One of the internet’s most baffling puzzles has finally been solved as the identity of ‘the most mysterious song on the internet’ is revealed.
Since it first appeared online in 2007, this obscure song has baffled an obsessive community of online sleuths.
But almost two decades later, the mysterious tune is now identified as a lost German rock hit from the 1980s.
The song is called ‘Subways Of the Mind’ and was first recorded in 1983 by the band FEX.
Below you can listen to a full version of the song, provided by 68-year-old former FEX band member Michael Hädrich.
Members of the Reddit community r/ThatMysteriousSong managed to track down Mr. Hädrich through a local talent show they had participated in in the 1980s.
In conversation with the Munich news channel TZMr. Hädrich said he had no idea the song he and his friends recorded more than 40 years ago had such a devoted following.
And, good news for new fans: the band now plans to reunite to record a new version of the most mysterious song on the Internet.
Internet sleuths have finally revealed the identity of the ‘most mysterious song on the internet’, a lost ’80s rock hit, after nearly two decades of searching (stock image)
Reddit users managed to identify the lost song as ‘Subways of Your Mind’ by the band FEX, which was first recorded in 1983. By tracking down the original band members, researchers even managed to find the original demo cassette of find the number (photo)
The song ‘Subways of Your Mind’ was first recorded on cassette by a teenager in 1984.
It has not been confirmed, but the most likely case is that the song played on German radio station NDR1 during a program called Musik Für Junge Leute or ‘Music for Young People’.
More than twenty years later, in 2007, their sister uploaded the strange song to various music forums, asking if anyone knew the name of the song or the artist.
In 2019, a curious Reddit user rediscovered the song and posted it to 44 music subreddits, leading to the creation of the song hunting community r/TheMysteriousSong.
The song simply remained an internet mystery until YouTuber Justin Whang uploaded a video later that year entitled ‘The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet – Tales From the Internet’.
The resulting attention made the search for the song an international sensation that even led to radio station ‘Radio Eins’ playing the song on the air.
However, after years of false leads, hoaxes and dead ends, the song’s identity was only revealed this week.
The researchers had limited their search to bands that performed in the early 1980s at Hörfest, an annual showcase of local bands sponsored by Hamburg’s public broadcaster.
The song was recorded by a teenager who heard it played on the radio in 1984. In 2007, his sister posted the song online (pictured) and started asking if anyone could identify the lost song. The first known rip of those original messages was uploaded to YouTube in 2011 under the title ‘Like The Wind’ from ‘Statues in Motion’
A Reddit user named marijn1412 saw a reference to a band called FEX in a German newspaper clipping (pictured) describing them as “Rock with Wave and Pop influences.” Intrigued, marijn1412 contacted one of the band members who shared the original demo recording.
There still remained a list of hundreds of band names, many of which had left little to no trace online.
The breakthrough came when a Reddit user named marijn1412 posted that they had come across an article in the regional newspaper Nordwest Zeitung.
Marijn1412 wrote: ‘The article was about a band called FEX from Kiel, who won a talent show in Bremen in (September) 1984 and their music was described as Rock with Wave and Pop influences.’
The researcher recognized one of the band members, Michael Hädrich, as a member of the band Phret that had played at Hörfest in 1983.
While tracking down Mr. Hädrich, marijn1412 explained the search for the mysterious number and asked if they had any old recordings from their time at FEX.
And in the collection of songs that Mr. Hädrich shared, there was one that almost exactly matched the most mysterious song on the Internet.
Although it was a slightly different recording, the mystery track was unmistakably ‘Subways of Your Mind’.
After realizing what they had found, marijn1412 agreed to wait for Mr. Hädrich to contact the other members of the band and register the song with the GEMA, a German organization for musicians, before going public.
The original demo recordings (pictured) were provided by band member Michael Hädrich, who says the band is now preparing for a reunion to re-record the lost song.
In their post, marijn1412 wrote: ‘I’m sure there will be many questions and I hope the band can answer them themselves in the future. I’m just happy and relieved that the search is over.”
In the days since the discovery, the band’s members have been swept up in a wave of publicity.
Mr. Hädrich’s daughter wrote on the subreddit that her father was booked for weeks with interviews, media appearances and other plans.
The community also reviewed additional evidence submitted by FEX’s members, including original studio recordings, live performances of the songs, and witnesses from the studio sessions.
Speaking to local media, Mr Hädrich said: ‘None of us had heard of this internet phenomenon, mainly because the title of the song was not known on the internet and therefore there was no connection.
‘We were all completely surprised and overwhelmed by the incredibly nice reactions and contributions.’
The members of FEX are now planning a reunion to re-record a version of ‘Subways of Your Mind’ and shoot a music video for the song.
Meanwhile, the members of r/ThatMysteriousSong are already looking for the next lost song to rediscover.