U 96 (music project)

U 96
General information
Genre (s)	Techno , Eurodance
founding	1991
Founding members
	Alex Christensen
	Ingo Hauss
	Helmut Hoinkis
	Hayo Lewerentz
Current occupation
	Ingo Hauss
	Hayo Lewerentz
former members
	Alex Christensen
	Helmut Hoinkis
	Stefan Hafelinger
	Skadi Lange
	Dorothy Lapi

U 96 is a German music project in the field of techno and eurodance , which originally consisted of Alex Christensen and the producer team Matiz (Ingo Hauss, Hayo Lewerentz and Helmut Hoinkis). Today U 96 consists of Ingo Hauss and Hayo Lewerentz. The project has sold more than 15 million records worldwide to date.

The U 96 had its greatest commercial successes in the early to mid-1990s. The single "Das Boot" (1991) was the first major chart success of techno culture in Germany, which reached far beyond the borders of the scene and helped the then still young music genre to become known in the mainstream . The title occupied the top position in the German single charts for several months and sold over 900,000 times in this country and over two million times worldwide.

biography

The name comes from the German submarine U 96 from the Second World War that appeared in the famous film Das Boot . The template for the project's first hit single, Das Boot , a techno version of the title melody originally composed by Klaus Doldinger , also comes from this film . The single was released by Polydor in 1991 . In the dance charts, the title soared to number 1, in the German Top 100, however, it did not get above number 15 at first. With a video (edited by the “U 96” team at the time) and a slightly shorter radio version, Das Boot finally climbed to number one in the German single charts and stayed there for 13 weeks. The single is considered to be a commercial breakthrough for the techno scene, which until then had been more underground.

The follow-up single I Wanna Be A Kennedy , a cover version of the Visage hit Fade to Gray (1980), was also successful at number 4 in the German charts. The single Come 2Gether / Der Kommandant , a double A-Side single , reached number 38. The album Das Boot reached number 11 on the German album charts .

In 1993 the single Love Sees No Color followed , a cover of the songs Sleeper in Metropolis by Anne Clark and Living on video by Trans-X (Pascal Languirand), which made it to number 6 in the German charts. The single Night In Motion (place 9) was equally successful .

The album Replugged , released in the same year, reached number 21 in the German album charts. The album borrowed from the wave music of the 1980s. The title “Replugged” is an allusion to the “Unplugged” albums by rock bands, which were quite popular at the time.

In 1994 the single Inside Your Dreams was released , which only barely missed the German top ten with 12th place. An album was not released for this. At the end of the year, U 96's Club Bizarre was one of the first interactive PC CD-ROMs in Germany. In addition to a PC game, the CD also contained three new titles. The track Enter at Your Own Risk was exclusive on this CD-Rom, the other two tracks were exclusive versions of Love Religion and Club Bizarre .

In 1995 the regular release of Love Religion followed , which climbed to number 5 in the German charts. The following single Club Bizarre , which went more in the direction of trance , reached number 18 in the German charts (number one in Finland), the regular album of the same name number 22. Compared to Replugged , Club Bizarre was significantly more poppy. Movin ' , the last single from the album, was completely rearranged for release by U 96 and re-sung by Carol Bailey , but only reached number 91.

In 1996 U 96 achieved their next big success with Heaven , based on the Cyndi Lauper classic Time After Time from 1984, with number 4. The album Heaven - Best of '96 , released in the same year, made it to number 30 in the album charts. On the album, U 96 also heralded a musical change. Some songs were recorded together with the Sicilian singer Dea-Li . The pieces were much more experimental and had a high ethnic content. Two more singles were released from the album, A Night to Remember (25th place) and Venus in Chains (75th place).

From the mid-1990s the influence of Eurodance continued to decline. Like many other bands in this field, U 96 had to pay tribute to this change. The single Seven Wonders , released in 1997, achieved a rather mediocre placement at # 40. The album Rhythm of Life , announced for the same year, was not released. U 96 then made a change in style. The single Energie , published in 1998, showed clear influences from hip-hop and reached number 29 in the German charts. The next single Move, Baby , however, was a commercial flop and was the first U 96 single to not even make it into the Top 100. After that, the group fell silent.

In 2000 U 96 reappeared with a modernized new edition of their greatest success Das Boot . However, Das Boot 2001 was unable to build on the success of the original version and reached number 16 in the German charts. In the same year, the compilation Best Of 1991-2001 appeared , on which almost all hits were represented. The original version of Das Boot was missing , but it contained some tracks from the unreleased album Rhythm of Life and two new titles.

In 2003 U 96 tried their comeback with We Call It Love . The single was only released as a promo on vinyl. A CD release failed due to legal problems. Then Alex Christensen and the Matiz production team parted ways.

In March 2006 a new U 96 single was released. Passing is a ballad in German. U 96 was supported by the then popular singer Ben . The single reached number 28 on the charts. The next single, Mr. DJ Put On the Red Light in cooperation with the Hamburg rapper Das Bo , came in at number 77.

The 2007 album Out of Wilhelmsburg contained the above singles (in two versions each). On this album there are some older songs from the original producer Matiz, some of whom worked here independently. It was U 96's first album that did not make it into the Top 100. In 2014, the original producers Hayo Lewerentz and Ingo Hauss announced they were working on a new album called Reboot . Alex Christensen and Helmut Hoinkis, the other two founding members, are not there.

In 2015 Josh Stolten was introduced as a new group member. In addition, U 96 performed live with this line-up for the first time in the band's history, including in Finland and Russia. In January 2015, after a long break, the single Planet Earth was released as a download. The EP Dark Matter followed in November . Josh Stolten left U 96 at the beginning of 2016.

Currently (as of 2019) U 96 consists of Hayo Lewerentz and Ingo Hauss, the original songwriters and producers of the project. The album "Reboot" was released in June 2018 and reached number 1 on the Swedish iTunes charts. There was a first advance single on July 7, 2017, initially as a new version of their number 1 hit "Das Boot". New titles and collaborations with other electronic artists such as the former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür ("Zukunftsmusik", "Hildebrandslied") and the singer Joachim Witt ("Quo Vadis") were recorded for the album .

Discography

→ Main article : U 96 (music project) / discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
1992	The Polydor boat	DE11 (25 weeks) DE	AT5 (16 weeks) AT	CH9 gold (13 weeks)CH	-	First published: March 6, 1992 Sales: + 25,000
1993	Replugged Urban Records	DE21 (19 weeks) DE	AT5 (13 weeks) AT	CH18 (11 weeks) CH	-	First published: June 7, 1993
1995	Club Bizarre Guppy	DE22 (12 weeks) DE	AT23 (7 weeks) AT	CH37 (5 weeks) CH	-	First published: February 20, 1995
1996	Heaven Guppy	DE30 (12 weeks) DE	AT19 (12 weeks) AT	CH23 (7 weeks) CH	-	First published: May 1996
2007	Out of Wilhelmsburg Centaurus Records	-	-	-	-	First published: March 16, 2007
2018	REBOOT UNLTD Recordings	-	-	-	-	First published: June 29, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} U 96 Biography. residentadvisor.net, accessed October 25, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Chart sources: Official German charts: U 96 - Das Boot (single)
3. ↑ Ellie Weinert: German Dance Sweats Out Airplay Drought and Snaps Out of Its Trance. In: Billboard. books.google.de, June 27, 1992, accessed October 25, 2019 (English). 
4. ↑ Official German Charts: U96 - Das Boot (album)
5. ^ Billboard Apr. 1, 1995
6. ↑ Kerstin Kratochwill: REBOOT on laut.de; accessed on November 21, 2019.
7. ^ U96 - Joachim Witt & Wolfgang Flür (ex-Kraftwerk) guest on new album! on darkmusicworld.de, June 5, 2018; accessed on November 21, 2019.

Web links

• U-96 discography
• Official web page (Facebook)