Story of the song: Vienna by Ultravox

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Warren Cann, Midge Ure, Chris Cross and Billy Currie (Getty)

Fans thought Ultravox had pulled the plug on any chance of success in 1979, when their frontman John Foxx quit and they were dropped by Island. The arrival of Midge Ure heralded an unlikely revival of fortunes for the proto-electro-poppers; Ure had charted with the Scottish teeny-bop outfit Slik, before teaming up with Rusty Egan and the former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock in The Rich Kids.

His association with Egan brought him to the attention of a mutual friend, Billy Currie, Ultravox’s keyboard player. Currie was impressed with Ure’s guitar playing and his ability to sing rather than “shout with attitude”. With Ure, in 1980 Ultravox began rehearsals for a new album.

Several sessions in, the drummer, Warren Cann, rolled out a pattern in search of a song. “I said something like, ‘What about this, then?’ and began the ‘Vienna’ rhythm,” Cann recalled. A couple of verses were prepared by Ure and, working in an existing chorus idea (“It means nothing to me, Vienna”), the song was ready. The band settled into RAK, Mickie Most's London base, with the German producer Conny Plank, who had steered Kraftwerk to stardom.