Top 10 Alphaville Songs

Photo: Stefanie Wulf, Silberchen, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

We all have seen it all from the Americans and UK, but few have seen remarkable international synth-pop bands from Germany. Here we usher in Alphaville, a German synth-pop band that gained quite some popularity in the 1980s. Competing with American synth-pop bands was not easy at all, but lead singer Marian Gold had a dream that would not easily die. Marian would link up with Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens to form Forever Young band which would later be named Alphaville Alphaville and achieve their dream of becoming international stars in the music industry.

Alphaville’s style for music was influenced by big names in the music industry such as Gary Numan, Tubeway Army, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. However, Bernhard would leave the band to produce German bands in his studio while Frank left the band to establish the group Lonely Boys with his then-girlfriend. Currently, the Alphaville band comprises Marian, the founder, alongside David Goodes, Alexandra Merl, Jakob Kiersch, and Carsten Brocker. Here are the top 10 songs Alphaville songs that you might need to add to your playlist for the love of the synth-pop music genre.

# 10 – Red Rose

Coming in at number ten is Alphaville jam “Red Rose” from their 1986 album Afternoons in Utopia. All credit to Marian gold, Bernhard Lloyd, and Ricky Echolette that the song has quite some nice lyrics. The song has been described as a reasonably sassy pop hit song that Marian to exercise the fascination for Brian Ferry. An English songwriter and singer. Unexpectedly, the band would later do a cover for Brian’s song “Do the Strand.” Doing great on the charts, the song peaked at number twenty-four on the US Hot Dance Chart back in 1987.

# 9 – Mysteries of Love

We all can attest to the fact that love offers quite a bundle of mysteries. And for the Alphaville band, this can be better expressed in their song “Mysteries of Love”. You ought to love the delivery of the message by lead singer Marian thanks to his outstanding vocals. The song seems to channel a message of love and how the persona seems to drown in the mysteries of love alongside his partner. And true to the word, it’s the same narrative for most of us who have found love in someone. Probably the best song to sing to your loved one to remind them how deep you are into the feeling and how much you wish this lasts.

# 8 – Song for No One

Featured in their album Catching Rays on Giant, the song “Song for No One” is a great pop ballad whose tune is quite catchy. The whistle break that comes after the chorus makes you feel like nodding your head to the beat of the song. And if that’s not enough, you ought to love the animation video for the song which is quite engaging and superb. Thanks to Marian Gold and the jam’s co-writers David Paul Goodes and Martin Ian Lister proving the band to be worth listening to even after its evolution and years after its prime days.

# 7 – Jet Set

The song “Jet Set” is a great jam from Alphaville’s first album Forever Young. Its success is attributed to Alphaville’s original members and producers Collin Pearson and Wolfgang Loos. A second version of the song would later be recorded after Fran Mertens left the band bringing a new taste to the jam compared to the original album version. According to Marian, Alphaville’s lead vocalist, the band intended not to write a proper song but only supposed to be some jingle kind that advertises things that cannot be bought using money. We all have our list of that but for Alphaville, this included freedom, fun, love, anarchy, and a piece of the world’s end. However, this song would make major moves in the UK alone having it trend in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Sweden Singles Charts.

# 6 – Summer in Berlin

Starting off with some magical instrumentals is the song “Summer in Berlin” which is a controversial song to start with. Where would you like to spend your summer? Well, we all have our dream places among cities to visit but after listening to this song, Berlin might never be one of the cities to spend that summer vacation. From ‘the sound of the traffic’ ‘exhaust from the cars’ to ‘ascends in that heated afternoon’ there is nothing so great to find in the city. Nevertheless, we love it anyway for being quite an amazing city from its history and culture.

# 5 – Dance with Me

Featured in Alphaville band’s second album is the jam Afternoons in Utopia is the song “Dance with Me”. Quite big was the song having it featured among the top 10 hits in Europe. The synth-pop new wave song was a great composition by Marian Gold, Ricky Echolette, and Bernhard Lloyd. Passionate music fans have time and again noted the great significance of the U2-inspired guitar in the song. Probably, credit should be given too to the instrumentals for such a great jam that brings alive the 80s.

# 4 – A Victory of Love

What happens when you combine great instrumentals with classy vocals? Well, whatever your answer is, you ought to listen to the song “A Victory of Love.” Featured in the band’s album Forever Young there is quite some lovely thing about the deep vocals that just brings some sparkle to the jam. While critics give a thumb down for the lyrics, we can all bet that the magical production and vocals are the reason the song makes it to one of the top 10 Alphaville songs. Quite some crazy twist of the voice from Marian made the song an absolute banger.

# 3 – Sounds Like a Melody

Record label WEA was quite privileged to have released Alphaville’s song “Sounds Like a Melody”. Thanks to the production of Wolfgang Loos that the song was a hit in Europe. As per the record studio executives, the Alphaville band was to release the song “Sounds Like a Melody” before the release of “Forever Young”, one of the best songs by the band. What were two days of writing the song and arranging everything turned out to be one of the greatest moments for the band. Marian admits that making the jam for the sake of commercial success was not the best thing to do but probably the most optimal, after all, we love the song by far.

# 2 – Big in Japan

What would run in your mind when taking a visit to the dentist? Music writers can be quite absurd and amazing at the same time as evidenced by Marian in this song. While taking a visit to a dentist, Marian developed most of this song’s lyrics. Notably, the theme of the song was based on two buddies involved in the disreputable drug scene of Berlin’s Zoo station. It tells of such lovers who fantasize about being drug-free. The song’s refrain “big in Japan” on the other hand symbolizes the idea of being successful and great in another world. Following its great message and tune, the song attained number one on the Hot Dance Club Play in 1984.

# 1 – Forever Young

Coming in at number one is “Forever Young” from the band’s 1984 album Forever Young. Its success in the United States more than in the UK makes it quite a big deal for the band Alphaville to have made it to the music capital of the world. Written by Marian, the song became the band’s signature song with other artists doing a cover of the song. While it didn’t make it to the American top 40 songs, the song was a banger having gone so far in pleasing the world’s synth-pop fans, especially in America.