music and the guitar parts and bass, I like that style of music. I love the way The Strokes and Beach Fossils sound, so I wanted to see if I could write songs like that,” he said. Ultra Q, meanwhile, signed with Royal Mountain Records and released their third EP ‘Get Yourself A Friend’ in 2021.
‘Heroes’ has seen a resurgence in recent weeks, thanks to its role soundtracking some of the closing moments of the Stranger Things finale. It surged by almost 500 per cent on streaming after the episode debuted on New Year’s Day, clocking up nearly half a million plays per day at the start of the year.
It has also been a busy time for those connected to Bowie as the 10th anniversary of the release of his final album ‘Blackstar’, and two days later the same anniversary of his death, were both commemorated earlier this month.
His widow Iman got herself a tattoo to celebrate ‘Blackstar’, a range of bands covered Bowie classics live, including The Libertines, Anna Calvi and The Molotovs, and Jehnny Beth, Donny McCaslin and Tony Visconti were among those to be part of an all-day celebration of the music icon at the British Library.
Billie Joe Armstrong has a long history of playing cover versions, releasing an entire album of them – titled ‘No Fun Mondays’ – in 2020, a spinoff from his lockdown-era online series. It included versions of songs by Prince, John Lennon, The Clash and Billy Bragg and earned a three-star review from NME.
He also formed the all-covers band The Coverups in 2018 with Green Day bandmate Mike Dirnt and touring member Jason White, audio engineer Chris Dugan, tour manager Bill Schneider and musician Greg Schneider.
They have been joined by Courtney Love for a version of Hole’s ‘Celebrity Skin’, as well as another Bowie song, ‘Suffragette City’, while they have also played Cheap Trick’s ‘Surrender’, Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer Of 69’ and The Strokes’ ‘Last Nite’.
NME spoke with Green Day at the 2024 BRITs about The Coverups, where Armstrong explained: “I was texting with [Courtney Love] and I said come on out and do a song, and she did. She did ‘Suffragette City’, she did ‘Surrender’, and we got to do ‘Celebrity Skin’ – the Hole song. But she definitely brought the rock and roll back…you’ll probably be hearing more from her.”
