Yahoo Lifestyle 'The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet' Finally Solved After 17 Years — and the Band Had No Clue
Reddit users' obsessive efforts to find a mystery song pointed to a small German band who had no idea of all the new fans they made
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stock image of sheet musicIf that song you can't remember is still on the tip of your tongue, there's still hope it can be identified. That was the case for Reddit users who obsessively tracked down what they've dubbed "the most mysterious song on the internet."
The search began in 2007, when a German sibling duo Darius and Lydia uploaded a track from a tape they had since they were teenagers. Among the Rolling Stones and other popular '80s bands was the mysterious song, which users attempted to uncover by picking apart every element in hopes for a lead.
In 2019, the mystery made its way to Reddit and with that came the creation of its own dedicated subreddit, r/TheMysteriousSong. Lydia even joined the efforts. Leads eventually pointed to German music festival Hörfest, which platformed up-and-coming bands, and its relationship to NDR Radio, the station the tape was recorded from.
User /u/marijn1412 was browsing Nordwest Zeitung articles looking for information on Hörfest when they came across an article about a band called FEX. One of the members' names came up in a band that played Hörfest 1983, Phret. After reaching out and requesting some songs to be sent over, the FEX song "Subways of Your Mind" was a match.
"After I emailed him back that the song is actually quite a famous 'lost song', he asked me not to go public with it until he spoke with his old band members," /u/marijn1412 wrote. "In the mean time though the song did get registered at GEMA and people found out about it. But I'm happy to say that the band members agreed for me to go public with it."
Michael Haedrich, 68, played keyboard, guitar and provided background vocals for FEX. After learning of the intense search efforts to find his band's old song, the musician was overwhelmed. "I thought it was amazing that someone was interested in music by a band that was only successful regionally, if at all, and that was over 40 years ago," he told CBS.
In another interview with German outlet TZ, Haedrich said he immediately contacted his bandmates when he received news their song was a worldwide mystery. "At first I hadn't fully grasped the implications. I immediately contacted Norbert Ziermann (bass) and Ture Rückwart (guitar, vocals) by phone and we discussed together that this news could be released," he said.
Haedrich also reiterated that the band wasn't oblivious because of their age, there was just no way they would've heard about the mystery unless someone reached out. "We suddenly found out what was happening on the Internet without us noticing," he explained. "And that wasn't because we are old hands and not digital natives. There was simply no trigger."
And as for how he views the long-forgotten song, Haedrich looks back on it fondly, saying, "When I hear the song today, I immediately have positive memories of how we tinkered around in the studio and rehearsal room (with the limited technical possibilities at the time). I think the song has a timeless appeal, and I can listen to and play it today with the same feeling that I had back then."
Haedrich confirmed that FEX will reunite to record the song for its new audience.
This isn't the first time this year Reddit solved a years-long mystery. In September, user /u/IndigoRoom figured out who Celebrity Number Six was several years after another user asked for help identifying a mysterious celebrity silhouette printed on a sheet he purchased.
The celebrity was identified as Spanish model Leticia Sarda, who also was unaware that the world had been trying to uncover her identity.
