This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s: Berlin's "The Metro"
Friday April 27, 2007
Though remembered always and forever for "Take My Breath Away," the uncharacteristic yet hugely popular No. 1 love theme from 1986's Top Gun soundtrack, this L.A. synth pop outfit had far more to offer than adult contemporary fare. In fact, one of the band's earliest successful singles, "Sex (I'm A...)," was biting and racy, the furthest thing from safely romantic. Still, the group possibly had no better than moment than "The Metro," an elegant, lovely and dense narrative that casts quite an intoxicating spell. Most of the descriptions used previously (probably excepting "dense") can be applied with just as much enthusiasm to Berlin's frontwoman, Terri Nunn, a singer and performer who definitely rivaled Debbie Harry in the '80s pop seductress department. Still, frequent songwriter and bassist John Crawford was the mind behind this stylish track, which deserved a far better fate than a peak at No. 58 on the Billboard pop charts in 1983.
Recent Album Cover Photo, Featuring the Still Impossibly Sexy Terri Nunn, Courtesy of Majestic Records
Comments
The Mystery and Magic of “The Metro”
Steve, I second the emotion that “The Metro” is a forgotten gem from the Eighties. You are absolutely correct when you say that “the group possibly had no better moment than “The Metro,” an elegant, lovely and dense narrative that casts quite an intoxicating spell”. The words to the single are poetry at its best:
I remember the letter wrinkled in my hand
“I’ll love you always” filled my eyes
I remember a night we walked along the Seine
riding on the Metro.
Had I not been studying in the US at the time, the single would have remained unheard by me. And I would have truly missed something. I don’t even know whether a video clip for the song exists.
Each time I recall the words “I remember a soldier sleeping next to me riding on the Metro” I can hear the sound of wailing sirens of a speeding train from the superb single. The band could not have been more innovative. I can’t help but agree when you say “this stylish track deserved a far better fate than a peak at No. 58 on the Billboard pop charts in 1983”.
Is it not an irony that a much lesser number “Take My Breath Away”, both lyrically and musically, became such a smash hit? Few people even know about the mystery and magic of a Berlin song called “The Metro”. But then this is such a common phenomenon where music is concerned.
The wailing sirens of “The Metro” will always keep haunting me.
By the way, Steve, there is another song from the Eighties, 1985 to be precise, which should have been a smash hit but never was. I am talking about The Motels “Icy Red”. I am sure you will agree with me that Martha Davis too has a mellifluous voice and there is something stupendous about this song where its music is concerned. Maybe the lyrics don’t make much sense, or maybe they are a bit trite but the song certainly sounds soothing to the ears. But who knows, maybe there might be something more to the lyrics which I have been unable to grasp.
I last heard “Icy Red” in the late Eighties and as far as I can remember there is an Indian instrument also being played. However, I can’t seem to recall whether it is the beat of a tabla or the strains of a sitar. But whichever instrument it is, it certainly provides the magic touch to “Icy Red” making it so memorable.
You are most welcome to write to me if you have anything to say.
Keep up the good work. You are doing a fantastic job.
Mohsin Maqbool Elahi
Karachi
Pakistan