Propaganda (band)

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Image:Propaganda - A Secret Wish - inner booklet group pic.jpg

Propaganda was a synthpop musical group formed in Germany in the early 1980s by Ralf Dörper, a member of the German industrial band Die Krupps. Together with Andreas Thein and Suzanne Freytag, the trio recorded some demos for future release. These were heard by journalist Paul Morley who later signed the band, now a 5-piece, to Trevor Horn`s ZTT Records label.

Having relocated to the UK, the group added vocalists Susanne Freytag and Claudia Brücken, 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. Due to the huge success Trevor Horn was having with Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ZTT's plan to have Trevor Horn produce Propaganda's debut had to be abandoned. Stephen Lipson was brought in to take his place. When finally released, preceded by the hit single "Duel", the album did receive considerable critical acclaim and unexpected commercial success, but the group members had lost faith in ZTT and 1986's remix album Wishful Thinking was compiled by producers Stephen Lipson and Bob Kraushaar without consulting the group.

Friction between Propaganda and ZTT had arisen when the band realized that their recording contract with ZTT would leave them without any remuneration for their work. A source close to the band confirmed that the first recording royalty the group members received for their 1985 album A Secret Wish was given to them by ZTT in 2000 and amounted to £182 per band member -- thus having recouped recording costs of more than 0.5 million British pounds in just 17 years.

Interesting enough, since Propaganda`s recording contract with ZTT, had each bandmember (4) on a gross royalty of a mere 1.5% ( Outside the UK, less than that, outside Europe, less again). Subtract a massive Packaging Deduction and a fee for the record producer which also had to be taken off that and it´s obvious, that ZTT kept each member of Propaganda on a royalty that was lower than 1%!! The Publishing-Contract with Jill Sinclair`s "Perfect Songs Ltd.", which all members of the group had to sign, was a 50/50 Non Source Publishingdeal. As it turned out, that kind of deal enabled "Jill Sinclair" to stack Subpublisher upon Subpublisher upon Subpublisher to minimze the composers royalty to a tiny fraction of what it should have been.The contract also denied the composer any sync-rights.

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 went on and recorded a solo Album for Island records. Both records failed to meet expectations.

In 1990, Mertens returned with a new line-up which included vocalist Betsi Miller and Scottish bassist Derek Forbes, and 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 80s '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. [1]

In late 2005, Brücken lent her vocals to two songs on Andy Bell's (singer of Erasure) debut solo album Electric Blue.

In November 2005, the original Propaganda line-up with Ralf Dörper but sans Thein performed at the Wembley Arena showcase of Trevor Horns lifetime celebration. The band played Dr. Mabuse.

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