Ultravox - Vienna

Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements.

This band was effectively led by two different individuals in its career, two frontmen who, curiously, never played together in the band at the same time. From 1974 until 1979, the frontman and main driving force behind Ultravox was John Foxx who left the band to embark on a solo career that proved very short-lived. Some time following Foxx's departure, with the three remaining members in a hiatus,

Midge Ure took over as lead singer, guitarist, and frontman. He managed to revitalize the band, and drive it to massive commercial success which lasted until the middle 1980s when the New Romantic and New wave music scenes had waned. Ure then left the band in 1987 after establishing a solo career and the group disbanded for a while. A new line-up, led by sole original bandmember Billy Currie, was formed in 1992, but achieved no success.

Released on Chrysalis Records in mid-1980, the Vienna album produced the band's first UK Top 40 hit with "Sleepwalk", whilst the album itself peaked at #14. A second single, "Passing Strangers", failed to reach the Top 40, but the band achieved a substantial hit with the third single, the album's title track (inspired by Carol Reed's 1949 film The Third Man).

Accompanied by a highly distinctive video, the single became Ultravox's biggest ever hit, peaking at #2 in early 1981. On the strength of the single, the album then re-entered the chart and reached #3 in early 1981. The single was released on Chrysalis Records on 15 January 1981, and is notable for spending 4 consecutive weeks at #2 in the UK singles chart without ever getting to #1. "Vienna" was kept off the UK #1 slot by John Lennon's "Woman" for a week, and then most famously by Joe Dolce's novelty hit, "Shaddap You Face", for a further 3 weeks, although "Vienna" did sell more copies than either of these records and ranked as the 5th best selling UK single for 1981.

It also won "Single of the Year" at the 1981 Brit Awards. To date, it remains Ultravox's signature song, being their most commercially successful release and is often performed live by Ure on solo performances.

Vienna is a synthpop ballad. Unusually for its genre, two of its most distinctive sounds are those of conventional instruments - the dramatic grand piano in the verses and chorus, and the viola solo in the middle of the song.

" The above text is a mashup from Wikipedia."