Hi Brian, you gave us quite a challenge with this one and I already thought, I have to give up finding a song I know that meets your criteria of being played less than 1000 times in a year. Every not so popular song got, at second sight, more clicks than I expected.
Then, yesterday, on my dog walk, a song popped up in my head, I almost had forgotten from a Berlin underground performer. Quick check, and yes, with only 2.234 views within 9 years it should match your criteria? I didnāt check all the other platforms, only soundcloud, with a few clicks. If not, feel free to delete, but knowing that you have a certain connection to Berlin yourself, it might be interesting for you anyway. Unfortunately for folks here the song is in German.
Why do I remember a song like this?
Iāve visited Berlin a few times in my life, mostly at the time when our country and Berlin was still devided and went back for a short trip for a few days maybe in 2016 (?). I always liked the city due to its spirit. Maybe one of those unique places in every sense.
One day, in the underground, a guy in very desolate condition jumped into the wagon with a guitar in his hands. I didnāt care about him at all, but as doors closed, he immediately started to play and sing and I was somehow catched by his performance, which was so intense and given the circumstances of a rumbling wagon with lots of persons in it, it was a thrilling and somehow brilliant performance.
Iāll never forget this empty gaze of his eyes, maybe full of ??? I donāt know what, this total aversion against social conventions, but performing such a catching song with such intelligent lyrics. From one second to another, people listened and felt touched.
The song is called āTeufelskreisā (vicious circle) and is about someone standig on the margin of society asking for some bucks and support and the indifference of people around towards, letās say, ānon conformistsā . For me a typical āBerlin Songā that could have had the potential for more. At least, I never forgot itā¦
Great topic, Brian. Inspiring lots of nostalgia and music that was maybe popular locally and never mainstream.
And it took me back to 1987/88. I was enduring my time as a National Serviceman, conscripted into the Army. We shanāt talk about that here.
Fortunately the heart issue that would decades later put me on the operating table was sufficient to land be a cushy job in Pretoria, almost like a normal office job. One of our favourite escapades was a trip into the centre of Johannesburg to visit Jamesonās Bar. A bit of a dive with what I considered to be the best of local music. Nothing that the popular radio DJs would play, records often banned from airplay for being too political.
Most of my favourite bands seem to get some love on YouTube and Spotify, but did find one whoās most popular songs on Spotify were almost all below the cut-off and a playlist on YouTube with almost no views.
The band is The Kerels. The leader would subsequently join up with Ralph Rabie aka Johannes Kerkorrel and be part of The Voelvry Toer, a music revolution that toured the country getting banned on many university campuses. James Phillips was on the same tour whom I saw with his band Cherry Faced Lurchers (too many spins on Spotify and YouTube) at Jamesonās.
@Richard_close2u I know I said itās not a competition, but sometimes a little challenge is fun The Len Ganley Stance , eh? I played that as well as a couple of other half-baked biscuits when I had my radio show on their home turf in Birkenhead. (Speaking of which, I need to get a new set of Joy Division Oven Gloves. Tor burnt my last ones! )
Iām lovinā your description of the 80ās, as well as the 28th Day sound. I think we would have got on well as teenagers.But then again, we get on fairly well as old codgers too, so no real surprise there
Haha, Iām just the instigator. These things are supposed to take on a life of their own. Some gain traction, others peter out in the sand. I do find it difficult not to respond to comments though, once Iāve startedā¦
Glad you had some nice memories, and yes, Iād be surprised if you didnāt have a long history of ānon-popularā music listening. In fact Iād imagine most of your weird stuff never even makes it onto YouTube
@Avalon426 More Welsh!
Iām starting to appreciate the natural barrier the Dee estuary provides.
Cool song and interesting visuals. Some of the lyrics text reminded me of those pesky āCaptchaā prompts to prove youāre not a ābot
@Helen0609 Youāre bang on, regarding my affinity with Berlin!
Like many rap-acts, they live and die by the lyrics. I can only think of one German rap off the top of my head, so thanks for the reminder.
I enjoyed the accompanying article. Made me want to revisit.
Cheers @DavidP ,
Glad to hold your hand for a stroll down memory lane.
Hmmm, I was glad not to have to do any national service. All my classmates in Switzerland had to do their military service after school, and whilst I would have survived well, being used to living in an institution, I wouldnāt have enjoyed it.
I did almost join the Irish Army a couple of years after med school. I was between jobs and they were recruiting doctors: 3 months induction, a 6 month tour of duty in Lebanon (where I would have loved to revisit) and then 3 months ādebriefingā back in Ireland. They threw in a decent salary and rank of Captain as well.
My courting was going too well at the time though, and my girlfriend said if I waited till she passed her exams, sheād join me for a year in Australia. The rest is history.
I had a quick dip into a couple of songs on that playlist. It was much more polished than I was expecting and loads of energy. I could imagine them being great live.
Lisa has a songwriting thread going at the moment and it reminded me of the course I took part in during lockdown. On the application we had to provide some background and share what we expected/hoped to gain from the experience. I sent the organiser a link to The Burning Hellās song F*** The Government, as an indication of what I aspire to (much too popular for here )
Theyāre accomplished multi-instrumentalists with witty, observational lyrics, on top of being just lovely human beings.
Their song Nonfiction provides so much food for thought, I could listen to it all day
Great thread, Brian! And so many great contributions already, thanks all!
Hereās a lad I stumbled over looking for something completely different, but instantly caught me and hit the subscribe button. With less than 2000 views in 8 years, I hope this qualifies. Anyhow, itās a great tune:
This is a version of a nice song but there are much better ones but unfortunately I canāt find much better quality of them on You Tubeā¦ I do have some CDs but where???? These are good friends of mine and with the drummer and the guitarist (on the left ) who is a professional piano player who also plays the accordion and who played in the band where I was also part of bass guitar and also sang.... yes yes, I played in a band very a long time ago :smile:...or at least I was part of it and we often joke about what exactly I did :roll_eyes:... but looking sharp as a knife those days I get some photos I heard this morning ā¦
ā¦ This band ā Hunker ā (which means something like yearning) has been the supporting act for a band āDe Dijkā, which is very well known to all Dutch people, and I have been there many times when they both playā¦ but also in the squares and pubs in my area with Hunker in my hometown Amersfoort and in the gardens of the houses you see in the videoā¦
I will do my best to find more of themā¦ there is also wonderful blues, but they have been on a long hiatus as a band for a while now, except for a reunion year in I think 2020ā¦ and those recordings are not the best I can find eitherā¦
So I think itās more their own fault that they donāt have much of an opinionā¦the guitarist wearing an orange shirt plays in several bands and can really play the guitar wonderfully and performs somewhere every weekend, with the Top 2000 cafe as a highlight for years. Hooglandā¦but only people from the center of the Netherlands can do something with that last informationā¦
This is very cool, mijnheer
but might be better located in your learning log. Here itās destiny will be to sink into obscurity in a couple of days and your past glories will be forever forgotten
Itās not the first time you refer to yourself as āsharpā and I find it hard to believe you would make such a boast with āPeacock Larsenā around, if there wasnāt a kernel of truth behind it
Photos and music please.
I can keep this thread alive for a long time ā¦but thanks because youāre right
just spilled some tea over the edge of the glass
don`t wake up the dogs that will convince me or you to flap out old pics
Yes on photo and no on sound it was before the time of mobile telephones or certainly smartphones.(I was 16 until 18 ) ā¦the few recordings on tape have perished as far as I and 3 friends knowā¦
Many warm feelings arise in the last hours
Jayās cover of The only Living Boy in New York this morning reminded me of The loneliest Boy in the State of Nevada (37 views), by The Lonelyhearts, my favourite band a decade and a half ago. I loved their albums Dispatch and Disaster Footage at Night. I have no idea why they have hardly any listens on Spotify and virtually impossible to find on YT.
I covered New Virginia (with family & friends) a couple of years ago and sent a link to the band
Hereās their generous response
Itās not as cool as John says, so Iāll share the original which I had to upload myself and only has 51 views (as opposed to over 300 of our cover )
Thereās no justice in this worldā¦
)
don`t wake up the dogs that will convince me or you to flap out old pics
