Propaganda are German. Grown up outside of r'n'r conventions ("We don't live for Elvis" was one giggled admission in an afternoon of many) yet aiming their scheming young anger at the plodding dodo's heart.

In the wake of the Neue Deutsche Welle horrors, there's a tiresome 'cult' fixation rife in Germany. It stems from the No Entry signals sent out by the archly conservative major record companies but is oft covertly complied with by musical groups of limited drive and vision.

Propaganda recognise the reducing effect of cultdom. A nullification of a potentially wider excitement. Propaganda mean/imply a cultured, imaginative assault on the senses, a use of a mass media. No nostalgia or empty rage.

Ralf: "That word has always to do with mass, with a lot of people. But then Propaganda isn't really the name of a pop group because it has a meaning behind it and you don't expect a pop group to have a name with a meaning behind it."

To continue reading this article and to discover many more (over 140,000 words-worth!), purchase Mick Sinclair’s Adjusting the Stars: Music journalism from post-punk London.