Diemazz

Alphaville
Alphaville live on stage in 2005
Background information
Also known as	Forever Young
Origin	Münster, Germany
Genre(s)	New wave Synthpop
Years active	1977 - present
Label(s)	Warner Music, Atlantic Records (US/Philippines), A Different Drum, Metropolis Records, Navigator
Website	http://www.alphaville.de/
Members
Marian Gold Martin Lister David Goodes Mattes Leon
Former members
Frank Mertens Bernhard Lloyd Ricky Echolette

Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum, born May 26, 1954 in Herford), Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernhard Gößling, born June 6, 1960 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia), and Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgatz, born October 26, 1961 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia). The band was at first named Forever Young before changing to Alphaville. They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young".

Beginnings

Alphaville originally began as a band in early 1977. Alphaville originally went by the name of Forever Young. Marian Gold named the band after the song of the same name since it was one of the strongest songs he had composed at that point. The 1977 demo of "Forever Young" sounds shockingly modern and can be heard on the band's Dreamscapes rarities and demos collection. In 1984, the newly-renamed Alphaville released their debut single "Big in Japan", quickly followed by the album Forever Young. Despite its success, Frank Mertens left the band that year and was replaced by Ricky Echolette (born Wolfgang Neuhaus, in Cologne, August 6, 1960) in January 1985 – already credited in the "Forever Young" album. Marian Gold is still performing today.

"Big In Japan" was Alphaville's biggest hit, topping the charts in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart (the group's only Top 10 on any Billboard chart), and reached the Top Five in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Ireland and South Africa. It also became the group's only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at #8.

The band's next two singles, "Sounds Like a Melody" and "Forever Young", were also both European Top 10 successes, although the former track failed to make an impression on the American charts.

Although there were reports that pop star Laura Branigan was featuring the song on her next album, Hold Me, Alphaville's "Forever Young" was re-released as a single in the US, but it did not prove to be massively popular. Branigan's version, though promoted on stickers adorning the album, subsequently remained an album cut in the US. She would go on to perform the song as an encore at nearly every concert she performed, until her death in 2004. The Alphaville version was released a third time in the US in 1988, to promote Alphaville: The Singles Collection, and peaked at #65, their highest charting (and also last) single on the Billboard Hot 100. International re-releases of Alphaville's "Forever Young" followed in 1989, 1996 and 2001. Several covers have been recorded and remixed, featuring male or female vocalists often erroneously attributed to be Alphaville's Marian Gold.

Afternoons in Utopia

In 1986, their second album, Afternoons in Utopia, was successfully released and its first single "Dance with Me" was a big international hit, reaching the Top 20 in Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and South Africa, and n°25 in Austria. The LP was followed up in 1989 with The Breathtaking Blue, including the highly acclaimed singles (if not so successful chart hits) "Romeos" and "Mysteries of Love". The album was released as a CD+G, including black & white stills with original lyrics and German translation. As an alternative to individual music videos, the band enlisted nine producers, among them Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi), to create a film entitled Songlines based on the album's tracks.

The next album, Prostitute, was not released until 1994. In 1996, Ricky Echolette left the band. Salvation, a back-to-the-root opus, followed in 1997. Stark Naked and Absolutely Live was released in 2000, followed by the remix album, Forever Pop the following year. A DVD – Little America – was released in 2001 documenting two concerts performed in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Projects

Bernhard Lloyd did not contribute to the CrazyShow album, and shortly after its release on March 18, 2003, he officially left the group. The current core stage members of Alphaville are Marian Gold (vocals), Martin Lister (keyboards), David Goodes (guitars) and Pierson Grange (drums).

Gold has released two solo albums (So Long Celeste, 1992 and United, 1996), alongside his work in the band, both mixing personal creations and covers.

Lloyd also worked on a project named Atlantic Popes with singer Max Holler, a 13-track CD. In 1996, Frank Mertens started a musical project called Maelstrom, which was a combination of ambient-style music, impressionistic and colorful art in the form of paintings and sculptures, and etheric poetry. This project seems now to have been abandoned, though, as Mertens has not been visibly active with it.

In the first part of 2006, Australian guitar band Youth Group took their remake of Forever Young to #1 in the Official Australian Charts, thanks in part to exposure the track had received from being on popular US TV series The O.C.'s fifth TV soundtrack CD.

At present the band are still touring and working on new material and have just re-signed with WEA. Song titles for the next release include "Gallery", "Around the Universe", "My Very Blood", and "Sweet Dreams".

Discography

Singles in italics, Albums and compilations in bold

• 1984
  • Big in Japan (7", 12") [#1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, #1 Germany, #1 Switzerland, #1 Sweden, #2 Italy, #2 Netherlands, #3 Norway, #4 Austria, #4 Ireland, #5 South Africa, #8 UK, #13 France, #66 U.S. Billboard Hot 100]
  • Sounds Like a Melody (7", 12") [#1 Sweden, #1 Italy, #3 Austria, #3 Germany, #4 Switzerland, #5 Norway, #10 France]
  • Forever Young (7", 12") [#1 Sweden, #3 Italy, #3 Switzerland, #3 Norway, #4 Germany, #13 France, #17 Austria, #93 U.S. Hot 100 (1985), #32 U.S. Hot Dance Club Play (1985)]
  • Forever Young (CA, CD, LP) [#1 Norway, #1 Sweden, #3 Germany, #4 Switzerland, #16 Austria, #20 Italy, #180 U.S.]
• 1985
  • Jet Set (7", 12") [#11 Germany, #13 Switzerland, #42 Italy]
• 1986
  • Dance With Me (7", 12") [#4 Norway, #4 South Africa, #5 Sweden, #9 Switzerland, #11 Germany, #14 France, #25 Austria, #28 Italy, #20 U.S. Hot Dance Maxi Singles Sales, #22 U.S. Hot Dance Club Play]
  • Universal Daddy (7", 12") [#36 Germany, #26 Switzerland]
  • Afternoons in Utopia (CA, CD, LP) [#7 Sweden, #8 Norway, #12 Switzerland, #13 Germany, #41 Italy, #174 U.S.]
  • Jerusalem (7", 12") [#57 Germany]
  • Sensations (7", 12")
• 1987
  • Red Rose (7", 12") [#24 U.S. Hot Dance Club Play]
• 1988
  • Amiga Compilation (LP, CA)
  • Forever Young 1988 (7", 12", CDS) [#65 U.S. Billboard Hot 100]
  • The Singles Collection (CA, CD, LP)
• 1989
  • Big in Japan / Forever Young (7")
  • Forever Young (Extended) / Big in Japan (Extended) / Sounds Like A Melody (Extended) (CDS)
  • Romeos (7", 12", CDS, CS) [#45 Germany]
  • The Breathtaking Blue (CA, CD, LP) [#49 Germany]
  • Summer Rain (7", 12", CDS)
• 1990
  • Mysteries of Love (7", 12", CDS, CS)
  • Songlines (VHS, LD)
• 1992
  • Big in Japan 1992 A.D. (7", 12", CDS)
  • Big in Japan - Swemix Remix (12", CDS)
  • First Harvest 1984-92 (CA, CD, LP)
• 1993
  • MoonOffice Compilation (VHS)
  • History (CA)
• 1994
  • Fools (12", CDS) [#70 Germany]
  • Prostitute (CA, CD)
  • The Impossible Dream (CDS)
• 1996
  • Forever Young promo (CDS)
• 1997
  • Wishful Thinking (12", CDS)
  • Flame - promo release (CDS)
  • Salvation (CD) [#74 Germany]
• 1999
  • Dreamscapes (CD)
  • Flame (CDS)
  • Salvation US release (CD)
  • Visions of Dreamscapes (CD)
  • Soul Messiah (CDS)
• 2000
  • Stark Naked and Absolutely Live (CD)
  • Scum of the Earth (MP3)
  • Moongirl (MP3)
• 2001
  • Moonboy (MP3)
  • See Me Thru (MP3)
  • Those Wonderful Things (MP3)
  • And as for Love (MP3)
  • Upside Down (MP3)
  • Parallel Girlz (Cloud Nine) (MP3)
  • Shadows She Said (Omertà) (MP3)
  • First Monday (in the year 3000) (MP3)
  • (Waiting for the) New Light (MP3)
  • Miracle Healing (MP3)
  • Dance With Me 2001 (CDS)
  • Forever Young 2001 (CDS)
  • Zoo (MP3)
  • Forever Pop (CA, CD) [#59 Germany]
  • Little America (DVD)
  • On the Beach (MP3)
• 2003
  • Elegy - limited release (CDS)
  • CrazyShow (CD)
  • CrazyShow Excerpts – promo only (CD)
• 2005
  • Dreamscapes Revisited (MP3)
• 2006
  • Forever Young – the remix (CDS)

Trivia

• Alphaville's song Forever Young was featured in the movie Listen to Me (1989) featuring Kirk Cameron in one of his first film roles, as well as in the popular hit movie Napoleon Dynamite (2004). It appeared also in an episode of the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia entitled Underage Drinking: A National Concern. Tourism New Zealand featured the song in their Worldwide 2008 100% Pure New Zealand Campaign.

• Swedish Melodic Metal Band Embraced did a cover of "Big in Japan" on their 1998 Album Amorous Anathema.

• In 2000, Guano Apes also covered "Big in Japan" in their second full-length album, Don't Give Me Names.

• Oakley's 2005 snowboarding DVD entitled "The Community Project" featured Alphaville's "Big in Japan" in the Japan sequence.

• VH1 Classic's show 120 Minutes often features Big in Japan, where the song has gotten quite popular.

• In 2008, Big in Japan was featured in the commercial for the Swedish TV-show Stor i Japan (Translated: "Big in Japan") and was also used several times within the show.

References

External links

• Moonbase (official website)
• Alphaville Portal - The Dreamroom
• German website "Golden Feeling"
• Underworld - Czech Alphaville Fanclub"
• Alphaville-Fans
• Cosmic Meadows: The Alphaville Encyclopaedia
• Alphaville discography at MusicBrainz

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