U96
| U96 | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Hamburg, Germany |
| Genres |
Techno Dance-pop Eurodance Rave |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels |
Cohiba Polydor |
| Members |
Alex Christensen Stefan Hafelinger |
| Past members |
Ingo Hauss Helmut Hoinkis Skadi Lange Dorothy Lapi Hayo Lewerentz |
U96 is a German dance-music project formed by the DJ and producer Alex Christensen and a team of producers named Matiz (Ingo Hauss, Helmut Hoinkis, and Hayo Lewerentz).
Biography
1991–1992: Das Boot
The name of the project comes from the film Das Boot about the German submarine U-96 from the Second World War. The project's first hit, "Das Boot" (1991), is a techno adaptation of the film's title melody, which had been originally composed by Klaus Doldinger. An album of the same name was also released.
1993: Replugged
Its next album, Replugged (1993) was inspired by the electro sounds of the 1980s and by ambient and disco music themes. It was less commercially successful than the first album, but provided a couple of Top 10 hits in "Love Sees No Colour" and "Night in Motion".
1994–1995: Club Bizarre
The follow-up album Club Bizarre (1995) radically changed the group's sound. The album was dominated by a fast-paced Eurodance sound with a significant trance influence. The hit single releases from this album were "Love Religion" (with Daisy Dee) as well as the title track "Club Bizarre" with harmonies, which was reused later by Brooklyn Bounce. Motor Music also released the Club Bizarre Interactive CD-ROM. The audio part of this CD-ROM included several music tracks and the multimedia part featuring a discography, interviews with Alex Christensen, and a game for Mac OS and Windows PC.
1996: Heaven
In 1996, its fourth album, Heaven, was released. The album was highly commercial in sound, with greater emphasis on Eurodance, despite retaining some electro and trance influences. On this album, a new singer, Dea-Li (Dorothy Lapi), was featured, who participated in the production of four titles. The refrain in the song Heaven—although with a faster pace and different text—closely resembles Cyndi Lauper's 1984 hit song “Time After Time.”
1997–present: Singles and current status
In the following single releases were "Seven Wonders" (1997), "Energie" (1998), "Beweg Dich, Baby" (1998) and "Das Boot 2001" (2000). The group released the compilation album Best Of 1991–2001 with some new songs from the unreleased album Rhythm Of Life. The last track "We Call It Love" was issued in 2003 as a promo single only. The group returned to the German Top 30 in 2006 with "Vorbei," which featured the vocals of guest singer Ben.
Another album, Out of Wilhelmsburg, was released in 2007, albeit with a different group lineup.
Group members
- Alex Christensen (a.k.a. AC 16, AC Beat, Alex C.)
- Stefan Hafelinger
- Ingo Hauss (a.k.a. Bela Wycombe)
- Helmut Hoinkis
- Hayo Lewerentz (a.k.a. Hayo Panarinfo)
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart Position | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUS | FIN [1] |
SWI | NOR | ||
| 1992 | Das Boot | 11 | 5 | 19 | 9 | — |
| 1993 | Replugged | 21 | 5 | 22 | 18 | — |
| 1995 | Club Bizarre | 22 | 23 | 9 | 37 | — |
| 1996 | Heaven | 30 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 35 |
| 2000 | Best of 1991-2001 | 36 | 36 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | Out of Wilhelmsburg | — | — | — | — | — |
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [2] |
AUT [3] |
FIN [1] |
FRA [4] |
NED [5] |
NOR [6] |
SUI [7] |
SWE [8] |
UK [9][10] | ||||||
| 1991 | "Das Boot" | 1 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 | Das Boot | |||
| 1992 | "I Wanna Be a Kennedy" | 3 | 6 | 18 | 9 | 36 | — | 3 | 32 | — | ||||
| "Come 2gether/Der Kommandant" | 36 | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Ambient Underworld" | — | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 1993 | "Love Sees No Colour" | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 16 | — | 4 | 4 | — | Replugged | |||
| "Love Sees No Colour" (Remix) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 38 | — | — | |||||
| "Night in Motion" | 9 | 7 | 7 | 29 | — | — | 18 | 10 | — | |||||
| 1994 | "Inside Your Dreams" | 11 | 10 | 1 | — | 18 | — | 9 | 19 | 44 | Single only | |||
| "Love Religion" | 5 | 7 | 2 | 15 | 9 | — | 10 | 2 | 134 | Club Bizarre | ||||
| 1995 | "Club Bizarre" | 19 | 14 | 1 | 44 | 11 | — | 32 | 16 | 70 | ||||
| "Movin’" | 91 | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 1996 | "Heaven" | 4 | 2 | 7 | — | 15 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 98 | Heaven | |||
| "A Night to Remember" | 21 | 18 | 11 | — | — | — | 44 | 37 | — | |||||
| "Venus in Chains" | 75 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | 54 | — | |||||
| 1997 | "Seven Wonders" | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | — | Singles only | |||
| 1998 | "Energie" | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Beweg dich Baby" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2001 | "Das Boot 2001" | 16 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2003 | "We Call It Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2006 | "Vorbei" (feat. Ben) |
28 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Mr. DJ Put on the Red Light" (feat. Das Bo) |
77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
- 1 2 Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 9789511210535.
- ↑ German peaks
- ↑ Austrian peaks
- ↑ French peaks
- ↑ Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, Hitdossier 1939 - 1994; After 1994: dutchcharts.nl
- ↑ Norwegian peaks
- ↑ Swiss peaks
- ↑ Swedish peaks
- ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 576. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_U.HTM
- ↑ Austrian certifications
- 1 2 German certifications
External links
| ||||||||||||||||||
|