PROPAGANDA
Synth-pop band Propaganda was formed in Germany by vocalist Claudia
Brucken and drummer Michael Mertens plus keyboard players Susanne
Freytag and Ralf Dorper. The quartet moved to England in 1983
and signed to ZTT Records, also the home of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
and Art of Noise. Propaganda's first single, "Dr. Mabuse,"
reached the British Top 30 in early 1984, but the band's second
release was more than a year in coming. Finally, in May 1985,
"Duel" trumped the debut single by hitting number 21.
Propaganda's first album A Secret Wish appeared one month later,
and the resulting tour necessitated the addition of bassist Derek
Forbes and drummer Brian McGee -- both formerly with Simple Minds.
After the release of the remix album Wishful Thinking later that
year, Dorper became the first original member to leave the band,
and Propaganda splintered soon after, due to a prolonged legal
battle to leave ZTT. The group finally re-emerged in 1988 with
Mertens, Forbes, McGee and American vocalist Betsi Miller. The
quartet signed with Virgin, and released 1-2-3-4 in 1990. The
single "Heaven Give Me Words" broke the British Top
40 in 1990, and "Only One Word" placed modestly later
that year.
Meanwhile, Claudia Brucken -- who had stayed with ZTT in large
part because of her marriage to label-owner Paul Morley -- formed
Act with Thomas Leer. The duo charted "Snobbery and Decay"
in mid-1987 and released their only album, Laughter, Tears, and
Rage in 1988. Brucken became a solo act by the turn of the decade,
and charted only one single, "Absolut (E)," from her
1991 album Love, And a Million Other Things. Though neither the
band nor Br_cken had recorded recently, rumours flew during the
mid-'90s that a Propaganda reunion was in the works.
