Fact #162821
When:
Short story:
German band Propaganda enter the UK singles chart with Duel, which will peak at No21, the highest of their five chart entries.
Full article:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PROPAGANDA?
Michael Mertens (percussion) : Propaganda had been formed in Dusseldorf by Ralph Dorper and Andreas Thein, who then brought in various other members including myself. We came to base ourselves the UK after we got our contract with Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records. One of our singers, Claudia Brucken, was already in the UK at that time because she was personally involved with Paul Morley who was then working for ZTT.
Andreas left after our first single and, as time went on, we started to realise that the conditions of the contract we had signed with ZTT meant that we would never be able to make any money no matter how many records we sold, and we sold millions. We took them to court in 1986, but ended up making an out of court settlement which basically got us out of the contract, although it didn’t earn us any money. I actually got my first cheque from ZTT in 1999, and it was for £160.
I was fortunate because I wrote a lot of the material, so I earned some publishing royalties but Susannah, who didn’t write so much, made nothing out of Propaganda.
The other difficulty with Propaganda was Claudia’s marriage to Paul. She was very young at that time, and it was being said to her that her voice was the reason for Propaganda’s success. She became louder and louder in the band, and her nature was to be always plotting. It seemed to me that Paul was trying to establish her as a pop diva, and used her to try to control the band.
It came to a head in a letter where Claudia basically told the rest of us that if we didn’t work the way she wanted us to, she would leave – which she did.
After that, I re-formed Propaganda with Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, who had been playing with us as guest musicians on stage, plus a very versatile American singer Betsi Miller, but then Susannah left and that line-up fell apart.
I started my own studio, Music Works, in Dusseldorf, and that’s been very successful. About 75% of our work is for tv commercials, but also tv series like the Jim Henson production, The Secret Life Of Toys, which ran for 26 episodes in the UK, I believe.
About six years ago, Claudia and I did try to write some material for a new Propaganda album, and musically it was a productive relationship, some great songs, but she and I did not get along on a business level. I don’t think she understood that I have to run my company, which is very time-consuming, as well as making Propaganda music. I produced an album in 1998 for an Australian singer, Grant Stevens (Go Beweens?), and so Propaganda had to wait until I finished that, and I think Claudia just wasn’t prepared to wait.
I’ve been speaking with Ralf recently, and he’s interested in working with me on the music I wrote with Claudia, so there’s still a definite possibility that a new Propaganda album could be released next year.
Claudia Brucken (vocals) : The other members saw it as a threat that I was in a relationship with someone who worked for ZTT, but I never saw it that way. After all, although Paul was a director of the company, he was not a business person. His work was on the creative side, the image side, and he knew almost as little about business and contracts as we did.
For me, a major factor was that our manager, who also looked after Heaven 17 and John Lydon, would tell one member of the band one thing, then he’d tell another member of the band something entirely different, which set us against each other.
When I left, I chose to stay with ZTT so I could continue working with Paul, and the ZTT creative team who were excellent, despite the business problems we’d had. My new group, ACT, had a much better deal, but we still didn’t make any money because we spent so much time in expensive studios making the album. Then ZTT moved its deal from Island Records to WEA, and the new team really didn’t get behind us, so there was never any hope of recouping our advance. The same thing happened during the making of my solo album Love And A Million Other Things in 1991, when the head of my label moved and took his whole team with him.
I met Paul Humphies (formerly of OMD) when I was doing my second album in 1996. We started co-writing, but it developed into a personal relationship, and we now live together in London. He and I have been writing material together which, as you’d expect, sounds a bit like OMD meets Propaganda, and we’re planning to release that through a major label once it’s finished.
I’m also coming to the end of an album with the composer Andrew Poppy, on which we’ve done radical cover versions of songs by people as diverse as Schubert and Kate Bush. That will probably be released on the net.
Ralf Dörper (keyboards/lyrics) : “Although Ralf was one of the founders of Propaganda,” says Mertens, “and he wrote the lyrics, he continued to work in a bank all through the band’s lifespan. Frequently, he wasn’t with us when we played on stage. After Propaganda, he re-joined his previous band, Die Krupps in 1989, and he continues to work as a banker in Dusseldorf.”
Susanne Freytag (vocals) : There were all kinds of pressures within the band. Rolf and Andreas had formed it and named it, and I think it was hard for them when Claudia and I became the front figures. There were always boy-girl tensions, a kind of war for power and control in the band. Michael always seemed to be fair, but that wasn’t true of everyone else.
Also, we were four Germans who spoke very little English, trying to deal with powerful figures in the British music business. It was a very depressing experience, and I felt as if I had no control over my life or my career.
After Claudia left, we did a second album but I didn’t like it. Although I liked the new members personally, I felt that the music no longer represented me. That’s when I left and returned to Germany, where I returned to my original profession as a goldsmith, working in Cologne.
In 1991 I moved back to England, and I now live with my partner Andrew Catlin (?) who is a photographer, and our two sons in a lovely big old house in Hastings, where I work as a diamond dealer.
Source : interviews conducted by Johnny Black for Q magazine
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Michael Mertens (percussion) : Propaganda had been formed in Dusseldorf by Ralph Dorper and Andreas Thein, who then brought in various other members including myself. We came to base ourselves the UK after we got our contract with Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records. One of our singers, Claudia Brucken, was already in the UK at that time because she was personally involved with Paul Morley who was then working for ZTT.
Andreas left after our first single and, as time went on, we started to realise that the conditions of the contract we had signed with ZTT meant that we would never be able to make any money no matter how many records we sold, and we sold millions. We took them to court in 1986, but ended up making an out of court settlement which basically got us out of the contract, although it didn’t earn us any money. I actually got my first cheque from ZTT in 1999, and it was for £160.
I was fortunate because I wrote a lot of the material, so I earned some publishing royalties but Susannah, who didn’t write so much, made nothing out of Propaganda.
The other difficulty with Propaganda was Claudia’s marriage to Paul. She was very young at that time, and it was being said to her that her voice was the reason for Propaganda’s success. She became louder and louder in the band, and her nature was to be always plotting. It seemed to me that Paul was trying to establish her as a pop diva, and used her to try to control the band.
It came to a head in a letter where Claudia basically told the rest of us that if we didn’t work the way she wanted us to, she would leave – which she did.
After that, I re-formed Propaganda with Derek Forbes and Brian McGee, who had been playing with us as guest musicians on stage, plus a very versatile American singer Betsi Miller, but then Susannah left and that line-up fell apart.
I started my own studio, Music Works, in Dusseldorf, and that’s been very successful. About 75% of our work is for tv commercials, but also tv series like the Jim Henson production, The Secret Life Of Toys, which ran for 26 episodes in the UK, I believe.
About six years ago, Claudia and I did try to write some material for a new Propaganda album, and musically it was a productive relationship, some great songs, but she and I did not get along on a business level. I don’t think she understood that I have to run my company, which is very time-consuming, as well as making Propaganda music. I produced an album in 1998 for an Australian singer, Grant Stevens (Go Beweens?), and so Propaganda had to wait until I finished that, and I think Claudia just wasn’t prepared to wait.
I’ve been speaking with Ralf recently, and he’s interested in working with me on the music I wrote with Claudia, so there’s still a definite possibility that a new Propaganda album could be released next year.
Claudia Brucken (vocals) : The other members saw it as a threat that I was in a relationship with someone who worked for ZTT, but I never saw it that way. After all, although Paul was a director of the company, he was not a business person. His work was on the creative side, the image side, and he knew almost as little about business and contracts as we did.
For me, a major factor was that our manager, who also looked after Heaven 17 and John Lydon, would tell one member of the band one thing, then he’d tell another member of the band something entirely different, which set us against each other.
When I left, I chose to stay with ZTT so I could continue working with Paul, and the ZTT creative team who were excellent, despite the business problems we’d had. My new group, ACT, had a much better deal, but we still didn’t make any money because we spent so much time in expensive studios making the album. Then ZTT moved its deal from Island Records to WEA, and the new team really didn’t get behind us, so there was never any hope of recouping our advance. The same thing happened during the making of my solo album Love And A Million Other Things in 1991, when the head of my label moved and took his whole team with him.
I met Paul Humphies (formerly of OMD) when I was doing my second album in 1996. We started co-writing, but it developed into a personal relationship, and we now live together in London. He and I have been writing material together which, as you’d expect, sounds a bit like OMD meets Propaganda, and we’re planning to release that through a major label once it’s finished.
I’m also coming to the end of an album with the composer Andrew Poppy, on which we’ve done radical cover versions of songs by people as diverse as Schubert and Kate Bush. That will probably be released on the net.
Ralf Dörper (keyboards/lyrics) : “Although Ralf was one of the founders of Propaganda,” says Mertens, “and he wrote the lyrics, he continued to work in a bank all through the band’s lifespan. Frequently, he wasn’t with us when we played on stage. After Propaganda, he re-joined his previous band, Die Krupps in 1989, and he continues to work as a banker in Dusseldorf.”
Susanne Freytag (vocals) : There were all kinds of pressures within the band. Rolf and Andreas had formed it and named it, and I think it was hard for them when Claudia and I became the front figures. There were always boy-girl tensions, a kind of war for power and control in the band. Michael always seemed to be fair, but that wasn’t true of everyone else.
Also, we were four Germans who spoke very little English, trying to deal with powerful figures in the British music business. It was a very depressing experience, and I felt as if I had no control over my life or my career.
After Claudia left, we did a second album but I didn’t like it. Although I liked the new members personally, I felt that the music no longer represented me. That’s when I left and returned to Germany, where I returned to my original profession as a goldsmith, working in Cologne.
In 1991 I moved back to England, and I now live with my partner Andrew Catlin (?) who is a photographer, and our two sons in a lovely big old house in Hastings, where I work as a diamond dealer.
Source : interviews conducted by Johnny Black for Q magazine