“P-Machinery” by Propaganda

Propaganda, the German synth-pop crew, made "P-Machinery" the third single off A Secret Wish, their 1985 debut, and it sounds like a factory floor dressed for the discotheque: cold, gleaming, precise and strangely seductive. Michael Mertens wrote the music and Ralf Dörper the words, but the keyboard melody that opens it, and the answering phrase that follows, came from David Sylvian, who had been sounded out about producing the band and never did. Sylvian recalled adding a few smaller ideas too, though he wasn't sure his own playing survived the band recording things more than once.

It went top 10 across Europe, France and Italy included, made the top 10 of the American dance chart, and did best of all in Spain, where it reached number one in 1986.

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