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“The Metro” by Berlin

“The Metro” by Berlin appears on 24 radio countdowns from 10 stations between 1983 and 2023. Its best result is #7 on the KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #138 alternative song of 1983 and #871 alternative song of all time.

24countdowns
10stations
#7best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1983–2023years charted

Watch

Berlin - The Metro (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (Guillermo Soto). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

John Crawford wrote "The Metro" for his band Berlin in 1981, and it had already lived one life as a non-album single on MAO Music, backed with "Tell Me Why", before a lightly remixed version landed on Pleasure Victim. That breakthrough album came out on the independent Enigma in 1982 and again on Geffen in 1983, and in May of that year "The Metro" went back out as its third single.

Daniel Van Patten, the band's drummer and drum programmer at the time, produced and engineered it, and it's new wave distilled: punk nerve fused to pop gloss, bathed in the cold shimmer of a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. Singer Terri Nunn has said it defined both Berlin and its moment. Dominic Orlando's video, shot in 1983 at GMT Studios in West Los Angeles, became the band's first MTV hit.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1983 66 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1983 91

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1988 416 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) 496
1988 197 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) 200
1989 48 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1990 250 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990) 299
1992 39 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1992 105 Live 105 Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992) 299
1994 15 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1994 306 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) 500
1995 31 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1995 156 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) 300
1996 7 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) 500
1996 215 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1998 31 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1999 41 Channel 104.9 Channel 104.9 Top 101 Songs of the '80s (February 1999) 104
1999 478 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 958 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 992 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
2002 691 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 144 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2006 395 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2022 266 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2023 91 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2023 528 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places 800

Charting alongside it in 1983

Best songs of 1983 →
  1. 1New Year's DayU2
  2. 2Let's DanceDavid Bowie
  3. 3The LovecatsThe Cure
  4. 4Every Breath You TakeThe Police
  5. 5Rebel YellBilly Idol
  6. 6In a Big CountryBig Country

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