City (band)
City | |
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City (2010) in Seelow |
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General information | |
Genre (s) | skirt |
founding | 1972 |
Website | www.city-internet.de |
Founding members | |
guitar |
Fritz Puppel |
Drums |
Klaus Selmke († May 22, 2020) |
bass |
Ingo Döring |
singing |
Frank Pfeiffer |
flute |
Andreas Pieper |
Current occupation | |
guitar |
Fritz Puppel |
singing |
Toni Krahl |
Keyboard |
Manfred Hennig |
Bass, violin |
Georgi Gogow |
former members | |
singing |
Emil Bogdanov |
Keyboard |
Rudiger Barton |
guitar |
Gisbert Piatkowski |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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City is a German music group . The band was founded in East Berlin in 1972 and achieved their breakthrough with their title Am Fenster . At first they were called City Rock Band or City Band Berlin .
history
City was founded in 1972 by Fritz Puppel ( guitar ) and Klaus Selmke ( drums ) in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg as City Band Berlin . They expanded the band
In 1974 the line-up was changed because Puppel, who taught at the Friedrichshain Music School , was dissatisfied with the line-up of the band.
- In 1974 Georgi Gogow (later NO 55 ), who also played the violin in some of the songs , replaced Döring; Emil Bogdanow came for Pfeiffer.
- 1975 Toni Krahl took over the post of singer Bogdanow.
The band's first single was also released on the GDR record label Amiga in 1975. They had their breakthrough in the music scene in 1977 with the title Am Fenster . The LP of the same name was released in 1978. They received gold records for this in the Federal Republic of Germany and Greece . City was one of the few music groups in the GDR that were allowed to perform in the Federal Republic of Germany.
There was another line-up for the band:
- Rüdiger Barton came from Magdeburg as a keyboardist (later went to Silly )
- Gisbert Piatkowski (formerly Magdeburg, later to NO 55 , Modern Soul Band ) joined as a guitarist.
The English-language LP Dreamer , produced by Jack Rieley of the Beach Boys , was released in this line-up. The album was released abroad as Dreamland . It was the first GDR record that was designed for the English-speaking market. When it came to internal tension in the band in 1981, Gogow and Piatkowski left the band and founded NO 55. Gogow's post was no longer filled because it was felt that no equivalent replacement could be found. During this time the slogan arose: Without bass and without hair with City through the 80s , which also alluded to the low hair growth of some City members. In some songs, a bass line and other effects (including string sounds) were played with the keyboard.
Manfred Hennig (formerly Babylon , Pond and Elefant ) joined Barton in 1982, who switched to Silly. After this change in line-up, Puppel took over the guitar again. With the lyrics of their LP Casablanca , which was released in 1987 , they broke some taboos, including in the ambiguous titles z. B. Susann and wall to wall. In September 1989, the city musicians were among the initiators of the resolution of rock musicians and songwriters for more freedom in the GDR in the run-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall .
After the fall of the Wall, Puppel and Krahl founded the record label K & P Musik , as the new freedom heralded the demise of the former eastern bands. This label produced, among others, André Herzberg ( Pankow ), Karat and Keimzeit .
Since 1992 Gogow has been part of the band again. Since then he has been playing the violin and bass again. In 1995 Hennig returned to City after a break. From 1998 City appeared together with Silly at times, with Krahl taking over Tamara Danz's vocal part .
In May 2020, the drummer Klaus Selmke died at the age of 70 after a long illness.
Hits
City's greatest success is the song Am Fenster , which has been sold more than 10 million times worldwide to date. Their first West LP City (in the GDR: Am Fenster ) with a 17 minute long version of this song has sold half a million copies so far. It is the greatest success of a GDR song in western Germany to date. Even today he appears there in most of the classic playlists and is considered a dance floor filler. The text of this song is based on a poem by Hildegard Maria Rauchfuß , but a verse by Krahl was mistakenly sung twice. The title was originally for the album production due to its length and the violin, it did not belong to rock music according to the understanding of the time, was not planned by Amiga and not wanted. Since Amiga City always made four hours available for studio productions and there was still time left after a recording, Gogow asked Helmar Federowski to record one of her pieces as well. Am Fenster was played live on the condition that it was only used for personal use and not made public . On the same day, Gogow went to the editor of the Beatkiste and asked him to play the title on the radio . After that, the record stores were stormed for a single that didn't exist. So City managed to get Amiga to use the recording to make a single out of it.
The song Casablanca was composed by Henry Hübchen .
Discography
Albums
- 1978: Am Fenster ( Amiga , GDR, City in the Federal Republic of Germany and Greece ) (DE: Platin)
- 1979: The tattooed (Amiga, GDR, in the Federal Republic of Germany and Greece City II )
- 1980: Dreamer (Amiga, GDR, Dreamland abroad )
- 1983: Under the Skin (Amiga)
- 1984: Fire in the Ice (Amiga)
- 1987: Casablanca (Amiga)
- 1990: don't worry
- 1997: smoke signals
- 2002: At the window 2
- 2004: silver lining
- 2007: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! (also as limited edition, 5-song live CD)
- 2012: 40 Years City (The Concert) , (Sony Music)
- 2013: Danke Engel (CD / DVD Unplugged + 5 new tracks)
- 2017: The Blood So Loud (Rhingtön / Universal Music)
- 2019: Candlelight Spectacle - Live in Saxony
Compilations
- 1991: Rock aus Deutschland Ost Vol. 11 - City, The Successes 1977–1987 (compilation not authorized by City)
- 1992: The Best of City (DE: Gold)
- 1997: At the window (Platinum Edition)
- 2003: The Christmas festival of rock music (Split-Best-Of with Keimzeit)
- 2003: The King from Prenzlauer Berg (3-CD compilation)
- 2004: Champion of all classes - Best (1977-90)
- 2008: Das Beste (4-CD compilation unauthorized by City)
- 2008: Play it again! The best of City (best of album including new tracks, remixes and video track)
- 2012: City - The Original Albums , Hansa Amiga (Sony Music)
- 2012: Forever young
- 2015: Rock legends live , Puhdys + City + Karat
literature
- Thomas Otto: City - At the window. The band - the songs - the story. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89602-123-0 .
- Christian Hentschel , Peter Matzke: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! City. The book. Neues Leben / Eulenspiegel Verlagsgruppe , Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-355-01734-3 .
- Götz Hintze: Rock Lexicon of the GDR. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-303-9 .
- HP Hofmann: Beat Lexicon. Performers, authors, technical terms . VEB Lied der Zeit Musikverlag, Berlin (East) 1977.
Web links
- Official website
- Portrait at deutsche-mugge.de
- Portrait at ostbeat.de ( Memento from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Portrait at ostmusik.de ( Memento from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Works by and about City in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ The barefoot drummer: City drummer Klaus Selmke has died. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 22, 2020, accessed on May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Götz Hintze: Rock Lexicon of the GDR. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-303-9 , p. 328. The overall ratings of the GDR annual hit parade consisted of the sum of the best placements in the hit parades DT Metronom , Beatkiste , Tip-Disko , DT64 and Tip-Parade together.
- ↑ Chart sources DE
- ↑ Christian Hentschel: You forgot the color film and other Ostrock stories . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-317-9 .
- ↑ ostbeat.de ( Memento of 28 December 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 3, 2014
- ↑ City drummer Klaus Selmke succumbs to cancer. nordkurier.de from May 22, 2020, accessed on May 22, 2020
- ↑ Appearance of the official website at the end of May 2020 ( Memento from May 23, 2020 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Awards from the BVMI