Trio (band)

Trio (sometimes written TRIO) was a German band that formed in 1980 and disbanded in 1985. It consisted of Stephan Remmler, Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel, and Peter Behrens.

Band information

"Trio" was formed in the small German town of Großenkneten in 1979. By far, the band is most noted for the song " _de. Da da da, ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" (or simply "Da Da Da"), or its English version "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha", which was a hit in about 30 countries worldwide.

The song is often given as an example of a song that has become popular while being extremely repetitive.Fact|date=July 2008 However, to understand Trio one must understand its context. It was a product of the "Neue Deutsche Welle" (or NDW). However, Trio preferred the name "Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit", which means "New German Cheerfulness", to describe their music. At that time, as now, popular songs were based on extremely simple structures that were ornately produced. Trio's main principle was to remove almost all the ornamentation and polish from their songs, and to use the simplest practical structures (most of their songs were three-chord songs). For this reason, many of their songs are restricted to drums, guitar, vocals, and just one or maybe two other instruments, if any at all. Bass was used very infrequently until their later songs, and live shows often saw Remmler playing some simple preprogrammed rhythms and melodies on his small Casio VL-1 keyboard while Behrens played his drums single-handedly while eating an apple. This simplicity was not simply due to an inability to sing or play well; Remmler's later solo career shows that he was capable of much more complicated music, and Kralle has demonstrated considerable ability as a guitarist in other ventures. Rather, their songs were bare-boned to show how bare the bones actually are.

The band produced a number of albums. There are many versions of "Bye Bye" (marked with different advertisements on the cover); versions in North America are called "TRIO and Error" and feature no advertisements. The 1997 CD of "TRIO and Error" was also released as "Da Da Da" in the United States, in response to the 1997 US Volkswagen commercial that featured the song "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha", often contracted to simply "Da Da Da". The re-release had some changes: two songs were added and the album was digitally remastered.

The band never got very popular outside of Germany, and are largely forgotten even for their one hit. However, in its time, Trio had some popularity in Germany. For instance, the German version of "Da da da" was #2 on the charts (April 1982). Its most notable songs, other than Da Da Da, are probably "Broken Hearts for You and Me", "Boom Boom", "Hearts are Trump", and "Anna Letmein Letmeout". All of these songs except the first have a corresponding German version, which sometimes differs considerably, and these were also released in the English-speaking world. "Da da da" hit #2 in the UK in July 1982 and #3 in Canada in December 1982. They had some minor hits in Germany until the end of 1983, then disbanded the following year. Every member launched a solo career, with only Remmler managing to be somewhat successful.

They produced a movie called "Drei gegen Drei", meaning "Three Against Three". In the movie, three people (played by Trio) kill doubles of themselves as part of a twisted scam to gain riches. However, the movie flopped miserably; even avid Trio fan Matthias Klein said, " [the members of] Trio are not actors". The corresponding soundtrack is the album "What's the Password", however, drummer Peter Behrens does not perform in any of the songs, despite appearing on the album's cover. He left the band due to dissatisfaction with Kralle and Remmler over financial matters, leading to the complete breakup of Trio in 1985.

"Da Da Da" in popular culture

Many cover versions of "Da Da Da" have been done worldwide in various languages including a Mexican version by the band Molotov on their 2004 cover album "Con Todo Respeto"; alternative band Elastica on their 1999 album "The Menace"; and Filipino entertainer Yoyoy Villame in 1982. Pett Productions used "Da Da Da" in the second series of Tittybangbang for the intro to Pete Wade's sketches.

In addition to the famous Volkswagen ad, several others have featured "Da Da Da". A Pepsi ad ( [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1055798137866078898&q=pepsi Google Video] ) for the 2006 FIFA World Cup starred several footballers including Thierry Henry, Raúl, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho and David Beckham playing football inside of an Oktoberfest tent. Christina Aguilera sang the tune in several Pepsi spots, including duets with Rain and Elissa. Ariston used the song in their 1987 spots featuring animated white goods, clothing and kitchen utensils forming dancing humanoids. Some ads used modified lyrics. Teletext replaced "da da da" with "blah blah blah" (vocalized by Ewan BaileyFact|date=March 2007); [http://www.sakata.com.au Sakata Rice Crackers] replaced "da da da" with their brand name.

Following the popular Volkswagen commercial, ABC aired a promo for the sitcom "Spin City" parodying the car ad. In the original VW commercial, two men drive around and pick up a smelly couch, which they quickly dispose of. In the ABC ad, Michael J. Fox and Michael Boatman's characters pick up Richard Kind's character, who becomes so obnoxious that they throw him out the car.

Albums (in order)

* 1981: "TRIO"
* 1982: "TRIO Live im Frühjahr '82" ("Live in Spring '82")
* 1983: "Bye Bye / Trio And Error"
* 1985: "Whats the Password"
* 1986: "5 Jahre zuviel" ("5 years too many" compilation)

Singles (in order)

* "Halt mich fest ich werd verrückt" ("Stop me before I go crazy") (Germany-only)
* "Da Da Da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" ("Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha")
* "Anna - lassmichrein lassmichraus" ("Anna - Letmein Letmeout")
* "Bum Bum" ("Boom Boom")
* "Herz ist Trumpf" ("Hearts Are Trump")
* "Turaluraluralu - Ich mach BuBu was machst du" ("Tooralooralooraloo - Is It Old & Is It New [Literally 'I make BuBu, what do you make?'] ")
* "Tutti Frutti"
* "Drei gegen drei" ("Three against three")
* "Ready For You"
* "My Sweet Angel"
* "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha" (US promo CD-single only)

CD releases

* 1982: "Trio"
* 1982: "Trio live im Frühjahr 82" (MC only, 1992 re-released on CD)
* 1983: "Bye Bye" (in the US sold as "Trio and Error")
* 1985: "Whats the Password"
* 1986: "5 Jahre zuviel" ("Five years too many", compilation)
* 1997: "Da Da Da" (US only)
* 2000: "Triologie" (best-of compilation)
* 2003: "Trio Deluxe Edition"

Band members

* Stephan Remmler - Vocals, occasional keyboards
* Gert Krawinkel - guitar
* Peter Behrens - drums

The band was produced by Klaus Voormann, who also played bass on a few songs.

Audio sample

External links

* [http://www.stephan-remmler.de/ Stephan Remmler/Trio Homepage] An unofficial Stephan Remmler site run by Matthias Klein. However, almost all the text is in German.