City is a German rock band, formed in East Berlin in 1972, best known for the song " Am Fenster" ("At/By The Window") from its 1978 debut album. The band was founded as the City Band Berlin by Fritz Puppel (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), Klaus Selmke (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), Ingo Doering ( bass guitar), Klaus Witte ( keyboards), Frank Pfeiffer ( vocals) and Andreas Pieper ( flute). The lineup changed frequently in the band's early years, but stabilized by 1976, with Puppel and Selmke joined by

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n violinist and bassist Georgi Gogow and vocalist-guitarist Toni Krahl. They changed their name to City Rock Band and eventually to simply City. City toured extensively in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, and was given the opportunity to record an album in 1978. The eponymous ''City'' showcased the band's guitar-driven rock; several songs are parables, such as "Der King vom Prenzlauer Berg" (The King Of Prenzlauer Berg), about a young man who gets into too many fights; and "Meister aller Klassen" (Masters Of All Classes"), about cocky motorcyclists whose desire for speed ends in tragedy. The band's greatest commercial success, however, was the atypical folk rock-influenced "Am Fenster" (At the Window), which arose from a jam session in the studio when Gogow began to play on his violin. It eventually coalesced into a three-part, 17-minute piece (as well as a four-minute version for radio play). An immediate hit in East Germany, it also became successful in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and was a success in countries such as

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Following the song's success, ''City'' sold half a million copies. In 2019, ''Am Fenster'' was voted by a jury as the best song of all time from

Discography

* 1978 Am Fenster (At The Window; released in

as ''City'') * 1979 Der Tätowierte (The Tattooed Man; released in West Germany as ''City II'') * 1980 Dreamer (

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

album, released in West Germany as ''Dreamland'') * 1983 Unter der Haut (Under The Skin) * 1985 Feuer im Eis (Fire in Ice) * 1987 Casablanca * 1990 Keine Angst (No Fear) * 1991 Rock aus Deutschland Ost Vol. 11 – City, die Erfolge 1977–1987 ( Compilation album) * 1992 The Best of City ( Compilation album) * 1997 Rauchzeichen (Smoke Signals) * 1997 Am Fenster (Platinum Edition) * 2002 Am Fenster 2 * 2003 Das Weihnachtsfest der Rockmusik (Album with Keimzeit) (Christmas Festival Of Rock Music) * 2004 Silberstreif am Horizont (Silver Line On The Horizon) * 2007 Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! * 2007: ''Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!'' (Limited Edition, 5-Song-Live-CD) * 2008: ''Das Beste'' (4-CD Compilation) * 2008: ''Play it again! Das Beste von City'' (Best-Of-Album including new tracks, remixes and a videoclip) * 2012: ''Für immer jung'' (Forever Young) * 2012: ''City - Die Original Alben'', Hansa Amiga (Sony Music) (Compilation of the original City albums) * 2012: ''40 Jahre City (Das Konzert)'', (Sony Music) * 2013: ''Danke Engel'' (CD/DVD Unplugged + 5 neue Tracks) * 2015: ''Rocklegenden live'', Puhdys + City + Karat * 2017: ''Das Blut so laut'', Rhingtön (Universal Music) * 2022: ''Die Letzte Runde'', (Universal Music)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:City East German musical groups Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups from Berlin