David Bowie was reportedly asked to perform ‘Heroes’ at the closing ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics, but turned it down, appearing instead only via old photos on the stadium’s video screens as a piped-in medley of his most famous songs played.

While this past Sunday’s closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympic Games held an array of talent, it seems quite a few big names joined Bowie in declining the chance to participate. Attempts were also made to snag the Rolling Stones (who stated they weren’t ready), Kate Bush, and even the Sex Pistols for this celebration of British music history, all to no avail.

Bowie hasn’t toured since 2006, and has many times again turned down offers to perform at other events, so it’s really no surprise that the guy declined the invite. Thankfully, we were given a taste of him at the ceremonies when ‘Fashion’ was used as the soundtrack to the “beautiful people” section of the finale, when some of the world’s most famous models strutted their stuff across the massive stage.

Even the closers — The Who — reportedly turned the offer down twice but finally agreed to appear. Perhaps it had something to do with their recently announced U.S. tour. You gotta promote yourself, right? Of course, they didn’t get quite the bang they expected from the show.  NBC bumped their performance out of prime time, as well as one from Kinks frontman Ray Davies.

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