The Origins of the Internet’s Most Mysterious Song Have Been Revealed

In the 1900s, solving confounding mysteries was the domain of detectives at places like Scotland Yard. In the 21st century, the internet has taken up that mantle. Crowdsourcing puzzling events has led to a number of breakthroughs, particularly when it comes to “lost” media like the original Shrek test footage and an eerie Sesame Street cartoon. In the most recent example, cyber-sleuths have seemingly identified an obscure song that’s defied explanation for decades.

According to the outlet 404, the origin of the German new wave track (which can be heard in the video above) that was the focus of considerable research is now known to be “Subways of Your Mind,” a song by a German band named FEX.

The discovery came several years into a widespread effort to pinpoint where the arrangement came from, though the saga itself dates back decades. In 1984, a man in Germany that Rolling Stone identified as “Darius” taped the song off the radio, reportedly pulling it from a music program airing on NDR1 known as Musik Für Junge Leute, or “Music for Young People.” Much later, in 2007, his sister shared an incomplete digital version to several online forums hoping to identify it. (She feared uploading the full track might spur a copyright hassle, though that was certainly one way of discovering who recorded it.)

The search grew more serious in 2019, when the full song was posted to YouTube as well as Reddit and its many music subreddit discussion forums. Much speculation ensued, both over lyrics or the nationality of the band itself. While German was likely, they could have been Polish, Russian, or something else.

Then someone had the notion to delve into the hundreds of bands that played at a German music festival, Hörfest, during this era. It was possible one of them was the band behind the song.

Per 404, it was Reddit user Marijn1412 who discovered the smoking gun in the form of a German newspaper article. The story described a musician named Michael Hädrich whose style was similar to that of the unknown song and who had played at the music festival. The Redditor got in touch with Hädrich, who confirmed “Subways of Your Mind” was a recording made by one of his bands, FEX.

The musician later spoke with the German news outlet Tz and said he could corroborate the song’s origins with studio recordings as well as live show performances. Hädrich apparently had no idea his song was the focus of such scrutiny, and he’s now plotting a reunion with his bandmates Norbert Ziermann and Ture Rückwart. He’s lost contact with drummer Hans Siever, however. Maybe that’s another mystery the internet can resolve.

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