Münchener Freiheit (known sometimes simply as Freiheit) is a German pop and rock band that had released nineteen studio albums by 2016, four of which have gone

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. They are named after a square in the city of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in Germany, meaning "Munich freedom". It is considered part of the

Neue Deutsche Welle Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits on the popular nationwid ...

musical movement. They are best known in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-speaking world for their single "

Keeping the Dream Alive "Keeping the Dream Alive" is a 1988 song by German pop and rock band Münchener Freiheit – also known as Freiheit in English-speaking countries – taken from their album ''Fantasy''. The music was written by Aron Strobel and Stefan Zauner with ...

". This song became a #14

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

when released in December 1988, making Münchener Freiheit a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

there.

The early years

The band, composed of Stefan Zauner (vocals, keyboards),

Aron Strobel Aron Strobel (born 26 January 1958, in Schwäbisch Gmünd, West Germany) is best known as the lead guitarist for Münchener Freiheit, who had several big hits throughout Europe. Background Aron has been a member of the group since their debut i ...

(guitar and vocals), Rennie Hatzke (drums), Michael Kunzi (bass and vocals), and Alex Grünwald (keyboard), formed in the early 1980s. Their first album '' Umsteiger'', released in 1982, was a rough-around-the-edges form of new wave showing an aggressive side to Zauner's otherwise smooth vocals. This was followed a year later by ''Licht'', which took them in a more

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

direction. The band's next album '' Herzschlag einer Stadt'' in 1984 was a more commercial new wave record which spawned a Top 30 hit in Germany, "Oh Baby".

Breakthrough

The band's first big hit album came in 1986 with ', meaning "from the beginning". Living up to its title, the album contained a selection of new singles, a previously unreleased live version of "Zeig mir die Nacht" (from ''Umsteiger''), two remixes and the occasional track from their previous two albums. Its success was due largely to its two original hit singles, and .

The international years

Following the success of ''Von Anfang an'' and its follow-up, ', the band aimed for international success and began recording tracks from both albums in English. The result was ''

Romancing in the Dark Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Encyc ...

'', containing English version of six tracks from ''Traumziel'' plus their three biggest German hits. On this and subsequent English-language albums, the band was credited simply as ''Freiheit''. The majority of the English lyrics were written by the band themselves with some assistance from outside lyricists. (Later the band relied on English lyrics written by professional lyricists Tim Touchton and Curtis Briggs.) The album was released throughout Europe, and there were big hits in Greece (where "Every Time" was a number one single), Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. In 1988, Münchener Freiheit released '' Fantasie'' in Germany and its English counterpart, ''

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

''. Unlike ''Romancing in the Dark'', ''Fantasy'' contained all tracks from its German counterpart. The album went un-noticed throughout the US but was moderately successful in Europe. Freiheit never again released an English album in the US. However, in their homeland, ''Fantasie'' was a great success spending eight weeks in the Top 10 peaking at number four and spawning two Top 15 singles: "So lang' man Träume noch leben kann" and "Bis wir uns wiederseh'n". "

" is the English-language version of "So lang' man Träume noch leben kann". This single became the band's sole hit in the UK, reaching number 14 in the UK singles chart in December 1988. Their follow-up, '' Purpurmond'', was the last album to be re-recorded in English under the title '' Love is No Science''. Nine of its eleven tracks were re-recorded in English, along with a second re-recording of "Tausendmal Du", this time entitled "All I Can Do".

1991 to present

Although 1991 was a quiet year for the band, Zauner and Strobel were still active, releasing the album '' Living in the Sun'' under the name of

Deuces Wild ''Deuces Wild'' is a 2002 American crime drama film directed by Scott Kalvert and written by Paul Kimatian and Christopher Gambale, who also created the story. The film stars Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, James Franco, Matt Dillon, and Fairuza Ba ...

. The album was recorded in English with most of the lyrics written by Tim Touchton, who had worked with the band since ''Fantasy''. Despite the moderate reception of ''Purpurmond'', the band returned to the German Top 10 in 1992 with '' Liebe auf den ersten Blick'', earning a Top 15 hit with the title track. The band also represented their country in the

1993 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Millstreet, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song " Why Me?" by Linda Martin. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

, finishing in 18th place with their song, "Viel zu weit". The band returned a year later with the album ''

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'' (1994), which gave them another Top 30 album in Germany, although their next two albums, '' Entführ' mich'' (1996) and '' Schatten'' (1998; with a sleeve design by

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

), failed to chart at all. Leaving

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

for the EastWest label, the band moved towards conventional dance-pop on their next album, '' Freiheit die ich meine'' (2000). The album saw the band re-enter the German Top 50 following their two album absence. The band changed labels again to Koch International, releasing the albums '' Wachgeküsst'' (2002) and '' Geile Zeit'' (2004). Although these albums used a similar 'radio-friendly' formula to ''Freiheit die ich meine'', both albums peaked in the lower regions of the German Top 100. Münchener Freiheit continue to record and tour, celebrating their 25th anniversary with the Double CD retrospective '' Alle Jahre, Alle Hits'' (2005) and a new single, "Du bist das Leben". Stefan Zauner left the band in 2012 to pursue producing solo-albums; his latest CD is '' Zeitgefühl'' (2012). Tim Wilhelm replaced Zauner as a singer in the band.

Discography

German-language studio albums

German-language live albums

German-language compilations

German-language singles

Other German non-charting singles

English-language studio albums

*1987: ''Romancing in the Dark'' *1988: ''

'' *1990: ''Love is No Science''

English-language singles

Others * "Every Time" (NO-5 SE-15) * "Play It Cool" (NO-10 SE-17 NL-4) * "Baby It's You" * "Back to the Sunshine" * "Kissed You in the Rain" * "Diana" * "All I Can Do"

Notes

* Universal-music.de
Tim Wilhelm ist neuer Sänger der Münchener Freiheit
1 March 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muenchener Freiheit Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Germany Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1993 German musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups from Munich Hansa Records artists