Propaganda (band)

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Propaganda

Background information
Origin Flag of Germany Düsseldorf, Germany
Genre(s) Synthpop
Years active 1982–1990, 2005-present
Label(s) ZTT Records
Virgin Records
Amontillado-Music
Associated
acts		 Die Krupps
Simple Minds
Members
Susanne Freytag
Michael Mertens
Former members
Claudia Brücken
Ralf Dörper
Derek Forbes
Brian McGee
Betsi Miller
Andreas Thein

Propaganda was a synthpop group formed in Düsseldorf, Germany in the early 1980s by Ralf Dörper (a member of the German industrial band Die Krupps), Andreas Thein and Susanne Freytag. The trio recorded some demos for future release. With the inclusion of classicaly trained musician and composer Michael Mertens and 19-year old vocalist Claudia Brücken, now a five-member band, journalist Paul Morley signed the band to Trevor Horn's ZTT Records label.

The group relocated to the United Kingdom and released the single "Dr. Mabuse", which, with help from David Sylvian, reached the UK Top 30 in 1984.

Thein left the band before it began recording its debut album A Secret Wish. ZTT's plan to have Trevor Horn produce Propaganda's debut had to be abandoned because of the huge success Horn was having with Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Stephen Lipson (Horn's engineer) took his place. The release of the album was preceded by the release of the single "Duel" which became a hit. The album received considerable critical acclaim and commercial success, but the group members had lost faith in ZTT. A remix album, Wishful Thinking was compiled by producers Stephen Lipson and Bob Kraushaar and released in November 1985 without consulting the group.

Claudia Brücken left Propaganda to pursue a solo career. She stayed with ZTT, having married the label's publicist Paul Morley. She joined Thomas Leer to form Act, who in 1988 released their only album Laughter, Tears and Rage. She later recorded a solo album for Island Records. Both records failed to meet expectations.

In 1990, the band signed to Virgin Records and Mertens returned with a new Propaganda lineup which included vocalist Betsi Miller, and two former Simple Minds members, bassist Derek Forbes and drummer Brian McGee. The result was a new album called 1234, produced by Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes (of Tears for Fears fame), on which Freytag and Dörper made guest appearances. Despite a radio-friendly first single "Heaven Give Me Words", co-written by 1980s "synthpop king" Howard Jones, and an album of intelligent material, the new Propaganda were not a huge success, perhaps in part due to MTV dropping the video for "Heaven Give Me Words" after only very few plays. Times were changing; melodic synthpop quickly became out of fashion as house became all the rage.

In 1998, Mertens, Brücken and Freytag reunited, signed an options deal with EastWest Records, and began working on new material. Several tracks were completed, including one produced by Tim Simenon and featuring Martin Gore on guitar. A video for one song, "No Return", was produced in Morocco and directed by "Keyser Soze" (likely a pseudonym) in December 1998. Two minute clips of it, along with photos of the shoot, were released via the band's official website in early 2000. However, no album materialized, and in January 2002, Brücken announced, "The reunion was worth a try, but did not work out." Later that year, an untitled nine-track CD was leaked via file-sharing networks on the Internet. Track titles were "Cloud 9", "Ignorance", "Who's The Fool", "Beast Within", "No Return", "To The Future", "Turn To The Sun", "Dream Within A Dream", and "Anonymous".

In early 2005, Propaganda, now Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens, started to release new material on the German independent label Amontillado-Music. [1]

In November 2005, the original Propaganda lineup with Brücken and Dörper but sans Thein performed at the Wembley Arena showcase of Trevor Horn's lifetime celebration. The band played Dr. Mabuse.

Contents

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • "Dr. Mabuse" (27 February, 1984) UK #27
  • "Duel" (7 April, 1985) UK #21
  • "p:Machinery" (29 July, 1985) UK #50
  • "p:Machinery (Reactivated)" (25 November, 1985) UK #83
  • "Heaven Give Me Words" (1990) UK #36
  • "Only One Word" (1990) UK #71
  • "How Much Love" (1990)
  • "Your Wildlife" (1990)
  • "p:Machinery (anniversary reissue)" (Jul 1995)
  • "Valley of the Machine Gods" (2006)

[edit] External links

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