Viral search for mysterious ‘80s new wave song solved after 17 years

A track dubbed “the most mysterious song on the internet” has finally been identified.

For the past 17 years, music fans have been digging online, in increasing numbers, for information about a German new wave song taped off the radio with nothing but the lyrics and a few scant clues to work from.

As it turns out, that song is ‘Subways In Your Mind’ by FEX and a version has been sitting on YouTube, under that title, for the last four years.

YouTube users took to the comment section to share their reactions, a mixture of amusement and frustration that the answer was there all along.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME”, wrote @luckynevx. Another user, @Infamouslbx wrote: “The funniest part of this whole thing is this person likely had no clue they were holding onto the answer to something so massive. My dude is probably confused AF as to why they’re so suddenly getting so much traffic. Lol”.

@GyaruRespecter added: “You know what? I can’t even hate. That’s some S-class secret keeping. Bro would never let the Discord chat leak.”

The hunt started when someone with the username Lydia started hitting up various forums asking about a song that her brother Darius had recorded from the radio onto cassette. The search quietly continued until 2019 when it picked up more interest as users across multiple social media sites, including Reddit and YouTube looked for the track many were calling ‘Like The Wind’ (based on one of the lyrics).

In the years that followed, a few clues were uncovered. Firstly, based on the release date of other tracks on the tape and the use of a Yamaha DX7 synth, the track had to have been recorded after 1983. Secondly, perhaps even more amazingly, a specific frequency was identified that was only present within German recordings of that era.

The breakthrough came on 4th November when Reddit user Marijn1412 posted on the subreddit dedicated to hunting the track that he had cracked the case. Marijn1412 had been researching an event for emerging bands, organised in the 1980s by a public broadcaster in northern Germany.

Marijn1412 explained: “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. In the meantime, though, the song did get registered at [the German performance rights organisation] 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.”

Apparently, FEX had been completely unaware of the great mystery. Speaking to German publication Tz, 68-year-old keyboardist, guitarist, and backing vocalist of FEX, Michael Hädrich said: “We hadn’t noticed all this internet phenomenon at all, mainly naturally, because the title of the song was not known on the Internet and was therefore no relation.

“Only then did he point me out whether I didn’t realize that the song ‘Subways of your Mind’ is the ‘Most Mysterious Song on the Internet’.”

Hädrich has proof to back his claims up, including material from the original recording sessions, witness statements, and performance recordings.

FEX are also reportedly planning to capitalise on their two-decade, viral moment with a new recording of the track and perhaps even a music video.