"A Real Hero" is a song by French

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

artist

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

in collaboration with Electric Youth, released in 2010. The song was included as the eleventh track on Electric Youth's debut studio album '' Innerworld''. The track was used as a main theme in the 2011 film ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...

'', directed by

Nicolas Winding Refn Nicolas Winding Refn (; born 29 September 1970), also known as Jang, is a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his collaborations with Mads Mikkelsen, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling. He gained great success early in ...

and starring

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

and

Carey Mulligan Carey Hannah Mulligan (born 28 May 1985) is an English actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Carey Mulligan, various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy A ...

Production

Electric Youth frontman Austin Garrick, along with David Grellier, who performs as College, have cited separate inspirations for producing the song. Garrick was inspired to write the song by a quote from his grandfather, who spoke of airline captain

Chesley Sullenberger Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III (born January 23, 1951) is a retired American fighter pilot, diplomat, and airline pilot best known for his heroism as captain of US Airways Flight 1549 that he ditched in the Hudson River in 2009 a ...

after the

US Airways Flight 1549 US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City (LaGuardia Airport), to Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States. On January 15, 2009, the Airbus A320 serving the flight bir ...

water landing incident. Garrick's grandfather referred to Sullenberger as "a real human being and a real hero", which became the song's

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

. The second verse of the song, which includes the line "155 people on board", refers to the 155 survivors of US 1549. Grellier, on the other hand, took inspiration from cinema, in particular the character

Max Rockatansky Max Rockatansky is the title character and antihero protagonist of the Australian post-apocalyptic action film series ''Mad Max''. Created by director George Miller and producer Byron Kennedy, the character was originally played by actor Mel G ...

of the ''Mad Max'' franchise. Grellier has stated that he "wanted to give a homage to that lonely hero that we see in movies like ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

''. People who make their own choice and try to save lives. I want to give an homage." The first verse of the song is more along these lines and could be taken to be about Mad Max himself, although it could also be about Sullenberger.

Cover versions

Indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

group

Smallpools Smallpools is an American indie pop band formed in 2013. The band consists of Sean Scanlon (vocals), Mike Kamerman (guitar), and Beau Kuther (drums). After their debut single "Dreaming (Smallpools song), Dreaming" charted at number one on The ...

released a cover version of the song on May 12, 2015, through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. The cover was uploaded to audio distribution platform

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

on May 13.

Track listing

Personnel

* Bronwyn Griffin – vocals * Austin Garrick – production, writing *

David Grellier David Grellier (born July 2, 1979 in Nantes, France) is a French electronica musician and founder of the musical projects College (2005) and Valerie (2007). Under the stage name Mitch Silver, he is also a member of the electroclash band Sexy Su ...

– production *

Tom Marnell Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

- Instrumentals, Production, Videography

Release history and reception

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' magazine named "A Real Hero" one of the 20 Best Songs of 2011. The song was nominated for a 2012

MTV Movie Award The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editi ...

in the category of "Best Music".

In popular culture

*The song is featured in the 2011 film ''

'' and the 2012 film ''

Taken 2 ''Taken 2'' is a 2012 English-language French action-thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney and Luke Grimes. It follows Bryan Mil ...

''.

References

External links

College & Electric Youth - A Real Hero (Music From the Motion Picture Drive)
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Hero, A 2010 singles 2010 songs 2011 singles Songs written for films Synthwave songs