No More Heroes (The Stranglers song)

"No More Heroes" is a song by English rock band the Stranglers, released as a single from their studio album of the same name. It is one of the group's most successful singles (featuring regularly both in greatest hits and punk and new wave compilation albums), having peaked at No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart.

The song's lyrics refer to several historical figures, starting with the Ukrainian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky who "got an ice pick / that made his ears burn". The second verse reels off "dear old Lenny", that is, the stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce; "the Great Elmyra", identified by Cornwell as painter and art forger Elmyr de Hory; and the fictional character Sancho Panza from the novel Don Quixote. The playwright William Shakespeare and the Roman emperor Nero complete the list.

At the time of the single's release, the B-side "In the Shadows" was a non-album track; however, it appeared on the Stranglers' next studio album, Black and White (1978).

The band's publishers threatened legal action against Elastica in 1995, arguing that their single "Waking Up" borrowed elements of "No More Heroes". Elastica eventually settled out of court.

A cover version of the song by Violent Femmes featured in the movie Mystery Men (1999), and was also heard in two episodes of the BBC television series Ashes to Ashes: episode 1 of Series 1 and episode 4 of Series 3. It was included in the soundtrack to Series 1. The song was featured on the closing credits of TV series Zapped, Season 2, Episode 6. Former Stranglers member and song co-writer Hugh Cornwell released an acoustic version of the song on his ninth solo studio album Monster (2018), along with acoustic versions of nine other Stranglers songs. It also featured in Episode 1 of Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.

The video game series No More Heroes is named after this song and the album.