City is a German rock band, formed in East Berlin in 1972, best known for the song " Am Fenster" ("At/By The Window") from its 1978 debut album. The band was founded as the City Band Berlin by Fritz Puppel (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

), Klaus Selmke ( drums), Ingo Doering (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

), Klaus Witte ( keyboards), Frank Pfeiffer (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) and Andreas Pieper ( flute). The lineup changed frequently in the band's early years, but stabilized by 1976, with Puppel and Selmke joined by

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n violinist and bassist Georgi Gogow and vocalist-guitarist Toni Krahl. They changed their name to City Rock Band and eventually to simply City. City toured extensively in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, and was given the opportunity to record an album in 1978. The eponymous ''City'' showcased the band's guitar-driven

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

; several songs are parables, such as "Der King vom Prenzlauer Berg" (The King Of

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incor ...

), about a young man who gets into too many fights; and "Meister aller Klassen" (Masters Of All Classes"), about cocky motorcyclists whose desire for speed ends in tragedy. The band's greatest commercial success, however, was the atypical

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

-influenced "Am Fenster" (At the Window), which arose from a jam session in the studio when Gogow began to play on his violin. It eventually coalesced into a three-part, 17-minute piece (as well as a four-minute version for radio play). An immediate hit in East Germany, it also became successful in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and was a success in countries such as

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Following the song's success, ''City'' sold half a million copies. In 2019, ''Am Fenster'' was voted by a jury as the best song of all time from

Discography

* 1978 Am Fenster (At The Window; released in

as ''City'') * 1979 Der Tätowierte (The Tattooed Man; released in West Germany as ''City II'') * 1980 Dreamer (

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

album, released in West Germany as ''Dreamland'') * 1983 Unter der Haut (Under The Skin) * 1985 Feuer im Eis (Fire in Ice) * 1987 Casablanca * 1990 Keine Angst (No Fear) * 1991 Rock aus Deutschland Ost Vol. 11 – City, die Erfolge 1977–1987 ( Compilation album) * 1992 The Best of City ( Compilation album) * 1997 Rauchzeichen (Smoke Signals) * 1997 Am Fenster (Platinum Edition) * 2002 Am Fenster 2 * 2003 Das Weihnachtsfest der Rockmusik (Album with Keimzeit) (Christmas Festival Of Rock Music) * 2004 Silberstreif am Horizont (Silver Line On The Horizon) * 2007 Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! * 2007: ''Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!'' (Limited Edition, 5-Song-Live-CD) * 2008: ''Das Beste'' (4-CD Compilation) * 2008: ''Play it again! Das Beste von City'' (Best-Of-Album including new tracks, remixes and a videoclip) * 2012: ''Für immer jung'' (Forever Young) * 2012: ''City - Die Original Alben'', Hansa Amiga (Sony Music) (Compilation of the original City albums) * 2012: ''40 Jahre City (Das Konzert)'', (Sony Music) * 2013: ''Danke Engel'' (CD/DVD Unplugged + 5 neue Tracks) * 2015: ''Rocklegenden live'', Puhdys + City + Karat * 2017: ''Das Blut so laut'', Rhingtön (Universal Music)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:City East German musical groups Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups from Berlin