A summarized description about the history of Modern Talking

Before we start to solve the real, dark background of “Modern Talking”, one of the most successful German musical groups in history, first we need to summarize the whole history of the group. Basically, only the things the average public knows.

Straight to the point, the group was founded for the first time in September 1984, in the release of the first single “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”, which at its beginnings, was quite unsuccessful. But unlike some other singles or albums, this song and this band sparked some crazy curiosity among the media and the viewers. The cover had two shoes and a silk color background, speculations said this was an Italian gay group. Because the sound was very awfully similar to the Italo-disco.

For the first time in January 1985, a couple of months later, appeared on TV a duo of two young men, one with a keytar, and one with a guitar, singing this song inside a Bausteller (construction site) When the Germans and the media found out that this band was in fact, German, it shocked them to the core, in a good way.

– What a beautiful and catchy sound, which everyone could sing along to. What cute and talented young boys too! –

Soon enough, the song was topping the German charts for weeks. The crazier the girls were, the richer these two boys became, the girls wanted to know everything about them as if they were part of the family: they wanted to know where they lived, they wanted to know what shoes they wore, what shampoos they used, or how did they smell after jogging in the morning.

In such a short span of time, the duo consisting of Dieter Bohlen, the sporty blonde cutie with amazing jawline and dimples, and Thomas Anders, (real name Bernd Weidung) the mysterious shy brunette with alluring dark eyes and classy outfits, were topping not only the German charts, but also the European charts. The fame exceeded borders all the way to Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Only the US and UK were yet to be conquered. Most importantly, they were topping the dreams in young girls’ heads. So much, that the boys started to hate this band because they became single.

But how did these two boys meet? As per official information, the boys met for the first time in February 1983, when Dieter wanted to find a singer for the German version of “Pick up the Phone” (Was macht das schon) by FR David. The record company recommended him a soon-to-be 20-year-old boy from Rhineland called Thomas, who had been singing Schlager songs for quite some time now. Bohlen acted as a songwriter and a producer, while Thomas was the singer. Other songs released were also “Heisskalter Engel” (German version of Send Me an angel by Real Life) or “Es geht mir gut heut’ nacht” (whose melody would later be used for “Lucky Guy” at MT). The German songs, the majority of which were cover songs, were unsuccessful. Needless to say, this did not mean that they would stop the cooperation. Because most importantly, they had really become close friends.

At first, Bohlen was not planned in the group, he preferred to act as a producer, with Thomas being the band frontman accompanied by someone else. But once the record company found no other solution, and no other match, they decided to sneak in Bohlen in the last minute as Thomas’ band companion. The group name was an inspiration of “Talk Talk” and “Modern Romance”. Both groups were very influential in the New Romantics genre.

In April 1985, Modern Talking released The First Album, pun intended. It contained another single called “You can win if you want”, which also reached number one in German charts. Soon they became the sensation of German music. For such a huge success, they received several Platinum/Gold awards.

Not only in Germany, but also in Europe, and quite often, there wasn’t a single TV show that didn’t want them. Modern Talking performing there, even just miming or farting on stage, was a must, and it would generate a high-magnitude earthquake of people dancing to their songs.

Having their poster on your bedroom’s wall was a must. It had to be a large one or just a room full of their photos. The girls constantly rushed to buy new magazine issues, that mostly were BRAVO, just to cut the pictures with the scissors so they could hang them on their wall. Even though both the boys were legally married long ago, the girls did not give up their dreams. And how can you blame the teenagers?

In the same year, The First Album was followed by a second album, called “Let’s Talk About Love”, which contained another successful hit, Cheri Cheri Lady, which also reached number one in German charts and in several European countries. The success in the native country was absolutely undisputable.

But the group were thirsty for more success: they had finally decided to promote themselves in whole Europe, and not only Spain and France. There were several appearances in Scandinavian countries, Italy, and much later, UK, where they promoted another successful worldwide hit “Brother Louie” which reached the 4th place in UK charts. This was a part of “Ready for Romance”, the third album which was released in spring of 1986. Another single which reached number one from this very same album was “Atlantis is calling”

But the success wouldn’t have been possible if there wasn’t turmoil. World is not sun-shine and rainbows. At that time, even in the peak of success, the rumors of a possible break – up had constantly been circulating in th media, due to the involvement of Thomas’ wife, Nora Balling, in band’s affairs, whom he married in December 1984. She had apparently gotten into the nerves of Dieter, and they constantly fought.

In July 1985, they married at a church in a grandiose wedding, with an audience that exceeded 15000 people. The woman had a very strong grip on Thomas, who not only forced him to wear the infamous golden chain with her name, that became a symbol of comedy forever, but also forced him to wear female clothes, and take care of his image. In this regard, she turned her husband into a doll.

In the meantime, the group, as loved as they were, they faced crazy amount of hatred and criticism, and not necessarily because of “Nora”.

At that time, “music analysts”, who couldn’t waste one second without writing on the newspapers how much they hated Modern Talking, they believed that the band was nothing more but a commercial group, who dress ridiculously, makes cheesy music (the English would say guilty pleasure) with memorable lyrics that sticks in your head.

In additon, it wasn’t only the cheesiness, but also the main point of the criticism was that the production was deemed “uncreative”. If you knew one song, you recognized all the others.

On Dieter’s defense, there were a lot of bands who also stuck to the same formula, but they were much smarter to cover it up. Another point of criticism was the fact that Dieter never focused on releasing albums and taking his time to produce quality albums. But he wanted quantity over quality. That’s why, among the reasons why the popularity fell after 1986 was also because the people were simply expecting something new.

From Germans, you hear stories of “shame”. In their own words, they recall that they listened to the music of Modern Talking “in secret”. Otherwise, if people heard it, you’d be made a mockery. Everyone would laugh at you. These confessions reminded me of communist era, where you were scared to listen foreign music, so you had to turn down the volume of the radio without the spying neighbors hearing anything. Sounds like the Germans haven’t learnt anything from the past. Calm down, it’s just music.

In December 1986, the group reached its lowest they had ever been. The year before, they were the most popular band, and now, everyone was covering their ears when they started to play. Once the band had stepped on stage to sing “Geronimo’s Cadillac”, another chart hit, the audience of 50,000 people that was attending “Peters Pop Show”, started to boo in numbers, whistle, show them the middle finger, and hold banners containing words: “GO HOME”. The performance was also uploaded by the official YouTube channel of the band itself. And you can hear the loud boos and whistles.

After this massive humiliation, both Dieter and Thomas disappeared from the public eye for a couple of weeks. From Dieter’s confessions, it was a turbulent time when he was scared to go out on the streets. It wasn’t a day when he wouldn’t be insulted on the road by the passersby.

This turbulent time didn’t help them achieve as much success in the future as they did before. The singles “Jet Airliner” and “100 Years” charted okay, but by Modern Talking’s standards, which reached 6 number ones and stayed undefeated for several weeks, these two songs were flops. By someone’s else standards, reaching 7th place in the charts is a success. Well, not for Dieter and Thomas.

Finally, after all the drama around Nora and the constant hatred towards the band as a whole, “MT’ disbanded in the end of 1987. It was a sudden announcement by Dieter himself on TV, who announced that the group would end because apparently it was “impossible to reason with Thomas”. He was, according to Dieter, apparently more invested in his wife’s swimwear collection. The official sales amounted to around 60 million copies sold.

After the group disbanded in 1987, Thomas toured under the name “Modern Talking” in Chile, South Africa and eastern Europe before pursuing a solo career in Los Angeles. His solo career was not really successful, as none of his albums or songs were promoted in Germany. The highest chart position was “Love of My Own” which reached 30th place. On the other hand, things looked better for Dieter’s new project Blue System, whose singles had reached top 10 in German charts.

For the first time in 1994, the men met each other to reconcile and discuss about everything that had happened. This time, it was a more mature Thomas who had learned from his mistakes, as per Bohlen’s words, and a Dieter who was now more considerate than he used to be. And it was the latter who took the first step for a reconciliation.

In 1998, it was already announced beforehand that the group would reunite. But people didn’t believe it until they see it with their own eyes. In March 1998, the group officially announced their reunion at the largest TV show in Europe “Wetten, dass…” hosted by Thomas Gottschalk. Their medley was watched by 16 million people in Germany, a record for that point of time. The only time when the viewership in Germany has exceeded more than that, was during the FIFA World Cup fixtures.

The Album “Back for Good” was among the best selling European albums in the whole planet, ranking in the 6th place. In Bohlen’s words, the comeback wasn’t planned to continue after this show, because they thought the people were tired of their music. It was more of an attempt to see people’s reaction. And of course, just to give it a go… now that their hunch was wrong, they decided to continue for another 5 years. They had already broken their previous record of “three years”.

But even though the fans were waiting for the comeback with so much anticipation, the success of the late 90s-early 00s couldn’t be compared to the success that the group reached in the 1980s. The comeback album, that included the greatest hits and four new additions, was indeed successful, but the albums that followed, by Modern Talking standards, of course were not as successful. For example, album “America” that featured a song “Win the race” in Formula 1, was a success, but compared to the other albums from 1985, not as much.

In 2003, the group would disband again, for the very last time: this time there was no Nora, but it probably was the inability of two grown men to co-exist with each other and behave maturely. To this day, nobody knows what really happened.

During this whole time, both men have constantly dissed each other in public, in their statements, or even in their books. The public cannot fathom how can such men behave childishly, without respect for each other. But those who just enjoy the drama, or hate “MT’, are seated with their popcorn as if they’re watching a Mexican telenovela.

The year is 2023, the group counts, according to German media recently, 165 million records sold. 10 years ago, it was 120 million. It looks like the numbers do increase a lot. Whether they are fake numbers or real, it’s not known. Because even if the sales are fabricated, it doesn’t change the fact that the music is very good.

There have been several attempts of comeback, but both attempts in 2014 and 2017 resulted unsuccessful.

Hate them or love them, Modern Talking belongs to one of the most successful acts in history, even if their fame couldn’t exceed English speaking countries. They achieved a record over 120 million sales, which makes them more successful than the likes of A-Ha and Depeche Mode. The Germans laugh or mock you if you listen to them, but don’t let anybody deprive you of enjoying things you like. We aren’t in communism.

And here, we only meant music, people who enjoy nothing more but music, without focusing too much on drama, rumors and speculations. Unfortunately, every band or artist in history has a dark side to them, and Modern Talking is also among them.

Beyond the happy and cheerful music, there exists dark secrets that none of the people in the high power wants the public to know. What is it so bad that someone cannot be honest? It probably has to do with ego, with corruption, evil and abuse of power.

This was a summarized description of “MT”, only the facts that the public knows, before we jump in to the other reports. Which will shock you to the core, and will completely give you a whole new perspective about this successful group, full of dark secrets.