MODERN TALKING – GERMAN PHENOMENON

Modern Talking is a cult band. Its members have earned such fame, because their songs are recognizable by the first chords and are pulled to the dance floor. More than 100 million records sold say a lot. No one was more successful at Eurodisc than the guys at Modern Talking.

Could Thomas Anders have thought during the studio recording of the song “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul” that this composition will fundamentally change his whole life. It was their first song and instant hit in the biggest hits.

Sweet beginning
In the early 1980s, the Eurodisc style only appeared, and with it the composer Dieter Bohlen. At that time he worked in a music publishing house and almost everything that sounded in Germany was written by him. Dieter’s voice was not outstanding, but his composing abilities quickly helped him to his feet. Bolen realized that for complete success, he lacked English-language compositions and a singer whose voice could make real hits out of his songs.

At that time, Modern Talking band Young Thomas Anders arrived in Hamburg to record his album. After completing work, he had two hours left before the plane, and Dieter took advantage of this. He invited Thomas to record his new song, “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”. Listening to music on a cassette recorder and reading the words, Thomas caught fire with this composition.

The single was released in September 1984, but no one really bought it. In the first 2-3 weeks, only about 1,000 records were sold. But after the Christmas holidays, this figure increased 60 times. Only then did the guys realize that maybe they hit the bull’s-eye.

Modern conversation
Modern Talking – this is how two young and talented musicians from Germany called their group. The name was inspired by the success of Talk, Talk. Dieter wrote songs one after another, so the entire debut album with the simple title “The First Album” was easily able to be composed entirely of his compositions. Dieter’s songs poured in, and the group released 2 records a year. Today no one does this anymore. A mix of Thomas Anders’ normal soft voice and falsetto tones, which Dieter Bohlen superimposed 50 times on each other, as in the group Modern Talking, the song “Cheri, Cheri Lady”, and created a contrast that was in demand and was a huge success.

Their further success stretched from Japan to Thailand, from China to Russia, from South America to France. It was real popularity, part of the history of pop music. One by one they released hits, received music awards, it was hard to even imagine. Modern Talking has become the most popular German band of all time.

There came a time when Dieter Bohlen with Thomas Anders could no longer go outside, wherever they were, everywhere they were surrounded by a crowd of fans. And in front of Thomas’s house, heartbreaking scenes unfolded. A guy with the same dark hair and similar clothes drove up, got out of the car, and fans rushed to him with screeching and screaming. Imagine their disappointment when the truth was revealed.

With the same love, Modern Talking was greeted outside their homeland. Entire streets were blocked in the largest capitals of the world because tens of thousands of people gathered to see their favorite musicians. Now it’s even hard to understand what they liked more – their music or created images.

Modern Talking Music Records
The songs “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”, “You Can Win If You Want”, “Cheri, Cheri Lady”, “Brother Louie” are combined in a kind of record. They were performed by Modern Talking for two years and became No. 1 hits in Germany. In addition, 4 consecutive Modern Talking albums became multi-platinum. Nobody can beat this record so far.

Moreover, the group was not very popular among the American audience. There in the mid-1980s, completely different musical styles dominated. If in Europe it was enough to perform in 8-10 large cities to indicate your position on the music map, for America this mark should have been 50-60 cities. While they were gaining a European audience (including the fastidious English), the United States simply did not have the necessary forces. Perhaps that is why their songs never hit the American charts.

Third wheel
Modern Talking Group Thomas and Nora
Despite all the creative victories, three years later the group had problems ripening, not the least role in which was played by the wife of Thomas Anders – Nora. This trio became a powder keg, inside of which there was already a critical situation. From album to album, managers and the producer only thought about how to save the group from disintegration.

For the band members themselves this was not a surprise. Later, Dieter Bohlen admitted that finding a common language with Nora was very difficult, perhaps due to a ten-year age difference.