It is November 1986, and the radio in West Germany barely seems to play anything else.
The beat is bright and synthetic, all gleaming keyboards and a drum machine that ticks like a clock. Then a voice rises above it — smooth, romantic, almost crooning — and behind it, a chorus of high falsetto voices soars into a hook you can hum after hearing it once.
You have heard this sound before. In the last two years, you have heard it everywhere: in discos, on television, in record shops, on the radio in the car. It is the sound of Modern Talking, the German duo who turned a simple formula — a handsome singer, a hit-making producer, and a chorus that nobody could forget — into the biggest pop success Germany had ever produced.
Now there is a new album in the shops. It is their fourth in less than two years. Its title is In the Middle of Nowhere.
It will go to No. 1 in Germany. It will go Gold, and then Platinum in other countries. It will give them another Top 5 single, and carry them through another winter of television appearances and screaming crowds across Europe.
And yet, if you listen closely, something is already changing. The title says it plainly enough: in the middle of nowhere. A duo at the very top, singing about being stranded, about loneliness, about angels in New York City and tears in Chinatown. Within a year, the partnership behind the music would be over.
Two Albums a Year, and No Time to Stop
To understand In the Middle of Nowhere, you have to understand the pace Modern Talking were working at.
The duo had released two albums in 1985 — The 1st Album and Let’s Talk About Love — and a third, Ready for Romance, in 1986. Now, before the year was out, there was a fourth. Between 1985 and 1987, they released two albums each year, while also promoting their singles on television across Europe. It was a relentless schedule, and it was also the reason they sold 65 million records in three years.
The album was released on 10 November 1986 by Hansa Records. It was recorded in 1986, produced by Dieter Bohlen with Luis Rodríguez as co-producer, and it ran for 36 minutes and 58 seconds across ten tracks. Every song on it was written by Bohlen.
There was nothing accidental about the speed. Modern Talking were a hit machine, and the machine was expected to keep running. A new album every six months meant a new single, a new television appearance, a new reason for the fans to buy the record.
“Geronimo’s Cadillac”: The Single That Led the Way
The first sign of the new album came more than a month before it arrived in the shops.
“Geronimo’s Cadillac” was released as a single on 6 October 1986. It was the duo’s sixth single, and it did what Modern Talking singles had been doing for nearly two years: it climbed the charts across Europe. It reached the Top 5 in Germany and Austria, and the Top 10 in Switzerland, Sweden and Norway.
The song is pure Modern Talking. The title is a piece of American imagery — Geronimo, the Apache leader, given a Cadillac — the kind of romantic, slightly dreamlike picture Bohlen loved to build his songs around. The beat drives forward, the keyboards glitter, and then the falsetto chorus lifts the whole song into the air. It is the sound the duo had perfected, and it still worked.
“Geronimo’s Cadillac” opens the album, and it sets the tone for everything that follows: polished, melodic, and built for the radio. It was the song that told Europe the new album was coming — and Europe was still listening.
“Give Me Peace on Earth”: A Different Mood
The second single from the album was a change of pace, at least in its title.
“Give Me Peace on Earth” was released on 11 November 1986, the day after the album itself came out. Where “Geronimo’s Cadillac” was all drive and sparkle, the second single wore its heart on its sleeve. Its title is a plea — for peace, for calm, for something gentler than the world outside seemed to offer in the mid-1980s.
It was a reminder that Bohlen’s songs were not only about dancing. Beneath the synthesizers, the lyrics were often romantic, wistful, even melancholy — love songs, and “Give Me Peace on Earth” belonged to that side of their music: the ballad side, the side that asked the listener to slow down and feel something.
A third single, “Lonely Tears in Chinatown,” followed in 1987. Its title alone tells you the kind of world Bohlen was writing about: faraway places, lonely hearts, and romance seen through a haze of neon and distance.
The Sound: A Formula That Nobody Could Copy — or Escape
By 1986, the Modern Talking sound was one of the most recognisable in European pop. But it was also, in a way, a sound that belonged to more people than the two men on the cover.
The formula had started with an inspiration Bohlen himself acknowledged. In 1984, he cited the hit single “Precious Little Diamond” by Fox the Fox as his inspiration for using falsetto choruses — those soaring high voices that became the duo’s trademark. The studio vocal line-up behind those choruses was Rolf Köhler, Michael Scholz, Detlef Wiedeke and, on the early albums, Birger Corleis.
Here is the part of the story that was hidden for years: Köhler, Scholz and Wiedeke were never credited on the Modern Talking albums. They eventually went to court over the matter, and received an out-of-court settlement. Bohlen later published a sleeve note for his next release — Obsession, by his new project Blue System — acknowledging the trio’s contribution.
On In the Middle of Nowhere, the credits list Bohlen on guitar, backing vocals and production and arrangements, and Thomas Anders on lead vocals, piano and keyboards. Köhler, Scholz, Wiedeke and Corleis are listed as backing vocals and falsetto choir, uncredited on the original release. Luis Rodríguez is credited as co-producer. The art direction, design and cover photo were by Manfred Vormstein, with design by Matthias Kortemeier and the artists’ photo by Didi Zill.
The influences behind the music reached beyond disco: German-language schlager, disco-pop in the style of the Bee Gees, and romantic English-language songs of Italian and French origin, like Gazebo’s “I Like Chopin.” The result sounded international — songs in English, made in Germany, that could play in Stockholm, Vienna, Madrid or Athens and feel at home everywhere at once.
Critics were never as enthusiastic as the fans. They recognised the catchiness and the professional production, but they criticised the lack of originality — and in particular, the sameness among many of the songs. Bohlen himself conceded the point to Der Spiegel in 1989, saying he would not deny that all Modern Talking hits had a very, very similar sound, and that the singles lifted from their albums had always been the ones that sounded closest to the last one.
That sameness was both the duo’s strength and their trap. It gave them hit after hit. It also meant that every new record had to sound like the last one — and that left less and less room for either man to grow.
The Songs: Ten Tracks, Thirty-Seven Minutes
In the Middle of Nowhere is a short album by modern standards: ten songs in just under thirty-seven minutes. All of them were written by Dieter Bohlen. The track listing runs like a tour through the duo’s world of romance, travel and longing.
Side one opens with “Geronimo’s Cadillac” (3:16), followed by “Riding on a White Swan” (3:52), “Give Me Peace on Earth” (4:11), “Sweet Little Sheila” (3:03) and “Ten Thousand Lonely Drums” (3:29).
Side two opens with “Lonely Tears in Chinatown” (3:29), then “In Shaire” (3:42), “Stranded in the Middle of Nowhere” (4:29), “The Angels Sing in New York City” (3:32) and “Princess of the Night” (3:55). The eighth track is the longest song on the album, and its title echoes the album’s own name — a song about being lost and far from home, about the loneliness that can sit in the middle of success.
Number One in Germany — and Across Europe
The charts told the story of an album that was still a major event.
In the Middle of Nowhere debuted at No. 1 in Germany on 1 December 1986, spending a total of seven weeks inside the Top 10 of the German chart. It went on to be certified Gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), for shipments of more than 250,000 units in Germany.
It was not only a German success. The album reached No. 2 in Austria and No. 3 in Switzerland, No. 8 in Norway and No. 9 in Sweden, No. 12 in Finland, No. 15 on the European Albums chart, and No. 19 in the Netherlands.
The certifications that followed showed how far the record travelled. Alongside the German Gold, it was certified Platinum in Switzerland (50,000 units) and Platinum in Spain (100,000 units), and Gold in Hong Kong (10,000 units).
Those numbers are the numbers of a duo still at the peak of their powers. But they are also the numbers of a system running at full speed — two albums a year, singles, television, touring — with no pause built in. The question, by the winter of 1986, was how long two men could keep that pace up together.
The Image: Two Men, One Look, Millions of Fans
Part of Modern Talking’s success was visual. Thomas Anders was the face of the duo: the singer, the romantic lead, the man the cameras loved. Dieter Bohlen was the architect behind him: the songwriter, the producer, the man who built the songs Anders sang.
Together, they were one of the first Western pop acts to break through in a place most Western acts could not reach. They were one of the first Western bloc bands whose records were allowed to be sold in the Soviet Union. After four decades of Cold War censorship and import restrictions, Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost reforms in the USSR in 1986 opened up the Soviet sphere to Western bands — including Modern Talking, at the height of their popularity — and they built a large, enduring fanbase in Eastern Europe.
Their fame spread far beyond Europe as well — to Asia, South America, the Middle East and Iran. Britain was the exception: they entered the British chart with only four songs, with “Brother Louie” their highest at No. 4. In 1985, RCA signed them for a US deal and released their first album there, but they remained virtually unknown in America and did not make the US charts.
The duo’s image was polished, romantic and glamorous — and, increasingly, a source of friction. The two men were not equals in the way the public saw them, and the partnership was becoming harder to hold together.
The Cracks: A Partnership Coming Apart
The tension inside Modern Talking had been building for a long time. The two men had a relationship that was quarrelsome, if not tumultuous, and by 1987 it was getting worse.
The break came after the duo’s sixth album received a lacklustre reception. Bohlen announced the project’s termination in a German interview, given while Anders was away in Los Angeles. Bohlen cited Anders’ then-wife Nora as the main reason for the break-up: she had forbidden her husband from being interviewed by female reporters, and had repeatedly demanded major changes to shows, videos and recordings. Anders would later admit this in his biography.
After a last phone call, heavily laden with profanity and insults, the two men broke off all contact for more than ten years.
It was a sudden end to one of the most successful partnerships in European pop. The duo had worked together from 1983 to 1987, released six studio albums, scored a string of No. 1 singles, and sold 65 million records in three years. And then, in the middle of 1987, it was over.
In the Middle of Nowhere was the last album of the duo’s first run to reach No. 1 in Germany. It stands now as a snapshot of the moment just before the split: the sound at its most polished, the charts at their highest, and the partnership already coming apart underneath.
Why It Still Matters
Forty years after 10 November 1986, In the Middle of Nowhere still sounds like exactly what it is: a record made by a duo at the top of their game, working at a speed that could not last. You can hear everything that made Modern Talking the biggest German pop act of the 1980s — the falsetto choruses, the gleaming synthesizers, the romantic titles, the melodies that stay in your head for days — and the loneliness in the lyrics: the stranded traveller, the lonely drums, the tears in Chinatown, the angels singing in a city far away.
That is why the title still fits. In the Middle of Nowhere is not only the name of an album. It is a picture of where Modern Talking stood in November 1986: at the centre of Europe’s attention, and already, quietly, on their own.
Modern Talking: The Duo Who Became Germany’s Biggest Pop Act
To understand In the Middle of Nowhere, you have to understand the two men who made it — and how, in less than four years, they went from a new act in West Berlin to the most successful pop duo Germany had ever produced.
A New Duo in West Berlin
Modern Talking was formed in West Berlin in early 1983. The duo consisted of Dieter Bohlen — arranger, songwriter and producer — and singer Thomas Anders. They have been referred to as Germany’s most successful pop duo, and they had a number of hit singles that reached the Top 5 in many countries.
Their most popular singles are “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul,” “You Can Win If You Want,” “Cheri, Cheri Lady,” “Brother Louie,” “Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)” and “Geronimo’s Cadillac.”
For the first year and a half, they were still finding their sound. Then, at the beginning of 1985, everything changed.
The Breakthrough: “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”
Modern Talking became popular unexpectedly at the beginning of 1985 with “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul.” The single reached the Top 10 in at least 15 countries, including Germany, where it spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1. It would go on to sell eight million copies worldwide.
It was followed by another chart-topping hit, “You Can Win If You Want,” released in the middle of 1985 from the debut album The 1st Album. The album was certified Platinum in Germany for selling more than 500,000 units.
Soon after their second hit, Modern Talking released the single “Cheri, Cheri Lady,” which climbed to No. 1 in West Germany, Finland, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Norway, and made the Top 10 in Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands. As the only single released from their second album, Let’s Talk About Love, it helped that album to Platinum status in West Germany, again for sales of more than 500,000.
The run continued with two further No. 1 singles, “Brother Louie” and “Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love),” both from the third album, Ready for Romance. Then came “Geronimo’s Cadillac,” the sixth single, from the fourth album, In the Middle of Nowhere, and “Jet Airliner” from their fifth album, Romantic Warriors.
In less than two years, the duo had gone from unknown to unstoppable.
The 1984–1987 Run: Two Albums a Year
The years from 1984 to 1987 were the heart of the Modern Talking story. They released two albums each year from 1985 to 1987, while promoting their singles on television across Europe, and eventually selling 65 million records in three years. The studio albums of that first run were The 1st Album (1985), Let’s Talk About Love (1985), Ready for Romance (1986), In the Middle of Nowhere (1986), Romantic Warriors (1987) and In the Garden of Venus (1987). It was an extraordinary pace — and the same machine that made them stars was wearing them out.
The Split — and the Solo Years
Immediately after the duo split in mid-1987, Bohlen formed his own project, Blue System, and enjoyed several high chart positions with tracks like “Sorry Little Sarah,” “My Bed Is Too Big,” “Under My Skin,” “Love Suite,” “Laila” and “Déjà vu.”
Anders, meanwhile, went solo, touring under the name Modern Talking on several continents until the beginning of 1989, when he started to record new pop-like material in Los Angeles and London, as well as in Germany. He recorded five solo albums in English — Different, Whispers, Down on Sunset, When Will I See You Again and Souled — and one in Spanish, Barcos de Cristal.
The two men did not speak for more than ten years. Slowly, though, relations improved, and when Anders moved back to Koblenz, Germany, in 1994, the two began to find a more amenable footing with each other.
During the years apart, Bohlen also composed for other artists while still in Modern Talking and afterwards. He wrote for Chris Norman and Smokie, whose song “Midnight Lady” (1986) remains his most popular composition, and he composed a large number of tracks for C. C. Catch, using a faster, less romantic sound.
The Reunion: Back for Good
At the beginning of 1998, the duo got back together, performing in March on the German television show Wetten, dass..?. They released a remixed version of their 1984 single “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul,” featuring the American rapper Eric Singleton on rap vocals.
Their first comeback album, Back for Good, included four new tracks as well as all of the previous hits, remixed with up-to-date techniques. It took the No. 1 spot in 15 countries, holding Germany’s for five consecutive weeks, and it sold three million copies in Europe alone. The duo won Best Selling German Band at the World Music Awards that year.
The follow-up album, Alone, also went straight to No. 1 in Germany, and sold more than one million copies in Europe. A series of singles and four further albums followed: Year of the Dragon, America, Victory and Universe.
The reunion lasted five years. In 2003, after chalking up more than 400 gold and platinum awards worldwide, Bohlen and Anders disbanded again, just before releasing another best-of compilation. The second break-up was reportedly sparked by Bohlen’s negative portrayal of Anders in his autobiography, published on 4 October 2003. The 2003 compilation, The Final Album, contained all of the duo’s singles. Thomas Anders relaunched his solo career immediately, while Bohlen devoted most of his time to new talent discovered on Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS), the German edition of Pop Idol, where he was a judge.
By the duo’s final break-up in 2003, they had reached 120 million in sales worldwide — making them the biggest-selling German music act in history.
The Legacy: The Music Lives On
Modern Talking never really went away. Anders has kept the duo’s songs in his repertoire, and Bohlen’s first book about the duo sold a million copies in Germany.
In 2006, Bohlen included a secret message in his song “Bizarre Bizarre” which, when played backwards, is revealed as: “There will never be an end to Modern Talking.” He added: “I meant to say that the music of Modern Talking will live forever.” As of 31 March 2025, the duo’s official YouTube channel had received more than 4.5 billion views, with many music videos viewed hundreds of millions of times.
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