Grauzone: The ice cold sounds of a classic 80s Swiss New Wave group
Grauzone (German for “grey area”) was a Swiss synthpop group formed in 1979 who recorded four singles and one album and played just ten concerts before splitting up at the end of 1982. They are most famous for their amazing 1981 song “Eisbär” (“Polar Bear”). Ladytron samples the song on “Fighting In Built Up Areas” and it was also covered by French group Nouvelle Vague.
Grauzone would be considered a classic (albeit Swiss) band of the “Neue Deutsche Welle” era. Today they might also be re-classified as “Cold Wave.”
My favorite Grauzone number, “Hinter Den Bergen” (“Behind The Mountains”):
An animation for “Eisbär” made to promote the 2010 Grauzone 1980-1982
A vintage Grauzone music video for “Film 2”:
An “Eisbär” clip with two New Wave chicks dancing. Amusing to consider that at the time this probably looked quite modern! Not sure if this is an “official” video or something else: