History Music / Alphaville

* SixthRanger: Rainer Bloss has not generally been considered an official member of Alphaville, but he has contributed, in some capacity or another, to every album from ''Afternoons in Utopia'' to ''Catching Rays on Giant''.

[[caption-width-right:350: From left to right: Marian Gold (vocalist), and keyboard players Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8b5c075fa83508ae4530ba3c159fba15.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Clockwise from top: Ricky Echolette (Instruments), Marian Gold (Voices), Bernhard Lloyd (Machines)]]

They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" [[note]]No relation to the Tom Waits song of the same name[[/note]] and "Forever Young,"[[note]]Not the Rod Stewart one[[/note]] both released in 1984. While "Forever Young" and "Big in Japan" managed to peak at 65 and 66, respectively, on the US's Billboard Hot 100, Alphaville have always been best appreciated in Europe, releasing a few top ten singles in several countries throughout the 80s. "Forever Young" has seen a new appreciation in recent years through several covers, remixes, and appearances in movie soundtracks and TV shows.

* EpilepticFlashingLights: Feature in the video for "Big in Japan." In fact, when Rhino posted the video to their YouTube page, they slowed the video down significantly.

* SixthRanger: Rainer Bloss has not generally been considered an official member of Alphaville, but he has contributed, in some capacity or another, to every album from ''Afternoons in Utopia'' to ''Catching Rays on Giant.

* SixthRanger: Rainer Bloss has not generally been considered an official member of Alphaville, but he has contributed, in some capacity or another, to every album since ''Afternoons in Utopia''.

* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Forever Young'' and ''Afternoons in Utopia'' have title tracks, ''The Breathtaking Blue'' is in the lyrics of "Summer Rain," and ''Salvation'' is in the lyrics of "Spirit of the Age." ''Prostitute'' and ''Catching Rays on Giant'' avert this completely.

Alphaville is a German SynthPop[=/=][[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] group that gained international popularity in the 1980s. The band was originally named '''Forever Young'''.

* BookEnds: ''Afternoons in Utopia'' does something similar to TheWall. The first track is an echo of the word "night". The last track is the limerick "There was a young lady named Bright / Whose speed was much faster, much faster than light / She departed one day / In a relative way / And returned on the previous...."

The founding members were Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens, and singer Marian Gold. Frank Mertens left the band after the release of their first album, ''Forever Young'', and was replaced by Ricky Echolette. This lineup produced the bulk of Alphaville's studio material, responsible for ''Afternoons in Utopia,'' ''The Breathtaking Blue,'' ''Prostitute,'' and ''Salvation.'' Echolette left the band during the production of ''Salvation''. Alphaville existed for a while as just Bernhard Lloyd and Marian Gold, during which they released the anthology box sets ''Dreamscapes'' and ''Crazyshow''. Lloyd officially left Alphaville in 2003[[note]]His involvement in Alphaville as a band member was basically finished after ''Dreamscapes'' released in 1999, though he still did managerial and promotional work until his official departure[[/note]]. The lineup for 2010's ''Catching Rays on Giant'' is Marian Gold, Martin Lister on keyboards, David Goodes on guitar, and Jakob Kiersch on drums. Fifth member, bassist Maja Kim, joined the band the following year. Martin Lister passed away in May of 2014. After his death, Carsten Brocker took over on keyboards. Maja Kim left the band in July, 2016.

* ''Strange Attractor (working title)'' (2016)

They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" [[note]]No relation to the Tom Waits song of the same name[[/note]] and "Forever Young"[[note]]Not the Rod Stewart one[[/note]]. "Forever Young" didn't do well in the US charts, but since its release it has shown up in movie soundtracks and TV shows.

** The cover of the "Sensations" single is a shout out to ''Film/CitizenKane''.

The founding members were Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens, and singer Marian Gold. Frank Mertens left the band after the release of their first album, ''Forever Young'', and was replaced by Ricky Echolette. This lineup produced the bulk of Alphaville's studio material, responsible for ''Afternoons in Utopia,'' ''The Breathtaking Blue,'' ''Prostitute,'' and ''Salvation.'' Echolette left the band during the production of ''Salvation''. Alphaville existed for a while as just Bernhard Lloyd and Marian Gold, during which they released the anthology box sets ''Dreamscapes'' and ''Crazyshow''. Lloyd officially left Alphaville in 2003[[note]]His involvement in Alphaville as a band member was basically finished after ''Dreamscapes'' released in 1999, though he still did managerial and promotional work until his official departure[[/note]]. The lineup for 2010's ''Catching Rays on Giant'' is Marian Gold, Martin Lister on keyboards, David Goodes on guitar, and Jakob Kiersch on drums. Fifth member, bassist Maja Kim, joined the band the following year. Martin Lister passed away in May of 2014. After his death, Carsten Brocker took over on keyboards.

* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: ''Prostitute'', even though the word doesn't appear in any of the song lyrics or song titles.

* ''So80s Presents Alphaville'' (2014)

-->night!

** The mighty maomoondogs that first appeared on ''Afternoons in Utopia'' get mentioned again in "Ivory Tower" on ''Prostitute'' and then again in "Return to Paradise" (parts 1 and 2) on ''Crazyshow''

** "Waiting 4 The Nu Lite" contains the melody from "Within You Without You" from SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand.

** The cover of the "Sensations" single is a shout out to CitizenKane.

** It's really hard to make out, but Ricky Echolette is wearing a [[StarTrek United Federation of Planets]] t-shirt on the cover of ''Afternoons in Utopia.'' Marian actually wore this shirt during a TV performance of "Red Rose."

* StageNames: Marian Gold = Hartwig Schierbaum; Bernhard Lloyd = Bernhard Gößling; Ricky Echolette = Wolfgang Neuhaus; Frank Mertens = Frank Sorgatz. Martin Lister, David Goodes, and Jacob Kiersch go by their real names.

-->There was a young lady from Bright whose speed was much faster, much faster than light. She departed one day in a relative way and returned on the previous