Song · The Stranglers
“No More Heroes” by The Stranglers
From the album No More Heroes (1977)
“No More Heroes” by The Stranglers appears on 8 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1978 and 2006. It was first released in 1977 on the album No More Heroes. Its best result is #33 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1978). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,178 alternative song of all time.
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The Stranglers put out "No More Heroes" in September 1977, the second single and title track of their second album, and it's a sneering roll call of fallen idols. Hugh Cornwell's words run through a gallery of the dead and the imaginary: Leon Trotsky, the comic Lenny Bruce, the art forger Elmyr de Hory, Don Quixote's sidekick Sancho Panza, Shakespeare and the emperor Nero.
All four members share the writing credit, with Martin Rushent producing and Alan Winstanley engineering. It climbed to No. 8 in the UK, their third top-ten single, and its B-side, "In the Shadows", later resurfaced on Black and White. The song has cast a long shadow since: a video game series took its name, and in 1995 the band's publishers threatened Elastica with legal action, arguing that "Waking Up" borrowed from it.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 33 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1978) | 50 |
| 1979 | 45 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1979) | 50 |
| 1999 | 940 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2001 | 454 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2003 | 1647 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2004 | 324 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2005 | 263 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2006 | 360 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
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