Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 noir sci-fi movie has had a huge influence on popular culture. Robert Palmer copied its visuals for the cover of his debut album, Sneaking Sally Through The Alley. The Cranberries paid homage in their video to Linger. Kelly Osbourne did likewise in One Word. The Monochrome Set had a song called Alphaville, while The Rentals got Lost In Alphaville. Even Bryan Ferry got in on the act. But surely there can't be more than one band to have adopted the movie's title... can there?
ALPHAVILLE #1
If you're familiar with the name Alphaville, then this probably isn't the band you were expecting. Our first Alphaville formed in 1980 in Madrid and were prominent members of the Spanish post-punk scene.
Interestingly, youtube includes these guys on the same official channel as the second Alphaville... but they're definitely different bands.
ALPHAVILLE #2
The Alphaville most people will be familiar were a synth-pop band who formed in 1982 in the German city of Münster. Presumably where Herman and Lily came from. Lead singer Marian Gold had some seriously Jagger-esque lips going on. They were also very big in Japan...
And that's it. Phew. It's actually nice to do one of these where the choice is limited to just two bands for a change. That's kind of what I'd envisaged they'd all be like when I started this feature, but it rarely seems to be the case.
Which is your Alphaville... and which is a definite Beta?
A tough one but it's Jagger Lips for me
ReplyDeleteJo was commenting yesterday about the singer in #2. And it was not complimentary. She made no comment about the song, but I find it incredibly annoying therefore it's #1 for me
ReplyDelete#2 for me, only because I've been more familiar with (and quite enjoyed) their wider work beyond Big In Japan and Forever Young. Haven't seen the video for some time, but I couldn't help think of Youngblud when looking at the lead singer...
ReplyDeleteYeah, he does look like Yungblood.
DeleteSimilar to George, going for 1 as it is not as bad as 2.
ReplyDelete