David Bowie Hated Oasis’ Big Tribute to Him: ‘I Didn’t Think It Was Very Good’

Oasis’s reunion shows are underway, with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sharing the stage for the first time in fifteen years. Their concert sets have been full of the band’s most beloved tunes—but not their cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

Maybe that’s because Bowie himself said he didn’t like it? On July 30, writer and archivist Colin Smith unearthed a chat between Bowie and British journalist Peter Paphides for the Christmas 1999 issue of Time Out.

“I heard Oasis’s version of ‘Heroes’ last year,” said Bowie. “I didn’t think it was very good. That was the first thing that I thought about it. And then, if I remember rightly, I didn’t think about it again. It felt like the very end-of-the-night-in-the-pub kind of thing, which is, I’m sure, how it was produced.”

Oasis released their cover of Bowie’s “Heroes” as the B-side to their 1997 single, “D’You Know What I Mean?”, according to Far Out. Noel Gallagher said that “Heroes” was the first song he heard by Bowie, and seeing the video of David “singing this song with the light behind him, it totally f–king blew me away. I went down to my local second-hand record shop a couple of days later and got Best of Bowie and never looked back.”

While Bowie wasn’t impressed by Oasis’s version of his song, he raved about the remix done by underground electronic oddball Aphex Twin.

“Aphex  Twin did a much better version,” said Bowie. He thought that Aphex Twin—aka Richard D. James—did “some really extraordinary things” on his version.

Aphex Twin’s version is actually a remix of Philip Glass’s version of “Heroes.” The minimalist musician teamed with The American Composers Orchestra to create a haunting, symphonic version of “Heroes.” With his remix, Aphex Twin re-inserted Bowie’s vocals before adding his own techno touches.

The remix was first included in a 1997 Japanese CD. It was later included in Aphex Twin’s 2003 compilation, 26 Mixes For Cash.

“If you were going to recreate ‘Heroes’ in the ’90s,” said Bowie in the 1999 interview, “I think the Aphex Twin’s version is more in line with what one ought to do.”