Pink Turns Blue: Берлинде құрылған готикалық рок тобының тарихы

German rock band

Pink Turns Blue is a German rock band from Berlin. Formed in 1985, they were part of the first generation of gothic rock in Germany and released their first LP, If Two Worlds Kiss with a sound reminiscent of new wave with very dark undertones and use of synthesizers, and went to become part of the developing sub genre of dark wave.

The band originally was a duo consisting of Thomas Elbern (vocals and guitars), Mic Jogwer (vocals, bass and keyboards) and a drum machine. In 1985, Elbern was part of an NDW ensemble called Seltsame Zustände but wanted to form a new band in Cologne and was looking for musicians via an ad. The music student Mic Jogwer answered, and they had several small appearances around Cologne under the name Pink Turns Blue, named after the Hüsker Dü song "Pink Turns to Blue". Musically they were oriented towards post punk bands like early The Cure, The Chameleons or The Sound. In early 1986, art student and drummer Marcus Giltjes joined the band. The trio won a 'new talent award' from Germany's biggest radio station WDR which included as a prize a studio session with producer and radio host Volkmar Kramarz.

In June 1987, Mic Jogwer switched from bass to guitar and Ruebi Walter, who joined the band in 1986 as a keyboard player, moved to bass. In August the band were signed by the newly found record label Fun Factory! The band recorded a few new songs and remixed existing material from 1986 for their debut album If Two Worlds Kiss, released in October 1987. From October 1987 to March 1988, the band toured and the song Walking On Both Sides got them TV appearances and was played on the radio. They were invited to tour with the controversial Yugoslavian band Laibach, and Jogwer became friends with their soundman Janez Križaj. Križaj invited Pink Turns Blue to record their second album in Ljubljana. To pay for the recordings, the band smuggled Western studio equipment across the border. In August 1988, the single Touch The Skies was released, and Pink Turns Blue played their first concerts in England, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In October, their second album Meta was released which carried the keyboard heavy The Cure sound to extremes and which sold 2,300 units within 8 weeks. As second single, Your Master Is Calling, was released which got them TV appearance in Tele 5, was on rotation of many radio stations and is their most popular song to date with more than 3.8 million YouTube views. The third album Eremite also was recorded with Janez Križaj in Ljubljana and was finished in August 1989. However, their record label Fun Factory got into financial difficulties and Pink Turns Blue switched to the Rough Trade Records sub label Our Choice, which released the album in April 1990. "Michelle" was remixed in Manchester and released in October as a single. Early 1990, Ruebi Walter's younger brother Reinhold joined on keyboards, and drummer Marcus Giltjes left the band. The fourth studio album, Aerdt (Art+Earth), was recorded between January and February 1991 in Ljubljana by Mic Jogwer and Ruebi Walter as a duo. A drum machine was used. The album was released in August. The band performed the songs live with a conventional setup supported a hired drummer.

In spring 1991, after finishing the album Aerdt, Mic Jogwer and Ruebi Walter moved to London. The song "Seven Years" from Aerdt was re recorded in a dance version and released as a single in September. In early 1992, two more dance oriented singles followed: "Overloaded" and "Star". In May 1992 Pink Turns Blue recorded their fifth album, Sonic Dust, with their new English drummer Louis Pavlou, and it was released in August. In December 1992, Pink Turns Blue recorded their sixth album, Perfect Sex, with David M. Allen, the producer of The Cure and Sisters Of Mercy. It was released after some delay in 1994. Louis Pavlou left the band to join The Cure to record Wild Mood Swings. In November 1994, the unplugged album Muzak was released which was recorded by Mic Jogwer and his sound engineer colleague Marc Williams in his London flat. It contains a selection of Pink Turns Blue songs performed with acoustic instruments. In 1995, Pink Turns Blue disbanded. Mic Jogwer later remarked that with the move to London, the band lost its musical orientation and spread itself too thin. Mic Jogwer made a career in the music and media industry producing CD ROMs and websites.