Quick Note: This profile is not maintained by Propaganda. It is run by fans who want to help introduce new listeners to the band's music. We have no affiliation or contact with the band. We just love them and their music and want to spread the word about them!
Please do not send messages to this profile expecting them to be read by band members because they won't.
For all official Propaganda news, inquiries and information regarding "Amontillado Music" vist http://www.amontillado-music.com/
You can purchase albums for this wonderful band from their publisher at Ztt Records http://ztt.freshdigital.co.uk/ or at other supportive international vendors like www.amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.co.jp
This profile will occasionally be updated with different songs from throughout the band's entire career.
This is in no means in any way to rip off the band, make money off of, or exploit in any which way that could be offensive, for we love the band greatly for their wonderful innovations to the music world.
Propaganda were a synthpop group formed in Germany in the early 1980s by Ralf Dorper, member of German industrial band Die Krupps. Together with Andreas Thein and Suzanne Freytag the trio recorded some demos for future release. These were heard by producer Trevor Horn who later signed the band - now a 5-piece - to his ZTT label.
Having relocated to the UK, the group added vocalists Susanne Freytag and Claudia Brucken, and released the single "Dr. Mabuse" which reached the UK Top 30. The group, now minus Thein, set about recording their debut album A Secret Wish.Claudia Brücken left Propaganda to pursue a solo career. She stayed with ZTT, having married the label's publicist Paul Morley. She joined with Thomas Leer to form Act, who in 1988 released their only album Laughter, Tears and Rage. She later recorded a solo album for Island Records. Both records failed to meet expectations.
In 1990, Mertens returned with a new Propaganda line-up which included vocalist Betsi Miller and former Simple Minds rhythm section Derek Forbes and Brian McGee. The result was a new LP 1234 on which Freytag and Dörper made guest appearances. Despite a radio-friendly debut single "Heaven Give Me Words", co-written by 1980s 'synthpop king' Howard Jones, the new Propaganda were not a huge success.
In 1998, Mertens, Brücken and Freytag reunited, signed an options deal with Eastwest Records, and began working on new Propaganda material. Several tracks were completed, including one produced by Tim Simenon and featuring Martin Gore on guitar. A video for one song, "No Return", directed by "Keyser Soze" (likely a pseudonym), was produced in Morocco in December 1998. Two-minute clips of it, along with photos of the shoot, were released via the band's official website in early 2000. However, no album materialized, and in January 2002, Brücken announced, "The reunion was worth a try, but did not work out." Later that year, an untitled nine-track CD was leaked via file-sharing networks on the Internet. Track titles were "Cloud 9", "Ignorance", "Who's The Fool", "Beast Within", "No Return", "To The Future", "Turn To The Sun", "Dream Within A Dream", and "Anonymous".
In early 2005, Propaganda, now Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens, started to release new material on the German independent label Amontillado-Music
For the official information of Propaganda, and Amontillado-Music visit
www.amontillado-music.com
And for further information regarding Claudia Brucken's new partnership with Paul Humphreys (OMD) in the group OneTwo, please go to www.theremusic.com.
