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Modern Talking was a German duo consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen.[4] They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo,[5] and have had a number of hit singles, reaching the top five in many countries. Some of their most popular and widely known singles are "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", "You Can Win If You Want", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie", "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)" and "Geronimo's Cadillac".

Modern Talking worked together from 1983 to 1987, when the band split up. In 1997, they reunited and made a successful comeback, recording and releasing music from 1998 to 2003. The duo released singles which again entered the top ten in Germany and abroad. Some of those singles were "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98", "You Are Not Alone" and "TV Makes the Superstar"History
The beginning
Modern Talking's logo since they released their second single, "You Can Win If You Want".

First formed at the end of 1983, they unexpectedly became immensely popular in the beginning of 1985 with "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", with which they occupied top ten positions in thirty-five countries including their homeland where the single perched at the top for six consecutive weeks,[3][6][7] the single eventually went on to sell eight million copies worldwide.[4] The track was then followed by another number-one hit, "You Can Win If You Want", which was released in the middle of 1985 from the debut album The 1st Album. The album was certified platinum in Germany for selling over 500,000 units.[4]

Soon after their second hit, Modern Talking released the single "Cheri, Cheri Lady" which also quickly climbed to the top of the charts in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Norway, meanwhile entering the top ten in Sweden and the Netherlands.[8][9] The single, being the only track released from their second album Let's Talk About Love, managed to push the album to a platinum status in Germany for sales of over 500,000.[4] The success continued with two other number one singles such as "Brother Louie" and "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)" both from the third album Ready for Romance. The duo also charted high with their sixth single "Geronimo's Cadillac" from the fourth album In the Middle of Nowhere and "Jet Airliner" from their fifth album Romantic Warriors.

During this era, Modern Talking were successful in Europe, Asia, South America, Middle East, particularly in Iran, where all Western pop music was banned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In the United Kingdom, they entered the top five only once, with the song "Brother Louie".[10] They were almost unknown in North America, never appearing on the US charts, although they did become one-hit wonders in Canada when "Brother Louie" peaked at number thirty-four in 1987. They released two albums each year between 1985 and 1987, while also promoting their singles on television all over Europe, eventually selling sixty-five million records within three years.[11]Between 1987 and 1997

Immediately after the duo split in the mid-1987, Bohlen formed his own project called Blue System and enjoyed several high chart positions, with tracks like "Sorry Little Sarah", "My Bed Is Too Big", "Under My Skin", "Love Suite", "Laila" and "Déjà vu". Meanwhile, Anders went solo, touring under the name of Modern Talking on several continents until the beginning of 1989, when he started to record some of his new pop-like material in LA and London, and also in his native country.[12] Anders recorded five solo albums in English, Different, Whispers, Down on Sunset, When Will I See You Again and Souled, and one of his albums was also recorded in Spanish Barcos de Cristal.[13] He was more successful in foreign countries than his own country, yet he also reached several hits in Germany. Despite all the quarrels and disagreements that Bohlen and Anders experienced between themselves in the past, they began keeping in touch again after Anders moved back to Koblenz, Germany in 1994.[13]1998–2003: Reunion

In the beginning of 1998, the duo reunited and had their first performance together in March on the German TV show Wetten, dass..?. They released a re-packaged version of their 1984 single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98", which features Eric Singleton on the rap vocals. Their first comeback album Back for Good, which included four new tracks, as well as all of the previous hits redone with modern techniques, stayed at number one in Germany for five consecutive weeks and managed to top the charts in fifteen countries,[11] eventually selling three million copies in Europe alone.[14] The duo won the award for Best Selling German Band at the World Music Awards that year. The follow-up album Alone also went straight to number one in Germany and was very successful elsewhere; the album managed to sell over one million units in Europe alone.[14]

Bohlen and Anders followed the 1980s Modern Talking pattern as they chose to release two singles from each album, as in the past. A series of singles and four more albums followed such as Year of the Dragon, America, Victory and Universe. After reaching the point where they had already collected over 400 gold and platinum awards worldwide,[11] Bohlen and Anders decided to split up again in 2003 just before the release of another of their album compiled of best-songs.[15] The second break-up seemed to have been triggered mainly from the negative portrayal of Anders by Bohlen written in his autobiographical book published on 4 October 2003.[15] In the course of all the disputes which eventually drove the duo to its break-up, Bohlen was involved in Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS), the German edition of the UK's Pop Idol. The compilation album was released in 2003 entitled The Final Album which contained all of the duo's singles. Thomas Anders started another solo career immediately after the end of Modern Talking, while Bohlen had by now begun devoting most of his time to new talents, especially those he discovered on DSDS.
Production and sales figures

In 1984, Bohlen cited the hit single "Precious Little Diamond" (by Fox the Fox), as his inspiration for using falsetto choruses. The studio vocal line up of Rolf Köhler, Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedeke and (on early albums) Birger Corleis, in addition to Bohlen and Anders, produced the high choruses characteristic of Modern Talking.[16] Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke later went on to work with Bohlen in Blue System, before joining with songwriter Thomas Widrat to form Systems in Blue. Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke were never credited on the Modern Talking albums, and eventually went to court over the matter. They received an out of court settlement and Bohlen published a sleeve note for his next release (Obsession, by Blue System), acknowledging the trio's contribution.[16][17]

Further influences include German-language schlager music, disco pop (the Bee Gees) and romantic English-language songs of Italian and French origin, like Gazebo's "I Like Chopin". After the 1998 reunion, Bohlen produced Eurodance as well as American-style MOR ballads.

Global sales of Modern Talking, after the duo's second and final break-up in 2003, had reached 120 million singles and albums combined, making them the biggest-selling German music act in history.[18]

Dieter Bohlen also composed for other artists while still in Modern Talking, such as for Chris Norman and Smokie, whose song "Midnight Lady" (1986) remains Bohlen's most popular composition. He also composed a large number of tracks for C. C. Catch, using an accelerated, less-romantic sound. Some English Bohlen songs such as "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" were also recorded with German lyrics by Mary Roos, using the same playback tracks. When Modern Talking split up in 1987, a number of tracks written for the last album were re-arranged and then transferred onto Bohlen's first solo album by Blue System. Modern Talking's sixth album was released about the same time as the first single from Blue System, "Sorry Little Sarah", where Bohlen competed on the charts against Modern Talking's "In 100 Years" hit song.Middle of the road (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Middle of the road (MOR) loosely describes any type of music that falls between popular music and serious classical music, and includes the work of serious composers who write in a lighter style than normal.[1] It is also a commercial radio format which encompasses several styles. MOR music is broadly popular music; generally, it is strongly melodic and often features vocal harmony technique and orchestral arrangements. During the 1960s and the 1970s, the beautiful music radio stations were considered MOR radio, while its contemporary analogues are the smooth jazz and the adult contemporary radio formats.

Contents

1 Traditional format
2 Contemporary format
3 See also
4 References

Traditional format

The middle of the road music category has traditionally included these genres:

Easy listening
Traditional pop music of the pre-rock & roll era; and, later, revivalist recordings of the style
Orchestral ballads
Show tunes
Smooth jazz melodies
Soft rock songs and melodies

As an AM radio format in the United States and Canada, MOR's heyday was the 1960s and the 1970s. The 50,000-watt AM radio stations WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio, WJR in Detroit, Michigan, WNEW in New York City, New York, WCCO in Minneapolis, Minnesota, KMPC in Los Angeles, California, KIRO and KOMO in Seattle, Washington, WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut, and Canadian stations CFRB in Toronto, Ontario and CKNW in Vancouver, British Columbia, were known as "full-service MOR" stations with scheduled programming other than the MOR music. In that time, as the listener demographic groups aged, and popular music emigrated to FM radio, MOR stations competed with adult contemporary FM stations and AM stations broadcasting the Music of Your Life and adult standards formats, most eliminated music and transmitted only news and talk programs; some continued to play MOR music until the early 1990s. MOR (or at least formats bearing a strong resemblance to MOR) were still available as late as 2013; the Memories/Unforgettable Favorites network, a nationwide MOR satellite service, was available until 2006. Many of the styles and genres of music that had traditionally been heard on MOR formatted stations are currently heard on adult standards formatted stations. Country music singers like Kenny Rogers and Don Williams also have been considered as Middle of the road performers.
Contemporary format

In recent years, the term "middle of the road" has been used pejoratively by genre-specific music aficionados to describe musicians who avoid "edgy" (innovative) material, and who calibrate their musical appeal to commercial, popular musical taste.[2] Artists such as Westlife (pop)[3] and Train (rock)[4] are considered middle-of-the-road musicians.

Moreover, MOR has been used to pejoratively describe a musical band's creative and commercial progress from the innovative path to the tried-and-true-pop-catalogue path. For example, Pitchfork Media's review of Duran Duran's Rio states: "The band peppered the 80s with a number of hot singles (most of which can be found on the unstoppable side A of Rio) before departing for MOR country."[5]
See also

Full Service
Traditional pop music
Album-oriented rock (AOR)
Adult contemporary

References

Musiker & Musiker 2014, p. xiv.
Frere-Jones, Sasha. "On Top". New Yorker, 3 April 2006, pp. 76-77.
Lynskey, Dorian (3 December 2003). "Christmas in Popworld" – via The Guardian.
"Train : She's On Fire - NME".

Top 100 Albums of the 1980s. Pitchfork.

Sources

Musiker, Naomi; Musiker, Reuben (2014). Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music: A Biographical and Discographical Sourcebook. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-91770-8.