“The subway of your mind“, song by an unknown German new wave group from the 80s called “Flex“, was just discovered as a solution to “the most mysterious song on the Internet”.
The story behind this mystery begins in 1984, when a young German Dario S. I was listening to the program Music for the Leute Youth (Music for Youth”) on the radio station NDR 1. Darius used to record the songs he liked most on cassettes during the broadcast of the program, and this time he even recorded some of them.
The contents of this tape included new songs and The cure and of XTCas well as some songs whose origin the young man simply did not know. Years passed and Daryus’ sister, Lydia, I started looking for one of the songs in the playlist. There was something strange about this song, all the other tracks were famous songs and easy to find on the internet, except this one, which we now know as “Subway of your mind”it just didn’t seem to exist.
The year was 2007 and music forums and blogs were at their peak. Lydia, at the time, had just discovered the existence of these types of websites and decided it would be a good idea to seek help on them. Sign with pseudonyms”bluuue” AND “Anton Riedel“, the German published the first copy of the “Subway of your mind” a short film lasting one minute and 14 seconds on the internet.
The clip immediately began to spread on the Internet, so much so that it was also republished on YouTube in 2011, obtaining more than ten thousand views at the time, but for more than ten years no one was able to identify who the song belonged to.
It was then, in 2019, that a student from São Paulo reignited his interest in research. Gabriel da Silva Vieira I was only 16 at the time, I liked new wave and listened to bands Sisters of Mercy AND Nephilim camps. It was then that the Brazilian knew “Subway of your mind” for the first time through the YouTube channel of Dead waxan independent record label that released Lydia’s snippet.
At the Rolling Stones, Gabriel told what it was like to hear the song for the first time: “I really liked the song, so I started doing extensive research until I found something relevant about it.“. Vieira then reported the song on his channel and began asking about the track in different communities on the Reddit forum. Eventually, Gabriel opened his own community dedicated to finding the song, the r/The mysterious song.
Since then, research efforts have grown exponentially. Today the community has more than 60 thousand members. Over the past 5 years, the group of amateur researchers have gone to great lengths to complete the hunt, achieving a number of impressive feats.
One of the first major clues found by the community was through Paul Baskervillethe DJ responsible for the show where the song was recorded more than 30 years ago. When contacted by Gabriel about the matter, Paul was surprised – he didn’t recognize the song. Even so, the DJ, who still works at the NDR station, aided in the musical efforts by offering a catalog of all the songs he played during the time the show was on the air.
Even if it will take years to be fully analyzed and catalogued”,The subway of your mind” wasn’t on the list, Darius was wrong about the origin of the recording. It seemed that the search had finally reached a dead end, no clues had yielded any results, false information was starting to spread. That’s when a community user found out about the festival Horfestcompetition organized by the NDR for amateur bands. Once again the group reunited and returned to the search. This too was a long job but, unlike the others, this time the result was absolute.
The day November 4 this month, the user Marijn1412 he announced what some thought impossible: he had found music. The user explained that while he was researching bands that had played at the Horfest In 1984 he found an article about a band called Flex. The article described the band’s sound as rock, influenced by new wave and pop.
This description caught the attention of Marijn, who contacted one of the band members and asked him for all the old material he still had. The musician then sent three different songs, and there it was, “Subway of your mind”the most mysterious song on the internet.
Marijn did not immediately announce his discovery to the public, musician Flex asked him to wait while he consulted with his bandmates. During this period, the song was recorded at GEM (German Entertainment Rights Organization), which ended up making some people discover the song. That’s when the band gave Marijn permission to share “Subway of your mind” to the world.
After the announcement, Michael Hadrichkeyboardist at FEXand the member contacted by Marijn, gave an interview to the German news portal Tz. In it, the musician provided further evidence to confirm that the music was indeed being researched and commented on what it was like to discover her fame. “We were all completely surprised and moved by the comments and contributions“.
Hädrich still remembers the origins of “Subway of your mind”, Ture Rückwartsinger and guitarist of Fex, as the creator of the song. “This song was definitely a highlight of our repertoire“, said Hädrich, “It has a mystical clarity… but the guitar intro and dynamic rhythm of the song were fun to play.“.
Now, Hädrich says he will go to Kiel to meet the rest of the band and plan what to do with this newfound attention. “I’m excited about the idea of re-recording “Subway of Your Mind” and a second song. I will invite the band to my studio in Munich and we will also produce a music video“.
Why Subway of Your Mind has generated so much interest
At first maybe the idea of getting so emotional and making such efforts just for one song doesn’t make sense. I definitely didn’t do it for the DJ Paul Baskerville who commented: “I don’t want to sound like a traitor to the cause, but I don’t understand the enthusiasm behind it. If the music were something revolutionary, I would understand it, but I don’t find it particularly interesting.”
What Baskerville doesn’t understand is this “Subway of your mind” it is part of the phenomenon of Lostmedias. In the information age, where everything we want to know is at our fingertips, the idea of something not being available on the Internet is certainly appealing. This is the concept of Lostmedia, information lost over time.
“Subway of your mind” wasn’t the only Lostmedia found this year. Earlier this year, another song thought to be lost, “Everyone knows”was found after being popularized by TikTok.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
