Song · The Libertines
“Time For Heroes” by The Libertines
From the album Up the Bracket (2002)
“Time For Heroes” by The Libertines appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2013 and 2024. It was first released in 2002 on the album Up the Bracket. Its best result is #22 on the BBC 6 Music 100 Best Tracks Of The Last 10 Years. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,691 indie & aaa song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (Rough Trade Records). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Time for Heroes" is the Libertines at their most urgent, a song off their debut album Up the Bracket that went out as its second single in January 2003 on Rough Trade and reached number 20 in Britain. Carl Barât and Pete Doherty wrote it, and Mick Jones produced it with Nick Terry engineering.
Doherty built it from his own experience of London's May Day riots in 2000, police brutality included. Posting to fans on the band's web forum as Heavyhorse, he explained the Wombles: a crew of rioters kitted out like the characters from the TV series, with tinfoil shields and wobbly truncheons, sending up the riot police. The song became a live favourite, Babyshambles kept playing it, and NME later ranked it number 2 on its list of the decade's best songs, behind the Strokes' "Last Nite".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 22 | BBC Radio 6 Music | BBC 6 Music 100 Best Tracks Of The Last 10 Years | 100 |
| 2022 | 157 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 467 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
Also listed as: Time for Heroes.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Time For Heroes" by The Libertines.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.