Scottish superstar rock trio Biffy Clyro recorded their own distinctive take on the David Bowie classic hit "Modern Love" exclusively for The Howard Stern Tribute To David Bowie, which premieres this Friday, February 9 at 10:00 P.M. ET on Stern's SiriusXM channel Howard 101 and also on demand via the SiriusXM app. Long-time Bowie producer Tony Visconti will host the special honoring the legend, which features an eclectic mix of contributions from William Patrick Corgan, Daryl Hall, Todd Rundgren, Greta Van Fleet, Sun Kil Moon, Car Seat Headrest and many others.
Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro has cranked out a heavy-metal-influenced version of one of Bowie's purest pop songs, "Modern Love." The quintessentially '80s tune features Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar, is co-produced by Chic's Nile Rogers, and is also the opening track off 1983's "Let's Dance," Bowie's most commercially successful album, which sold around 7 million copies and spent a good deal of time atop the U.K. charts.
No one can compete with numbers like Bowie's, but Biffy Clyro are no strangers to topping overseas charts themselves. As of 2016, the band has spent 155 weeks in the top 75 of the U.K. Album Charts, including two weeks at No. 1. They have also headlined just about every major European festival on the circuit. Still, few things can prepare a band to take on this kind of challenge.
"Being asked to cover David Bowie is like being asked to have sex with a lion: an intimidating challenge but, f it, you got to give it a go!" the band's lead singer Simon Neil explained. Simon and his Biffy Clyro bandmates James and Ben Johnston count metal and progressive rock acts like Metallica and Rush among their influences, but they didn't let their band's typically heavy sound dictate which Bowie song they would cover. In fact, they did just the opposite. "There are so many incredible songs to choose from but we wanted to choose a classic that sounded least like our band," Simon explained. "We went for 'Modern Love,' put it through our filter and biffified it. I hope David would have been proud."
Biffy Clyro spent much of 2017 performing around the world, including three U.S. tours alone in support of their current internationally acclaimed album Ellipsis.
Critics praised Ellipses, their most successful album to date, winning them "Best British Group" at the recent BRIT Awards, as well as "Best British Group" and "Best Festival Headliners" at the NME Awards. At present Biffy Clyro is working on the follow-up to Ellipsis. European tour dates are planned for Summer.
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