Subways Of Your Mind 3’54

November 5, 2024 6:00 AM

After seventeen years, The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet has been found.

Reddit user Marijn1412 writes "About two weeks ago I came across an old newspaper article in the Nordwest Zeitung archive, while researching Hörfest bands. The article was about a band called FEX from Kiel, who won a talent contest in Bremen in Sep 1984 and their music was described as Rock with Wave and Pop influences. [...] I managed to get in touch with him and asked him if he still had some old material from those bands. He then sent me some of the songs he made with FEX and Phret... and lo and behold, one of them was titled Subways Of Your Mind."

Timelines of the years of speculation and the history of the Mysterious Song subreddit are available. According to an email from FEX member Michael Hädrich, the members of FEX are planning on reuniting and rerecording "Subways of Your Mind."

posted by mhoye (12 comments total)

A while back I was out of town visiting family and in a moment of extended down time, decided on a whim to check the traditional (signed-out) front page of reddit which is something I haven't done in probably seven or more years. (Because curating your own subreddits is the only way I can stand to use the site). It happened to be the day the post "Celebrity Number Six has been found" blew up which (having no idea what it meant) is a headline that definitely stood out among the rest. Trying to understand what the hubbub was about also led me to things like TMS.

Having my own obscure (but personally meaningful) various kinds of lost media, it's funny how quickly the "lost" part changes the search from being a passive one (which consumes without affecting the world), to being an active one (in which the search itself changes what you're searching for). Kind of like in quantum mechanics, where observing can change the outcome. I guess when something is "lost" from the known world, changing the known world is the only way to find it again.

I don't know much about the entire history and search for the song, but I imagine if it originally had a known name/band, it might never have gathered so much attention (probably never would have crossed my path), and we wouldn't be getting the pleasure of things like a rerecorded version (and reunion) by the original members.

It's amazing what a good mystery can do.

And the power of collective will, and those few individuals willing to search deep enough to change the world.
posted by Flaffigan at 7:01 AM on November 5, 2024 [4 favorites]

> Reddit user Marjin1412

This made me go 'wow, Marjin is an actual name? Not just the way everbody misspells Marijn?'. But on closer inspection, this, too, is a misspelling and the user is called Marijn1412.
posted by marijn at 7:29 AM on November 5, 2024 [9 favorites]

sure hope this is a SIGN
posted by graywyvern at 7:45 AM on November 5, 2024

It's no Hot In The Airport, but this is a good story. :)
posted by robotmachine at 7:47 AM on November 5, 2024

... this, too, is a misspelling

Whoops, sorry. Mods, if you could.
posted by mhoye at 7:52 AM on November 5, 2024 [1 favorite]

I’m really glad it was found. I was worried that the song would lose its aura once the musicians were identified, but this is somehow perfect. Just a random band that didn’t have much success at the time, finding an audience decades later. How lovely!
posted by Kattullus at 7:59 AM on November 5, 2024 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Typo in the article fixed as requested. Please, carry on.
posted by loup (staff) at 8:04 AM on November 5, 2024

In a similar vein, and a very fun listen, Reply All's The Case of the Missing Hit.
posted by msbrauer at 8:55 AM on November 5, 2024 [3 favorites]

hot damn. i wondered if this was ever going to come to a conclusion with any closure and this seems like a great outcome: the band is interested in getting back together, that's great for listeners.
posted by fizzix at 9:33 AM on November 5, 2024 [5 favorites]

A previous mefi post on the subject.
posted by Lanark at 9:45 AM on November 5, 2024 [3 favorites]

The other two songs from the tape are also worth a listen. "Talking Hands" is great!
posted by offog at 9:54 AM on November 5, 2024 [2 favorites]

Hey maybe someone will find the lost gospel song that I asked about in a 2007 AskMeFi. (I’ve been here too long.)
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 12:20 PM on November 5, 2024 [1 favorite]