{"id":512276,"date":"2026-04-04T09:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512276\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T09:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:19:09","slug":"the-story-of-how-the-80s-cheesiest-anthem-destroyed-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512276\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of how the &#8217;80s cheesiest anthem destroyed Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"855\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Take-My-Breath-Away-the-comical-tale-of-how-the-80s-cheesiest-anthem-destroyed-Berlin-Far-Out-Magazi.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"Take My Breath Away the comical tale of how the \u201980s cheesiest anthem destroyed Berlin\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 20%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover \/ Berlin)<\/p>\n<p> Sat 4 April 2026 7:00, UK <\/p>\n<p>Given that the 1980s were the ultimate decade for cheesy power ballads, virtually every music fan will have a favourite that they consider to be a guilty pleasure of theirs. For many, that honour goes to Berlin\u2019s \u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019. If only <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/tags\/berlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Berlin\">Berlin<\/a> itself felt the same way\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Prior to 1986, the band had only had limited success, releasing a couple of albums but not really enjoying much attention in the charts, and even managing to get an early single of theirs banned from airplay in multiple countries due to its sexually-charged lyrics. \u2018Sex (I\u2019m A\u2026)\u2019 could have been Berlin\u2019s avenue into the spotlight through courting controversy, but it was evident that around this time, nobody was particularly fussed about their brand of synthpop and new wave. <\/p>\n<p>However, their third album, 1984\u2019s Love Life, saw the band introduce something of <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/donna-summer-giorgio-moroder-made-i-feel-love\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Story Behind The Song: How Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder made \u2018I Feel Love\u2019\">a secret weapon in Giorgio Moroder<\/a>, who produced the song \u2018No More Words\u2019. The track, while still not making earth-shattering waves, became their highest-charting song to date, helping them reach the top 40 in the US for the first time, but ultimately, this partnership with one of the most celebrated producers of the era aided them in their gradual rise.<\/p>\n<p>Vocalist Terri Nunn was overjoyed by the fact that they\u2019d managed to make such a coup by getting Moroder on board, but it came at a cost, both in terms of the finances they had to dig up to pay the Italian hit-maker for his contribution, as well as where it would eventually take them. \u201cWe were so excited, but he was so costly we could only afford him for one song,\u201d Nunn later told News Corp Australia in 2016. This would, ultimately, be insignificant compared to the subsequent struggles the band faced as a result of Moroder\u2019s link to the band.<\/p>\n<p>Working with the producer led to another opportunity, although it only came in a roundabout way due to his not being able to achieve the right results with his first choice collaborators. Having been asked to compose the music for <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/why-john-carpenter-turned-down-top-gun\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Why John Carpenter turned down \u2018Top Gun\u2019, and how he\u2019d have made it: \u201cIt\u2019s such a weird movie\u201d\">action blockbuster Top Gun<\/a>, Moroder came up with \u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019 as a potential theme tune, but hadn\u2019t been able to successfully complete the track with multiple other vocalists such as The Motels\u2019 Martha Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He eventually turned to Nunn, although she acknowledges that she was far from being the ideal candidate. \u201cI was like the fourth or fifth choice, nowhere close to being the first choice,\u201d she explained. \u201cBerlin weren\u2019t big yet. Giorgio hadn\u2019t told me Martha or these other amazing people had already sung it, of course. They really liked my version, I got lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, given the box office success of the Tom Cruise flick, the theme song ended up being a smash hit for Berlin, but the band\u2019s bassist and co-founder, John Crawford, instantly resented the fact that they\u2019d landed a number one single around the world and won a Grammy Award for a song that they didn\u2019t write. Tensions were already high for a multitude of reasons, but this only elevated the animosity between members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019 came along and that was another reason to fight,\u201d Nunn added. \u201cJohn was like \u2018That\u2019s not our song, we have our own songs\u2019. I said \u2018Who cares? It\u2019s Giorgio Moroder, if he farts, I\u2019ll sing it. I love that guy\u2019. We fought about that, then we fought about the fact we had to play it in concerts, John didn\u2019t like that either. We were just fighting to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The band were unable to follow up the unprecedented success of \u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019, perhaps as a result of the fact that they weren\u2019t leaning on the talents of Moroder to write another hit for them, and their next single, \u2018Like Flames\u2019, barely scraped its way into the Billboard Hot 100. A poorly received album later in 1986 all but spelt the end for the band, who would eventually part ways the following year.<\/p>\n<p>With Nunn and Crawford forever at loggerheads with one another throughout the episode that brought the band their greatest success, it was a case of knowing where fame and fortune could potentially come from, fighting against the desire to maintain a sense of artistic integrity. In the end, neither party truly won, and although \u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019 is a guilty pleasure for many listeners, the price Berlin had to pay for their biggest hit was never having another one.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>  <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" style=\"\"> ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> <\/a>   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover \/ Berlin) Sat 4 April 2026 7:00, UK Given that the 1980s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8797,96,135065,128,88065,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-512276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-giorgio-moroder","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-top-gun","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}