Background
"Vienna" is a synthpop ballad. Unusually for its genre, two of its most distinctive sounds are those of conventional instruments - the dramatic grand piano in the verses and chorus, and the viola solo in the middle of the song. Other sounds include a solid synth bass line played on a Minimoog, a Yamaha string synthesiser and a Roland CR-78 drum machine The song is regarded as a staple of the synthpop genre that was popularised in the early 1980s. The song takes its inspiration from the 1948 film The Third Man, which is based around the Austrian capital Vienna. Midge Ure is said to have been influenced by The Walker Brothers' 1978 single "The Electrician".
Read more about this topic: Vienna (Ultravox Song)
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